Letter from Elspeth

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May 29 [1938]

Szirtes-Ut 32

Budapest

Dear Mother:

I scarcely know where to begin or how to tell you what we have been doing for this last week. It was like a mad-house in Vienna and we began to feel, after a few days that we were losing our senses too. From Munich we got to Vienna rather late in the evening as we had some trouble with the motor. We went to several hotels but all were filled up with military and Germans. You certainly don't see any English or Americans as before, specially at this time of the year when it is lovely in Vienna. We finally got a room in the Graben Hotel and they had beds there also in the bathrooms. We went immediately to Karl's flat for dinner. We sat talking until 1am.Of course we talk only about what is happening to them and what they can do. So far Karl has not

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been molested -except that they came to take him to wash the streets, but luckily he was out at the time. He goes to his office for a few hours every day, but there is nothing to do there -except perhaps some family affairs -as Jewish lawyers are not allowed to do anything much. But Karl says he can't sit at home all day, waiting for the police to come, so he goes to his office. Of course his motor was taken away at once and it is no more in the garage where he kept it, but Karl still has to pay the garage for oil and washing and storage and he doesn't dare to say anything or he would be put into prison. It is possible that because he fought all through the war that they may leave him alone, but he does not believe it will be possible. Of course even to be left alone is not much pleasure. Every Aryan in Vienna must wear a s

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wastika. Those that haven't -and a Jew would be imprisoned if he wore one -cannot go to any concert -opera -or in fact any public place. There are two coffee houses in Vienna where apparently it is possible for Jews to go -and one day we met Alfred & Karl -but in a dark corner inside. Alfred looks terrible and he has Veronal in his pocket all the time. He was urging Karl that it was the best solution. I really think it is myself. You don't really need to look at a person's lapel to see whether he wears a swastika or not, his miserable face is usually enough. All foreigners wear their flags, but I took great pleasure in not. I was hoping I should be asked to wash the streets, but (un)fortunately the worst part of that mob violence is over. It was mostly done by the Austrian Nazis -those who had been in prison and got out under the amnesty-or those

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who have been in exile in Germany now for some years. They were the ones who led a real reign of terror, but then the German police put down all that because of course they didn't want such things to be seen on the streets, but their terrorizing.is more subtle and secret and everyone lives in daily fear. To Mrs. Strakosch they came to her bedroom at 1:30 in the morning to wash the streets but she gave them money and they left her alone, then they wanted to go up to the grandchildren’s room and she gave them more money and they left them alone. But not all were so lucky. Lili Bettelheim, for eight hours, had to clean lavatories with her hands, to pick up dirt on the floor and even more unspeakable things -with her teeth and all the time not be allowed to go to the lav herself.

Rosa Lemberger was in prison for 3 weeks with 4 other women in a

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one-roomed cell and her son is still in prison -after 6 weeks -all because when some military people occupied their house of flats they enquired whether they would be paying rent. Rosa L. was allowed out only when she signed a paper saying she would give all her money and properties to them. She was then automatically expelled from Austria and through the Society of Friends and her son in England, got a permit to go and stay there, but in the meantime there is a new law (they come out every day) and the passport she got is no good. Everything is so upside down that no one really knows anything.

We went to see Hutterstrasse the Besendorfer people -who are Aryans and were Nazi minded because they thought it would be better for business. But he says he is nearly out of his mind. He works from morning till

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night and doesn't sell one piano. There are so many laws and regulations that everyone is frightened of making a mistake as it means going to prison. He was horrified of course at what was happening to the Jews. Hitler’s photograph is everywhere until it stinks and swastikas covering everything. Streicher’s paper, Der Sturmer on sale at every corner and the pictures in it make you sick. I walk for blocks to look for a shop that is not marked "Aericshes Geschäfft". Most of the Jewish owned shops have been expropriated of course but a few are left and such miserable people inside. They look absolutely trapped and hunted. Jan asked for some man in one shop -"oh yes he is lucky, he committed suicide yesterday". He had invented some gadget and made quite a lot of money.

We went to see poor Mrs. Dub. She had a small pension 800 sch. from the newspaper her husband worked for all his life. The first month it was

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cut down to 400. This month she was told she would have none. Her daughter gives English lessons for a few shillings. It was awful to go and see her (or anyone for that matter) but when in good times they have all been so kind to us it would be beastly not to and I must say they all say, and Karl particularly, how much they appreciate our having taken the trouble to come and see them. We can't do anything much, it is true, but we can talk over prospects and perhaps some suggestions. Mrs. Dub said her Christian friends had been very kind and it seemed very pathetic when she said "My postman is so nice to me and my maid, as they say I was also thoughtful of them." The poor thing was crying of course and she begged us to come and see her again before we go and said "I promise not to cry, if you come next time". It was like going from one death bed scene to another, some had lost everything already and felt the worst was over

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and those that hadn't waited for it to come.

We went to see the Strakosches. Their factory has been taken away. At least bought from them for such a small sum it was practically taken and they have lost everything -even jewellery and house and cars, etc. One daughter was luckily in Switzerland with her husband but her 2 yr. old son was with his grandmother and for the last 10 weeks they have been trying to get a passport for him to go to his parents, and Mrs. S. was very glad that day because they had at last got one. The other daughter and her husband are going to England with their 3 children. He had a chocolate factory and they intend to take a cottage in the country and begin again in their kitchen! Mrs. S. will go with them and help to look after the children and the house-and they were tremendously wealthy! Her butler was still with her and wants to go with them. I think he has been there about

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35 years. Georg Strakosch was in prison too and his wife whom I always thought quite beastly, was true to her colours and immediately left him and went to America and never replied to any letters -so he is quite desperate. I think Hanns S.'s sister wrote to Forrie from Switzerland about Vancouver.

Of course everyone asks us about Vancouver -if we came from anywhere else it would be the same. It is terribly cruel to say, I'm afraid you would have no chance and besides it is almost impossible to get in. We try to think of other places where living would be cheaper and where there would be more opportunities. But the trouble now -where to go? Who wants them?

Then we went to see Prof. Hirsch. Of course they don't let him go anymore to the clinic except when they send for him for

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a special operation. His Aryan patients also say they are frightened to come to him. (In Germany they go at nighttime.) While we were there, the daughter went out to meet friends somewhere, and after some time there was a telephone call to know why she hadn't arrived. As soon as you are late for an appointment everyone worries! Prof. Haas came in -he is a well known orthopedic man and we had the usual dismal talk and discussed the possibilities of every country. Jan is a walking atlas and full of geographical information.

After having tea there we went on to the Hupkas’, left our car with G.B. licence on a side street, as Pepi had been visited by the police for having had a foreign caller a short time ago. We went into the front room as usual, but Pepi said we must all go into his back study as no one

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could hear us talking there. We sat around like conspirators, then tried to get the radio news form Strasbourg but there was too much interference. The Viennese papers are not worth reading. Naturally Karl was so depressed and said he hadn't taken his nerve medicine that day. Trauti went off and cried several times. We waited for the Hirsches to come and finally at 10:30 Pepi telephoned to them. They had been visited by the S.S. in the meantime and were quite shaken as what was to happen. Apparently he had been given some books on Socialism by some of his patients and so they thought that they had better burn them, but one book was not quite burnt up. Their chauffeur happened to find it and took it to the police -now they are waiting to see what is going to happen next. Incidentally their car was also taken

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even tho he is a doctor, and they are forced to keep this same chauffeur living in a part of the house and pay him just the same. I must say that evening got more on my nerves than any other. When the Hirsches left, Pepi wouldn't let us go out altogether because that is not a good idea. A man Jan played bridge with had 2 tables of bridge in his flat -for something to do and he was arrested as they said it was a communist gathering! So we crept out later, like criminals and even in our hotel room we began to whisper to each other. The only one who seemed to be normal, and yet he seemed also quite mad to be telling jokes about the regime -was Ernst -Gaby's brother. There are so many I forget, but one asked -Are you an Aryan or do you learn English? If two Germans bump into each other in the streets

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and they don't say excuse me -but, "Prosit" because their clothes are mostly made of glass -and such jokes which I forget the Viennese will always think of, even in such desperate times.

The streets are full of soldiers and lorries and marching "jugend" of every description. You have to go into the street or else get knocked off the sidewalk. We heard that British people needed visas and as we were coming to Budapest and going back to Vienna, we went to enquire at the British Consulate. There were about a hundred people waiting to get permits to go to England. We went back in the afternoon and they told us to go to the Police in Vienna. Outside the station there was a mob, and people were struggling to come out and outside fighting to

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get in. Jan got near the policeman at the door. He was an angry fellow anyhow and I got lost behind, but all at once the policeman exploded with rage and hit the one nearest which was Jan and pushed us all back into the street. (We gave up the fight and spent the morning here in B.P. waiting at the German Consulate for it -only to find that the colonies and 1/2 Ireland don't need it. We met there a whitehaired English woman who told us the English Consulate here had advised her to go back through Jugoslavia as he himself was going to do. But I think that is exaggerated.) Of course we get the English papers so late and sometimes not at all that we don't know what's going on half the time. In fact, I had thought it would be nice

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to go back by Prague and see what's going on!

It was like heaven to come here -the house is lovely and Otto Bettelheim so kind. Jan brought messages from Karl to Otto -because Otto cannot go to Vienna and all the letters are opened and telephoned conversations listened to. Hungary is absolutely closed to any Austrian Jews and it is wretched to think that Karl has really a lot of money here and it is useless. Otto himself expects anything to happen in Budapest and everyone here says that these are very critical days. It seems sad, in this nice house, that Hanns should have given up so much and perhaps gone away forever. Otto and Grete are quite miserable living in it alone and never know but what next week the same thing may happen here to the Jews. They are all expecting trouble anytime.

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We have a lovely room opening on to the garden and marvelous bathrooms and many hand maidens and very much good food and wine. It also seems to be quite crazy after Vienna. I don't think we can even feel quite the same again and certainly never forget this. I would be a worm if I ever complained about anything again. I just wish a few more people could see these things. To read leaves one feeling sorry but still quite cold-blooded about such things -but to see and talk to all these people makes you shudder and think that we should never mind anything, as long as we are tree and have enough to eat and exist.

I hope the solution for Trauti will be possible. I hope to get her into one of the Nursery Training Colleges in England and after a year's training I think she can take a position

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and work as the demand is not equal to the supply of these nurses and so they will take foreigners. Karl luckily has some money in England but I feel as if I should whisper this. (It is 5 years for not announcing any foreign money.) In fact, all our friends begged me not to mention their names or anything they had told me and I think it would be just as well. Trauti complicates plans somewhat, as I am not a bit fond of her but one can't help feeling terribly sorry for her just now -specially as Karl talks suicide all the time. You can imagine even if we do get her permit to study and work in England and her permit to leave, which is not easy, that it will be pretty awful for her to say goodbye to Karl and not

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know when she will see him again if at all. If Karl has somewhere he can go to, then he will go to the Police and ask for a permit to get out which he may get if he gives up all his money, for which he gets a tenth back again. Jan thinks if we could get him into B. Aires, that he could live there longer on his money than anywhere else and there are lots of Germans and Austrians already there and the climate is nice. But what he will be able to do there I don’t know -but in the mean time he would have enough to live on for about 5-6 years. But anyhow all this is just talk, as we don't know where we can get him into.

We went to see the C.P.R. man and he gave us quite a lot of information

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on the subject. Of course I can't give an affidavit for Karl as I'm not in Canada but also we think it would be difficult for him in Vancouver. His money would not last so long. It is very cruel to have to discuss it this way. Of course he says if I gave the affidavit, that it would be only a form and I would never be responsible and also of course if we were in our own house I would ask him to come to us. It is all so very difficult and Karl, a man of 51 with a profession of a lawyer, the worst thing he could be! I said he should be a photographer and sell postcards. Sometimes he laughs but most of the time he talks about suicide.

I shall be glad

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if we settle Trauti in England and let her become independent. Karl knows how difficult she is and discussed her with me. She is yet another of his worries. We went to see Gaby's parents and they fell on my neck over this idea for Trauti (which was really Mary's inspirations). They are so nice and gentle, it is maddening to think how they were also treated. They went together one day to the bank to get out some papers and on coming out of the safety deposit place, they were invited into a motor and to the police station where they were kept and question all day and finally had to sign over their papers! They also have a pension from the newspaper and Karl is frightened that they will also lose it. The old man said “For us we don’t mind very much, we have enough to eat and I am very happy to stay at home and read the Bible.” But what a life! To go nowhere and be sneered at in the streets. We took Karl and Trauti out for a drive in the Vienna Wald. They hadn’t been anywhere of course and on the way back we stopped at Marcel to see their onetime country house. Jan and Karl looked through the garden gates to where they used to bicycle, etc. Jan used to stay with them when he was a little boy. It was really very sad how we are staying here for the weekend and will go back on Monday. I hope only for a few days in Vienna. It will be hard to say goodbye

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and Karl is trying to get us to stay longer. Jan must see Weigl and Berta Johans [Jahns] too – but he had put off these visits as being the worst of all. They were in bad circumstances before and so now?
I am sure you will think me quite mad if I ask you not to repeat all these names I have mentioned to you -but such unheard of things have happened and stories been repeated and people have got into trouble, that it really is best. I am quite dreading to go back again on Monday. It is like seeing people drowning slowly (only I think that is too humane a way to describe it) and not doing much to help them. I will write next time from Dieppe -we hope to be there about 

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June 4. We are going back by Nurenberg (we may see Pline's brother in England) but I think our chief idea is to get out of Germany as quickly as possible. It is such a shame -the country looks so beautiful -specially around Salzburg and Vienna couldn't look more so just now, except for all the filthy swastikas and Hitler in different poses. Karl says the chief industry in Wien now is taking out flag poles and putting them in again for any high German visiting official. On those days the whole city is covered up with flags.
I expect Pline knows the violinist Fenermann? It is true he is not a very charming person, but could you believe that he was made to wash the streets with an acid which burnt into his fingers? I meant to write again after being in Konigsfeld but it seems

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such a long time ago now since we were there. The old lady is so sweet and was very pleased to see us. I enclose her note of farewell. Margaret will laugh at the words "dear voices" of me and Jan, but it is a shame to laugh as she is such a dear old lady. Her daughter Anny and Prof. Weigl were delighted when Jan told Prof. W.'s son, Fortunatus (what irony) a few home truths about Germany. It is extra ordinary that tho he is Jewish and because of that cannot work, etc. -he is still fanatically patriotic. He was once a member of the Nazi party even! He cannot see that they are misguided in any way and we had some tremendous arguments over colonies, etc. I don't think under those circumstances that he would make a good settler in any other country. But he is a nice boy in spite of what we think are his mad ideas. He is certainly a German first and always. We were able to give them quite a lot of news of what has happened in the world. I wonder how long all these people can stand it. There was a big gathering of soldiers in Munich and one sees mostly air force uniforms.

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Here we are being practically killed with kindness. We have wonderful meals and then a table of snacks and Hungarian wine is wheeled in to fortify ourselves before we go out. Otto and Greta don't seem to be able to do enough for us and I feel embarrassed by their kindness. They are really very depressed because they can't do anything to help their relations in Vienna and all are frightened that this place will be the next where Germany's insidious propaganda has worked so well, it is becoming too strong not to break out.
Mary and Alix said to be sure to write to them how we find things but after telling you all these things

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I haven't the heart or inclination to repeat them all again. But I can't get any of it out of my mind. Grete and Otto want us to stay longer but we shall go on Monday and get away as quickly as possible from Vienna. That will be difficult as we have promised to see all these people all over again and it will not be pleasant to say goodbye, knowing we shall certainly never come back there again and whether we will ever see them again.

Well, I think I must have exhausted your patience in reading all this and I am afraid it is rather a jumbled account as I have been scribbling in haste.

With love  E.