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SS banners displayedon an Austrian street, circa 1938

Recognizing the Need to Leave
The city of our dreams turned into the city of our nightmares.
I remember when Hitler came to Vienna. There were boys in white shirts marching in the streets. I didn’t really understand what was going on. Gradually, I found out what my Dad knew right away, that we were finished in Europe. People started to leave illegally, going across borders. My Dad said, “We have to leave, and we have to go as far away as possible. Not to Poland, not to France and not to England, but as far away as possible.”

Then the regular school wouldn’t take us. The Jewish children were sent to schools that were only for Jewish children. People came home and couldn’t get in anymore. The next thing we heard was that their businesses were taken over and they were thrown out of their offices. Then we started to hear stories about people being sent away to camps. People had to scrub floors, were beaten and humiliated. I always felt anti-Semitism in school. The teachers used to make speeches when the children were noisy, and say terrible things. I think in Vienna they were worse than the Germans towards the Jews. They were ready for Hitler in Vienna.

Now, whenever I look at the passports with the swastika and the “J”, I feel such a hatred because they destroyed our lives. They were so cruel. You couldn’t defend yourself. Freddy had a new bicycle he was proud of, but one day a fellow came in and said, “This is what I want.” They could take anything, do anything they wanted to you.

My family remembers Kristallnacht. It took place in Vienna on the night of November 9th. It was horrible. People were rounded up, and some didn’t reach the camps, they were beaten and dead before they got there. Terrible things happened. Some people who had plans to travel abroad, had sponsors or affidavits in place, could get released from the camps.

Our family was not arrested on Kristallnacht but we were all rounded up into a schoolyard and some people were taken away. We didn’t know what was going on, there was such commotion. People were beaten, and in tears, and children were crying. It was horrible. After that my Dad helped a lot of people who came to him for help: women whose husbands were sent away; people whose businesses were taken away, who had nothing to live on. Then my Dad said, “We’ll try different places and figure out where to go.” He started to call relatives and to write letters, and then he heard about Shanghai