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Author(s) / Origin of Letter
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Recipient(s) / Relationship to Author(s) / Destination of Letter
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Summary
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Gisela Jellinek Schlesinger |
Gisella Nadja Jellinek (niece of GJS) |
We can see here that Gisela still did not realize how urgent and life-savingly necessary it was to escape from Nazi control. Gisela still reported on her hopeful arrangements and plans, such as courses that she and her nieces and nephew could take to prepare for life in Mandate Palestine, England or elsewhere abroad, as well as her expectation for loved ones to ‘get out’ of Vienna and Brno and bring G. Nadja bedding and a sweater that she had knit for her. She also downplayed the possibility of emigrating to Australia, as her sister Anna was urging. Tragically, all of these plans and hopes proved futile and unrealized, but at the very least, Gisela probably derived some sense of control over the unprecedented, chaotic and still-unknowable events by writing this and other orderly and comprehensive ‘action’ reports. Gisela also brought G. Nadja up to date about the struggles and progress of Karl and Gustav Jellinek and their respective families in New York City, Max Jellinek in Shanghai, Ann Jellinek Nadel and family in Sydney, and the expected release of cousins Willy and his father, Oskar Jellinek from Dachau concentration camp. |
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Vienna, May 18, 1939 My beloved child! Your letter of May 7th (dated by you) respectively stamped May 12th on the envelope, arrived today, Thursday, the 18th. You can’t imagine my joy over the interesting content. You have truly not forgotten Mother’s Day; that is very touching. The pressed flowers will be put in my prayer book and every time I pray in the morning, I will look at them and first view your three charming pictures; that was the best present. I had to send uncle Karl one of the photos, because he has such a burning interest in you and loves you like his own daughter. All three [of you sisters] are loved like that and all of my siblings love you so much. Also, to uncle Sigl [Siegfried] you are better than his son, with whom he has a lot of aggravation. Erich never wanted to go to Erez1. Recently, such an enthusiastic letter arrived from his cousin Melitta from Tel Aviv, that he suddenly thought better of it and now wants to go to Erez. Now he goes to gardening (classes) in Krottenbech Street and goes to Hachshara2 in the fall in order to come to you. Putzi [familial nickname of niece, Anna Jellinek] wants to do the same. She wrote to me so sadly to take her to me again and she wants to go to you in Palestine. Recently she even called me and I told her to give notice and come to me as soon as possible. She shouted out with such joy with her sweet voice, that it made my heart tremble. I will accommodate her through Uncle Sigl’s connections at a good Hachshara, then I will let her take courses and then she will come to you. Then I’ll give her several featherbeds and covers for you.3 [hand-written upside down on page 1:] |
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Page 2. So with that you [will] have everything you need when you want to set up a household. She can take everything with her. Mrs. Koblitz may also get out in the fall, and bring various things, and Aunt Karla’s mother will also get out,4 so I will be able to send you everything you need. Your black sweater is almost finished and I’ll try to send it to you. I live in the same house as Erwin Han’s parents and they often send large packages to their son. Next time, I will beg them to enclose something [probably the black sweater], since one has to submit a fee to the foreign exchange office here for every item. For Berta, as you may already know, I have found a position in the fall in England, and and she will also come soon to me, so that she can take another course in beauty culture and household service. The WIZO [Women’s International Zionist Organization) has many such courses here.5 Both girls should be with me and the grandparents, and I want to have them around as long as possible. In these terrible times, I need a bit of beauty and youth around me. I always told my husband, these three children were a present from God to me, poor, childless woman, to be eventually, the joy and support of old age. I am a prophet and know everything in advance.6 I am now taking two English courses and a very nice cooking class. Then I want to take some other kind of course, maybe cold dishes, art knitting, etc. Thank God, I've had some help for a few days now; a good older woman who helps me a lot, so that I can also care for myself a bit. My nerves and feet were already shot and I was so nervous that I couldn’t speak to anybody. Now I am much more quiet again. |
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Page 3. Since February 5th, the day Aunt Stella left, Mamma has been sick all the time and I've had to go through a lot with her. Nothing was right for her, nothing tasted good to her; on top of that, she had a strong cough for weeks, then a bladder infection. Now it turns out that she developed a high sugar [diabetic level] again from the great excitement. Now I put her on a strict diet and thank God, she is already much better. Imagine, aunt Anny urges us so terribly to all come to her in Australia. The dear parents, Poldi, me, Sigl, Martha and Erich.7 I believe that would only be a pipe dream, because how could the poor grandmother endure such a long way. Dear grandpa is - knock on wood - very sprightly, but maybe the joy of seeing Anny and the brothers8 will give Mama the strength to bear such exertion. Aunt Anny is struggling, going to a meeting with a Minister9 in the morning who wants to help her a lot so that we can all get there. When she gets home she must cook, straighten up and wash. You know how particular Aunt Anny is. You can imagine how she exerts herself. She earns 2 Pf. a week, breakfast and lunch.10 Uncle Miron also already earns 5 Pf. in his branch; this way, Aunt Anny already puts away 3 Pf. a week for us. She is so energetic and doesn’t rest until she has accomplished what she had planned. God help her and us. In any case, it will take some months yet and who kows what the future will hold. We don’t get fruit, not one piece; there is a severe ban; [the fruit] is only for Aryans and dear Papa sent us fruit twice from Brünn, but unfortunately, it didn’t arrive. On the other hand, the good woman Spitz sends butter every week that always arrives. I invited her here for Pentecost;12 hopefully the train service will already be operating |
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Page 4. so that my two sweet monkeys13 can also come here. Uncle Max recently wrote a wonderful letter; he will also come later to you. He is also a Betar member, but he will come via America. Aunt Stella wrote such a mean letter that Uncle Max doesn’t want to hear from her again.14 She is stuck in Konstanza since February 5th and can’t go further.15 That is very tragic. Uncle Oskar Hirschensohn is still not back from where poor Willy Jellinek is, but slowly all are coming back, so soon both will be coming home, but then they must leave the German territory right away.16 Oskar is said to have severely frostbitten feet — that good man. Felix and Illy are already in Shanghai and Max prepared an apartment for them17 Gustav is already in America and communicates a lot with uncle Karl, as well as with Dr. Aschner. Aunt Karla already has a job in a bank, thanks to her uncle [Rubin Eckstein18] while uncle Karl must play nursemaid again.19 They also have an opportunity to place Micherle [diminutized form of their infant daughter, Michaela] in a good home over the summer. Trude is also in a very good private kindergarten and it is good that these two children will learn English.20 Trudy is said to be growing nicely. Next time I’ll send you a picture of her. She already turned two years old on May 7 — knock on wood. Micherle will be two years old on August 28. Uncle Karl writes that she is charming. On May 3rd, Karl already arranged for a gathering for all emigrated “Ring” brothers at the Cafe Vienna and many doctors and lawyers were there. Of course, Karl is the president21. Well then, farewell, my dear child — take good care of your precious health, and do not overtax yourself. One is only 18 years old once - - - I kiss you 1000 times. I am very worried about the ingrown splinter in your finger; that’s not something to play with — it must be removed and the wound thoroughly disinfected. [handwritten at the bottom of this page 4.:] ChatGPT’ performed an “enhanced reconstruction of the bottom handwriting over the printed text.” and transcribed the German words as: ChatGPT’s English translation of the above, reads as follows: Gisela also wrote in German (visible without “enhanced reconstruction”) : English: Please don’t be careless with things like that. [hand-written along the right side margin of page 4.] |
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Translated by Anne Fox, with edits and footnotes by P. Jellinek;
Footnotes
1. “Erez” — English: “land” —is a variation of the Hebrew word “ארץ” (pron. “eretz”) which Zionists at that time of the Brtish Mandate (1917 - 48) used to refer to “ארץ ישראל” (pron. Eretz YIsrael), English translation: the “Land of Israel.” For an interesting summary of who else used the term “Erez” and when —from its Biblical original, to Rabbinic and medieval usage, to the early Zionist period of the 19th - 20th century, see: https://chatgpt.com/c/689fb747-f7d8-8322-bff0-7b8f9d3a2113.
2. Hebrew term for preparatory farm training —- but in the fall, after WWII had broken out— it was too late!
3. Gisela’s optimistic, but unrealized plans for Anna provide another poignant and tragic example of — in Saul Friedländer’s insightful words— “”what was known and what could be known” and the “. . . blindness of human beings confronted with an entirely new and utterly horrifying reality.” ( Saul Friedländer in his Introduction to Nazi Germany and the Jews, Volume 1: The Years of Persecution, 1933 - 1939. See fuller citation at the end of this website’s Introduction.
4. Another overly-optimistic wish of Gisela’s that didn’t get fulfilled: Mathilde Eckstein never was able to get out of Vienna, but was deported to her murder, along with Gisela and Leopold, from Vienna in April 1942. See Mathilde Eckstein’s short Bio. for more info.
5. WIZO was founded in England in July 1920 by Rebecca Sieff, Vera Weizmann and Romana Goodman, who had “. . . decided they had to found an international organization of Zionist women to confront “ the “physical and spiritual suffering of women” in Mandate Palestine. Rebecca Sieff believed “. . . that women should work together in an organized fashion, and in doing so, their abilities and powers would develop.” As Wikipedia’s comprehensive article about the history of WIZO continues, Sieff ”. . . felt that women should work within an independent framework, but in cooperation with their male comrades – for the rebuilding of the Zionist home. In order to realize the dream of the establishment of a national home, women — via education and training — had to develop their own specific abilities, so as to play the most useful role possible.”
6. If only Gisela had had real powers of prophecy and to effect her prophesies! —- Here Gisela shows that she realizes she is “terrible times” but she is still painfully unaware that her plans for her nieces, Berta and Anna are not feasible, that her courses will eventually be of no help for her cut-short future, (but are at least helpful to her spirit now) and and most importantly, how urgent the need is to escape the Nazis.
7. Poldi = affectionate nickname for Leopold Schlesinger, Gisela’s husband. Sigl = affectionate nickname for Siegfried Jellinek. Martha was Siegfried’s wife and Erich was Siegfried and Martha’s son. See Gisela’s Bio. and Siegfried’s Bio. for more information about them Tragically, this group of family members did not manage to escape to Australia or anywhere else, and Erich was the only one of them to survive the Shoah.,
8. it is not clear why Gisela wrote that her mother would see “the brothers” in Australia. Gisela may have thought that Max Jellinek, (Anny’s and her brother) would be able to get to Australia from Shanghai (which Max did, but only in 1946) but she could not have believed that her other brothers, Siegfried, Hugo or Karl, had already or would get to Australia soon.
9. This reference to a “Minister” is probably to a high-ranking embassy officer.
10. Pf. = pfennig, which was worth 1/100th of a mark, or 1/2 of a farthing; a penny.
11. Therese Spitz, with whom Hugo Jellinek had a relationship in his early days in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Gisela still uses the city’s old German name, of Brünn, dating from when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Likewise, in her January 12, 1940 letter, to G. Nadja, Gisela used the old Austro-Hungarian Empire official name of Lemberg, (which ironically, was used later again during the Nazi occupation) instead of its then-new Polish name of “Lwów.” For an interesting summary of Lemberg’s name and country changes, starting with Lemberg in 1772, to Lwów, Lviv, Lemberg and Lviv, see: https://chatgpt.com/c/689fc2da-5efc-8327-92aa-aaee963f8cd4 For a parallel summary of the fate of the Jewish Community of Lemberg/Lwów during WWII, see: https://chatgpt.com/c/689fca20-2cc0-8325-8a42-ef2afd929cd2, The last known letter from Siegfried Jellinek to his brother Karl, was dated January 18, 1941, No record has been found that reveals where or when his murder occurred. Therefore, any of the murderous actions against Jews that are briefly described in this ChatGPT summary could have been the way in which Siegfried Jellinek was murdered.
12. Pentecost is the name given by Greek-speaking Jews for the holiday known in Hebrew as Shavuot.
13. Gisela’s nieces Berta and Anna Jellinek, nor Therese Spitz, were able to ever come again to see Gisela.
14. Sadly, Max never got to Mandate Palestine - See Max’s brief Bio. for more info. on what actually happened to him, including his 1946 reunion with his estranged wife, Stella. http://www.shoahletters.org/bios/maxjellinek.html
15. Konstanza (Constanta) historically known as Tomis, is the oldest continually inhabited city in Romania. It is located in southeastern Romania on the shores of the Black Sea.
16. Oska Jellinek and his son, Willy Jellinek, were then imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp.
17. Felix Hirschensohn and his wife Illy were Martha Hirschensohn’s brother and sister-in-law.
18. Rubin Eckstein, Karla’s uncle, had sufficient income to sponsor their affadavits and to employ Karla, because he was a co-founder of the Bank of North america. Karl, with his legal background, expected to also be employed at the bank, but was very disappointed that Rubin did not hire him. See http://www.shoahletters.org/docs/affidavit-visa-karl-jellinek-family.html
19. I believe that Gisela’s negative, prejudicial views of Karla reflect her old- Austo-Hungarian Empire views which denigrated Jews from Galicia, the eastern—most region of the former Empire. Her memory of Karl as a relatively high-status lawyer and Zionist leader, as well as her understandable ignorance of what life was like for Karl and Karla as struggling refugees in 1939 in NYC, must have also contributed to this exaggerated, derogatory comment about Karl “playing nursemaid again.” In fact, the period before Karl became an independent insurance broker, in which he struggled at various odd jobs, or was in between jobs was brief. Later, as a self-employed insurance broker, Karl also had more flexibility with his work hours, and therefore could stay home and play checkers and otherwise keep us company for part of the day when we young children were too sick to go to school, but he was not a “nursemaid.”
20. Trude is the daughter of the late Anna Jellinek Nadel and Miron Nadel. See http://www.shoahletters.org/bios/annajellineknadel.html for more information.
21. Because Karl had been President of the Lese und Rede Halle, jüdische Hochschüle ,Wien, Gisela (correctly) assumed that Karl would take leadership of the newly formed organization, in the US, named IGUL (Hebrew - circle) - Asssociation of Alumni of Zionist Fraternities of Vienna (or of Austria?) . It is probable that Karl founded or co-founded IGUL.
22. Pauli probably had been G. Nadja’s boyfriend in Vienna.
