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February 15, 2007
The Sadness of Failed Rescue
The story is terribly sad, and I suspect it tugs a little harder at the hearts of anyone whose family records contain worried letters of this type.
For example, letters like this one:
This letter, reflecting the decision of a wealthy American to sponsor the immigration of my great-uncle Leopold, who was then hunkered down in the Bavarian town of Bad Kissingen, waiting for it all to "blow over," is especially bitter. For reasons unknown to me, my grandfather's rescue effort ultimately failed. About a year after this letter, Leopold was in a railroad car on the way to his death in Poland.
Posted by Eric at February 15, 2007 12:24 PM
Comments
Oh no. Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl had a huge impact on me as a child, so I've been following all this pretty closely. Hannah Arendt was so very correct about the pure evil that faceless bureaucrats could facilitate.
Posted by: Ann Bartow at February 15, 2007 10:36 PM
I'm reading "The Lost: a search for six of the six million" by Daniel Mendelsohn. He writes about trying to find out exactly what happened to his great uncle and his family who were killed in Poland during the war. He has letters from the great uncle to family in the US, asking for help. The letters get increasingly desparate. It's quite a moving book.
Posted by: Emily at February 16, 2007 9:27 AM
There were two nations which did not restrict Jewish immigration prior to World War II. Otto and Leopold should have tried them. You have no case against The United States; they had other options, and there were too many Bolsheviks amongst them for us not to be wary.
Posted by: Brian at February 24, 2007 6:44 AM