A Letter from Lili

I'm back to the family history blog!  One of my summer projects was to get back to this, and to try to organize all the material I have (a major challenge, especially since organization isn't one of my core competencies.....).  In the process I uncovered this letter from Charlie's Aunt Lili in Czechoslovakia to my father.  It also has an added note to Regina, who had just emigrated to the US from Palestine and a brief note from Charlie.

I managed to get this translated from the German, with the help of an acquaintance and Google translate.  I've left most of the awkward phrasing because I'm afraid of changing the meaning, some of which I may have unintentionally done anyway.

November 19, 1945

Dear Dago  –

Many thanks for your long letter.  First I want to tell you that Heinele is well.  As I told you he goes in the third grade in the elementary school, plus he learns Jewish [Yiddish?] and English in private and evening classes.  He picks up very quickly and the learning goes easy. 

On Saturdays once in a while he is called to the Torah, and we eat lunch in the Folkskitchen.  He often helps out there.  He speaks German in a dialect that he learned at home in Beuthen, but he prefers Czech.  This he learned in 1939 after deportation to Prague, and he kept it as his mother tongue.  With me and my husband he speaks Slovak or Czech, but in a short time he will also learn English.  

As of December 1, we hope that we will all live together.  Up till now he lives with my brother-in-law, Backer, who is out of  town. I myself have only a small room on the 7^th story far behind the city, but the child is in his free time mostly in my office, which is in the city center and very close to his apartment.  It is all very difficult because he was supposed to go to Gusti [her sister], but it is not working out.  Like I already told you I am trying to get Heinele to London. But this has to be done from the outside.  I have seen cases where it was successful, but in my case my hands are tied because I am here.

He writes his name “Jindra” or “Jindrich.”  We are using no German names because everything reminds us of Germany, and we are eradicating the language.  The child likes to go to the movies, normally on a Sunday afternoon.  We haven’t been in the movies in 6 years, and we do not miss it.  We are so tired and we have hardly lived. 

Chaskel [Uncle Henry] writes that they have a small jewelry manufacturer.  Here you see it in masses, these articles, there are such things, so it is not of value, but Chaskel says he is doing fine.  And Chaskel writes often and writes very well, and I like to hear from him.  Gusti writes me and we are happy to get posts from all these people.

Did you ever meet my sister Gusti?  She does not write well, but she is a beautiful person, of which there are few.  Even her husband is very steady and nice.  He wrote me that he has all the Saturdays and holidays free.  This has us very happy and it is my outspoken wish that our child is brought up in the Jewish sense, and so remains. We have seen the big businesses and the wealthy firms  that collapsed like a house of cards overnight and the original owner who fought to keep the business going and then collapsed. 

There is a lot to talk about, but we will keep it for ourselves, until we can speak in person.  I fear that our opinions may differ, but our views are still unchanging even after all we had to live through. 

Today I got news that a parcel that was sent by you from NY arrived here.  I do not have it yet, but in a few days I will pick it up.  Many thanks for sending that.

Now I have another worry, Gusti [her sister] writes that they sent a package to the address of a nephew of mine, Capitan Bernat Grun, Praha Karlin, Kralovska 59. Now, however, he was transferred and I do not know where he is. Actually my older brother who came from Russia was living with him, but it is possible that the son has taken the father, and both are no longer in Prague and the package has gotten into the wrong hands. This will make me very sick, because there are things that are very important for me:  winter coat, boots, and hats, which we need just as much as a bit of bread.

For now I close with many kind regards to all.

Send me please some pictures of yourself and especially of little Frances.  We sent you a picture of Heini and one of my husband and myself, which hopefully have come. 

Again warm regards,

         (signed)               Leonie

[Leonie continues….]

Here are a few lines from Heini. He writes in Czech, because he does not like to write in German:

Translation [into German, provided by Lili]:

Dear uncle.  I am very glad about your news.  Whenever I go to aunt, the first thing I ask about you.  I’m in the third grade in school.  I am busy learning and I am healthy.  I am happy that you are healthy and have good wives [sic!].  I would love to be with you, but it is very difficult, and God knows how long it will take.  I must learn a lot, because I missed four years, but it is easy and I hope it will all be for the best.

Otherwise I am healthy.  I have a coat, a lumberjack and a leather cap.  And now I am closing.

                        Jindrich Grun, /Heini/

[And Lili continues with this note to Regina]

My dear Ryfka 

From the previous lines you'll see everything concerning us and the child.  Heniele would very much like to know why you left Erez [Palestine] and if it is so that one cannot exist there. Since then, he heard that his uncle is not for Erez, he will not hear of seeking anything there, even though he initially showed interest in it. He is a wonderful child and is recognized by everybody because he is particularly beautiful ["schon" -- "nice" may be a better translation?].  He resembles Chaskel and Dago.  I love him very much and will give him the base to be a good person.  He’s very outgoing and we do not speak about the past, even though many times he is asking for his parents.  I cannot imagine a life without this child, but it is my strongest wish that he soon find a place that will be best for him.  Chaskel writes that he is fighting to get the child, but I want to make sure that I give him the basic education before we do anything else. 

Otherwise I don’t have much to tell, I am happy for you that you are happy and hope that you will find a nice man. 

My husband [Isidore] has a good character.  He is one of six brothers.  He’s the only one that survived.  God help me to protect him.  It was only by a small margin that we would have been destroyed, too.

Now, in conclusion, I remain sincerely,

        (signed)             Leonie   Isidor    Heini


And now some background and commentary from me:



Most of you will remember that it was Charlie's Aunt Lili (aka Leonie Schwarz) who tracked him down after the war ended, and then managed to contact his uncles and get him to United States.

Here's how Charlie describes the experience in his document "A Remembrance:"

In the papers that Charlie left are letters written by Lili to my father ("Dago"), Regina ("Ryfka") and Henry ("Chaskel") between May, 1945 and June, 1946. 

There are 25 of them, mostly typewritten, but written, of course, in German. I've managed to get two translated, this one, which I chose because of the note from Charlie, and the very first one I have, which is dated May 15, 1945, and which I'll reserve for a future post, because this post is getting too long.

I'll end, though, with a photo of "Heinele" and Lili and her husband Isidor, labeled "Bratislava, 1946."  

Poor Orphan Heinele

In among Charlie's papers, I was surprised to find this letter to my father from someone I had never heard of in England.  It is undated, but it was obviously written not long after the war ended.

I'm hoping you can read this by clicking on this link to the original, typewritten on fragile yellowed airmail paper,  but just in case you can't, here's my re-typed copy:

Mrs. Hana Lefkovits

1, Smith Street,

WATFORD, Herts, England.

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Hochbaum,

 

I suppose that you have heard about me already, but unfortunately I haven't had the pleasure to meet you personally yet. David Gruen, your brother-in-law is the brother of my mother. Well to cut a very long story short I have heard from my aunt Leonie Gruen about the poor orphan Heinele and got immediately in touch with the Rev. Solomon Schoenfield who is trying to get the child over here to England.  I should be only to happy to have him here and do everything for him as it is not only my duty but I know the child well and love him too. You see there are not many of our relatives over in Czechoslovakia alive, we ourselves cannot trace my mother and brother up till today and for the few who were spared, we must do all in our power in order to help them heal their terrible wounds. It is really too tragic to think that we shall not see dear David and Martha and so many others again.

 

 

 

Please write to me Mr. Hochbaum, and tell me if it is at all advisable to get Heinele over here, what I mean to say is my husband is in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the British Army in Burma since 26 months, he is due back in England any time now -  when he gets back, we shall go back to Czechoslavakia in order to straighten out a few things and then we shall consider where we intend to finally settle down. Leonie writes and tells me that you are trying to get the child over to the U.S.A.--  which would of course be the best for him as the food rations are very severe here and I am really afraid that I should not be in a position to offer him everything he should have after the inhuman hardship he had to go through.  Do not misunderstand me. I should be only too happy to do everything, it is not the question of money, as my husband is a Doctor and my allowance would be enough for all the care the boy needs. I am only stating the facts to you as I am sure you will understand me. If it is easier to obtain the affidavit for Heinele from here than of course there is no question about it all and he shall come to me to stay for the time until everything is ready for him to go to you. Please do tell me all that so that I am informed about these things. The child as I am informed is in the Tatra at the moment and is recovering very well indeed, he seems to have put on a good deal of weight and Leonie writes, that he is really doing fine -- how happy I should be to be in a position to offer him a proper home and care which he needs so much.

 

 They say the poor thing has been in 6 Concentration Camps and has seen my mother and brother in Auschwitz, where his poor parents died. It is too horrible to think about the life and suffering Heinele had to go through and believe me - we have to see that he will grow up in the way David would wish him to.

 

I shall wait for your answer then Mr. Hochbaum and please let me know

what would be the best for Heinele and I shall be only too pleased to help him.
 

 

 

With best regards to you,

 

yours,

 

 (signed) Hana/Basker (?)/Lefkovitz

 

 

P. S.

 

I am writing to you only about everything as you, I am sure, understand

our position better than our people in Czechoslovakia, you see they imagine
that we have everything over here and do not know that we have so few houses, after having been bombed out several times. and the food is scarce, etc.  l have not a house myself but am staying in a furnished room and a kitchen
until my husband comes back.  At the moment I am working in an office,  but should give up my job up immediately the child would come to England.   Please understand that financially there is no worry at all - there is only the accomodation and the food problem.

If you have seen Foyle's War (a PBS series about the home front in England during WWII, which I highly recommend), this letter absolutely captures the England it portrays, with its food rations and lack of housing. 

When I asked Alice about this letter she said that Charlie was not happy about the description of him in the letter as "poor orphan Heinele."  She added: 

 I don't mean he erupted in any way.  Not Charlie.  He just looked VERY peeved, which was so uncharacteristic of him.  I don't remember him actually saying anything much about it.  I think he understood and appreciated Ann's good intentions, but HATED to be characterized as a poor orphan, needing to be taken care of.  And who would want to go to England when America was open to him?  I know he was asked if he wanted to go to Israel and he turned it down.

 

So just who was Hana Lefkovits?  I asked Alice about that, too.  And that turned out to be another story.....stay tuned....

Regina's Restitution File and the Business in Beuthen

In 1937, my father and his five siblings (and Marta and Erna's families) were all living in Beuthen, in Upper Silesia, Germany, and running the family fruit and vegetable wholesale business. 

My father and his two brothers, Sam and Henry, emigrated to the United States in August, 1938, and Regina left for Palestine in January, 1938.   Did they see the writing on the wall?  Or did something else motivate them to leave their family and community with no money for an unknown future?

The latter, it turns out.  

Beginning in the 1950's the West German government passed a series of laws providing restitution and compensation for Jews whose properties and livelihoods were confiscated in the Holocaust.

Regina's restitution file is about 2 inches thick. It consists of letters and copies of letters almost entirely in German between Regina and a lawyer named Dr. Erich Cohn, who was at different times based in New York, Zurich and Berlin.

Much of the file consists of Regina's handwritten copies of letters she sent to Dr. Cohn, which are going to be hard to decipher and translate, but one typewritten document provides insight as to what was going on, and gives us a good look at the state and nature of the family business in Beuthen and Gleiwitz, and what happened to it under the Nazis. 

The document is a statement that Regina was to have notarized and submit as part of her claim.  The following is my rough translation (thanks to Google) of most of this document:

I was born on 20 November 1915 in Chrzanowin Krakow / Poland. My father was called ChaimHirsch Hochbaum, my mother Fanny Hochbaum born Laufer.  They were both Jewish, Iam therefore a full Jew in the sense of theso-called Nuremberg Laws.

In 1930 I took over along with 5 other siblings of  our deceased parents a fruit, tropical fruits and vegetables wholesale business which dealt as a specialty with imports from Southand Eastern Europe. The headquarters of this businesswas in Bytom [Beuthen]  /Upper Silesia, company Chaim H. HochbaumBytom 0 / SRitterstrasse 7 The firm existed since 1896. I was involved to 1/6of the business. In 1934 we opened a branch in Gliwice [Gleiwitz]Silesia Mittelstrasse 12 We employed two drivers, two workers and two clerks. I worked together with the other siblings. In the years 1930 to 1935 the annual revenue estimate was  800000-1 Million RM. My own income was estimated to be 10,000 -. RM a year.Unfortunately, all of my documents, including tax returns, were destroyed. After 1935 the turnover has decreased slightly, and until 1937 it  was about 600,000 - RM year.. My earnings were about the same as before.

In December 1937, the Nazi authorities, at the initiative of the Upper Silesian Nazis forced us to sell the business to an Aryan. We sold the business in January 1938 to William Pyka for RM 6,000 -. 8000.- RM. The exact amount I cannot remember. The fee was determined by the Nazi authorities. This was for the business, associated vehicles, two trucks and a passenger car, as well as for the two business premises in Bytom and Gliwice, the business shelves, boxes and other furnishings.  A similar operation in Berlin at that time was sold for about 200,000 -. RM, bearing in mind that the import permit alone justified a high remuneration. We also paid to the tax office Bytom (Land Revenue Office Neisse) the Reich duty, the amount of which I cannot remember.  All my documents are destroyed. From Bytom I immigrated to Palestine from where I was placed in a school for girls. For my work I only got food --  no money, salary, or clothing. I was there until the end of 1941, I left school and got a job in 1942, I earned $ 120 - 1943, 150 - l944, 150 - 1945, 170 - In 1946, I emigrated to New York where my family maintained me until 1947. In the year 1948 my income was about $1400.  From 1949 to 1953 about $ 2,000 -. In 1954 and 1955, about  $2500 -.

For the above described process I call as witnesses

Johann Schaufelt

1164 Clinton Ave.
lrvington, New Jersey

and

Dawid Ulreich, 517 Fort Washington Ave.
New York, N.Y. .

I raise compensation claims because:

1)  Damage to property

As the business as mentioned had a value of approximately 200,000 RM, in the event of sale I would have been granted at least 1/6, or about 33,333 RM, but I only received 1000-1500 RM, so I suffered a loss of about 32000 RM, without even considering the goodwill of the business.

2)  Damage to ongoing livelihood

To this day, it was not possible for me to open my own business again, and therefore there has been significant damage suffered in my career advancement.

Sworn to before me this

……day of January 1957


A couple of notes:

1) The numbers in here were undoubtedly provided by my father.  Regina would have been 18 in 1933 and it was unlikely that she was involved in the dollars and cents part of the business. 

2) How much money are we talking about?  In this period, a dollar was worth approximately 2.48 Reichmarks, so annual revenue of 800,000 RM would be approximately $322,500, which sounds like a good business that was supporting not only the six siblings but Marta and Erna's families.  If they sold the business for 8000 RM (the high end) they got $3225. 

3) Regina did get her restitution payments.  Chet remembers Regina and my father arguing whether she should take the money as a single payment or as an ongoing pension.  She wound up (at my father's insistence), taking it as a pension, and it was what kept her financially solvent and independent.

4) Bytom and Gliwice are the Polish (and, therefore, current) names of Beuthen and Gleiwitz, which were part of Germany in the 1930's.