November 21

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As we’ve seen in earlier posts, the Joint Distribution Committee (also known as the Joint) helped many of the world’s Jews during and after World War II. The Joint helped wherever they saw a need, including those who might have fallen through the cracks. One group was prisoners with Turkish citizenship who were part of a March 1945 prisoner trade. They had been put on a ship to Istanbul to be repatriated by Turkey. Unfortunately, Turkey did not recognize the citizenship of most of these refugees, who ended up imprisoned again in Istanbul. Penniless, homeless, and not having had contact with the outside world for years, these poor people needed help of all kinds to find somewhere that would welcome (or at least accept) their presence. My grandmother Helene, as the wife of a Turkish citizen, was one of these prisoners. We’ve read about her experience in earlier posts, as well about my experience researching the online JDC Archives to find documents related to her experience.

Upon the prisoners’ arrival in Istanbul, representatives of the Joint were concerned about the costs related to the 148 prisoners who arrived on the SS Drottningholm (see the April 20th post). Today we see excerpts from several memos from the JDC Archives from November 1945 regarding the remaining prisoners, including Helene.

From a November 9, 1945 letter from E.L. Packer, the First Secretary of the American Embassy in Ankara to Arthur Fishzohn of the Joint in Istanbul:

Referring to my letter of September 26, 1945, I take pleasure in informing you that Mr. Celal Osman Abacioglù, Director General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, telephoned me today to inform me that orders had been issued to Istanbul to permit the transfer of the Jewish refugees from the S.S. Drottningholm, who are now living at Moda, to Burgos, as requested.

We saw excerpts from the earlier mentioned letter in the September 25th post, where we learned of efforts to cut costs by finding a place to relocate the remaining 49 refugees.

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From a November 13, 1945 letter from Charles Passman from the Joint in Jerusalem to Arthur Fishzohn:

…This has been an exceptionally costly affair, but it cannot be helped. I only hope that this matter will be liquidated soon, so that it should not continue and involve us in additional expenses….

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From a November 20, 1945 letter from Arthur Fishzohn to G. Ladame, Assistant Delegate of ICRC in Turkey in Ankara with the Subject line: “Re SS ‘Drottningholm’ refugees”:

…I should like to correct the statement in my letter… of November 7th, wherein I advised that the number of internees had been reduced to 46. Not three but only one person… was released,… the figure of 49 must still be dealt with.

On November 13th we obtained the release of… who left Istanbul … for Palestine on the same day.

1.     The 48 individuals whose cases must still be disposed of:
[lists by destination country, the majority with visas to return to their home country]…

 e) The remaining 2 individuals desire to proceed to the countries listed opposite their names….
COHEN, Helena UNITED STATES (for which country she has already obtained a visa)

In the April 19th post, we saw transit visa stamps for several countries on Helene’s Affidavit in Lieu of Passport which was issued on November 28, 1945.

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From a November 21, 1945 letter from Arthur Fishzohn to Charles Passman, with the subject line “Re SS ‘Drottningholm’ refugees”:

Mr. G. Ladame (assistant to Gilbert Simond of the International Red Cross, Ankara) who has just rerutnred from Geneva, has asked me for information on the “Drottningholm” group still interned here. He states that Geneva is interested in this situation.

Mr. Simond’s office has been kept informed by me, from time to time, on the status of the “Drottningholm” affair….

I am glad to be able to inform you that the SS “Tan” left this afternoon for Marseilles with the 15 “Drottningholm” Belgians aboard. This will reduce the total number of “Drottningholm” internees to 33. Transportation for that group plus an additional 14 French repatriates, who have been on our relief rolls here, making a total of 29 persons, is to be paid for by Hicem Istanbul….The money…was advanced by me, and …the Hicem office here will arrange for the reimbursement of this amount to us here, as soon as his office in Paris cables it to him.

I am glad to report that, on November 17th, we transferred the remaining internees to a house in Fener-Bagçe, near Istanbul….

I have not yet received the $10,000 for which we have applied to New York in connection with these “Drottningholm: refugees. I guess, however, the money will be reaching me here very soon….

Copies of this letter and also of letter to Mr. Ladame are being forwarded to Paris and New York.

According to the Shoah Resource Center, HICEM was a merger of three Jewish migration associations.

In addition to providing context for my grandmother’s Istanbul letters, the JDC documents related to this group of prisoners give us an understanding of the bureaucratic hurdles and delicate diplomacy required to help those who arrived without any resources or support. We see that it required the assistance of and intervention by many agencies from across the globe.

November 17

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Today we have a letter from Helene’s nephew Robert Zerzawy. Although his brother Paul Zerzawy emigrated to the U.S., Robert never made it further than England. As far as I know, he only made one visit to California, which he mentions in this letter. He is writing to his young cousin Harry.

17 November 1947.        

Dear Harry,

I have exactly five minutes to write you while having my “elevenses” - a warm cup of coffee in this beastly weather is a real comfort. I think longingly back to the sunny day in Berkeley when you showed me round there though the temperature was not quite as high as in Boulder City where we had 105 or 110°. But you are not impressed by that. You had your share in the South Sea. That’s not exactly what you wanted to hear from me but give me time, Harry. Since I have been back, I never found the right mood for writing a personable letter. As far as reason goes with me, I am afraid I move ... in a circle, too much time and too much loneliness for introspective thoughts, and that’s not good for the mind - for today let me just tell you how much I enjoyed having met you after the 10 fateful years, or how long it is that we met in Vienna. I regret only we had so little time to talk to each other. Still, I hope it wasn’t the last time.

I wish you every success in your plans and good luck for your future. If you have the time and feel like, please write me about your doings and your ideas. ...always be pleasant to hear from you.

Cheers and kindest regards,
Yours
Robert

[2 stickers on the letter: Please give this To Harry]

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On Ancestry.com, I found the ship manifest showing Robert sailing from Manchester, England on August 22, 1947 on the Manchester Progress bound for Montreal, listing the ultimate destination of visiting his brother Paul in San Francisco. At the time, he was living in Bridport, on the southern coast of England.  

In November 1947, Robert was 48 years old and Harry was half his age. Although they were related closely by blood, they had little common history. According to Robert, the last time they had seen each other was 10 years earlier, when Harry would have been 14. We saw in earlier posts that the intent had been for Robert to join his brother Paul and young cousins Eva and Harry in San Francisco, but somehow it never happened. Robert settled in England and became a citizen there.

Robert’s letters always make me feel melancholy and imagine what might have been. He was an artist with a sensitive temperament, not well-suited to the serious and dangerous times he lived in.

Robert’s mother died before he was 5 years old, his step-mother when he was 10. He was a young teenager when World War I broke out and his father and two older brothers Paul and Erich joined the army, leaving he and his two sisters Klara and Käthl at home, being cared for by their grandmother. Klara died in 1916. Robert was not drafted, although there is talk in some letters of the likelihood of him becoming a soldier. By 1918, he was 19 years old, his brother Erich never returned from the Siberian POW camp, his sister Käthl had died, the family household had been disbanded, and his brother Paul returned as a young adult who had had a front-row seat to the war. The four-year age difference probably felt like a much wider gap. It appears that Paul was well-suited to university and legal studies. Robert tried to follow in his footsteps, with a lesser degree of success.

I believe that the photo below was taken in Berkeley on the visit Robert mentions in the letter:  

November 15

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Today’s letter is from Helene’s nephew Robert Zerzawy in England to his cousin Eva in San Francisco.

November 15, 1966 

Dear Eva,

How can I stand before you and justify how remiss I have been? Not only did you write to me on March 28 right after your daughter’s birthday, and even in a hurry before breakfast, stressed out and on an empty stomach; you also sent me a telegram for my birthday, which I haven’t thanked you for yet. It notified me of a letter which hasn’t arrived yet, but that doesn’t let me off the hook. Your kindness of thinking of me and the birthday greetings were already reason enough for me to thank you. And what must little Helen think of an uncle who doesn’t even seem to appreciate her artistic expression? I can only assure you that I think of you often, even if it doesn’t seem like it.

At the time of the letter mentioned, you weren’t very well and had gone through operations and treatment in the hospital, and were expecting “more surgery in the future.” I’m very sorry you had to go through so much and that, because of all that, you could not devote yourself to Helen Rose as you would like to do. - The only good thing about such a long time between letters is that maybe things have improved. I hope so, with all my heart. You brought me great joy with the picture of Helen Rose with the seven candles on the big birthday cake - please tell Paul thanks and express my respect for his talent as a photographer. I hope you will do the same for your mother’s 80th birthday, and maybe I’ll have the pleasure of seeing all of you together in a photo - the last picture of Helen which I got from you is in the newspaper article when she won the Social Security game. How sweet she looks! What I would give to be able to attend that notable birthday party, but unfortunately, that isn’t possible for geographic and financial reasons, and other reasons too. - If I can’t spend time with you in person, I do want to participate somehow, and thus I have a huge favor to ask, which I hope is not too presumptuous: could you be so kind as to buy a bouquet or another appropriate present, and put it on the table with the other birthday presents - from me? Unfortunately, I didn’t think of this in time to send it via the Interflora Service; now (today) it is too late to arrange for that in time without it costing an excessive amount. I was thinking of [spending] about ten dollars. I think you could get something suitable for that amount, and I will send you the money separately by bank transfer. Now, along with all of your own troubles, you have my request to worry about; I hope it isn’t too much trouble, and I’ll definitely send a little greeting card. I’ll do that as soon as possible, and I’ll end this letter by saying thanks in advance for your friendly help in getting the present. Warm greetings to all of you, and I wish you a happy birthday celebration in honor of our dear beloved Helen, with no hint of trouble or worry.

With all my heart,        
Your Robert

I hope you are well and that Helen is, too, and all the others as well. I hope nothing gets in the way of having a happy family party.

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Robert includes almost an entire year of guilt and love in this one letter. He feels bad for never sending anything for my March birthday and never acknowledging Eva’s birthday greetings for his own 67th birthday in July. He mentions Helene’s photo in the Social security game, which we saw in the April 9th post. Helene’s 80th birthday is less then 2 weeks away and he realizes he doesn’t have time to send anything in time.

Below are photos of me taken by my father at my 7th birthday party in March 1966. My father went by his middle name “Paul” which can be confusing, since we’ve spent so time with Robert’s (by then deceased) brother Paul, who played such an important role in their lives. Not half as confusing as a letter filled with mentions of two different Helens! Reading Robert’s letters makes me wish I had understood the family relationship better and that I had indeed felt that he was a kind of uncle to me. I am sorry I never met him.

November 13

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Today’s document is a bank transfer from Helene to Victor Levy in Cairo, Egypt dated November 13, 1946.

In the April 17th post, Vitali’s relative Yomtov Cohen writes from Istanbul to Helene in San Francisco to ask her to reimburse Levy Brothers Co. in Cairo for the cost of her ship voyage to the United States.

At the time of Yomtov’s letter, she had not yet arrived in the United States – she boarded the Vulcania in Alexandria Egypt on April 14th, 1946 and arrived in New York two weeks later. According to an online currency calculator, $300 would be worth $4,294 in 2021. No wonder it took her and her children six months to repay the fare.

October 31

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In this application letter to the California Redwood Association, we learn about Harry’s life after being discharged from the army.

October 31, 1951

Dear Sir:
I am very much interested in the position we discussed today and should like to give you a summary of my qualifications, as you suggested.

I am 28 years of age, graduate of Mission High School in San Francisco and of the University of California at Berkeley, with a major in Communication and Public Policy and a minor in science and foreign languages.

After graduation from high school in 1941 I worked as general office clerk and city collector for the Triangle Produce Company in Sacramento until my induction into the Army in March 1943. My army experience included among other duties that of personnel and information and education noncom for battalion headquarters in the South Pacific area. Honorably discharged in November 1945, I entered the employ of Wm. Taaffe & Company, San Francisco as bookkeeper and assistant to the secretary treasurer and worked there until February 1947. I then began my studies in the College of Agriculture, switched to the College of Letters and Science a year and a half later, and graduated in January 1951. At the present time I am working as technical translator for the Institute of Engineering Research at the University of California.

The major of Communication and Public Policy covered the study of the nature of language and the nature of the media of mass communication: radio, press, and film, as well as the role played by informative and persuasive communication in modifying the character of public opinion and public institutions. The curriculum included courses in the social sciences, public speaking, content analysis, and journalism. Extra-curricular activities included those of social chairman and president of a students’ living group.

During the last two and a half years of my college career I worked as library assistant in the library of the departments of Engineering and Architecture, doing general library and reference work.

I shall be happy to answer any questions concerning my qualifications and am at your disposal at any time.

Yours sincerely,
Harry L. Lowell

References:….

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Harry got the job and worked for the California Redwood Association for several years. The position allowed him to travel all over the United States and not be stuck at a desk. The students’ living group he mentions was the University Student Cooperative Association (the USCA, now called the Berkeley Student Cooperative), which offered cheap housing for students in exchange for them working several hours a week, thus saving money on cleaners, cooks, etc. The USCA was an important part of Harry’s life. Through the co-op, he met his future wife. After working for the Redwood Association, he had a job for several years at the USCA. Through that job he met a small Oakland printer, which led him to buying the printer’s shop when he retired, thus following in his mother’s and grandfather’s footsteps by providing printing and stationery services.

October 25

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This letter concerns Helene’s application for reparations from the German government.

28 October 1955

RE: Reparations
Regarding: Your letter from 28 August 1955

With reference to your above-mentioned letter, we inform you of the following: Since you never had your place of residence in the area of application of the law, and especially not in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the eligibility requirements of §8.1 were not fulfilled, and so the state of Rhineland-Palatinate cannot be claimed for compensation.

However, you cannot assert any claims as being persecuted from the displaced areas, as stateless or political refugees or as nationally persecuted.

Stateless persons and political refugees are not entitled to claim under §§71-75 as you are neither a political refugee according to the agreement of July 28, 1951 on the legal status of refugees, nor stateless persons in the sense of §71, because you have Turkish citizenship today, just as you did then.

The prerequisites for making a claim under the Federal Supplementary Act are not met.

On behalf of:

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This letter highlights the cruelty and Catch-22 of Helene’s life. Because of her marriage to a Turkish citizen, she lost the citizenship of her birth. Despite what is stated in the letter, Turkey denied her citizenship when she was sent there in 1945. She did not have the correct address, citizenship, or anything else for her request to merit consideration by any entity. This must have felt immensely unfair. She had suffered so much, and her requests ended up in a tangle of a cold bureaucracy that had no interest in helping her or even acknowledging what she had been through. Although by this time she was safe in San Francisco, she felt that she belonged nowhere and that no one cared about her existence.

October 20

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Today we see a newsletter from October of 1962. This 8-page bulletin was for written by and for survivors of Ravensbrück. I was surprised when I first came across this document among Helene’s belongings – I had never imagined that there might be an alumni newsletter for former concentration camp prisoners. And yet, it makes perfect sense – who else could understand and identify with their experiences? Today, it would be a Facebook group – in fact, in preparing today’s post, I found that there is a group with that name! The newsletter continues to be published.

Unsurprisingly, Helene was traumatized by her time in Ravensbrück, and it haunted her for the rest of her life. She referred to her experiences in some of her letters from Istanbul in 1945-1946 and in some of her memoirs. She felt close to women who shared her experience, continuing her correspondence with some of them at least into the early 1960s. There is a letter from Helene to Lucienne Simier and one from Lucienne to Harry, and a poem dedicated to Helene from Gemma La Guardia Gluck, and artwork by Jeanne Letourneau.

The human need for connection and communication is incredibly strong, and people will do everything they can to reach out to loved ones, especially in the darkest of times. As we have seen, family members found ways to contact their loved ones from a Siberian POW camp during World War I, from Vienna to the U.S. while the countries were at war, between the death camps. Nothing could quell their quest for contact.

October 19

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Other than the San Francisco Examiner newspaper article about Helene winning a contest, I knew little about her life in San Francisco beyond that of being my kind and loving grandmother, the only grandparent I ever knew. Today’s letter of recommendation gives us a window into her life in the U.S., just two years after her arrival.

October 18, 1948

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN;

It is a pleasure to say that Mrs. Helene Cohen is known to me to be of good character and to be a competent and conscientious housekeeper.

Mrs. Cohen gave to my uncle, for whom she was housekeeper, not only excellent physical care, but was considerate of his mental well being and careful in the management of the expenses of his household.

Very truly yours,

Harry Goodfriend

I searched for Harry Goodfriend and found an obituary for him in the Winter 2012 Lowell Alumni Newsletter. He graduated from Lowell High School in 1928 and died in 2010 at the age of 100. He was in banking for more than 60 years. The in memoriam notice ended by saying “we will all miss Harry, who was a true gentleman and a good friend to a century of people.” As I learn more about my family, I am fascinated by all the people whose paths they crossed. I suppose that’s true for most of us, but we don’t usually see evidence of it.

October 14

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As we’ve seen in past posts, Helene’s nephew Paul Zerzawy had difficulty landing on his feet when he came to America. He had years of education and several degrees, had risen in the ranks as a soldier in World War I, and had a successful career in Vienna. Yet, when he arrived in the U.S. in 1939 at the age of 43, he had neither the means nor the skills necessary to have a successful career. He fell back on his skills as a musician and became a piano teacher and accompanist.

Today we see a flyer for a benefit concert held at a private home in Berkeley, California on October 14, 1946.

The concert raised money to help settle European Jewish war orphans in Birobidjan/Birobidzhan in the farthest reaches of eastern Siberia. Note the price of postage in 1946: 1-1/2 cents! This remote area was designated by the USSR as the “Jewish Autonomous Region”. Although there was a revival of the area from 1946-1948, Stalin soon made life hell for the Jews living there -- unfortunately these generous people probably made things worse for those poor children.

Paul accompanied a Polish contralto named Anna Opaletska in music by Brahms and Polish and Russian folk songs. It appears that he accompanied her on a fairly regular basis. In trying to find more about Miss Opaletska, I found an article from the October 11, 1946 issue of the Oakland Tribune which described the upcoming event:

from newspapers.com: page 14 of the October 11, 1946 issue of the Oakland Tribune

Affair Set for War Orphans

Polish and Russian folk songs, presented by Miss Anna Opaletska in native costume, will be a feature of the tea Monday afternoon at 2:30 at the home of Mrs. Henry Sicular on La Loma Avenue, Berkeley, to benefit European war orphans.

Giving the tea is the Bay Area American Biro-Bidjan committee, whose work [is] toward resettlement and rehabilitation of orphans and refugees in Biro-Bidjan, a Jewish autonomous republic of the U.S.S.R.

Paul Zerzawy of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, who will accompany Miss Opaletska, is also donating his talents to the benefit. Sponsors include….

A report on work being done or planned for Biro-Bidjan orphans will be made at the tea by J.B. Aronoff based on information just brought to this country by B.Z. Goldberg, National Committee representative. Dr. Albert Einstein is national president of the committee.

Apparently the fund was set up in 1945 and was known as the “Einstein Fund”.

We have already spent a fair amount of time this year in another part of eastern Siberia, where Paul’s brother Erich spent the last years of his brief life at a POW camp in Beresowka/Beresovka. They do not appear to be close to each other except compared to anywhere in Europe.

I do not know which Brahms songs were played, but I found a Brahms song for contralto, viola, and piano which gives us some idea.

October 1

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Today we see two letters from Helene and Vitali’s friend Paula in Vienna, one from 1952 and one from 1955. We saw letters from Paula in the July 11 and August 22 posts.  

Vienna, Oct. 1, 1952 

Dearest Helene,

Today I am taking time to write to you, my dearest.  Thank you for your last letter, but don’t take it the way Franz said it.  We know you love us very much.  A friendship doesn’t just end like that.  We have done enough together, and you are not like the others.  As you know, we have helped many people and now they don’t want to hear about it, because we might need help, they all have excuses.  I think you know what I as a friend have done to help.  She wouldn’t be able to live abroad and I wrote to her that maybe she would like to lend us some money, she could have also demanded that interest be paid.  We are not looking for a handout.  Her excuse then was that she can’t get it for free, but previously I could do anything.  Yes, my dear Helene, you can imagine that we are very sad.  Franz could have rented a business and everything would have been paid back by now, but the poor fellow has to go as a representative where he only earns something when he brings in orders, no health insurance, no child support, nothing, I would like to work but unfortunately I can’t find anything, you know, if we didn’t have any debt it would be easier, everything was stolen from the old man at Salamander, and what he brought there he will not get back, believe me, dear Helene, I don’t write to the friend anymore because I don’t deserve this, she complains to me because she did transfer a few hundred Schilling and she thinks that is enough, you see, dear Helene, we can’t help this person any more, you can imagine that they will have to leave everything behind, but we aren’t helping anyone anymore.  When Vitali comes, you are different, even though you have so many problems, you still think of us, but believe that better times will come for you, Vitali will come back as soon as he can and then things will be better for you dear Helene the package you mentioned has not arrived, please don’t send any more, it’s too bad about the money you spend and which is so hard to earn, and the others have it.  Dear Helene, years ago you sent me a coat, I had it altered for Annemichen, and it turned out so nice that everyone thinks it is a new coat, you know, I sew every day to make something useful out of old things for the child, it won’t be long until I will have to go out in an Eva suit because my daughter takes everything away from me, I’m just glad I can sew everything. You would be amazed at all the things I can do, but it’s just that I can’t get work to help support my good husband which makes me very sad but as soon as Vitali comes he will tell us what to do.  I often see him in my dreams and he encourages us, telling us he will come soon and stay in Vienna as far as we know, and you will come back to us and everything will be calm again and better times will come dear Helene forgive my mistakes but I am in a hurry because I still need to go shopping although I don’t know what I’m going to cook but I will find something my dear I’ll write soon and you must believe firmly that Vitali will come we really believe it and think he is doing better and he will soon have everything he needs.

That’s all for today my dear, a thousand kisses from me and the little one and greetings from my husband

Your Paula

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Vienna, October 13, 1955

Our dear good Helene,

Please don’t be mad that we haven’t written until today, but unfortunately there is always a lot going on, here too, and it’s something different every day.  Also, I am not as healthy as I should be, and my husband suffers a lot from headaches, and unfortunately he can’t afford a vacation.  If I could contribute by earning something, it would be easier, but the ladies always want me to stay all day, and I can’t do that.  After all, I have my own household to take care of.  And, as you know, the occupying forces have left, but unfortunately Salamander can’t work here because the local shoe factories are opposed to that, and so it’s hard for my husband too, but with God’s help we will stay on here until Annemarie has finished school, and hopefully she will have a good job by next year and be able to support herself.  So, my dear Helene, now about your question re Vitali.  He is in Turkey, but why he doesn’t get in touch we cannot say, but please write to his sister and tell her to put a notice in all newspapers asking him to report in.  And we will go to the Turkish Delegation here; maybe they can do something.  I think by now he must have found the means to come here.

This Jewish man, Rosenberg, has not been here for a long time.  I also don’t know if he may know something, I repeat how everyone left Buchenwald and he came along too, but then he stayed behind but did not die, my husband also says why does he keep quiet for so long, but it’s strange:  I often dream of seeing him packing his suitcase, but we are very far from giving up hope about him coming.  Whether your children believe it or not, that doesn’t change things.  But you, Helene, must believe that you will see each other again.  You know how many people were declared dead in this war, and now, gradually, they are returning and many women are married.  If you were here, you would be amazed by everything that is happening.  Dear Helene, as soon as we can, we will go to the Consulate here, my husband will go too, so that he can give an exact report, and his sister will certainly offer the money to put notices in the newspapers.  Vitali must read some newspaper or other; it seems unlikely he would be somewhere else.

My dear, we wish you good health and don’t be sad, everything will be all right, it would be better if you were here with us, then you could handle it all better.  America is no country for you.

Many sincere greetings from us all and many greetings and kisses from me

Paula

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Paula’s earlier letters are stream of consciousness and manic – perhaps not surprising considering how difficult life was in in post-war, occupied Vienna. Letters continued to be censored, finding employment was near impossible, old friends seemed to have deserted them.

Paula felt that Helene was one of the few people who stuck by her, sending hand-me-down clothes and other gifts, not all of which arrived. Paula talks of going out in an “Eva suit”, which presumably was one of my mother’s old outfits that Helene sent for Paula’s daughter Annemarie/Annemichen. Now that her daughter outgrew it, Paula will wear it herself. Like with Paul Zerzawy’s recycling of an old dress shirt (see September 29 post), we are reminded how precious material and clothing was - not like how virtually disposable fashion has become.

Although my grandmother was a prolific letter writer – even after the war when she was reunited with her children – she saved a relatively small number of letters she received in the 1950s and virtually nothing from the 1960s and beyond. Did she stop writing letters after her grandchildren were born? As earlier in her life, did she write far more letters than she received? Or did she only save the letters that had the most meaning? Why were Paula’s some of the only letters she kept? Paula kept Helene’s hope alive that she would see Vitali again. By 1955, Helene’s children were trying to convince her that it was unlikely he had survived. It must have been so much more comforting to pin her hopes to the ravings of an old friend, one who knew Vitali well and who wanted to believe almost as much as Helene did in his eventual return.

Salamander was a German shoe company founded in the late 1800s by a Jewish man, Max Levi (no relation to my family), and a Christian man, Jakob Sigle. Max’s family was forced to sell their shares when the Nazis came to power and the company used forced labor during the war. According to Wikipedia, in March 2020, a memorial plaque was posted in Berlin acknowledging the company’s role in the war.

September 27

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In the September 25 post, we read about the situation of the refugees in Istanbul. At the same time, today we see that one of Vitali’s relatives was working to facilitate Helene’s reunion with her children in San Francisco. As a prisoner, I don’t know how she could have managed it on her own.

Istanbul, 26 September 1945

Very dear Mrs. Helena,

I have the pleasure of telling you that the local Consulate of the USA just advised me that the documents for your visa have arrived here.  Since those at the Consulate are very busy for the next few days, I was asked to wait 8 days to visit the Consulate about this matter.

I am very happy to give you this good news.  In three or four days I will contact the American Consulate to find out on which day you will be able to present yourself.

In case you need to tell me something, please write to me, because I am very busy these days and do not have time to go to Moda.

I am sending you 50 pounds via the person delivering this letter; I assume this will be welcome for you.

Hoping to see you again within a week, I greet you warmly

Yomtov Cohen

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Earlier in the year, we saw several letters from Yomtov Kohen – I believe he was one of Vitali’s nephews. He was a successful businessman, working for the Turkish division of Gislaved, a Swedish company that produced rubber goods. I found a Turkish site which is selling a copy of Yomtov’s business card.

We saw other letters from Yomtov in the June 22, July 20, January 14, January 26, and April 17 posts (listed in the order they were sent during 1945 and 1946). What a comfort it must have been for Helene to have his emotional and financial support, as well as a connection to her beloved Vitali. Fortunately, Helene was still in Moda when Yomtov wrote this letter, since we learned in the September 25 post that the Joint was planning to move the refugees to less expensive lodging. After they moved the refugees, it became difficult for Vitali’s relatives to find and visit Helene. I do not know what 50 Turkish pounds were worth, but it must have felt like a windfall!

September 25

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As we learned earlier in the year (see July 10 post), Helene was part of a prisoner trade which led to her release from Ravensbrück, put on board the Swedish ship Drottningholm to Istanbul, and interned there in April 1945. In the absence of any governmental bodies taking responsibility for these penniless and traumatized souls, the American Joint Distribution Committee (the Joint) took responsibility: interviewing the prisoners, helping connect them to loved ones around the world, and facilitating transport to their ultimate destination – whether it be their country of origin, another country that would take them in, or Palestine. At this time, the Joint was trying to help Jews all over Europe, and this small group of refugees was costing them a lot of time and effort with very little results.

Today we see excerpts from two letters letter from the JDC archives. The first letter is from Arthur Fishzohn who worked on behalf of the Joint to Earl L. Packer, the interim chargé d’affaires at the American Embassy in Ankara; the second is from Packer to Celal Osman Abacıoğlu from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

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September 20th, 1945

Earl L. Packer Esq/.
Chargé d’Affaires ad interim,
American Embassy, Ankara

Subject: Re “Drottningholm refugees”

Dear Mr. Packer,

…there are now a total of 49 refugees still interned. We are making strenuous efforts to obtain visas for these people to…countries where they resided previous to the war. 

As you know, the financial burden for carrying these refugees at the hotel in Moda… is very high and we are trying to reduce these excessive costs. A Jewish Istanbul resident, who owns a summer house in Burgas Island has offered us this house, without charge, for the accommodation of the interned refugees.

At my request, one of the local leaders of the Jewish community applied to the Police Headquarters in Istanbul asking for the transfer of these people to Burgas Island. The police seem disposed to grant this request but advised that permission … should be obtained through the authorities in Ankara.

I would deem it a great favor if you would take this matter up at your first opportunity with the Foreign Office – or perhaps it is the Office of the Interior – and would welcome hearing from you as soon as conveniently possible.

With many thanks,

Sincerely yours,
Arthur Fishzohn

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 Ankara, September 25, 1945

M. Celal Osman Abacıoğlu
Director General of the Department of Consular Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara

Dear Mr. Abacıoğlu,

Referring to our conversation today regarding the Drottningholm refugees now living at the hotel in Moda, Istanbul, … Mr. Arthur Fishzohn has requested the Embassy to inquire whether permission may be granted to enable the refugees to move from the hotel in Moda to a summer house on the Island of Burgas, owned by an influential Istanbul Jewish resident, who has offered the house without charge for the use of the refugees referred to.

In view of the fact that as the Joint Distribution Committee is paying for the living expenses of the refugees at the hotel in Moda … I should be grateful if you might find it possible to ascertain whether the proposed change of residence of the refugees could be authorized.

Sincerely yours,
E.L. Packer

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Helene listed and described the different locations she had stayed in Istanbul in the letter posted on February 2. Here is a photo taken during her time in Istanbul:

Although the war was officially over, Helene was still a prisoner. I don’t know how much my grandmother knew about the other refugees interned in Istanbul – over the months she undoubtedly saw fellow internees leave one by one, but she was not so lucky. Part of the problem is that she didn’t know her children’s addresses so letters yet again took a long time to reach their destination – when last she’d heard, Eva was in nursing school and Harry had just finished high school. In the intervening years, Eva had graduated and gotten married and Harry had joined the army.

September 15

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Today’s letter is from Robert Zerzawy in London to his aunt Helene Cohen in San Francisco.

15/9/63

Still for the time being:
35, Matlock Court
Kensington Park Rd.
London, W. 11.

My dear Helene,

I ask myself rather horrifiedly how it happened that almost 8 weeks will have gone by before my thanks to you for your good thoughts on my birthday will reach you. Of course, immediately when I got your so welcome letter in that old handwriting that has hardly changed at all, then I sat down and started writing but then the old habit repeats itself — I wanted to tell you about so many things that somehow I got all meshed together and I didn’t finish it. That’s what happens to one’s successors. You have talked about your own physical condition and in the interaction of problems with circulation, depression, and other problems, which I understand only too well since I myself specialize in this. You will understand how it could be that one can get all tied up mentally and how there’s not a simple answer to these complicated conditions, how over simple it seems to outsiders.

Generally, I agree with your doctors: there are nerve problems of various kinds and on a human level, those rude vulgar slips of memory, and displacement require our concentration and what I would like to call intellectual memory. One can certainly see in your letter that you are still a match to most people in your ability to express yourself.

I’m always happy about the flashlights from the family life of Eva and Harry and their respective children. How often I wished I was closer and could participate. I can imagine what joy and interest they bring to your life.

I admire you very much for undertaking a handwritten report. This is a comfort to me and a joy. I hope to amuse you by repeating it here. You have proved to yourself that you can do it. Don’t overdo like I did. Try as much as you can. You have such lofty aspirations, just write what you can.

In my and Anne’s life in the last weeks, many things have happened. This is part of the reason for the delay in my writing. My employer, the colorful Bayer factory, which you probably know as the inventor of aspirin, has decided to open a new chemistry office in England, where I now work and where Anne also has a nice job. That all happened quite quickly and as would also be the case where you are, there are certain complications, such as finding a good location for it, getting it set up, and all furnished. We were quite busy with that and with getting a house at the same time. A well-situated house of the right size and in good condition and for a price we could afford -- finding this takes patience, tenacity, and a car, which we were able to buy a few months ago. I got this even though I am not of the appropriate age. The necessary mortgage loan and negotiations went along so that we were able to move in in October.

So these are very positive developments, and I feel that I am just about to get it all together and reach my goal. I have a good friend to thank for all of this, who was actually my subordinate when I worked in Immenstadt in Bavaria in a [hemp or crafts?] factory. Thanks to his talents and responsible nature, he became the director of this large company, one of the 2 or 3 men who are responsible for large international companies with 65,000 employees. Thomas Anpham [?], of English descent like his name indicates, and may be the most valuable person I have met in life and has many wonderful human qualities. I don’t mean to emphasize that his fate wasn’t easy and he suffered the blemishes of Naziism.

I always make sure not to be overly cheerful or in high spirits and not to forget the many hard times that I have experienced. Maybe that sounds rather pompous. I hadn’t meant it that way. I notice that Anne and I too easily take [?] for granted, which is not how it ought to be.

Actually, not that long ago I had thought about retiring or leading a semi-retired life and dealing with my various ailments. The Bayer matter gave me motivation again. We will have to see how long that lasts. In any case, it will be easier to get by in our own house if needs be. And for Anne, to a certain extent at least, it is something to take care of.

Helen, I’ll end this letter for today. Maybe I’d better send this letter off to you. Because there’s still room, I must tell some news. I am writing on a sunny Monday afternoon, taking advantage of the nice weather. I feel the visit would be ideal for the purposes of writing. Well, Helen, thanks again for your letters and tales. I hope you’ll sleep better and get along with the other things that are festering. Well, I feel the old family connection here.

Your Powidl

Note: Anne says hello of course and is sending greetings to Eva and Paul, Harry, Marie and the offspring, whether they know us or not.

P.S. Didn’t know of Tilly Zentner’s passing away nor of Hilda’s divorce, re-marriage and second divorce.

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Even well into his 60s, Robert signs his childhood nickname Powidl –  referring to a popular plum spread -- when writing to his beloved aunt, his closest living relative and the only person left who shared a history of early 20th Century life in Bohemia and knew his mother, grandmother, and siblings. See also August 8 post.

At age 64, Robert finally feels that he has landed on his feet professionally and is able to create a comfortable life. What mixed feeling he must have had to be working for the English branch of Bayer, a German company that thrived during the war while being involved in despicable acts!

As we’ve seen in other letters from Robert, he and Helene were kindred spirits. Both had emotional temperaments and seemed more negatively affected by life’s many difficulties and challenges than were other members of the family.

September 11

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Today we have a letter from Helene’s nephew Robert Zerzawy to his cousin Eva in San Francisco. He is writing from Cologne, Germany, although he resided in London. The first part  of the letter is written in German and the rest in English (in italics below).  

                                                                        Cologne 11, September 1965

Dear Eva,

How guilty I still feel to have dumped my worries on you. If I had suffered as much as you and took it on courageously, I would be seeking sympathy and support - you have two operations behind you. I hope that in between you have recovered somewhat. I hope that you can manage, at least as a beginning, to handle your house affairs, and soon get additional strength so that you can begin to do your work a little bit at a time. OK, I send you my best wishes for your complete recovery. After a normal illness, one should be well on the way to recovery, but you will need a little more time. I hope all went well and your recovery is proceeding nicely.

The newspaper clipping with the marvelous picture of your mother and the happy news that she won the $1000 jackpot gave me unexpected joy. She really looks marvelous, so sweet and you can truly be proud of her. I only wish that I could see her and take her in my arms and somehow convey my love and tenderness I feel for her. No doubt you will do this for me until I shall be able to write more fully.

Just now I am here to sort out a few problems with my late employers - which I fear can affect my pension in a serious way, and as usual in such giant firms like Bayer it is difficult to obtain a straightforward settlement owing to the many departments and principals involved.

I was able to get away for a little while as relations of a friend of mine took the house for three weeks - a break, I need, to try and find some way to get out of the present entanglement, which I hope, will be easier if one can gain some distance and get things better in perspective.

A few days after your welcome birthday telegram came by airmail a copy in an envelope and I was struck by Helen’s unchanged and concise handwriting. I am glad to learn that in your estimation she is doing well physically for her years. I will write her, as I said before, as soon as I find more time in my « holiday » whenever this might be. Just now I am in the Rhineland, but want to travel farther south, perhaps also to Vienna, where I have an invitation by a titular cousin, Anton Zerzawy, a veterinarian, with whom I got friendly by correspondence.

Many thanks for the addresses and telephone numbers. It certainly will be a help and great impulse for our future contact.

Dear Eva, have thousands thanks that in spite of your obstacles and handicaps you wrote me so fully and put my mind - to some extent - to rest. Now I only wish that you get well over your various operations and hospital treatments. Give my love to your mother, Harry and family, Helen Rose and Paul, and again my warmest thanks for your letter. After the trying times I wish and hope that a better spell will come for you - you certainly deserve it.

 With my love,
Robert

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Robert refers to the article we saw in the April 9 post, when Helene won $1,000 through a contest by the San Francisco Examiner. In the March 23 post, we saw a letter that. Robert wrote to Helene in 1966, where he mentions the contest and Eva’s surgeries. I was 5 or 6 when my mother was ill, so I have no sense of how serious the illnesses and surgeries were. My mother was stoic and had a high tolerance for pain, and she would never have wanted me to be anxious about her, so I never worried. I have a hazy memory of visiting her in the hospital once or twice. Since my mother was a nurse, and because my early experiences of hospitals were that people went in to get better and then came out, I do not have a fear of visiting hospitals that some people have. My mother passed to me her faith in the medical profession, as well as a desire to avoid seeking medical assistance unless absolutely necessary!

September 8

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Today we have a letter written by students regarding a faculty member who taught Russian at UC Berkeley Extension. The letter was signed by 18 students, but I am showing only Harry’s signature. This was the height of the Cold War and McCarthyism was going strong.

September 8, 1950

Dear Sir:
Having just learned of the abrupt termination of Mr. Karnaugh’s position as teacher of Russian at the Far Eastern Language School, we, former and present students of Mr. Karnaugh’s, urge that he be allowed to continue to teach at this school.

In our contact with Mr. Karnaugh we found him to be a conscientious, patient, and very capable teacher. He has constantly sought to improve and adapt his methods of instruction in accordance with the needs of each student. His patience, his encouragement, and his personal interest in his students have won him the regard and respect of all of us.

In view of his excellent qualities as a teacher, the reason for dismissal must have been other than that of incompetence. Allow us therefore to point out that Mr. Karnaugh has in no way imposed upon us any personal views which he may have.

We feel that the dismissal of Mr. Karnaugh would constitute a great loss to the students and to the school, and we urge again that he be reinstate in his position.

Sincerely yours,

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Since Harry’s was the first signature, I wonder whether he wrote or co-wrote the letter. This appears to be a carbon copy. All of the signatures look like they were written by the same hand and pen, probably Harry’s. I don’t know whether Harry signed his full name on the original. His use of his initials H.L.L. is reminiscent of his father’s common signature: H.S.M. Cohen.

I also see echoes of Harry’s grandfather in this letter. Although he never met his maternal grandfather, I expect his presence loomed large in their household. As we saw in the January 6 post, Adolf Löwy published a left-leaning newspaper in Helene’s hometown of Bilin in Bohemia. He wanted his newspaper to give voice to and protect the voiceless. One of the reasons Harry gave up a traditional career to run a printing shop was because of how well he understood the power of the press.

I found Nicholas I. Karnaugh listed in the “AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN LANGUAGES: List of Members and Subscribers, September 1, 1950.” Bulletin of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages, vol. 8, no. 1, 1950, pp. 1–9. JSTOR.

I could find little information on Professor Karnaugh. I do not know whether he was reinstated. In a newspaper search, I found that from 1960 to the early 1970s he taught Russian to kids and adults in Ontario, California.

September 7

This is the last letter I have from Robert Zerzawy in London to his family in San Francisco. He died in November 1967.

Sept. 7, 1967

Dear Eva,

You’ve now become the family’s central coordinator, so I am addressing these lines to you.  Of course, they are for all of you, and primarily to Helen.  I will write to her separately in more detail.  We have promised each other so many letters that it’s better if I send this letter in advance.  “In advance” is certainly a good example of English understatement, considering that it took me five weeks to even get around to writing a thank you note.  It’s almost pathological how just a few lines to acknowledge such a kind act can grow to guilt feelings beyond all dimension.  Any attempt to explain this would only lead to pages of unproductive self-observation, which would be a morbid and unaesthetic exercise.  It will only be imperative to mention, in this context, a few details about my health, but I will get to that later.

Even though this may not sound convincing after this long pause, your warm thoughts in the form of a birthday telegram from both the Lowell and Goldsmith families, combined with Helen’s congratulations, moved me deeply and gave me such feelings of warmth and joy that I can hardly describe them.  The wording is so typical of Helen.  However, if I’m wrong and you are actually responsible for the text, then I can only say that you are a worthy daughter to your mother.  Which would be a great compliment.  Eva, I still owe you thanks for a letter from March and the family pictures you sent on the occasion of Helen’s 80th birthday.  Helen-Rose appears to be in an Ottoman outfit*, and Harry’s boys remind me of their father as he looked the last time I saw him in Vienna.  Before I met him again in San Francisco and didn’t recognize him, which could happen again today – has he grown taller since 1947?  Unfortunately, I don’t know his wife; she wasn’t in the picture yet back in those days, I imagine.  You, dear Eva, I do remember; perhaps your face was rounder, but it is a lovely and eloquent picture.  And then we come to our dear octogenarian:  how dear and how appropriate the pictures are, and I am proud to have a place in your heart.  I don’t usually speak in superlatives so easily, but they are fitting here.  Paul, who should be congratulated on the pictures, has the (bad) luck of the draw, as the artist often does:  he is not in the pictures, which is too bad. 

By way of explanation about my new address: at the end of January I moved back to the street whose name is probably familiar to you from the past.  I now live in a two-room flat next door to Matlock Court, in the next block, where I lived before I bought the house in Chiswick.  I’m glad to be rid of the house.  It was too much work for me and too far “off the map”.  A friend from my youth came to help me move:  the widow of my friend Reif from Munich.  I don’t know how I could have done it without her help.  I still apparently overdid it, and spent some weeks in the hospital and at home in bed.  I sent notices of the move, but I only got through the letter B (in my address book).  The rest is on my desk, unwritten.  The time has passed for sending that, and now I must write individual letters, which is somewhat tedious.  The plan to go on holiday with the Vienna Zerzawys to the Adriatic unfortunately didn’t work out. I recently had a relapse, and in this condition it is better to stay home than to travel.  I also recently got shingles, which is another reason I didn’t go. But that is just bothersome. Sorry for talking so much about my state of health. I had to mention it because it is basically the reason for the delay in writing – Now I must close for today. I will write again when in a better writing mood. My love to you all and many “bussies” to Helen.

Affectionately,
Robert 

*In reading over this, I have found that it’s a Spanish princess, not a harem daughter – such is my knowledge of national costumes.

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Helene turned 80 in November 1966 and Robert is referring to photos Eva sent him. The photographer Paul he mentions is not Robert’s brother who died almost 20 years earlier, but Eva’s husband/my father. I have very vivid memories of that day being in the kitchen with my mother and Harry’s wife while they tried to light 80 candles and keep them lit long enough to bring out the cake and sing. As you can see, they were successful!

It appears that Robert and Paul did not enjoy robust health and neither lived a long life. I wonder whether Paul had been exposed to anything during his time as a soldier during World War I and whether either or both of them had been affected by the 1918 flu. Helene wrote about two of her sisters never being robust after surviving the 1889 influenza epidemic (see August 29 post) – perhaps the 1918 epidemic caused similar issues?

Robert mentions the widow of his friend Reif. That name seemed familiar and I realized that we saw a photo of him playing tennis in Vienna in the June 14 post.

Apparently Zerzawy relatives continued to live in Vienna. I do not know who they were. Perhaps one day I’ll find out.

September 4

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As we have seen over the past several months, Helene loved the works of Goethe, often quoting him in her letters. In addition, she believed she had a personal connection to him. First we see a copy of a letter that Helene sent to Goethe Haus in Frankfurt, Germany on Goethe’s birthday in 1955. Goethe was born on August 28, 1749 and died in 1832.

On Goethe’s birthday, 1955

To Professor Dr. Eugen Beutler,
Goethe Haus, Frankfurt am Main

Dear Professor!

Since Dr. Alfred Warner of New York was so kind as to give me your address, I am taking the liberty of turning to you with a request.  Neither in the San Francisco library, nor in the more extensive library in Berkeley, where I rummaged around looking for a reference book, could I find even one book about what I want to find out. I want to know if Ulrike von Levetzow’s castle was in Weseritz or Trblice, two neighboring towns in Czechoslovakia.  All I could find out is that Professor Sauer wrote a book about U. v. L’s life, but I could not find this book in either library or in any bookstore.  I was told at one of the bookstores that the book is no longer available and that publication of a new edition is very unlikely.

The reason for my interest is that my grandmother lived in both of these towns and that, according to tales my mother heard as a child, Goethe’s last love was an eccentric woman who had very little human contact, if any.

My grandmother was an aesthetically inclined woman who earned a living as a milliner. 

One of her clients was Ulrike von Levetzow.  After the latter found out through conversation with my grandmother, that my grandmother was an enthusiastic reader of Goethe, and, through further conversation, learned that her milliner’s second hobby was playing chess, a certain camaraderie developed between the two women, the details of which, dear Professor, I will not bother you with.

I don’t think there is any point in my asking Czech authorities about this matter, so I ask that you forgive me for taking the liberty of turning to you with such an unusual request.

At age 68, I thought it would be nice to leave something behind for my children that tells them about a better world, rather than just my memories of a concentration camp.

I hope that you will forgive my boldness, and I thank you very much in advance.

Sincerely,

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Frankfurt, September 5, 1955

Frankfurt Goethe Museum          

Dear Mrs. Cohen,

We are happy to answer your question and let you know that the castle of Ulrike von Levetzow is in Trblice.  There is information about this in the following books:

Hedda Sauer, Goethe and Ulrike, Reichenberg 1925.
Adolf Kirchner, Memories of Goethe’s Ulrike, Aussig 1904.
A. Schams, At the home of Ulrike von Levetzow; a remembrance.  In:  German Homeland, Year 8, volume 6/7 Plan 1932

I hope this has been helpful.

Sincerely

 Dr. Josefine Rumpf

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Helene says that she was referred to Goethe Haus by author and art critic Alfred Werner. We learned about their connection in the June 25 post.

In 1823, Goethe wrote a poem about his unrequited love for Ulrike von Levetzow (1804-1899). There is a museum dedicated to her in Třebívlice. One site I saw mentioned that by the end of her life, it was likely that Ulrike was the last person living who would have known Goethe personally.

A friend sent me a fun video about the life of Goethe, including mention of his infatuation with Ulrike.

I have vague memories of my mother telling me that one of her ancestors had been Goethe’s mistress. This letter clarifies the story - it turns out that it wasn’t a relative, but a client of my great-great-grandmother Babette Kraus as we see in the letters below, and she wasn’t his mistress but his late-in-life unrequited love. We learned about Babette in the February 16 post and that she loved Goethe — a love that was passed on to her granddaughter.  

August 31

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Today we have a carbon copy of a letter that Helene sent in 1955 to the Reparations Office in Trier Germany.

August 28, 1955

Dear Sirs,

I would be extremely grateful if you could tell me what I need to do to receive reparations

In addition to the attached documents, I wish to mention the following facts:

On May 18, 1920, in Vienna, I married Haim Seneor Moisse Cohen and became a Turkish citizen.  I had been Austrian up until then.

In 1938, my husband was notified of that his (our) citizenship was no longer recognized.  Until October 1, 1943, we lived under the protection of the Turkish General Consul (Humanity).  After October 1, 1943, unfortunately he could no longer do anything for us.  On October 15, 1943, in the home we had been assigned (we had had to leave our original home in June 1941), we were both arrested.

On November 4, 1943, I was brought to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, and on February 28. 1945, via an exchange, I was brought, by the Swedish Red Cross, on the Drottningholm to Turkey, where I lived as a prisoner until April 1946 until my children, who had been in California since 1939, succeeded in bringing me on the Vulcania to the USA.

I have since that time lived in San Francisco and earned my living as a practical nurse and housekeeper.  A year ago, because of my age and health, I had to stop working.

My financial resources consist of Social Security, a contribution from the Public Welfare Department, and financial help from my son.

I would, therefore, be most thankful to the employees of the Governmental Reparations Office if I could find out what steps I need to take.

Many thanks in advance,

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In this letter, Helene summarizes her life since 1920 on a single page in order to make her case for reparations. Behind the formal language of her request, we feel so much of her sorrow, helplessness, and loss over the past nearly 20 years. We also learn how she earned a meager living in San Francisco and that in 1954, at the age of 68, she was no longer able to continue working.

August 27

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Today we have a letter from Robert Zerzawy in England to his cousin Harry Lowell in California. Robert’s brother Paul died in San Francisco in late July, just a few days before Robert’s 49th birthday. See July 24 post.

This was one of the first letters my friend Roslyn translated almost four years ago. She had found most of it illegible. At the time, I wasn’t too concerned because I hadn’t understood how integral the Zerzawy brothers were to my mother’s and grandmother’s stories. Only in preparing today’s post did I realize that the problem might not have been legibility, but that Robert in his time of grief had reverted to writing partly in the German script he’d learned as a boy. Fortunately, translator Amei Papitto was able to read and translate the Sütterlin, so we have a window into a difficult time in the family’s life. 

17 August 1948         

West Bay Road
Bridgport, Dorset

Dear Harry,

For weeks I have been very depressed and although I have tried twice, I just cannot seem to finish my letter to you. 

It’s difficult for me to speak about the distribution of the things that Paul left behind. But after all, it has to be done. I will comment on this in a few days.

Another issue is the annoying family gossip which I would prefer to completely ignore. But because he has widened the circle and because it was even able to overshadow my relationship with Paul, or more correctly, the other way around. Because of that, I will have to make a statement about it. This I also want to delay for a few days.

Finally, there is your kindly-intended suggestion that I should again consider the idea of coming over to you. This chapter also needs a longer discussion.

Unfortunately I am not physically able to do this, nor can I find the right mood to write. Also, there is no hurry. What should happen in a hurry is that I should not make you wait any longer and that I should at least send you this answer.

I sincerely thank you for your honest statements and I understand you completely. I also know that you are only guided by one motive – to give me good counsel.

Please give me a few more days. When I feel a little better again, I will explain myself in detail.

That’s all for today. Also, I send reciprocal assurance of our warm connection.

With heartfelt greetings.
Your Robert

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How sad that Paul’s death caused Robert so much strife beyond the grief of losing his last living sibling. We glean from this letter that there were uncomfortable family dynamics around the disposition of Paul’s estate. We saw Paul’s 1945 will in the July 24 post. I am guessing that Paul left little behind – from all we’ve read, he made very little money and for many years relied on the kindness of his relatives in San Francisco to help him eke out an existence.

I don’t know whether Robert ever met Hilda and it would have been awkward to try to communicate from afar his desires and needs. We have seen in his young cousins’ Eva’s and Harry’s letters and actions that they did everything they could to escape the uncomfortable family dynamics of their San Francisco relatives.

It’s interesting how grateful Robert is for his 24-year old cousin’s advice on how to deal with the situation. Harry knew all the “gossip” and the people involved, but he was advising a cousin more than twice his age.

August 24

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Warning: today’s post may be difficult to read.

In yesterday’s post, I described the most recent part of my journey to learn more about my family, particularly about my grandfather Vitali. Perhaps some of the information has not wanted to be found until quite recently. Or perhaps I wasn’t ready to find it.

Only by searching in the right source at the right time have I been able to get answers to questions, some of which I thought might never be answered. Perhaps a particular document has only recently been digitized or uploaded, or perhaps it’s the luck of the search. My search has certainly been easier than it was for my grandmother and the thousands of people looking for traces of their loved ones at the end of World War II.

This summer I decided to look for information about Vitali at the Arolsen Archives in Germany. I had searched there in the past and found nothing. As I mentioned in the July 5 post, I found several items related to Vitali’s time at Buchenwald, including what may have been the original document that said that Vitali had been seen at the time of liberation – the statement that encouraged Helene and her children to believe that Vitali had survived (helped also by her friend Paula’s letters assuring her that she’d seen and heard from him).  

Häftlings-Personal-Karte, Haim Cohen, Buchenwald p. 2; ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives; https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/G/SIMS/01010503/0273/52439235/002.jpg

Handwritten statement: “This person appears on lists of liberated prisoners (compiled by the American Army)”

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Most of the documents were intake and other official cards, with information about him and the belongings he brought with him to Buchenwald. The document below (which is the front side of the image above) sent a shock wave through me and it took several days to recover. Having an intellectual sense of my grandfather as a prisoner was very different from seeing photos.

Häftlings-Personal-Karte, Haim Cohen, Buchenwald p.1; ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives; https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/G/SIMS/01010503/0273/52439235/001.jpg

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In early August, when I went back into the Arolsen Archives, I found additional documents, including one that answers the question of Vitali’s fate – that he died on a “death march” near Penting, Germany. When I first spoke to historian Corry Guttstadt in late 2017, this was her theory –tens of thousands of men were marched out of Buchenwald in early April 1945 when the German SS realized they were losing the war. Few prisoners on the marches survived.

Investigations regarding the sites Neunburg vorm Wald - Rötz. DE ITS 5.3.2 Tote 29; Attempted Identification of Unknown Dead, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/H/Child%20Tracing%20Branch%20General%20Documents/General%20Documents/05050000/aa/ao/pl/001.jpg

The document states that Haim Cohen was among the unknown dead who were buried in Penting on April 21, 1945 and were reburied in Neunburg v. Wald in the fall of 1949. He was deemed to be one of the buried based on his prisoner number.

Although the above document was created in 1950, it was never found during the many times my grandmother requested information about her husband.

It appears that Vitali died on April 21, about 165 miles away from Buchenwald. The map below shows the distance between Buchenwald and Penting. Also on the map is Flossenbürg – the only reference to Penting I could find said that the prisoners who were in Penting had come from Flossenbürg concentration camp. It would make sense that they would believe that Vitali had been with the group from Flossenbürg since it was on the way from Buchenwald to Penting.

All of my life, I knew that all four of my grandparents had been interned in concentration camps. My grandmother Helene was the only grandparent I ever met. It was comforting to think that Vitali might one day fulfill his wife’s and children’s hopes that he would show up on their doorstep.

For most of my life, I avoided reading books and watching films about the Holocaust – I never felt I “needed to” learn about the specifics because I had internalized the loss and trauma and didn’t feel the need to gain more understanding or empathy. It’s taken me until now to be able to look more closely – poring over my grandmother’s letters and stories, and looking until I finally found what happened to Vitali. Over the past few weeks I have felt sad and anxious and sick. It has taken me many days to sit down and write this post. Last week, I arranged to meet with my translator to look at some of the Buchenwald documents before writing today’s post, and conveniently “forgot” to hit send so she was not able to look at them in time. But they really need little translation.

When Corry and I spoke about discovering Vitali’s fate, she hoped that I would feel a sense of closure, that I would feel better no longer wondering why he never contacted his family if he survived. At this point, I guess it’s good to know that he didn’t desert his family. Still, it’s hard to let go of the dream my family held for so long and accept that the life of this smart, resourceful man was cut short in this awful way.

I’m glad that at the same time that I was discovering evidence of Vitali’s death, I found more information about his life in Vienna through newspaper articles (see yesterday’s post). He was much more than a victim or a statistic.

After learning about Vitali’s fate, I began thinking about my grandmother’s time in Istanbul. She arrived there in April 1945, about the time Vitali would have been marched out of Buchenwald. She remained in Istanbul for an entire year, boarding the SS Vulcania on April 14, 1946 and arriving in the U.S. on April 26. The Jewish period of mourning is twelve months. Unknowingly, my grandmother spent the entire year after Vitali’s death in his birthplace. There seems something sadly poetic about that.