Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

I believe that the 2 pages below are part of a single letter, although the pages were not obviously together. So page 2 could actually belong to another letter entirely. If taken together, this is a letter from someone named Leo, probably Leo Schauer, Paul’s father’s third wife Eliza’s brother. The letter would have been written to Paul Zerzawy in New York City.

Prague 4 July 1939

Dear Paul!

Up until now I have only sent greetings to you from all of us through your mother.

There have been some regulations that have been announced in the last few days for the conscription of securities and emergency bank notes. The reporting forms for this matter are to be filled out personally by the owners who are in Germany and this is done by affidavit or declaration.

Otto, who is a recent husband and in his honeymoon weeks is finding no time for any extra kind of work and he leaves the office and goes home as soon as possible, asks me to write to you about this and I am happy to take the opportunity to brief you on it.

The mortgage period actually ran out a few weeks ago but has been extended for 3 months. Therefore, you do not have to do anything about this. Just so that the emergency bank notes do not expire and lose their value completely, you need to send the following letter to the Union Bank:

“In your bank with you, I have the amount of 120,000 Czech krone and 3-3/4 are in emergency bank notes on deposit and there is a mortgage of 60,000 Czech krone.

I hereby communicate to you that I have changed my legal address from Prague and today my new address is Paul Z c/o Cooper, 718 West 178th Street, Apt. 44, New York City.”

We read all your reports and we know about everything. Nothing new has happened here. Anny is still waiting for her Gestapo permission to emigrate, but we think that should be taken care of in a few days. Doris is writing reports that she is satisfied and happy and she is waiting with great longing for Anny’s arrival. I was in Poděbrad for a few days, which had a very positive influence on your mother’s state of mind and we have decided that we will certainly do this more often so that she not feel so lonely.

[Page 2:]

We haven’t received any direct news yet from Fritz and Hanne but the transport office has already told us that the transport has landed. The passengers are being registered. They are legal emigrants and they are part of the quota. The advantage of this is that people can keep their name and that the documents that they have had up till now will still be valid. Because there have been some possible cases of typhus during the transport, the participants are only let go after several weeks of quarantine and that’s why there is no direct news from them. We hope to get this news soon. According to the reports of Mr. Zwicker from Haifa, the Lift must have already arrived there. We have decided to send this only because the freight to Haifa can be paid in Czech krone here. Now the sender comes with the unpleasant news that according to the latest regulation, the freight to Haifa must be paid in hard currency when it reaches Trieste. This is about 20 pounds and I do not know at all if Fritz would have this amount available there.

I hope to hear good news from your existential question soon and for today with most sincere greetings from all of us

Your Leo

Rud Hanak reports today that he has received a job in his branch (office machines) with a beginning salary of 1000 pesos and he is quite happy about it. You must make sure to date your letter to the bank exactly on the day it is sent!

I found this letter in an envelope labeled “Otto” which my mother kept (see January 25 post). It was filled with bank documents and letters between Paul and his stepmother’s son in Palestine. I am not certain who Otto was. There is an Otto on the Zerzawy family tree who is some sort of cousin to Paul. According to the tree, he was an officer of Union Bank in Prague, had married in 1922 and divorced at some point. If it is the same Otto, according to this letter he remarried in 1939.  

Paul Zerzawy’s father Julius died early in 1939. His widow Elise is in Poděbrad, a spa town near Prague. Her son Fritz and his wife Hanne have emigrated to Haifa. Other friends and relatives are strewn across the globe. We saw letters from 1940 from Fritz in the January 25 post and from Elise in the February 10 post.

An aside: isn’t the German word for “honeymoon” wonderful?: Flitterwochen