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AHC interview with Isabella Deutsch.
No full textMay 8, 2015Isabella Deutsch, née Geller was born 1/14/1927 in Vienna, Austria, the second child of Nathan Geller, who was in the textile business, and Pepi Geller. Both parents hailed from Poland, where they had been raised in orthodox Jewish households. Isabella’s family lived in Adamsgasse 4 in the 3rd district of Vienna. They liked to spend their weekends on "Ausfluege" (leisure trips) or visiting their uncles and aunts. Family vacations were spent in Reichenau and Payerbach, both popular tourism destinations at the time, and her parents “took the waters” in the thermal springs of Bad Schallerbach.Until September 1938, Isabelle attended primary school followed by high school in "Radetzky -Realgymnasium". After Anschluss" in March of 1938, some of her own and her parents’ non-Jewish friends avoided her family. Isabelle's older brother Max was arrested on September 10th, 1938 and sent to Dachau; after his release several weeks later, he immigrated to the US, followed by Isabelle and her parents in late November 1939. Affidavits were provided by an aunt of Pepi Geller. After their arrival, the family moved to Belleville, NJ where Nathan Geller had found work. Isabelle Deutsch graduated from Belleville High School in 1945 and subsequently enrolled at NYU, earning her bachelor's degree in accounting in 1949. She worked at real estate companies until marrying Louis Deutsch in 1951; she later got a teaching certification in math.Austrian Heritage Collectio
Biography of Max Meyer /
No full textThe story of the Jewish religious teacher Max Meyer and his family.Maier Simson Maier, later known as Max Meyer, was born 1865 in Bibra near Meiningen, Germany, the youngest of three sons of Abraham and Theresa (née Neuman) Maier. His older brother Herman immigrated to Chicago in 1887. Max Meyer trained to be a teacher at the Seminary in Hildburghausen. In 1886, he started his first teaching job in a Jewish school in Bad Bentheim, where he met and married his wife Clara Wertheim (1867-1929). The couple settled in Stuttgart, where Max worked in various positions for the Jewish community from 1894 to 1939. Max and Clara Meyer had three daughters, Therese Wertheim (1896-1982), Rosel Meyer (1897-1906), and Ruth Sichel (1906-1996).Ruth, her husband Adolf Sichel and their son Martin immigrated to the US in 1937. Her father Max Meyer joined her in 1939; after the war, he moved to his other daughter Therese (Tesi), who had survived the Holocaust in Enschede, Netherlands
AHC interview with Fabian Schonfeld
No full textMarch 18, 2015Digital recordingFabian Schonfeld was born 12/14/1923 in Zawiercie, Poland as the first son of Samuel Schonfeld, executive director of Agudas Israel in Vienna, and Manya Schonfeld (née Ochsenhaendler). He grew up in Vienna, living first in Grosse Schiffgasse in the 2nd district, and later in Scherzergasse. Fabian and his brother Arnold (AHC 3094) attended the Jewish Talmud Thora-School in Malzgasse 16. The family spoke German at home as well as occasionally Yiddish; they kept their household kosher and belonged to an orthodox synagogue. In the summertime, the Schonfelds liked to spend several weeks in Schottwien near Semmering, where they would rent rooms from farmers. Otherwise, they would hike in the Vienna woods. Fabian was greatly interested in sports, especially soccer: he liked to play himself and was a fan of the soccer club "Austria", whereas his brother supported "Rapid".Before "Anschluss", Fabian encountered very little anti-Semitism, but this changed were dramatically, unexpectedly and fast in March of 1938. His father Samuel was the first of the family to leave Austria: he went to Bratislava, then to Belgium and later to England. Fabian left with an aunt and a cousin. They first travelled to Luxembourg and subsequently made their way to France, where Fabian and his brother Arnold attended a Jewish school. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, they went on to London and reunited with their parents. Because of heavy bombing, the brothers' school was evacuated and relocated to Stafford where they lived with a local family for approximately two years. After completing school, Fabian enrolled at the University of London and at the same time attended a seminary to become a rabbi. He graduated and started teaching at a Jewish grammar school. He was also the Rabbi of a small congregation. In 1950, Rabbi Schonfeld went to America and studied at Yeshiva University for two years. He was awarded an honorary doctorate degree and served as Rabbi at "Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills" for 61 years. Subsequently, he and his wife retired in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens.See also the interview with Fabian Schonfeld’s brother, Arnold Schonfeld, AHC 3094.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Karl Neumann. October 2015
No full textKarl Neumann (Newman) was born 1931 in Vienna, Austria, the son of Ernst and Getrude Neumann. They lived in a small apartment in Donaustadt, Vienna’s 22nd District. In late 1938 he and his sister Greta (born 1932) escaped with the help of a relative of Karl Kautsky to Sweden, where a family took care of them, and they attended school. In 1939 Ernst and Getrude Neumann acquired affidavits for their immigration to New York from a cousin. Their children followed in 1940, after having travelled via Moscow, Vladivostok, the west coast of Japan, Tokyo, Canada, and Seattle. The family moved to Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, where Karl's father worked as a physician. Karl was drafted into the US Navy and then graduated from medical school.October 20, 2015This is Karl Neumann's second interview with the Austrian Heritage Collection.Austrian Heritage Collectio
O Destino dos Judeus : [Renata Herzfeld Modern].
No full textA privately published book celebrating Renate Herzfeld Modern and her family.digitize
AHC interview with BW.
No full textFebruary 24, 2015BW was born 1929 in Poland. He attended primary school in the morning and Hebrew school in the afternoon. His family was orthodox and lived in a small town in Galicia, three hours away from Krakow. When the war broke out in September 1939, the family left their town and went to Soviet-occupied Poland. In June 1940 the family was deported to Siberia, where they had to chop wood in a labor camp. After their release, they settled for two tears in a formerly German area along the Volga River, before returning to Poland in 1946 and eventually ending up in a DP camp in Bavaria, Germany. They immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City in July 1949.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Eva Gochman.
No full textMarch 12, 2015Eva Ruth Gochman, née Grübler, was born on January 14th 1929 in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of David Grübler, a life insurance agent, and Josephine, née Heiss. She had one brother, Kurt (see AHC 102). Eva, her brother and her parents attended synagogue regularly and observed Jewish holidays, but they did not keep a kosher household. The family lived first in an apartment in Loewengasse in Vienna's 3rd district, then moved to other addresses, due to her father's improved financial situation. After the "Anschluss", a woman, living as a tenant in the Grüblers apartment, flew a swastika-flag in her window. David Gruebler, who was born in the USA and therefore an American citizen, went with the children to Amsterdam, where they embarked on the "Gerolstein" to Newark, NJ. HIAS provided aid and a place to sleep until Eva, her father and brother moved into an apartment in Washington Heights; her mother followed three months later. Eva attended Public School 132, later Public School 4, and then Washington Irving High School. She went on to Hunter College and later changed to Columbia University where she earned her master's degree in psychology. In 1957, she got her PhD from Adelphi College. After teaching at several universities, she went to Europe for one year with her husband. During that time, she first revisited Austria. They moved back to New Jersey, went to Puerto Rico for seven years, eventually settling down in Washington, D.C. Eva Gochman conducted research in psychology at St. Elizabeth Hospital and served as director of several programs. She retired after 23 years, studied art and started painting as well as sculpturing.See also the interview with Eva Gochman’s brother, Kurt Grübler, AHC 102.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Richard Green.
No full textAugust 12, 2015Richard Green (Gruenzweig ) was born 1928 in Vienna, Austria, the only child of Emil Gruenzweig (born 1901 in Vienna) and Irene Gruenzweig, née Tropp (born 1904 in Galicia). Emil Gruenzweig worked for his father-in-law's company, the "Hermann Tropp Grossholz AG". Although based in Vienna's 2nd District, the business mostly operated abroad: lumber cut in Poland would be transported to mills in Czechoslovakia and later shipped through ports in Italy. The family lived in an apartment in Ladenburggasse 29 in the 18th District. Richard had a French nanny; his mother Irene was a housewife. Richard attended "Bischof Faber Volksschule" - an elementary school in Vienna - from 1934 until 1938. He had four Jewish classmates, who all survived the Holocaust - Richard would later meet two of them by chance in London. Although passing an admission test for a Jewish high school in Vienna, he never actually attended that school , because the family fled Austria in September of 1938. Richard took fencing as well as piano lessons in his leisure time in Vienna. He was also a member of "Sport Club Maccabi Wien", a Jewish soccer club. The family liked to spend their vacations in the Austrian provinces as well as abroad.Emil Gruenzweig was arrested and imprisoned for approximately two months shortly after the annexation of Austria. Upon his release, he was declared "vogelfrei" (outlawed) and given 24 hours to leave the country: he fled through Russia to Hongkong. Later he made his way to Cyprus and illegally into Palestine, where he worked for the British Army until 1948. - Richard and his mother were evicted from their apartment in March of 1938 and therefore moved in with his maternal grandfather in the 2nd District; the "Hermann Tropp Grossholz AG" was taken over by a Nazi and Irene Tropp was forced to scrub the streets with acid, which inflicted serious injuries.Richard stayed in a children's home from approximately May until September of 1938, when his mother was able to obtain visas for England. They took a train through Calais and Paris and a boat across the channel to London, where Irene worked as a domestic help for a leading figure of a refugee relief organization. Richard attended boarding school until 1943, then took evening classes at the University of London and worked for a chemical laboratory. He immigrated to the US in April of 1948 and enrolled at Syracuse University, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1950, and graduating with a master's degree in organic chemistry in 1951. Richard Green was drafted into the US Army in 1955 and assigned to the chemical corps, where he worked on testing the effect of nerve gas on the human body. After his discharge in 1957, Richard Green worked in various jobs in the chemical industry, eventually landing with Johnson & Johnson in 1967, from which he retired in 1999.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Kurt Zimbler.
No full textAugust 25, 2015Kurt Zimbler was born1930 in Vienna, Austria, the only child of Max Zimbler (born 1902 in Czernowitz) and Blanka née Friedmann (born 1902 in Vienna). Kurt grew up in a penthouse-like apartment in the first District, in the so called "Siller Haus" - a hotel with some permanent accommodations. His father owned a barber- and beauty shop in Biberstrasse, in the first District, where Blanka Friedmann was working too. After the Anschluss Kurt and his family were evicted from their apartment and moved into Kurt's maternal grandparents’ apartment in Heinestrasse, in the second District. Max Zimbler, his brother, and their father were arrested by the Gestapo and released after less than 24 hours, because they were Romanian citizens. Kurt and his parents studied English with Mr. Koch, a private teacher, because they planned to emigrate to the US. Max Zimbler's siblings had been living in the U.S. for a longer time and provided affidavits for Kurt and Blanka, but Max Zimbler was not allowed to immigrate to the U.S. because of the quota for Romanian citizens; he had to stay in Havana, Cuba, for about two years, before he was able to come to the U.S. - Kurt Zimbler's maternal grandparents were interned in Terezin until the liberation of the concentration camp.Blanka and Kurt reached New York City in the beginning of 1939 on a ship from Hannover. In the beginning they lived in the Bronx at Kurt's uncle's apartment, then moved to Brownsville, Brooklyn, with Blanka's sister and her husband, and then again to the Bronx. When Max Zimbler arrived in New York in 1941, he opened a hair- and beauty shop, and the family moved to Manhattan. Kurt joined the Jewish organization "Young Judea" and eventually graduated from college in the Bronx. He studied Human Resources at Florida State University, before serving in the marine corps, where he received multiple awards for his honorable service; he was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant in 1960. He then worked as an office manager for several companies and started his own recruiting business.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Marietta Kalin.
No full textJune 8, 2015Marietta Kalin, née Blaustein was born 9/13/1934 in Vienna, Austria, the only child of Maximilian Blaustein (born 12/18/1900) and Joseffa Blaustein, née Haas (born 2/25/1905). Her father Maximilian owned a millinery factory in Vienna’s Mariahilfer Strasse, where the family resided in the same building. Marietta's mother had attended a conservatory and liked to sing, play the piano and regularly attended opera performances in Vienna. After the annexation of Austria, Maximilian Blaustein's business as well as the apartment and other property was seized. He was forced to scrub the streets in Vienna and shortly thereafter fled the country. Marietta and her mother followed three months later (February 1939), sailing on the "Queen Mary" from Cherbourg, France to New York. Marietta’s grandparents remained in Austria: her maternal grandfather died of natural causes in 1940; her maternal and paternal grandmothers both perished in concentration camps.In the US, Joseffa Blaustein was hired as a hostess; Maximilian Blaustein eventually established his own, fairly successful millinery business. Marietta attended a Catholic boarding school on Long Island and then public schools in Manhattan, where she graduated in 1952. She then studied psychology and marketing at New York University, graduating in 1956. She worked in advertising until her marriage in 1959 and started her second career later with a teaching certificate and a degree in special education. She worked in that field for 14 years until retiring in 1989 to Hackensack, NJ.Austrian Heritage Collectio