Read Online Letters From the Lost by Helen Waldstein Wilkes - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Helen Waldstein Wilkes
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In March of 1939, Hitler had declared Bohemia to be a “protectorate” of Germany, and by August, Jews living in the provinces of the protectorate had been ordered to resettle in Prague within the year. Fanny and Josef would soon be forced to move.
Arnold avoids troubling my parents with matters they could not change. However, he points out that Emil Fränkel has resisted all pressure to sell his house and his business premises in Linz, despite the new laws in Austria that bar Jews from owning property. In desperation, the man who assumedinterim control of Emil’s business affairs had come all the way to Prague to persuade Emil to sign over the property to him.
In 1996, safely under my own roof, I began to rethink what my parents meant when they said,
“When we fled, we
lost
everything.”
Because I have been both fortunate and frugal, I own my home and do not wake up wondering if someone will take it away from me. Yet in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, that is precisely what happened. The government simply changed the law. Jews could no longer own property. Whatever they owned was simply taken by the state, and the state signed over to Aryan citizens any property that it did not keep. That is how we “lost” our home and the store in Strobnitz, how my mother’s parents “lost” their home and their store in Germany, and how the Fränkels “lost” everything in Austria.
Some Jews hastily sold their property for very little, but Emil Fränkel refused to give up. If the man who took over the business came from Linz to Prague to pressure Emil, is it not because that very same man expects to be the new owner?
Arnold describes his own work situation in a surprisingly open manner.
I need some rest and relaxation, and am actually overdue for holiday time, but I shall have to be patient until early August. Because several of our employees have now been given permanent vacation time, the weeks ahead promise to be sour and work-intensive. Of course, we have no holiday plans, since it’s impossible to plan very far into the future. Still, I’d at least like to go to Taus for a week to get my teeth fixed.
The German that Arnold uses is somewhat unusual, compelling me to read between the lines. I conclude that the “permanent vacation” granted to certain employees is a euphemism for Jews who have been fired in accordance with new regulations excluding them from medicine, the law, and other professions. I note too that conditions are so unstable that even a month ahead is considered “long-range” planning. Given the uncertain future, Arnold urges my parents to write more often.
I had counted on a letter this week from you, my dear Canadians, but on the other hand, we do understand that you are preoccupied with concerns beyond keeping up a correspondence, and that your hand is perhaps too tired at day’s end to pick up pen and paper.
Arnold adds one more paragraph to reassure my parents that the bonds of family transcend distance.
Our thoughts are always with you and I visualize your situation with all its difficulties and shortages as if I really knew it. Vera is often caught up in her thoughts by your description of the natural surroundings. Every little creek that we come to, she wonders if it looks like yours. On the other hand, I often wonder if the weather there is as miserable as what we have been having here. Does it make you frantic and is there anyone who will help you if it suddenly starts to rain when the ripened hay is in the field?
Arnold’s letter is followed by a few paragraphs from his wife Vera who has mailed us a book on naturopathic healing. She apologizes for having been unsuccessful in finding the up-to-date health lexicon that my parents had requested.
I wonder why Vera does not have access to recent books and publications. She does not spell out the answer, but her letter suggests that life is changing for her and for all European Jews. Everyone is under stress.
I always read
Arnold avoids troubling my parents with matters they could not change. However, he points out that Emil Fränkel has resisted all pressure to sell his house and his business premises in Linz, despite the new laws in Austria that bar Jews from owning property. In desperation, the man who assumedinterim control of Emil’s business affairs had come all the way to Prague to persuade Emil to sign over the property to him.
In 1996, safely under my own roof, I began to rethink what my parents meant when they said,
“When we fled, we
lost
everything.”
Because I have been both fortunate and frugal, I own my home and do not wake up wondering if someone will take it away from me. Yet in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, that is precisely what happened. The government simply changed the law. Jews could no longer own property. Whatever they owned was simply taken by the state, and the state signed over to Aryan citizens any property that it did not keep. That is how we “lost” our home and the store in Strobnitz, how my mother’s parents “lost” their home and their store in Germany, and how the Fränkels “lost” everything in Austria.
Some Jews hastily sold their property for very little, but Emil Fränkel refused to give up. If the man who took over the business came from Linz to Prague to pressure Emil, is it not because that very same man expects to be the new owner?
Arnold describes his own work situation in a surprisingly open manner.
I need some rest and relaxation, and am actually overdue for holiday time, but I shall have to be patient until early August. Because several of our employees have now been given permanent vacation time, the weeks ahead promise to be sour and work-intensive. Of course, we have no holiday plans, since it’s impossible to plan very far into the future. Still, I’d at least like to go to Taus for a week to get my teeth fixed.
The German that Arnold uses is somewhat unusual, compelling me to read between the lines. I conclude that the “permanent vacation” granted to certain employees is a euphemism for Jews who have been fired in accordance with new regulations excluding them from medicine, the law, and other professions. I note too that conditions are so unstable that even a month ahead is considered “long-range” planning. Given the uncertain future, Arnold urges my parents to write more often.
I had counted on a letter this week from you, my dear Canadians, but on the other hand, we do understand that you are preoccupied with concerns beyond keeping up a correspondence, and that your hand is perhaps too tired at day’s end to pick up pen and paper.
Arnold adds one more paragraph to reassure my parents that the bonds of family transcend distance.
Our thoughts are always with you and I visualize your situation with all its difficulties and shortages as if I really knew it. Vera is often caught up in her thoughts by your description of the natural surroundings. Every little creek that we come to, she wonders if it looks like yours. On the other hand, I often wonder if the weather there is as miserable as what we have been having here. Does it make you frantic and is there anyone who will help you if it suddenly starts to rain when the ripened hay is in the field?
Arnold’s letter is followed by a few paragraphs from his wife Vera who has mailed us a book on naturopathic healing. She apologizes for having been unsuccessful in finding the up-to-date health lexicon that my parents had requested.
I wonder why Vera does not have access to recent books and publications. She does not spell out the answer, but her letter suggests that life is changing for her and for all European Jews. Everyone is under stress.
I always read
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