935304
Letter From A Jew Pleading For Help To Flee From Nazi Germany
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”As you see we registered just on the chance that eventually we would find a benefactor who would make it possible for us to get to the so-called blessed country. . . . As people completely without any means, . . . we have asked the aid committee of the Jewish congregation to order the tickets for us,” which ”apparently causes the local American consulate to put the granting of the visa in question."
Typed Letter, unsigned, two pages (recto and verso), 8¼" x 9", no place [Brünn, Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia], no date [May 7, 1940]. With original envelope. In German, with translation.
This is an unsigned letter in which the writer, a European Jew, essentially pleads with George Eckstein, a Jew who helped others flee from Nazi Europe, to help arrange for the writer's relatives in the United States to pay for tickets to the United States. His family is destitute, he says—explaining that American immigration authorities may infer that the family will add to the American welfare rolls if the local Jewish congregation buys the tickets. The anxiety is apparent.
This letter was written during momentous times. It passed through the mail system of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia on May 7, 1940, and through Frankfurt, Germany, between 4 and 5 p.m. two days later, on May 9. Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler had secretly ordered that the invasion of Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg begin on May 7 but then used concerns about weather as a reason for delay. On May 9, Hitler ordered the invasion to commence the next day. At 5:00 p.m. on May 9, as the letter passed through Frankfurt, Hitler began his train trip to the invasion headquarters. At dawn the war on the Western Front began. The same day, Winston Churchill became prime minister of Great Britain.
The writer writes, in full:
My dear ones!
A letter from Greta is the occasion that I write to you personally. I have been infinitely glad to hear that you are interested in our wellbeing and even have offered to take care of us if we should still succeed in finding the way to you. I hope in the meantime that you have had occasion to meet my brother-in-law and his wife whose effort has been successful to find a remote relative to put up an affidavit. It took three months for the affidavit to reach us, and we thought it had been lost, but now we have received the invitation to come to the American consulate in Prague for a medical examination. Contrary to what you assume, on our part we haven't missed anything. On the contrary, Lisa had the foresight to get me to register at that time in Vienna. The registration was already done on May 3, 1938, and later we were entered into the Czech quota. As you see we registered just on the chance that eventually we would find a benefactor who would make it possible for us to get to the so-called blessed country. So it happened that the quota was reached almost at the same time we received the affidavit. But even if we have full success at the medical examination, nothing has been accomplished until we can get the tickets for the ships. As people completely without any means, we have taken the only way that was open to us, and we have asked the aid committee of the Jewish congregation to order the tickets for us. Now we know on the basis of serious reports that one has to wait for these tickets for many months even if one gets them at all, and this naturally, because of the great loss of time, is nothing very agreeable. Ordering these tickets through the committee involves the danger that may put the success of our emigration in jeopardy. The modalities of ordering these kind of tickets through the committee apparently causes the local American consulate to put the granting of the visa in question. Therefore it's very possible that just before [we are successful], the doors close [to us]. It appears to be that only models that are recognized is that tickets be ordered through friends or relatives there. Please tell my brother-in-law Dr. Linden, and maybe all of you together can find a way out of this mess. I hope that one day I will again part of the working force and then to be able to repay the obligation assumed in such difficult times. If together you can succeed, I ask you to please notify me telegraphically. In that way we may still be helped. In any case I give you the address of my relatives. They live in New York City, 2 W. 104th street, Apt. 5C, and are named Dr. Fred and Edith Linden.
We are in constant communication with Grete and Bruno, and we are close to each other in these very difficult times. Bruno will know how to appreciate it since he has already passed the 50th year of his life, and it means very much to me that I have again a singular goal, for our emigration. I hope that all of you are well, and I would be very glad to hear from you soon. In this expectation, I remain with best greetings and kiss of your hand, your Mor.
! Please turn over !
Grete told us about your warning about taking large baggage. A lift [a standard size container] is completely out of the question. We also know the destiny of many of the most beautiful lifts. In this respect we had a special report from Genoa, from a friend who was leaving. As far as we are concerned the only thing we would consider is the permitted limit of 100 kilograms per person of luggage, and the packing of this luggage of course requires some best and dependable suggestion, so that we will only take what is really necessary and leave trivial things at home. Naturally we also have to conform with the regulations, which in itself limits what you can take. My sister-in-law has already given us some instructions, but I would be very, very grateful if you also would advise us in this direction. Please give us a short and a concise but in sufficient way a list of the most necessary things that according to your experience are essential to take along. Lisa would like to know especially whether to take mattresses, also if she should bring cake and other domestic equipment, and what is the selection of clothes and linen that one should bring. This information would also be valuable to Grete and Bruno. However, it's very necessary that the information be sent to us in the fastest ways possible, because if the proceedings are done in an orderly way our list will have to be filed very soon.
Again our thanks, stay well, and our greetings from the three of us to the three of you.
Although the envelope was passed by Nazi censors, it lacks the typical identifying numbers of individual censors. The letter was opened, however, and resealed by the office of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or Army high command, as the seal and printed notice “Geöffnet,” or “opened,” on the sealing tape on the back of the envelope show. The letter appears to have a censor's number penciled at the bottom left.
After Eckstein emigrated to the United States from Europe, he was willing to help relatives, friends, and others in their efforts to leave Nazi territory. That generated a large volume of correspondence that followed him wherever he moved. We have other letters written to Eckstein as well.
This letter is in very fine condition. It is typed on both sides of a sheet of onion-skin paper that has been somewhat irregularly trimmed—the destitute writer saved postage by using the thin paper. The original envelope, which accompanies the letter, has some wrinkles and tears and is in very good to fine condition overall.
Unframed.
This item is sold.
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