Countries through which people fled: Palestine

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.

Herbert Blankstein was born in Vienna in 1925 and grew up in the 9th district. In December 1938 he fled with his mother to Brussels. His stepfather was deported to Southern France in 1941 and later to Auschwitz. In Belgium, Blankstein worked in the armaments industry and was protected from deportation due to his knowledge of German. Blankstein married in Brussels and emigrated to Palestine in 1948 together with his mother, wife and son. He worked as a goldsmith. Blankstein lived in Tel Aviv at the time of his 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.

Rachel Gross was born in 1915 as Rose Brock and lived with her family in Gols, Burgenland. She attended elementary school there, later a school in Vienna, and then finally a convent school in Neusiedl am See. In April 1938, Gross and her family were forced to leave Austria by SS and SA men who brought them to the Hungarian border and forced them through some woods and over the border. They were able to get a ship to Palestine via Romania. Gross ran a café with her husband in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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.

Chava Lifschitz was born in 1924 and lived with her family in the 9th, and later the 2nd district of Vienna. In 1938 she attended the high school that she left after the Anschluss. Through her membership of the Maccabi Hatzair, Lifschitz was able to attend the Hakhshara camp Ahrensdorf in Brandenburg, from where she fled to Palestine. She worked there mostly as a teacher. At the time of the interview she lived in Israel.

Baruch Milrom was born in 1921 in Baden bei Wien where his parents ran a grocery shop. After the 'Anschluss', the shop was looted by SA men and the family had to leave Baden shortly after. He was able to flee to Palestine with the help of a Zionist youth organisation. His brother was also able to escape, but his parents were murdered in the Shoah. In Israel he worked for an international shipping company, amongst others. At the time of the interview he lived in Haifa. 

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.

Hedwig Rosner was born in Vienna in 1924 and lived with her family in the 7th district, where she visited a "Klosterschule" (convent school). Through her membership of the Zionist youth organisation Betar she was able to flee to Palestine in November 1938. She got by there by working several jobs, including employment in an oil factory. She later worked in the social sector. At the time of the interview, Rosner lived in Haifa. 

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.

Micha Shagrir was born in Linz in 1937 as Michael Schwager. His father had already emigrated to Palestine in 1921, where he met Shagrir’s mother. They returned to Linz in 1932. Immediately after the “Anschluss” the family emigrated to Palestine, where they lived in the Kibbutz Chefziba and then in Tel Aviv. Shagrir worked as a journalist and for the radio. Later he became a film producer and director, filming a documentary film – amongst many other things – about the Bischofstrasse in Linz, the street where his family had lived. At the time of his interview, he lived in Israel. 

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.

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.