Countries through which people fled: Israel

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.

Lotte Boneh was born Lotte Ramler in 1919 in Vienna and lived with her family in the 2nd district, where she went to high school. After the “Anschluss” in 1938 she was able to finish high school. Boneh’s sister had emigrated to Palestine years earlier and was able to get her a certificate with which she fled to Palestine. Their parents followed them, their brother fled to England. In Palestine, Boneh joined Haganah. At the time of her interview she lived in Israel.

Catriel Fuchs was born in the Burgenland in 1925, but moved to Vienna with his family when he was a child. In Vienna, he lived for a long period in an orphanage and visited elementary school. After he was excluded from school in 1938, he became a member of a zionist youth organization and with their help was able to flee to Palestine over Yugoslavia. After a period living in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, Fuchs enlisted in the Royal Navy. He later worked for a large container shipping company, a job that took him as far away as Taiwan. Fuchs now lives in Israel.

Trude Goldblatt was born in Vienna in 1927 as Trude Deutsch and lived in Vienna’s 7th district. After the November Pogrom (“Kristallnacht”) in 1938 her family had to move into a "Sammelwohnung". Together with her twin brother, Goldblatt was able to flee to Great Britain on a Kindertransport in 1939. There she lived with a Christian family and trained to be a nurse. While visiting her sister in Israel she decided to stay there. She started a family and worked as a midwife and a librarian. At the time of her interview Goldblatt was living in Tel Aviv. 

Josef Kohn was born in Vienna in 1925 and lived with his parents in the 20th district. After the Anschluss he joined Hashomer Hatzair and was able to flee Austria as part of the so-called "Kladovo transport". Kohn belonged to a small group who survived and arrived in Palestine in March 1941. His parents did not survive. Kohn was later active in the Kibbutz Gan Shmuel in various areas of work before he dedicated himself to working with young people, something that led him to live for several years in Vienna in the 1970s. He now lives in Israel.

Otto Nagler was born in Vienna in 1920 and lived with his family in the 20th district. He attended elementary school there and - during the period of the Anschluss - high school. He was able to flee to Palestine in 1939 due to his membership in a zionist youth organization. His parents were able to escape to Italy, where they lived during the war. After Nagler finished his studies at the Technion in Haifa and completed his military service he went on to work in the field of irrigation and as a development aid worker, in both Israel and throughout the world. He now lives in Israel again.

Lea Peled was born in Vienna in 1924 and grew up in the 3rd district. After the “Anschluss” in 1938, Peled stayed in Vienna with her ill mother, while her father and brother fled abroad. After her mother’s death, Peled was able to reach Denmark in Autumn 1939 with the help of the Youth Aliyah, In March 1941, Peled emigrated via Scandinavia and the USSR to Palestine. She lived in the Kibbutz Ben Schemen, Peled was a graphic designer and lived in Ramat HaScharon at the time of her interview.

Yitzak Rosner was born Jacques Rosner in 1926 in Romanian Moldoviţa in Bukovina, which was formally part of the Habsburg monarchy, and grew up in a German-speaking family. After the outbreak of World War Two, the Rosner family had to leave Moldoviţa, later they were deported to the Sharhorod Ghetto where they were interned until 1944. After being liberated by the Red Army, Rosner worked for them as a translator in Bucharest. After many failed attempts, Rosner was able to emigrate to Israel via Vienna in 1968, where he was living at the time of the interview.

Mordechai Sella was born Viktor Kopfstein in Vienna in 1933. He grew up in Pilgersdorf in Burgenland, where his family ran a shop. After the ‘Anschluss’ in 1938, they had to move to Vienna, where the father was arrested during the November Pogrom and deported to Dachau. In 1940, the family managed to flee on a ship and land illegally in Palestine. Upon arrival, they were sent by the British authorities to Mauritius, where they were interned until the end of the war. In 1945, they emigrated to Palestine, where Sella was initially placed in a children’s home. He later lived in a kibbutz. At the time of his interview, he was living in Jerusalem.

Hilda Spodek was born in Vienna in 1922 and grew up in the 16th district, where her father ran a clothing shop. After the “Anschluss” in 1938, her father was arrested and deported to Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. The family business was ‘aryanised’ and Spodek was unable to finish her training as a seamstress. After the release of her father, the family fled via Trieste to Palestine, where they settled in Tel Aviv. Spodek worked as a seamstress and in sales. At the time of the interview Spodek lived in Holon.

Alisa Tennenbaum was born Liselotte Scherzer in Vienna in 1929 and grew up in Vienna’s 20th district. Following the “Anschluss” in 1938 she had to leave school and her father was arrested and imprisoned in Dachau Concentration Camp. After his release, he was able to flee to Great Britain and Tennenbaum followed him on a Kindertransport in August 1939. She lived in a children’s hostel in Windermere before joining her father in Glasgow in 1945. Her mother stayed in Vienna and survived several camps. In 1949 the family emigrated to Israel. At the time of her interview, Tennenbaum lived in Beit Herut. 

Susanna Yokel was born in Vienna in 1923 and attended the Schubert Realgymnasium (high school) in the ninth district until March 1938. She obtained a emigration certificate through her membership of the Zionist youth organisation "Blau-Weiß" and fled in March 1939 via Italy to Palestine where she was a co-founder of the Kfar Blum Kibbutz in 1943. In 1956 she emigrated to the US with the family she had started in Israel. At the time of her interview she was living in Bethesda, Maryland.