April 12

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Today we have the first letter Helene writes to her nephew Paul Zerzawy as he is en route to America. In the post of April 10, we learned about the logistics of his travel.

 Vienna, 12 April 1939 [answered from Southampton 13 April]

Dear Paul! Your greeting from London was both a pleasure and a surprise.

The point of writing today is only to reach you while you’re still in Europe and wish you a good trip and to express my hope that I hear from you very, very soon and I will be using your New York address in a short amount of time. Please greet Arthur and his family from me and tell them how much I would be happy to see them again. I have already told you that our eviction was rejected. We have taken care of this worry. We have not heard anything yet about the children and the waiting around is demoralizing for me.

Paul, I wish you all the best for the future!

I believe Goethe said ‘“Do the best, throw it into the sea, if the fish doesn’t see it, then God will see it.”

Throw all your dark thoughts into the sea and keep only the most beautiful and good ones in your memory. We have much in common. We have many common experiences and into the ocean, maybe we really will not be separated.

Many, many kisses from me to all of you
Helen

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I was struck by the sweetness of this bon voyage letter. Like in letters to her children, Helene talks about their common bond and history, which for them goes back more 40 years. For once, she is not actually quoting Goethe. He wrote a poem called Der Fischer but this quotation comes from elsewhere.

As I searched for the quotation, I discovered that many cultures take credit for it. Is it German? Turkish? Greek? Arabic? Other?

I found it as a German song (Tue das Gute und wirf es ins Meer, sieht es der Fisch nicht, so sieht es der Herr.: Do what is good and throw it into the sea, if the fish doesn't see it, the Lord sees it.), as a German aphorism from the Turkish (!) (Tu' Gutes und wirf das Brot ins Meer! Sieht es der Fisch nicht, so sieht's doch der Herr!: Do good and throw the bread into the sea! If the fish doesn't see it, the Lord will see it!), and as a Turkish proverb (İyilik yap denize at, balık bilmezse halik bilir.: Do good and throw it into the sea; if the fish don’t know it, God will.)

April 11

Historian Corry Guttstadt sent me a copy of this newspaper article, which she came across when doing research in Istanbul a few years ago. The paper announces the arrival of the Drottningholm the previous day. We read about the ship in the March 15 post. A rough translation below using Google Translate. After almost a month of travel, Helene must have been thrilled to arrive at her destination, even though she had no idea what would lie ahead. She probably thought she would soon have the paperwork and money needed to be able to join her children in San Francisco. Although this eventually happened, it took much longer than she could have imagined. More months of waiting were in store.

VATAN newspaper
11 April 1945

Turks Returning From Germany
Our diplomats, students and citizens came to our city yesterday on the Swedish ferry

Photo caption: Swedish Ferry bringing fellow countrymen home

Our diplomats, students and citizens in Germany came to Istanbul yesterday morning at 9.30 am on the Swedish ferry named Drottningholm and they were welcomed by the allergy and their loved ones ...

After living under bombs for years under the danger of death, these citizens, who were sent only to be interned, transmit very vivid memories of Germany's long time, to receive the names and pictures of the arrivals and to meet our readers with much detailed news. You will find the news and interviews brought by them on our fifth page today.

The names of the arrivals are on our third page.

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A copy of the 3rd page is below. The list of arrivals is arranged by students, embassy staff, diplomats and “other”. Under Other at the bottom of the page you can see Helen Kohen listed.

April 10

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In addition to family letters and photographs, Paul Zerzawy saved a number of bank ledgers and letters about transfers of funds from April of 1939. While preparing the April 3 post about assistance for refugees, it occurred to me that the money referred to in the letters and bank ledgers pertained to the assistance Paul was given to emigrate. Today’s letter is a copy of one Paul sent to a bank in Amsterdam explaining how funds should be distributed.

Dr. Paul Zerzawy
Currently at 8, Belsize Grove,
Hampstead, London N.W.3

London, 10 April 1939.

To: Amsterdamsche Bank
Amsterdam.

Regarding: Deposit Account 41987.

You have probably received in the meantime my letter of the 6th of this month in which I requested that you transfer money of 300 to Marjorie Shaw in London and I also asked that you notify Robert Zerzawy in London.

Today I am writing to tell you that I did not make use of the credit that you established for me with Cook Amsterdam for a ticket from Bentheim-London-New York because I traveled to London in a different way and I will also travel to New York in another way. Therefore I ask that you reverse the regulations regarding this and to charge me the appropriate fees.

Further I would ask that you liquidate my entire remaining amount in my account in the following way:

1.) I politely request that the amount of $100 (one hundred USA Dollar) is sent in the same way as the $300 I mentioned in the letter of the 6th of this month - in a cashiers check in Pounds to London or English Pounds in cash to Mrs. Marjorie Shaw, 21, Hampstead Hill Gardens, London, N.W.3 and please make that transfer and send a notice to my brother Robert Zerzawy, 8, Belsize Grove, Hampstead, London NW.3.

2.) For the amount remaining after the transfers have been made and after all fees have been covered, I ask you to establish a credit in US dollars for me at a New York Bank of your choosing or to issue me a cashiers check so that I may make a withdrawal there personally by showing my passport or possibly I could also do this in writing by mail. In the latter case, the number of my passport 1358 could be agreed upon as a code.

3.) The notice of transaction, the final reckoning of the amount, and the names of the New York bank which you have chosen I ask that you send to me as an official copy to the following two addresses:

a) “Herr Robert Zerzawy, 8, Belsize Grove, Hampstead, London N.W.3.”
b) “Mr. Louis Weisglass, 408 East 23rd Street, New York, for Dr. Paul Zerzawy”.

The transfers to Shaw, London and the transfer to New York are both urgent. I would therefore be very thankful for your prompt execution of this.

Very truly yours

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Below is the bank’s response from April 13, indicating how the money was transferred and that the account was now settled and closed.

At this point, Paul is in England, a stopping off point on his way to the United States. This may be the last time the brothers spent much time together, since Robert lived the rest of his life in London. Paul’s law degree must have come in handy — in the midst of uprooting his life with no resources, he at least knew how to deal and communicate with bureaucracies.  

Ship’s manifest from Southampton to New York. Paul Zerzawy’s name is underlined. Note: he gives his profession as “Merchant.” Found through Ancestry.com.

April 8

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Today we have a copy of a telegram sent from Paul Zerzawy to Vitali regarding the San Francisco relatives’ attempts to help him and Helene leave Vienna and come to San Francisco. Things are looking hopeful.

Western Union

Postmarked: San Francisco April 8, 1941

To NLT Haim Seneor Cohen
Seidlgasse 14
Vienna-40 Germany

Affidavit Erwin Fulda for you
Both Consulate of Vienna sent
Tillie Albert will take care of
the travel costs Probably
Joint next week

Paul

Over the past few weeks we have seen letters from Helene asking for financial assistance as well as a March 25 letter from Paul Zerzawy to Erwin Fulda regarding such assistance.

We have seen documents from 1945-1946 in Istanbul regarding the Joint’s work to help Helene. From the telegram we see that the family was working with the Joint as far back as 1941 to help the relatives get to America. 

April 7

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It wasn’t until near the end of his life that Harry decided to share with his sons and me some of the more difficult memories of his childhood. One day, newspaper articles and documents magically emerged from the depths of his closet. The article below is from a Viennese newspaper dated April 7, 1939. We will see a much different article later in the year written 1934, where Vitali and the shop are painted in a much more positive light. Just a few weeks after this article was published, Eva and Harry made their way to Istanbul in order to obtain passports to go to the U.S.

Vitali kept the article and had it translated. It became part of the packet of documents he hoped would prove that he would be able to earn a living in the U.S. We have seen a few letters from Paul Zerzawy where he tries to disabuse Vitali of this notion. The translation below was made by someone in Vienna in 1939. For some reason, the 1939 translation did not include the first paragraph.

I could not find much information on this newspaper – as evidenced from the tone of the article, it appears to be a work of Nazi propaganda. Although the article says he has been in Vienna “a few years”, he had lived in Vienna since 1919. Nowhere in the article does it mention that the stationery store had been in existence for decades. Helene worked there long before she met Vitali.

1939 translation

THE DARK AGES ON THE STUBENRING.
HOCUS-POKUS AND QUACKERY FROM
TORAH AND TALMUD.

It is unbelievable which sums flow, even still today, into the pockets of those beneficiaries of delusion who know how to play themselves up as experts on the so-called fourth dimension and lure weak-willed people. The business of spiritists, alchemists and occultists, even down to the quack on the corner, is doing famously. Every week, thousands of reichsmarks are poured down the insatiable throats of Egyptian hill dream interpreters. Money that would truly be worth spending on something better.

“ABANDON NOT HOPE - TURN TO ME!” There is one Jew who goes to work with an almost incredible amount of cynicism. He is cleverly camouflaged as a paper and stationery dealer on the Stubenring, opposite the former Ministry for War…..and he exploits his victims - and that in broad daylight - in the most unbelievable fashion. This Jew who boasts the typical name of Cohen (Kohn) has come to Vienna but a few years ago. Shortly after his arrival, he sets himself up as a stationer on the Stubenring. But the business did not go well. Then some time later, the Jew had a new brain-wave, which helped his business. He divided the shop in two halves; he had a part closed away in the background and papered with black paper. Egyptian and Turkish, as well as Assyrian hieroglyphs were painted - as uncannily as possible - and in gilt, on the walls. In this dark chamber there is a rickety table, on which he placed a worm-eaten magic folio. Two chairs complete the room, in which the spirits are called upon, and which is reminiscent of the witches’ kitchen in the scenic railway in the Prater. A few “letters of thanks” from clients, plastered in the shop-window, completed the outfit, and the business-like Jew had a few packages of booklets entitled “ABANDON NOT HOPE - TURN TO ME!” printed. And the swindle could start at full speed.

H.S.M. Cohen was soon well-known among women: known as clairvoyant, palm-reader, soothsayer, astrologer and magic healer. Daily did H.S.M. Cohen “heal” persons suffering from kidney-diseases, as well as diabetes or intestinal diseases by his healing hands, ay, he even managed to bring broken and stiff legs to move again…… Even to this day, the Jew is giving out regular “diagnoses”, and he hypnotizes his pitiful victims into feeling pains, which they do not have at all. For all this, the “doctor with the magic baton” requests twenty marks for every “session.” A certain type of strolling smear [sic] Jewish physicians even have written complementary letters to this public injurer. One of them says: “Mr. Cohen has predicted an abscess in the teeth to a patient, who never actually had a toothache. This abscess was now stated by way of an x-ray, but it has never caused any discomforts. Dr. R.W. assistant at the polyclinic”

GHOST AS CURRENCY AGENTS. Now, how should this man, who is so powerful in the world of the spirits, who can Nero and Napoleon and Ahasver’s father-in-law talk at will, who can heal imaginary diseases, fail to be an A1 lawyer also? Thus a Jew states the fact (reprinted among his complementary letters) that “his money which has been confiscated in Germany had been given back to him, without his having asked for it. F.S. October 2, 1935.” Or, another example: “you have given me an amulet, and I have, right after, seen my mother again in a dream, and she has given me the necessary inspiration to make new connections (new business) which have, up to the present, proved successful. R.K.”

This wizard also interferes in matters of law, and predicts the result of lawsuits at 20 marks apiece. And in order to keep his business from suffering any standstill, he has added the trade with mandrakes to his assets.

How much disaster must this Jew, who sails under the flag of Turkish citizenship, already have brought upon weak-willed people in our own city! Like a vulture waiting for a victim, he walks, slowly, up and down in his shop, until some curious soul gets enabled in his “letters of thanks.” Then the Jew comes slowly nearer, and bores his eyes into the passer-by. If this happens to be a weak-willed individual, he will be intimidated, and follow into the shop, where the Jew will predict an illness for him, but, at the same time, call his attention to the fact that he might, in the course of the afternoon, pay a visit to his “cabinet of spirits” where, against 20 marks, and by way of his healing hands, he will on the spot, free him from the lurking disease.

How much longer will the ghost haunt the “chamber of spirits of H.S.M. Cohen? And how much longer are poor individuals going to be bled there?

Saturday, April 8th 1939
“VOLKSZEITUNG”, Vienna.
(“People’s Paper)

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My mother and Harry spoke of their father with awe and respect. They always mentioned the many languages he could speak. Although they never talked about their father’s metaphysical activities, they told us that many people, some of them quite influential, came to seek his advice. The subheading “Abandon not hope – turn to me!” is taken from the front of Vitali’s “business card,” a folded sheet with dozens of testimonials from satisfied customers – sort of Yelp reviews of the time. Although the article talks of Vitali taking in unsuspecting women, the majority of the testimonials are by men.

Vitali working at the back of the stationery shop

April 6

This postcard of Pacific Grove appears to be the first mail that 19-year old soldier Harry Lowell sent from Monterey Presidio (now home to the Defense Language Institute) to his sister Eva, was living and studying at Mt. Zion nursing school in San Francisco. The card is postmarked April 6, 1943 and postage was free.

Description on back: Pacific Grove is a delightful resort community that offers much in recreation to entertain the visitor. It is famous as the Home of the Butterflies and for its floral and marine gardens, beaches, weird coastal rock formations and renowned municipal museum.

Dear Sis,

Having lots of fun getting shots in my arm and my ears lowered considerably. You would not recognize me. S’long!

HARRY
U.S. Army

P.S. Do not write me yet.

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Perhaps a photo of the newly-shorn and vaccinated Harry? Date unknown.

April 4

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Vienna, 4 April 1940

To Paul, the reporter! You can certainly keep on with this system. It is entirely enough for me to hear from you even just a few lines and to find out from you how you’re doing acclimatizing yourself to life there. I think it’s easier for the children. You can believe me that it’s easier for you to do that than to deal with all the changes here which wouldn’t be even possible anymore with your profession. If I only knew if the separation we are now experiencing is payment for the happy family life we have had or if it’s some sort of test for even further things. I will try think of myself worthy of the latter interpretation and try to do better at being patient and virtuous. It’s really hard to be virtuous - it would be unthinkable for me if I did not admit that the postal harvest this month has been particularly satisfactory. We received almost every week about a piece and a half of mail, although sometimes of course it was three letters in one week and then totally quiet for 14 days. Then we just get out the folder where we keep these things and we read the old letters again. This flight from reality has become a cult with us and is an excellent way of not losing contact. With the intensity with which all this happens, the other person must feel how one is with him in thought. Are you laughing? Well let me have this delusion, but it is not a delusion. Sometimes I feel as if the children had stayed just a little longer at school. The few weeks which children went to summer camp during school vacation seemed longer to me than the current separation. But back then, one had the wish or at least the possibility to amuse oneself. But this is not always the case. Then there are days, usually when there is no mail, when everything seems twice as hard and one thinks of the difficulty about 3 times as often. A heavy sleep is like a narcotic. Then, after such a nirvana, when the mailman rings the bell and actually does bring a letter from you, then I take a deep breath and my limbs firm themselves up. It becomes a delight to do the dishes, and my fantasy has received new wings during cleaning. Thank God there is no more room for any further outpouring. Please greet all of our dear relatives from me and kisses from

Helen

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After almost a year of living in the U.S., Helene’s nephew Paul Zerzawy is still trying to acclimate himself to his new environment. As we have seen in earlier letters, he found it difficult to make a living, particularly since his English wasn’t very fluent. I don’t know whether it was much of a comfort when Helene points out that he would not have been able to continue in his profession as a lawyer in Vienna or Prague. No matter where he was, life would have been hard.

Helene says that she thinks her children have found the transition easier than Paul. I have been thinking lately about what it’s like to be a refugee or immigrant depending on your stage of life. Landing in a new environment could be freeing or terrifying or something in between.

My mother and Harry were teenagers when they arrived in San Francisco and became fluent in English very quickly. They completed high school in the U.S. and had their first jobs here. Although they came with nothing, their whole lives were ahead of them. Their cousin Paul was 45 years old. He had been a successful professional in Europe, but also had nothing when he arrived in the U.S. He found it much more difficult to learn English than did his young cousins, and his European legal training was worthless. The little money he could make was by giving piano lessons and being an accompanist. It must have been very depressing and demoralizing to imagine the years ahead.  Helene arrived in San Francisco at the age of 60, having lived through atrocities and lost her husband. She too had to figure out how to start anew. Unlike her children who looked forward to their futures with hope, she clung to past happy times, knowing she would not see them again. All of them landed in the same place and yet all of them saw life in the U.S. through different lenses.

April 3

Today we have a newspaper article that Helene’s nephew Paul Zerzawy kept in his files. Earlier this year after my translator Roslyn had finished translating all the letters she could read, we began looking at other items in the archive that were in German. This article is one of the only items that Paul Zerzawy kept that was not specific to him or his family.

5 March 1939 Prager Tagblatt Nr. 55

[This article must have been from one of the last issues published of this paper since it ceased publication after the German occupation on March 15. Although you can see issues in the Austrian National Library, 1939 is not included.]

England’s Help for Emigrants
The implementation of the English-Czech-Slovak agreement

Who is considered a refugee?

Prague. In the last days, the agreements were made which the delegates of the English government, Mr. Robert Stopford about the conditions for implementation of the English-Czech-Slovak refugee agreement in Prague.

According to this pact, the following people are considered refugees:

1)    People, regardless of their religious persuasion, also not considering their political leanings or their race, those who had their official place of residence in the annexed region and then found in Czechoslovakia then or now a place of refuge, and who either could not opt for Czechoslovakia or if they were entitled to this option were not in a position to make a living in Czechoslovakia. All of these people fall in the category of refugees from the annexed region.
2)    Those people are considered refugees who are foreigners who had or have German or Austrian citizenship before 30 September 1938 found temporary residence in Czechoslovakia.
3)    Considered under this pact are people who in the future reach the Czecho-Slovak region and are declared to be refugees by the British government.

Execution of money orders from the English refugee bond.

First, the parceling out of such monies to people who have the cash money to purchase their quota for 30,000k and in the second instance to those who have no such means and for whom the quota will be provided without remuneration. They must prove their lack of funds through an official document, such as a certificate of poverty or their last tax return. The money is not paid in cash to any refugee. He only will get the ticket to his destination, which will be bought by the refugee office and will get a check to be paid to a bank at the destination. The necessary transactions are taken care of by the London branch of the Anglo bank and the [Czech] bank. The money orders themselves will be taken care of by London, and where the bonds are deposited. The distribution process is set up to make sure there is no governmental or technical complication. If the emigrant should die during the trip, his family will get the money order.

Anyone who applies for a cash distribution will have to arrive at the refugee office where in the next instance it will be determined in the sense of this pact he is actually a refugee and is eligible under this agreement. Only after that point will the further arrangements for the purchase of the ticket be carried out. If the transport company has made the price of the ticket available to the refugee office, the transfer of funds to the appropriate bank will be made for the release of the funds for the ticket. The travel agency will transmit the ticket to the refugee, but there will have to be confirmation of the situation. He will also get some pocket money for travel. The emigrant will have to arrive at the refugee office twice: 1. for the acceptance of his particulars, 2. after the amount of the cost of the trip is determined, he needs to report to arrange for the emigrant quota (either free or for purchase). The British government is in each case to provide the invoice.

A part of the refugee amount was reserved for the emigrant group of the former German social democrats and German democrats who were under the direction of Deputies Jasich and Taub. 

From this group, there are about 800 family groups who are supposed to go to Canada and the rest are going to other overseas destinations. The Canadian government is in this case not insisting that immigrants must be only farmers, but it has declared itself willing to accept immigrants and retrain them. Therefore, the distribution of the normally determined quote of $1000 in this case will be 50% higher. For the normal emigration to Canada from Slovakia or from the Bohemian lands, the amount of $1000 will be demanded in Canada for the purchase of a farm. Immigrants from the group Jasich-Taub will be able to form a collective. These families will be able to found their own town.  

In this group of emigrants, we also include former Hungarian social democrats from the annexed region, especially farmers, and 1300 people of whom 500 are non-Aryan. This group is going to be under the direction of the former Senator Balla.

Over 40 million

Up till now, there have been over 40 million crowns distributed to refugees separate from the large amounts reserved for the large group of people who are emigrating to Palestine. In the sense of the separate Palestine pact, for the legal emigration to this country, a half million pounds are reserved. That means 500 emigration certificates for 1000 pounds each. Considered in this group exclusively are Jewish families who with this amount as capital are emigrating to the land of destination, because 1000 pounds at today’s exchange rate are the equivalent of 140,000 crowns. Several hundred people have already left on this trip. This amount of money is however deposited in a bank in London and will be sent directly via the national bank in Prague for payment at the destination. Of the target amounts from the refugee loan in the total amount of 4,000,000 pounds there is therefore a half million attached to the needs of the Palestine group and a further amount for the emigrants in the German Democratic group. Prague wishes that this amount will also be increased to a half million pounds. The further 3 million are also to be used exclusively for the purpose of emigrants.

Where?

The question where the emigrants will be directed to has generally not been decided yet. Especially the negotiations with the south American states have not led to any positive results yet, because the states in the first instance are only willing to allow farmers to immigrate and in the second instance they are putting up some oppositions to the immigration of non-Aryan people. The Jewish emigrant problem is therefore especially difficult to solve.

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Paul Zerzawy left Europe just a month or so after this article was written. I imagine that he fell under the quotas mentioned. I do not know whether he received any monetary assistance. The work of Robert Stopford was mentioned in the January 25 and March 21 posts.

Yesterday I was looking at the JewishGen site and found the following reference to him (with his birthday off by a year) saying that his German citizenship had been revoked and property seized, so at this point he probably had few personal resources. At this point Paul was considered German because Germany had annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia.

April 2

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April 1, 1944

Dear Bertha and George,

I just received your letter of February 11th and I was very happy to hear from you. The reason for the delay must have been the fact that you forgot to include my APO number in the address.

So you are working on your garden again; I wish I were there helping you. Once in a while I get a chance to work with vegetables and salads – opening cans of them when my time for KP comes.

It has been raining quite a bit lately and the jungle has a nice fresh color and smell to it. If it weren’t for the mosquitoes and other pests, I would get to like this place even. The mud that’s around here is rather a nuisance; in some spots it is so hard that, unless one laces his shoes well, he is apt to slip out of them, leaving the shoes stuck in the mud. My worst habits come to light when I have to change a flat tire in the mud, because then I cuss like a whole division of cavalry men.

I have met a lot of Aussies, and they are very nice and square unless you have business dealings with them; they like to soak the Yanks.

Well, there isn’t much to tell, except that I am well and in pretty good spirits.

I was glad to hear of George’s progress and I think he’ll be able to promenade Market Street again. I hope you both are well.

Fondly,
Harry

P.S. Give my best regards to all our friends.

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Harry must have had a lot of time on his hands to have written so many letters home over the last few days.

Although I do not have a photo of him working on a truck in the mud, here is a photo of him working on a car. On the back he wrote: “Christmas Day 1943; Harry giving Chevy a face-lifting.”

April 1

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My dear Robert!

Love makes us inventive and since you have not come up with this great idea, I must assume that these feelings are only on one side. Please don’t make any belated declarations of love! But you can make up for this. How? Well, I’ll let you figure that out. We are fine. We live like fishes in the wind and birds in the water and we have no other troubles except for those about you. Our only pleasure is getting mail. But really you have not contributed much to this joy, so you have to make up for that! Now you don’t need to strain your mind, I already told you how you can make this up to me. Although the children write regularly and conscientiously, which lets me know what Paul is up to with his attempt to become independent, there are occasional breaks with no letters, which require of me much patience and cause me a lot of nerves. But those days pass by as well. They go by more slowly than others however. There’s only a saying from Goethe which I don’t think is right: “Nothing is harder to take than a whole bunch of good days in a row.” I don’t think that’s true - I could put up with that very nicely. What do you think, little Robert? If maybe you sit down for a quarter hour and have a little chat with me, an answer is guaranteed right away, because I don’t do much else these days. Housework just happens. I think of this as my part-time job, most of my time is devoted to correspondence. How is Hedl Waldek? Say hi to her from me. In the next letter I will write a few lines to her. It’s late today. Vitali, who greets you warmly, is hurrying because he wants to go to the post office. Mila wrote to me that your health is satisfactory but I would like to hear that from you.

Dearest kisses
Helen

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Today’s letter from Helene is to her nephew Robert in London. He has lived there for about a year. Her playful tone is like that in her letters to her children rather than the more business-like or scolding tone she sometimes takes in her letters to his older brother Paul. She is counting on Paul to figure out the logistics of getting her and Vitali out of Vienna. She depends on Robert for his love and emotional support. Perhaps it is the age difference. Although Helene babysat both nephews when they were children, Paul was only 9 years younger. Robert was a student during World War I, Paul was a soldier. After losing their mother at a young age, Paul as the oldest child seems to have taken responsibility for the well-being of his siblings, and ultimately also of his aunt.

Helene had just one word wrong in the Goethe quote: she used the word “beautiful” instead of “good”.

I realize that I need to educate myself on the works of Goethe. Helene quotes him in almost every letter; her world view, and therefore my mother’s (and unbeknownst to me, my own!), was influenced by his words and philosophy. I could easily imagine my mother saying the above quote. It seems familiar in spirit to me too: whenever things are going particularly well, my husband or I will say to the other: “Nothing could go wrong now!”

March 31

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New Guinea
March 31, 1944

Dear Eva,

Thank you for your letters of Feb. 28, March 12, and 17; it’s odd that you haven’t received any of mine yet. Your switching from typewriter to longhand makes the V-letters twice as interesting inasfar as I have to reread them in order to get an idea of what’s in them. The army misclassified me at the induction center; I should have been placed in “intelligence” – department of deciphering and decoding. (No reflection on your handwriting, mind you. People have asked me where in the hell I learned to write; most of them can’t read mine, either.)

Do you remember the famous painting of Holbein’s, “The Poor Poet” I think it is called, wherein a starved poet sits in his bed, doing his writing while he holds an open umbrella to keep the rain that’s coming through a leak in the ceiling from pouring down his bed? Well, it’s raining cats and dogs right now and my tent is full of leaks; I’ve tried everything to keep my cot dry, without avail.

While I’m writing this, water keeps dripping down my back; when I move the leak moves with me. If I were in a playful mood I’d make a game out of dodging raindrops, but I’m too wet to be playful.

We had a few spring-like days already, especially after rain which cleans air and plants the freshness of which gives one the impression of Spring tra la la. Spring here isn’t Spring in the States; when it’s Spring in the States it’s Autumn here, you see. (Simple, isn’t it?) It won’t be long before Winter will set in. (Jingle bells, jingle bells…..)

Otherwise everything is about the same as before. I’m getting kind of sick of this place, I’m allergic to too much mud and there is definitely too much much around here. The other night I got stuck up to my knees trying to find out whether I had a flat tire. I felt like a young fly stuck on fly paper (I had an advantage over the fly, being able to cuss like nobody’s business).

Well sis, that’s about all there is to say at present.

I trust you are well and in good spirits, etc. Have you become used to the surroundings of your new job yet?

Well, this is all and their ain’t no more.

Love,
Your one and only
brother,
Harry

P.S. Give my regards to Paul, Ursula and family, the Travises [?], and Mayor Rossi (Has he been elected mayor again?)

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This letter was written the same day as the V-mail letter to Hilda which was posted yesterday. I don’t know why he would choose to send some letters by snail mail and others by V-mail. Perhaps when he wanted to include an enclosure like a photo?

In all the letters we’ve seen from both World War I and II, a huge amount of time and space is spent on the mail - how long it takes, whether it arrives, how it was sent (Clipper, ship, V-mail, etc.), which letters were shared among relatives. Even in the best of times, hearing from relatives and friends was precious. And these were not the best of times.

The painting Harry refers to in his letter appears not to have been painted by Holbein, but instead was The Poor Poet by Carl Spitzweg. The link to the painting includes a link to a video “tour” of the work. Like his mother Helene, Harry paints vivid pictures in words describing his experience and surroundings. Like her, he refers to their shared artistic and musical knowledge to make his letters even more vivid for his sister, and to acknowledge their shared language and experience.

March 30

Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

Today we have another example of a V-mail letter.

 March 31, 1944

Dear Hilda,

Well, here I am again with a complete report of New Guinea news and gossip.

On March 21st was the first day of Autumn, the seasons being the opposite of those in the States. Despite the fact that it is autumn, the weather has been rather on the spring side; if I only were a poet I could describe to you the beauty of this place during this season – not forgetting the deep mud, our pets the mosquitoes, ad few boa constrictors, a leaky tent, etc.

In your last letter I received you wrote that you hoped I am having fun at least once in a while; I am hoping, too, but my hopes and wishes won’t come true here in New Guinea. This is an island made up of mud, coconut trees, bananas, and a lot of American and Australian soldiers. There are no bars, clubs, or bowling alleys. When I first arrived here I had a lot of fun climbing up coconut trees, but my enthusiasm over these Tarzan acts and coconuts gradually wore off. Not being a gambler leaves me without any fun; well, you know what General Sherman said about war.

As alcoholic beverages are unobtainable, the Yanks have shown their ingenuity and ability to cope with any situation by bringing on the “black market” an intoxicating product called “jungle juice.”  Some of the varieties are made out of fermented coconut milk, mash, sugar, termites, raisins, etc. I haven’t tested any yet, but some fellows tell me that the stuff tastes worse than the homemade bathtub cider of the Prohibition days. The medical corps has forbidden the consumption of this “jungle juice” under court martial punishment, on the grounds that the juice is harmful to mind and body, which it doubtlessly is.

That’s about all I have to say for today. Give my best regards to your father and tell him that I was happy to receive his letter. Also, say hello to everybody I know. Thank you.

I trust you are well and not working too hard.

Fondly,
Harry

 P.S. How are you, Hilda?

---

We’ve seen reference to V-mail letters in the March 14 post and an example of a v-mail letter to Eva on February 3. You can read an article about the history of “jungle juice”. It sounds as dangerous as Harry describes.

Harry talks about the challenge of life in the jungle. He has even tired of acting like Tarzan.

March 29

Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

Vienna, 29 March 1939

(Via Zurich, arrived April 5)

My dear Robert, This letter is a continuation of the letter which I wrote in great haste yesterday to accompany the pictures to complete what I did not say there.

First of all, once again, thank you so much for your efforts. You gave me the idea of making a copy of the letter from the American Consulate for Tillie too. Maybe either you or she will be able to arrive at a satisfactory answer based on that copy.

I just found out that the court did not accept the termination of our apartment lease. We can keep the apartment as long as we need it. I hope it won’t be too much longer.

I didn’t want to make any unnecessary work for you with my wish of yesterday to get in touch with the Turkish delegation in Switzerland or London, and I don’t want to take advantage of your good nature. But I think that you can get better information there than we can at the Consulate here, although the fellows here were very nice.

The children’s passport is going to run out at the beginning of May. Vitali has permission to get it extended but it is not much fun to go running around without your passport. Please tell me your London address so that I can write to you there as well.

Many thanks and sincere kisses from
Helen

---

As Helene says, this is the continuation of the letter she sent to Robert that was posted yesterday. There’s some good news within – the threat of eviction is gone for now, so Helene and Vitali can concentrate on getting their children’s paperwork in order without having to worry about finding a new place to live. They are scrambling to get everything done as soon as possible because Eva and Harry’s passport will run out in early May.

In this letter, Helene verifies for us that Robert is in London, the first in the family to make it out of Europe. He notes at the top of the letter that it arrived via Zurich.

March 28

Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

Vienna, 28 March 1939

My dear Robert, In this letter there is a copy of the passport in a letter from the Consulate and one from the ship company. It is good that you were able to take the trouble despite the short amount of time to take an interest in this matter. How happy I would be if your efforts would be successful, you can only imagine. I am curious about your announced letter which will make things go faster and this is what I have been dealing with the last few weeks. If you were successful in finding out something in the interest of the children, we could also think about putting more energy into our own issues, for example to travel to Turkey which however wouldn’t be possible with the children. Our relatives seem to be taking all the possible steps they could. It’s probably in a different sense as much as it’s important to have the both of them down there. There’s not anything particularly important to tell from my side and on the 29th of this month the matter of our living situation and I am not doubting at all that it will go well. So I expect a detailed report from you and Paul.

At the time I have passed on your current address to Fritz so that he has the chance to accompany Mela to an old people’s home. With Paul as well as Fritz, but that’s also what was told you by telephone. I am happy because this case seemed to be hopeless to me. 

I am almost always at home since my presence in the store has no purpose, and with Eva since the hope of getting away soon is very unlikely. I take recompense in the fact that I can’t get away by being at home.

I want to mention that we filled out a questionnaire and sent it in to the American Consulate. The reason for expeditious consideration is that the children’s passport will run out at the beginning of May and that getting a new one, according to the law, is impossible since they were not in Turkey since 1928 and they won’t be able to get the passport. The answer: one stamp with the text “cannot be assured at this time” and on the form they sent in, I am hurrying because the letter with the pictures is being sent off and there is a second one which will come to the second address.

Many thanks, greetings and kisses from

Helen

4 passport photos/2 letters/Maybe you can also get in touch with the Turkish Consulate

---

This is the first letter we have from Helene from 1939 in Vienna. The only earlier documents we have are the eviction notice and response that we saw in the posts of February 27 and March 10.

At this point, Helene is writing her letters by hand. Later she begins to type them after realizing that typing makes it easier for the censors to review and send on. (The typewritten letters were also much easier for my translator.)

By 1939, Helene’s nephew Robert Zerzawy was a refugee living in Hampstead, London, England. He was the first in the family to get out. His brother Paul Zerzawy arrived in the U.S. on April 21, 1939. The fact that we have this letter is probably thanks to the fact that Robert was in England.

Helene explains the challenges of getting the paperwork for her children Eva and Harry to be able to leave Vienna. Since their father Vitali was Turkish, they were not considered Austrian citizens, even though they had been born in Vienna. So they could not get an Austrian passport. Since they had not lived in Turkey, whatever passport they had thanks to being children of a Turkish citizen would be void once Eva turned 18 in May. Without a passport, they could not leave Europe for the United States, even though they have ship tickets and relatives in San Francisco who would support them. As we will see in coming weeks, Eva and Harry must go to and live in Istanbul while Eva is still a minor in order to qualify for Turkish passports.

March 27

Pacific Ocean
March 29

Dear Eva,

This is my last chance to drop you a few lines and to let you know that I am safe and sound on board a ship. You won’t hear from me for quite a while, for this trip might take some time. As soon as I arrive at my destination I’ll write you all about it.

The ship is overcrowded and I feel like a belligerent sardine; sometimes I am inclined to run amok and throw everyone overboard. (I’d better get ahold of myself, it’s going to be a long journey.)

My new address will be APO 358 c/o Postmaster San Francisco. By the time I get to any destination I’ll probably have a heap of mail waiting for me.

Well, say hello to everybody and tell them that letters will be forthcoming.

Love,
Harry

---

This letter from Harry to his sister Eva doesn’t have a year on it – I assume it was sent in 1945. Prior to March 1945, Harry sent letters from New Guinea and after that he sent them from the Philippines. 

I’m not sure when or where the photo below was taken.

On the back, Harry writes:

"Would you have ever dreamed that I would become a soldier some day?"

In German: Korporal Harry (“Heinrich you're terrifying me..." or “or "Henry! I dread to look on thee" from Goethe’s Faust, a subtle nod to his mother and an acknowledgment from this all-American boy that he and his sister share a past others don’t know about.)

March 26

Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

Today we have three letters written on the same day. One to each of her children and one to her nephew.

Vienna, March 26, 1940

He, Hi, Hu, Honey, Harry!

Do you know if Jo and Paula are our only acquaintances? I have had some contact with the following: Frau Imi, Frau Ata, Herr Vim and Mr Fex. I have more to do with them than I would really like. Other acquaintances you might like such as Jarzebinka, Griot, Cherry, Brandy Marilowka and some other Polish citizens [includes little drawings - probably brands or flavors of alcohol]. “If you have problems, you also have liquor” and we have enough liquor [from H.C. Wilhelm Busch from Die fromme Helene – “Pious Helene” or “Helene who Couldn’t Help It”]. Now you will see why my letters are kind of weird sometimes. Papa says I’m going to get a red drinker’s nose, but Jo and I drink competitively and Papa just watches us and says “Oh, jeez, too bad about every single word.” In the land of Prohibition I will probably become a solid coffee drinker again.

How is my ROTC boy doing? I am looking forward to the next illustrated newsletter. I got a letter from Eva today which only took 47 days to get to us. That seems almost normal. Paul wrote on it too so I am a little more oriented as to what’s going on now.  

There was a man from the air command here looking at our apartment because we have received notice that we will have to leave the apartment soon. Papa acknowledged that we received that notice but that we are not at the present time thinking of giving up our apartment. How much I would like to since so many people have shown interest in seeing us elsewhere and maybe will help us to figure that out.

Papa tells me I need to finish this up because it’s time for him to leave and I want to add a few lines to Paul as well. See you later and don’t forget me!

Kisssssssssssssssssssssssssss…..s
Helen

Handwritten note at bottom: Greet Hilda & Nathan, Tillie and Julius

Handwritten note on top: Hi Harry, Jo, Cheers!

---

As usual, Helene keeps her sense of humor in her letter to her son, drawing pictures of alcohol bottles, quoting a German humorist from a book with her name in the title. At the same time, she alludes to the difficulty of their situation: having few friends left, drinking alcohol to ease the pain, and wishing there were a way out of Vienna when it’s been made clear that they are no longer welcome there.

---

 Vienna, March 26, 1940

My much beloved Eva-child!

I was just writing to you when the post brought me your letter from February 7. My suspicion that you are not getting all the letters I send comes from Harry’s letter - he got 7 but you only got 5 letters from me. I have been keeping to the order pretty carefully although I may have inserted a birthday letter to him which would not have been in order. My letter of today is the 23rd Clipper letter.

I am thrilled that school and school materials are free. I believe that if I ever do make it across the big pond, I will go to school again myself. Marie Theresia studied languages when she was 72 years old. Since the study of nursing takes 3 years and you may have the chance for further study, I am on board with your idea. I might have wished for you an easier profession, as you can probably tell.

In a recent letter I gave you a list of every letter I received and it would help if you kept track of them in a similar manner. I’ve made copies of most of them and then I can tell if certain important communications have gotten lost and repeat that information if it is of importance.

Lizette let us know about the kind letters you wrote. She let us know right away. It seems to be a lovely fellow who has now been born into this family. I don’t mean Fortuné and Beppo but the well-born Macka-Linie. Since we are thinking of Istanbul, I mention that nothing has changed in our matter. I’ll ask Paul if has time to go to the Turkish Consulate in Frisco and ask if they can maybe give us a tip. Because of the name, I don’t want it from you. I don’t promise myself much from this intervention, but in these times you shouldn’t leave any stone unturned. Papa could earn money in Europe. For example, Switzerland would be wide open for him in Koppl’s opinion, but without our passports we really can’t do anything - we have to let dear God be a good man. Even though this passive way of acting fits our lifestyle, my impatience would lead me to go to a place where at least I could get normal postal communication with you. I suppose that’s a lot to ask.

How are your teeth Eva - girl? Why didn’t you write to me about that? Please make up for this. Sometimes I get after myself that I didn’t ask Dr. Ornstein right away when you had the flu. But Dr. Schneider was so sure that I was convinced that he was a good diagnostician. Don’t worry about it my child - you will get used to the dentures and they have very good dentists over there.

Papa and I took an Easter walk yesterday. We walked through the city park. Not only was there a lack of flowers, well-dressed people weren’t there either. Even those people couldn’t make up for the spring flowers we didn’t see. We looked for the little ones at the smaller and the larger playground and I felt like we were looking 10 years into the past. I saw you in my mind playing ball or playing in the sand or just looking out to see if the man with the “sticks” [?] was around. After we put ourselves in such a sentimental mood, we left that place which connects me with some of the most beautiful memories of my life. Papa said “At least you can visit your grandchildren here sometime.” We went home via the Ring, Kärntnerstrasse, Wollzeile. The streets were very lively, because the first spring air lured everyone out of the house. We were gone for more than an hour and we didn’t see a single face we knew.

Now I’ll end and I’ll write you a few more letters by hand. Farewell my child and let yourself be kissed in spirit.

[Many handwritten notes all over both pages:

At the top of first page: Prosit. Why haven’t you written to us about the letter we sent on the 21st of this month?

Upside down at top of first page: Best greetings to the Schillers

Upside down at the top of the second page: Today I have no more paper. Next I will write a long handwritten report. Kisses from Helene 

At the bottom of the second page: My dear child, I am so ashamed that you want a handwritten letter. I once gave up something because I couldn’t type … because you can’t read my handwriting. Maybe my Istanbul letters have been misunderstood. ]

In this letter to Eva, Helene revisits her guilt about her daughter’s teeth. We learned about this in the letter posted on January 28.

At the end of her life, Helene lived at the Jewish Home for the Aged in San Francisco. She no longer spoke English and she had no memories of the present – she may have had Alzheimer’s, but it didn’t have a name at the time. She was happy, sang opera, and in her mind she was living in pre-war Vienna. When I went to visit her once in 1979, I was taking a course in German and understood a bit of what she said. She did not know who I was and talked to me as if we were in a park in Vienna. She asked if I knew her children. I think she must have been living the very same memory she described in this letter. So although Helene didn’t get to visit her grandchildren in Stadtpark, her granddaughter visited with her there in spirit.

---

Vienna, March 26, 1940

Dear Paul,

Congratulations on the apartment!  It’s a step forward, slowly but surely.  We don’t live in the land of milk and honey nowadays, but if we are patient and can wait, we can accomplish something.  Soon you will have regained your independence and achieved a sphere of influence appropriate to your enthusiasm and knowledge. In a country where you are still in the process of learning the language for practical use, it may take a bit longer.  I am reminded of what an acquaintance, who now lives in London, once told me: “What good is it that I can read Wilde or Galsworthy in the original, but I don’t know how to say ‘rain gutter’?”  We looked it up right after that, but I don’t think this knowledge would really help me make progress in the USA.  I only wish I knew if it would serve any purpose for me to learn Turkish, Chinese, Spanish or English.  But what does a goose dream about?  Just about corn. (something is wrong about that word, but I don’t know what). So I dream about reuniting with my children.  While I work with a broom and duster, I wander through California’s blessed fields with you.  Let me hear from you soon, and don’t worry about whether the letter will arrive or not.  That’s all for today, and break a leg!

Helen

---

I am in awe of Helene’s seeming fearlessness at facing uprooting herself, finding a way to earn a living and learning a new language. As we see in her letter to Paul, since they don’t know where they will end up, she doesn’t quite know which language to learn. In thinking about learning new things, in her letter to Eva, Helene refers to the Habsburg ruler, but for once she had her dates wrong. Maria-Theresa lived to age 63.

March 25

Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

As we saw in the letter of March 17, 1941, Helene was finally desperate enough to ask for financial assistance from her relatives in San Francisco to help her and Vitali come to San Francisco.

Today’s letter is written from Paul Zerzawy to Erwin Fulda, a (distant?) cousin of Helene’s – you can see a photo of him visiting Helene in Vienna in the post of February 18. In the letter from that day, she is adamant about not wanting to ask him for money. Presumably this letter would have been used as proof for the American immigration authorities that if Helene and Vitali were allowed to come the U.S., they be able to support themselves or have the assistance of American relatives. You can see that $70 went a long way in 1941.

Paul makes it clear in this letter that the expectation is that Helene and Vitali would find a way to make a living in America, or that Paul and Helene’s children would support Helene and Vitali until they could do so. This letter is a back-up plan should they be unable to come up with the money. We know that Paul had been having a difficult time earning a living in San Francisco and at this point Harry was finishing high school and Eva was in her first year of nursing school, so it’s likely they would have needed this assistance, at least in the beginning. According to this letter, Paul expects to assist his brother Robert as well. Presumably when Robert comes to the U.S. from England (which he never does).

March 21

Copy of letter from Helene’s nephew Paul Zerzawy in San Francisco to his step-brother Fritz Orlik and his wife Hanne in Haifa. We saw a letter from Fritz on January 25.

 21. March 1940.

Dear Fritz and dear Hanne!

After almost 2 months your letter from January 24th arrived. You were at that point still without any mail from me. I got your first card and an earlier letter which was forwarded on to me from Arthur Schiller and I answered those shortly after getting them. In case my answer was lost, I will, before I go into what your last letter said, repeat the content of that one in brief.

After I had expressed my joy at the end of your journey and the long and even longer period of uncertainty, which was very nerve-wracking for all of us, and expressed my hope that you would get used to your new situation soon and smoothly, I told about myself. First, I unfortunately had to deny the news that you’d gotten from somewhere (from where?) that I had already found a job. As proof, I mentioned that after six months of futile attempts to find work and be able to support myself, I had moved from New York to San Francisco to stay with the parents of the person who gave an affidavit for me in order to save money on food and lodging. Then I reported about the Stopford matter. Since common fortune to the extent that it could be made liquid had already been doled out to us, your portion of the foreign accounts was already sent on to you by Robert. And since the rest was invested in securities and are frozen and secondly really belong to the bank to cover our loan and probably don’t entirely cover it either. Otto got the approved amount of £200 in my name with Robert’s money (a service handled by Stein), he got this for an exchange rate and had transferred it to me in New York right when the pound was at its lowest. I kept as much of this money as I was entitled to after my private settlement with Robert. Robert’s private debt to me had been reduced by my costs for food and lodging in Prague. This money I used up both here and in New York - all I really have anymore is an emergency reserve. How much Robert has of his part of this which I had transferred to him in London is not known to me. You know perhaps directly from him or from the Schauer girls that he has no job, and he is not doing very well with his stomach or his teeth (or he was); I really don’t know the details. Every letter says he’s doing better, but you can also see that he wasn’t doing that well at the time of the last letter. In any case, he had to have all of his teeth removed and dentures made and he has to follow a strict diet (or at least he’s supposed to!).

The other stuff I wrote is pretty much out of date so I’ll go to the present now. I am concerned that you have not yet been able to earn enough money and that Hanne on top of all that is suffering from gallstones. I really cannot help you with a sufficient sum of money as you see from what I've told you before and what I will be telling you in a moment, but in consultation with Robert who told me about your unfortunate situation in his letter and in both of his names because he still has a settlement to make with me, I am sending you the enclosed check drawn on the Bank of America here, #133965, for $60U.S. to the Ottoman Bank in Haifa. (The check is made out to “Frederick Orlik” so you will have to cash it that way. I hope you will not have any modesty about that.) According to today’s exchange rate, that may be a bit more than 16 English pounds. It’s not much, but we wish to send you a little bit to help with Hanne’s health, or if her health is already restored to her, then you can keep it for your household. Take it as intended. It is less than we would wish, but is unfortunately all that we can give you.

Otherwise, we will have to comfort ourselves that as we know from experience, all immigrants spend many months and sometimes years to manage to get a decent income no matter where fate has sent them. For myself, I do not want to complain much because San Francisco is a splendid city with a magical climate, tranquilly living well-mannered kind of people live here who even show some interest in art and music and have no hatred of Jews, unlike in New York. But a regular job is something one cannot find and so I have taken on the career of a piano teacher and accompanist. I earn a little more than my furnished room costs me, which I felt prompted to do because I think I was bothering the older Schiller married couple. (For mail however, nevertheless you should still use my address: 731-Eleventh Avenue. - that’s the best way to reach me.) With the help of the many invitations, I can pretty much make it financially and I hope I do not have to make any more use of the bank account which has pretty much shrunk to an iron reserve which is not even enough to buy anything with. But if I’m lucky, the number of my students will increase. I have plenty of company and through the help of all my relatives and my own promotional activities, since the 1st of February - the day on which I started my new activity - I have gained five students. But you see, although I am speaking relatively of luck, it has taken nine months to do this, to get to earn my first dollars. And many others are doing just the same. So don’t give up; it will happen.

Now I want to report what I know about our relatives. Mother wrote on February 10th from Podebrad that she hasn’t had any mail from you for months and that she has only heard indirectly that you are staying with Fritz P and that you are looking for a way to make a living. She is somewhat comforted in her own comings and goings because she has the Schauers and Marianna. The pension question has been solved to her advantage, as far as I know. There has been a huge number of letters in both directions which have been lost, and so I can do more with the help of my fantasy than with concrete reports, but I do think that she is really suffering from the lack of mail. Robert’s letters are getting lost too, and vice versa. Since he does have mail from you, I assume that you are in touch. His address in any case is “Heston” West Kilbride, Ayrshire, Scotland. He is near Anny and Doris, and you probably have a letter from them.

The huge distances and the war and the losses of letters associated with it make it quite impossible to keep correspondence going in all directions. I write as much and as well as I can and I am happy when I hear at least a sign of life from you. I hope to hear from you soon and through you, about the others.

I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart.

Your
Paul

I have also received a copy of the letter you mentioned which was written from Mother to Robert on the 5th of November, and I don’t really know what they are talking about either.

---

I am grateful that Paul Zerzawy was trained as a lawyer. I assume that is why I have so many copies of important letters and documents. Beyond the description of his own and his relatives’ challenging lives and financial hardship, he gives a moving description of the lives of immigrants, as true today as it was then.

March 20

Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

 Today we have two letters written on the same day.

Front side of Helene’s letter to her son Harry.

Vienna, 19. March 1940.

My only little Harry boy.

In what I sent to Eva, you will have realized how few pieces of news get through from you and you see how hungry I am for even the littlest bit. If I did not have my imagination, which allows me to imagine what you’re doing, I would have to be very sad. Papa is trying his hardest to distract me and he is such a good person. For other reasons I am looking forward to Sunday because the following day is Monday and I might have a chance to get some mail that day. Last Monday brought us a letter from Eva but the fact that you’re worrying about us and doing things for us is making me sad. No sense in worrying. It’s not in the cards - it would be so easy to solve the problem that we are separated from you - but that would not even be normal. Parents are always interested in what their children’s lives are about. One of the oldest things in the order of the world, which nowadays has really come into a certain amount of disorder. I feel like I am a country cousin who is sitting at the train station hours before the train is scheduled, waiting for the train. The waiting period seems so long, but finally I hear the whistling of the locomotive. The heart pounds a bit more and you get to your destination. 

How are you doing in school? Do you have nice classmates and what do you do in your free time? Easter is just around the corner, are you going to work as a clerk again? When I imagine you doing this job, I think about all the Hanseatic books once occupied my imagination. From “should and have” started to “Max Havelar.” We live in our world of thoughts and that’s not really such bad company.

Your letters are the only thing we have to read because we don’t really have to concentrate on those.

Yesterday I wanted to go to procure for E&H Lowell some shaving cream for Papa for March 21 [Vitali’s birthday] but our account was overdrawn. We have an advance until July and so can’t really buy anything.

Yesterday, there was a family scene and I thought about the fact that you were not here really didn't think it was possible to win the following fight without help. I wanted to get Papa’s nightgown, the one with the Indian pattern, to be washed because you could barely see the design anymore. But Vitali went wild and was making crazy gestures. I had to laugh how he was defending his piece of clothing and I could almost not win this battle. He was afraid that washing his nightgown might ruin its “elegance” and the expression on his face was so fearful that I promised he could borrow my morning parade outfit. That lasted 1/4 hour and then his nightgown with its one-time Indian pattern was indeed sent out to be cleaned. My promise was kind of a ruse because I knew Papa wouldn’t be able to use my clothing because it wouldn’t fit him. He didn’t take me at my word but he bought himself another one for the points he still had so he could change and he’s quite proud of his new acquisition. It was a really nice Busch family scene. Unfortunately, I can’t use your camera. That’s too bad because you would have gotten a kick out of this. What is your Baldina doing? Is she working? Is she out of a job? Not making movies anymore? It seems like maybe she’d make 5 schillings, but that seems unlikely.

I’m glad that my waiting will bring me the reward of a detailed letter. I will soon join the ranks of classic “waiting women” like Penelope, Solveigh, etc.

So that’s it for today, greetings to all the dear ones.

Kuuuuuuuuuss

Helen

---

Front side of letter from Helene to Paul Zerzawy

(handwritten note that it was received April 3)

Vienna, 19. March 1940.

My dear Paul! I assume that you did not just leave it at the one card from November 4 and that letters from you and from the children are still on their way. So I am answering one of these imaginary letters. Please excuse me if I don’t respond to any questions that you might have asked. You can’t really accuse me of superficiality in this case.

If I were to give you a description of our days you could be forbidden to fish because you are yawning so much. That’s why I can only assure you that it’s not an easy task to go from being quite busy to being forced to do nothing. Well, doing nothing is not quite the right expression because my time is really taken up with cooking, washing the dishes and the laundry, straightening up, and other kinds of housework. However I have enough leisure during these activities to think about a lot of things. This thinking is what reminds me in a painful way that in our matter we must take consciousness of our situation. In addition, there’s the matter of the mail dragging along and that just makes me have dark thoughts. But I don’t want to foist off my melancholy mood on you. It goes away as soon as I get one of those letters that’s on the way.

Now you’ve been in San Francisco for 5 months already and we only know from you that you’ve arrived well, you live at Bertha’s house, and that you are studying language with Hilda and paying for it by the clearing certificate. That’s quite a bit, isn’t it?

For the care of my children in New York I have not really thanked you, because I only recently found out from a letter from Harry from October 21 in what a selfless way you cared for the children. I will make up for all of this and I hope that I can pay back all the love that was shown to my children.

I am afraid I have today against my will have let myself go here and I hope I haven’t ruined your mood. Sometimes one is so melancholy and it would be better to not write letters when one is feeling that way, but today is the last day for Clipper post. Even though I know that it will still lay around, I don’t want it to be my fault that you are delayed in getting mail.

Paul, get yourself together and write me a very, very detailed general report. Maybe send it as a package so it’ll be cheaper.

I am wishing all the best for you. I am your

Helen

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Although written on the same day, the letters posted today were translated 18 months apart — we get a fuller picture when both are read together. Like the letters from March 17, Helene’s letters to her son Harry and to her nephew Paul were very different. To Harry she tells a story of family life filled with literary references. To Paul, she is much more direct. We learn that Paul met Eva and Harry when they arrived in New York and how he helped them make their way to San Francisco.

Helene’s likening herself to the “waiting women” of myth and literature paints a vivid picture. From a summary of characters from Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt, “Solveig, Peer’s ideal love, always beautiful and always patient. Although she grows old and almost blind while waiting for Peer’s return, she has power to defy the Button Moulder by her belief that her faith and love reveal the real Peer. She seems to represent love, holy and remote but everlasting.” Edvard Grieg wrote music to accompany the play, including “Solveig’s Song.”

Even when asking Harry about his job as a clerk (probably for the Levy-Zentner wholesale fruit and vegetable company), she brings in references to old international merchant and trading companies and efforts, painting a more interesting picture than the mere title “clerk” would do.

March 18

Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

Mail to prisoners of war

Today we have another letter from Erich Zerzawy to his brother Robert in Bohemia. At this point Erich had been a POW in Russia for almost a year. Although the letter is dated March 18, you can see from the postmarks that the letter didn’t arrive in Brüx until 3 months later, first going through Russia, a censor in Vienna (triangular postmark).

18./III.17.

My dear Robert!

I was very pleased to get your letter, even though it concerns me that your health is not particularly good. This seems to be one of the first letters sent to Beresowka sent on January 16. I wish you all the best. See to it that you regain your health as soon as possible so that you will be healthy like I am. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to write to you in detail as I would like to. With the colossal escalation here in Russia, they have limited our correspondence to a card a week and a letter every two weeks. I hope you get my next letter. I’ll switch off between writing to you and writing to Papa. You’ll have to console the others as long as I have to do that. For example, yesterday I got 2 cards from Franzl Reh from Neumarkt (December 12 and 15 sent to Trojaksovosk). I wrote to thank them, etc.. I didn’t know about Ernst Sedlacek’s present, but I will try to look for it. I thank Grandmother for all her kind thoughts for me and for the care package she has promised. These are doubly appreciated. By the way, it is best to send those as small Field Post packages. Larger packages can take a long time to come. The others can take 4 weeks. Austrian cigarettes, handkerchiefs, etc. Sincerely,

Erich

Written on the side: Please also Wickelgamaschen [Puttee - leg wraps], socks, suspenders

Until I delved into my family papers, I had no idea that POWs were able to at least sporadically send mail and to receive mail and packages. Even in Ravensbrück and Buchenwald, prisoners received packages – Helene mentions sharing care package contents with fellow prisoners in her letter to Lucienne Simier posted on January 22. 

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Below is a letter from Helene’s husband Haim (Vitali) Cohen to Otto Zrzavy in Prague. This is one of the very few examples I have of Vitali’s writing. Otto may have been Paul Zerzawy’s first cousin, although earlier in the war I have letters from him from Haifa. Perhaps he returned to Europe? But if so, how was he still safe and able to send packages?

4 March 1945

Dear Otto, Got your package on time on February 8, very happy to get it.  I hope Helene has received news from you too; don’t forget to say hello to her for me. I’m sure you have told Paul and Robert our new addresses.  I wish you all the best (? – covered by the “postal examiner” stamp) and remain your

Haim Cohen

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As Vitali is writing this, Helene is about to be released from Ravensbrück and put on a ship to Istanbul, as we saw on March 15. They never hear from each other again.