Countries through which people fled: Austria

Georg Berlstein was born in Vienna in 1929 and grew up in the 4th district. He left in March 1939 on one of the Kindertransports to Great Britain. His mother followed him to England and his father was initially interned on the Isle of Man. At the end of 1940 the family succeeded in emigrating to the USA, where Berlstein continued his education and studied at Yale University. After completing three years of service in the U.S. Air Force, including a tour in Korea, he worked as an attorney. At the time of his interview Berlstein lived in New York.

Herbert Blankstein was born in Vienna in 1925 and grew up in the 9th district. In December 1938 he fled with his mother to Brussels. His stepfather was deported to Southern France in 1941 and later to Auschwitz. In Belgium, Blankstein worked in the armaments industry and was protected from deportation due to his knowledge of German. Blankstein married in Brussels and emigrated to Palestine in 1948 together with his mother, wife and son. He worked as a goldsmith. Blankstein lived in Tel Aviv at the time of his interview.

Lotte Boneh was born Lotte Ramler in 1919 in Vienna and lived with her family in the 2nd district, where she went to high school. After the “Anschluss” in 1938 she was able to finish high school. Boneh’s sister had emigrated to Palestine years earlier and was able to get her a certificate with which she fled to Palestine. Their parents followed them, their brother fled to England. In Palestine, Boneh joined Haganah. At the time of her interview she lived in Israel.

George Czuczka was born in Vienna in 1925. He lived with his parents in Karl-Marx-Hof, where he experienced the bombardment of the building during the February Uprising in 1934. After the Anschluss, Czuczka’s father was imprisoned for several months in Dachau and Buchenwald. The family fled to the US after his release in March 1939. Czuczka would return to Europe as a soldier in the US Army and later served in Germany, Austria and India for the US Foreign Service. He lived in Washington, D.C. at the time of his interview. 

Edith Dreyfuss was born Edith Zinner in Vienna in 1930. After the November Pogrom (“Kristallnacht”) her father was sent to a forced labour camp; Dreyfuss and her mother were evicted from their apartment and forced into a group apartment. In 1941, the family was deported to the Riga Ghetto, where her father was murdered. Dreyfuss and her mother were sent to the Riga-Kaiserwald Concentration Camp and were forced labourers. During a march to Poland in 1944 they were liberated by the Red Army. Dreyfuss returned to Vienna, but later emigrated to the US in 1947. At the time of her interview, she lived in New Jersey.

John Fischer was born as Hans Fischer in 1909 in Vienna, where he lived in the 20th district and worked in a metalware factory. He was arrested during a visit to the dentist and imprisoned in the Rossauer Barracks, the Gestapo jail on Karajangasse and then in the Landesgericht. After his release he fled with his wife first to France and from there to the USA in February 1940. After his military service he worked as a salesman. At the time of the interview, Fischer lived in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Joan Frome was born in Vienna in 1923 as Johanna Schwarz, where she lived with her family in the 7th district. After the Anschluss, she left high school after being beaten up by a fellow pupil. In September 1939, Frome fled unaccompanied to the USA via Belgium. Her father - a veteran of World War One - died in 1939 as a result of the injuries he sustained during the war, her mother was murdered in Auschwitz. At the time of the interview, Frome was living in New York.

Emanuel Fuchs was born in 1918 in Vienna and lived with his family in the 2nd district, where he went to school and his father owned a bookbinders. After the Anschluss, Fuchs was imprisoned and was brought to the “Notarrest” (temporary jail) in Kenyongasse. He was later sent to Dachau Concentration Camp, where he was imprisoned for several weeks until he returned to Vienna and was forced to leave the country. Fuchs was able to emigrate with a friend to the USA via Germany, Amsterdam and Belgium. After serving in the US Army, Fuchs settled in New York and worked as a jeweler.

Catriel Fuchs was born in the Burgenland in 1925, but moved to Vienna with his family when he was a child. In Vienna, he lived for a long period in an orphanage and visited elementary school. After he was excluded from school in 1938, he became a member of a zionist youth organization and with their help was able to flee to Palestine over Yugoslavia. After a period living in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, Fuchs enlisted in the Royal Navy. He later worked for a large container shipping company, a job that took him as far away as Taiwan. Fuchs now lives in Israel.

Kurt Goldberger was born in Vienna in 1925 and grew up in the 1st district. After the Anschluss in 1938, the Goldberg family was forced to leave their apartment. Goldberger escaped on a Kindertransport to Great Britain, where his mother had fled to a couple of months earlier. They emigrated to the USA in April 1944 where they were reunited with his father who had fled there previously. Goldberger worked for B’nai Brith for 21 years, campaigning for minority rights. At the time of the interview, Goldberger lived in New York.

Trude Goldblatt was born in Vienna in 1927 as Trude Deutsch and lived in Vienna’s 7th district. After the November Pogrom (“Kristallnacht”) in 1938 her family had to move into a "Sammelwohnung". Together with her twin brother, Goldblatt was able to flee to Great Britain on a Kindertransport in 1939. There she lived with a Christian family and trained to be a nurse. While visiting her sister in Israel she decided to stay there. She started a family and worked as a midwife and a librarian. At the time of her interview Goldblatt was living in Tel Aviv. 

Gertud Kissiloff was born Gertrud Nachtigall in 1923 in Vienna and grew up in the 2nd district. After her father’s arrest following the “Anschluss”, Kissiloff went to the Gestapo and was able to secure his release. Kissiloff and her brother escaped to Scotland with the Kindertransport in March 1939, followed some months later by their parents. In October 1940, the family emigrated to the USA. Kissiloff studied at the Cooper Union and worked after graduation as a graphic designer. At the time of her interview, she lived in New York.

Alicia Latzer was born in Güssing in Burgenland in 1928. After the ‘Anschluss’ in 1938, she had to leave school and the family moved to Vienna. The family managed to flee via Trieste to Argentina with forged documents in September 1938. Due to their financial situation, Latzer was separated from her parents and sister and had to live in an orphanage for some time. Latzer later undertook several trips to the USA and decided to emigrate there in 1962. Once in the USA, she worked first in the cosmetics industry and later the tourism industry. At the time of her interview, she was living in New York City.

Lea Peled was born in Vienna in 1924 and grew up in the 3rd district. After the “Anschluss” in 1938, Peled stayed in Vienna with her ill mother, while her father and brother fled abroad. After her mother’s death, Peled was able to reach Denmark in Autumn 1939 with the help of the Youth Aliyah, In March 1941, Peled emigrated via Scandinavia and the USSR to Palestine. She lived in the Kibbutz Ben Schemen, Peled was a graphic designer and lived in Ramat HaScharon at the time of her interview.

Robert Perels was born in Vienna in 1937. In 1939, he and his mother fled from Vienna. They got as far as Marseille. Mother and son were interned in various camps before being deported to Auschwitz by train in 1942. During a layover, his mother threw him out of the train. Perels hid in French woods together with a fourteen-year-old girl until they arrived at a monastery. Perels subsequently lived with a family of farmers before managing to flee to Switzerland in 1944 with the help of a Jewish children’s aid organisation. He was adopted there and lived in Zurich. In 1947, he emigrated to Palestine, where he lived with his aunt. At the time of his interview, Perels lived in Israel.

Yitzak Rosner was born Jacques Rosner in 1926 in Romanian Moldoviţa in Bukovina, which was formally part of the Habsburg monarchy, and grew up in a German-speaking family. After the outbreak of World War Two, the Rosner family had to leave Moldoviţa, later they were deported to the Sharhorod Ghetto where they were interned until 1944. After being liberated by the Red Army, Rosner worked for them as a translator in Bucharest. After many failed attempts, Rosner was able to emigrate to Israel via Vienna in 1968, where he was living at the time of the interview.