Countries through which people fled: USA

Ed Arno was born in Innsbruck in 1916 as Arnold Edelstein. Shortly after his birth, he moved with his parents to Chernivtsi/Czernowitz. Between 1936 and 1939 Arno studied art in Paris. After his return he experienced the Soviet occupation of Chernivtsi before being forced into a ghetto created by Romania, who collaborated with Nazi Germany. Later, he carried out forced labour in several camps. After his liberation in 1944 he went to Bucharest, where he worked as a caricaturist and children’s book illustrator. In 1964 he emigrated to Italy, then in 1965 to the US, where he was living at the time of his interview.  

Charlotte Bamberger was born as Charlotte Hammerschlag in Vienna in 1904. She went to the Schwarzwald School. She began playing the violin at eight years old and studied at the k. k. Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Imperial Academy for Music and the Performing Arts) from 1918 to 1925. In 1936, became a viola player in the Palestinian Symphony Orchestra and emigrated to Palestine. She was unable to return to Vienna due to the “Anschluss”, instead following her husband to the USA where she pursued a successful career as a musician. She lived in New York at the time of the interview.

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.

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.

Peter Elmer was born in Vienna as Peter Epstein in 1923 and grew up in Vienna’s 13th district, where he went to primary school. At the end of 1937 he was sent to a boarding school in England and stayed there until his family emigrated at the end of 1938. They then fled to the USA via Switzerland and London, arriving in New York in January 1939. Elmer visited a private school and then the University of Wisconsin for a short time before military service with the US Army in Europe. He was later active in the textile industry in New York City where he continues to live today.

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.

Edith Friedlander was born in Vienna in 1922 as Edith Käufler. After the Anschluss she emigrated with her parents to Prague. She arrived in the Theresienstadt Ghetto in 1942 with her mother, from where they were deported to Auschwitz in 1944. Friedlander's mother was murdered there. Friedlander was sent to the Oederan concentration camp supcamp near Chemnitz. After the war Friedlander lived in Prague before deciding to emigrate to the USA in 1947. At the time of the interview she lived in New York City.

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.

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.

Trudy Jeremias was born Trude Epstein in 1925 and grew up and went to school in Vienna’s 13th district. She emigrated to the USA with her parents and her brother Peter in December 1938 via Switzerland and London. After working as a ground stewardess and in several other jobs, Jeremias became a jewelry designer like her mother, who was a well-known interior designer and artist. She returned to Vienna for a short period in the late 1950s before returning to New York, where she lives today. 

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.

Peter B. Neubauer was born in Krems an der Donau in 1913. In his youth, he was active in both socialist and Zionist youth movements. Neubauer began studying medicine at Vienna University, but emigrated to Switzerland after the February Uprising in 1934 where he completed his studies at the University of Bern. He worked as an assistant physician in Switzerland before emigrating in 1941 via France, Spain, and Portugal to the USA. Neubauer became an internationally established psychiatrist and university professor. At the time of his interview, he was living in New York City.

Kurt Schoen was born in Vienna in 1915. He lived with his family in Vienna's 20th district and studied medicine at the University of Vienna. After the Anschluss, Schoen discontinued his studies. He fled to the Netherlands in 1938, but was sent back to the German Reich by the police. After two weeks imprisonment he was able to escape to the Netherlands again and from there travelled to the USA. Except for a short period in Zurich where he continued his medical studies, Schoen has lived ever since in New York, where he ran a medical laboratory. 

Trudie Solarz was born Gertrude Braun in Graz in 1931 and spent her early years in Carinthia where her father owned a series of small department stores. He was arrested during the November Pogrom (“Kristallnacht”) in 1938 and deported to Dachau. The family were able to escape to London in March 1938. The family emigrated on a Kindertransport ship to the USA, settling in Philadelphia. Trudie Solarz worked mainly as a secretary and held lectures about her experience as a refugee. At the time of her interview she lived in Levittown, Pennsylvania.