Walter's Welcome: The Intimate Story of a German-Jewish Family's Flight from the Nazis to Peru
264
Walter's Welcome: The Intimate Story of a German-Jewish Family's Flight from the Nazis to Peru
264Hardcover
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Overview
Walter’s Welcome is the story of Walter Neisser and the more than fifty members of his family he helped to escape Nazi Germany. The story is told through the letters of the Neisser family, which have been meticulously translated and arranged by Walter’s niece, Eva, who also provides moving historical contextualization and commentary. After fleeing Germany, the Neissers resettled in Peru. However, their flight was neither easy nor seamless. Walter worked tirelessly to provide the resources and guidance necessary for the many members of the family to escape, but communications to Europe were frazzled and travel off the continent became increasingly impossible with each passing day, requiring extraordinary will and coordination to contact the correct officials and receive the necessary documentation. The family’s letters reveal the toll these efforts put on them and the challenges of waiting and surviving in a foreign land as they tried to hold together.
The story of Jewish escapees to Latin America has only recently begun to be widely explored. This memoir-in-letters explores the difficulties of daily life in this little explored context, as the Neisser family and many other escaped Jews adjusted to a new home and tried to build a new life in the shadow of the many horrific things happening back in the land they’d left behind.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781510724761 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Skyhorse |
| Publication date: | 01/02/2018 |
| Pages: | 264 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.80(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.40(d) |
About the Author
Judy Sklar Rasminsky is an award-winning freelance writer and editor, who has coauthored several textbooks and trade titles. Her work has appeared in Reader’s Digest and the Los Angeles Times, amongst other magazines and newspapers. She has a B.A. in English from Stanford University and an M.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
The Best Greetings Are Sent to You from Your Loving Mother
* * *
The Neisser Family, 1897–1915
WALTER was born into a middle-class merchant family of well-established, comfortable German-Jewish shopkeepers. Although they lived in Upper Silesia, more than 400 kilometers away, they regarded Berlin as their point of reference, their capital, their cultural and economic heart. Culturally and emotionally they were Germans. They spoke German, felt German, read the German classics, enjoyed the arts. For other Germans, Upper Silesia was a backwater, but for the Neisser family it was home.
Today in modern Poland, Gleiwitz, Kattowitz, and Beuthen are considered one entity. Even when Walter was a child at the beginning of the twentieth century, the three cities in Upper Silesia were closely linked. They were all border towns where the borders kept shifting. Three uprisings ended with a 1921 plebiscite to decide where the border would be drawn. The Germans peaking population chose to remain in Germany, but the League of Nations awarded Kattowitz, the biggest of the three cities, to Poland. We know for certain that the Neisser family, like the rest of the Jewish population, was German speaking and identified completely with the German faction.
When Walter was fourteen, shortly before the First World War, Gleiwitz had a population of some 61,000. Its economy was based primarily on mining, and the mines and their related industries drove many of the cities' enterprises. There were also distilleries and iron works. Gleiwitz had a very active and thriving Jewish community that included a large synagogue, a Jewish school, an old people's home, and two cemeteries, as well as all the other related institutions such as a chevra kadisha.
The Neisser family had lived in this region of Upper Silesia since at least 1790, when surnames were given to Jews in the Breslau area. (Before that date, Jews were known simply as "son of.") Following the common practice of taking place names, the Neisser family derived its name from the nearby river of the same name, sometimes remembered as the Oder-Neisse, which marked the border between Germany and Poland (1855–1916). Because the family name stems from the River Neisse, there are many Neisser families. Most are Jewish.
Jews were not allowed to hold citizenship in the European nations until the nineteenth century. Walter's great-grandfather, Simon Neisser (1755–1859), was the first in the family to become a full-fledged Prussian citizen. He received his citizenship on March 24, 1812, when Napoleon declared that Jews had the same rights as non-Jews; and because Simon lived to the age of 104, he had many years to enjoy his new status. His son Hirschel Neisser, born in 1785, was but the first of many Neissers to fight for the Fatherland. A veteran of the Freedom War against Napoleon, he was buried with military honors and the ringing of church bells. When the town pharmacist complained to the King of Prussia that church bells should not ring for a Jew, the King replied that church bells should ring for all his soldiers.
Walter's parents, Martha Nothmann and Eduard Neisser, had seven children. Klaere, the eldest, was born in 1894, and Erna, the youngest, fifteen years later. One son, Fritz, born in 1895, fought and died during the First World War; another child, Rosa, lived only seven months. If anyone had told them that all five surviving siblings and their mother would live most of their adult lives in Lima, Peru, and eventually die there, they most certainly would have laughed. What a preposterous idea! Why would a family so well established in Germany leave their home? They had lived in the area for as long as anyone could remember.
Although the first three children were born in Keltsch, a small village, the next four Neisser children were born in Gleiwitz, where there was more opportunity for commerce. Like so many Jews, Walter's parents were shopkeepers who sold clothing. They must have prospered, for in his letters Walter uses the plural, "stores," so there were at least two. When Walter and his siblings were growing up, Gleiwitz was part of the German Empire, then in 1918, part of the German Federal Republic. Subsequently the area was divided, and the towns have been Polish since 1945. Gleiwitz became Gliwice; Beuthen became Bytom; and Kattowitz is now called Katowice. The distances between them are very small, less than thirty kilometers from Gleiwitz to Beuthen, and from the correspondence we know the Neissers lived in both towns and moved easily between them.
In one of many letters to his son Rudy, Walter remembers his hometown in the following manner: "I was born in a village that had some 700 inhabitants and what you saw most were trees. What I like most today is a natural setting that resembles the place of my birth." He could not have remembered the village itself because my father, Erich, only two years younger, was born in Gleiwitz, but Walter might have remembered the general area.
Walter was a poor student, but somewhere along the way he honed not only his writing skills but also his leadership qualities. As an adolescent he ran away from home and made it all the way to Austria before being dragged back by the authorities. We know little else about his childhood except that he became a stamp collector very early. It was a lifelong passion that allowed him to dream about other countries, traveling by means of his imagination.
Walter and his siblings most probably received a formal religious education. I have inherited four of my grandmother's prayer books. Three are bilingual, German / Hebrew, and the daily prayer book is in Hebrew only. If Walter's mother Martha read and prayed in Hebrew, and my father read Hebrew, so presumably did Walter. I also have my father's tefillin, not that I ever saw him lay them for they surfaced only after his death.
Certainly the most famous relative, albeit from a different branch of the family, is Dr. Albert Neisser (1855–1916), who discovered the causative agent of gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria named in his honor, as well as the causative agent of leprosy. Dr. Albert's father was a Jewish doctor, Dr. Moritz Neisser, but Albert Ludwig Sigesmund Neisser's name evokes the integration of German Jews into the German mainstream and the reality that if German Jews were to get ahead, it was best to convert. His decision would have been typical of the professional Jewish population of the late nineteenth century, many of whom converted in order to take up medical or academic positions. In 1882, at the age of twenty-nine, Dr. Albert was appointed professor extraordinary at the University of Breslau. Although it is likely he did not consider himself Jewish, everyone around him most probably did.
There are unmistakable parallels between Dr. Albert Neisser and his wife Toni, a well-known philanthropist, and Walter and his wife Erna. Dr. Albert and Toni built "Villa Neisser," a large home in Breslau that they filled with paintings and beautiful objects. As great patrons of the arts they hosted concerts at their home, and musicians (Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss), writers (Gerhard Hauptmann), and many others visited their salon. Dr. Albert donated the villa to the city with the proviso it be used as a museum. His wish was granted in 1920, but the Nazis confiscated the property in 1933. Walter Neisser named his first son Albert, a clear reference to the eminent scientist. Did he also share his view that it was best to convert to get ahead? Walter did not convert but hedged his bets by educating his children partly in Roman Catholic schools. Walter and Erna built big houses; they were great patrons of the arts and had important collections of antique silver and stamps. In addition, they were renowned for their house concerts.
Walter and his two brothers served in the German army during the First World War, and from that experience we have pictures, letters, and postcards. Walter volunteered when he was seventeen, was wounded in the right foot in December 1914, convalesced for months, and was never again sent to the front. From his correspondence we know that he served and was wounded somewhere in Lorraine, in northeastern France. The town he mentions, Septsarges, is in the district of Verdun, one of the bloodiest battlefields of the war. For his service, he was awarded an Iron Cross. Fritz, the eldest, a dental technician by training, became a war casualty. He must have been buried in a mass grave, for when his father Eduard died nine years later and their world still seemed safe, he was remembered at the bottom of his father's tombstone with the words, "In loving memory of our son Fritz who died fighting for the Fatherland on May 15, 1916." Since Eduard's wife Martha is buried in Lima, her space on the double tombstone is empty. My father, Erich, was drafted after his brother's death and surely that death influenced his behavior in the army. He suffered from bad acne and scratched until his entire back became infected. He was hospitalized and managed to stay unfit for service until the end of the war. His back was badly scarred but he claimed it was well worth staying out of battle.
The correspondence that follows allows us a tiny peek at both family and national events. There are letters not only to and from parents and siblings, but also from the close-knit extended family. We can see from their willingness to serve in the military and from their participation in civic organizations that they were well integrated into the German mainstream. Walter's first letter was written shortly before he was wounded.
* * *
From Walter Neisser to his father Eduard Neisser
5 December 1914, Cuisy
Dear Father,
I received your dear letter on the 3rd and am very happy about the same. For the two packages you sent me which have arrived, 1 with sausage and 1 with [... meat ...], I send you my heartfelt thanks. Instead of sausages, please send me fat more often, since every now and then when we can go to the headquarters at Septsarges, we can buy sausages. If you send along a [.. ] you will always get a letter in return (of course it cannot be too thin, small or soft).
We have just baked and therefore don't have active duty. Yesterday the volunteer soldier Sergeant Johannes v. Anlok was buried in Nantillois, and emissaries, me among the volunteer soldiers, were sent with wreaths. There is a bigger hospital there and I met a man from our company wounded on the night patrol of the 3rd. Now it is very quiet here. The continual, incessant, reciprocal, exciting night attacks have eased up and the losses are not as great. Our shelters have been expanded, so we live in quarters that are mostly rooms. The lieutenant is well disposed toward me and I get along splendidly with my superiors. Going for walks is a little different here than at home. The terrain is tremendously difficult and we mostly train in another way. The volunteer and replacement soldiers therefore practice extra jog-trots but mostly under the lieutenant's command. For active men the slow walk [inside the trenches] and being wingman [on the far side] are very hard. I had the misfortune to get the corner, which the lieutenant thought, and then said, was funny.
When this letter goes out we will just be marching straight into the trenches.
Be cordially greeted and kissed by your loving Walter Fritz should send me a letter immediately and you as well.
From Fritz Neisser (1895–1916) to his brother Walter (Postcard)
2 January 1915
Address. Antonienhütte in stamp / Army postal service. To the war volunteer Walter Neisser. Reserve military hospital (orphanage) Lichtenthal BadenBaden Dear Walter,
How did you spend your birthday? I have not written for a long time but thought of you often. In [Thüringen] Thuringia, I wanted to write to you every day; the parents just did not send me the address. I expect my marching orders any day.
Two [groups?] must go today. It is generally thought we go to Turkey. What is true in that, I do not know. How are you otherwise? How is your injury? About myself I have nothing more to say other than that I'm fine and I await my call-up notice with stress.
Greetings and kisses from your brother Fritz
From Walter Nothmann (1896–1915) to his cousin
Walter Neisser
20 January 1915, Neu-Ruppin
Dear Walter,
Have received your card even if there is very little in it. I will answer your questions. In a night attack before [Loveit] I fell into a ditch and pulled a tendon. I marched along until after [Skernilwiese]. Then I could [walk] no more. Now that's all done and I'm just here to recover. About your wounds I am not clear. Write me exactly [what happened]. Erwin [a cousin] was shot in the lower leg and lies in Berlin. All three of us came back from the field in one week: Erwin on December 17th, you on the 20th and I on the 23rd. Erwin and I both belong to the 5 Res. Regiment, but I did not know it. What military unit do you belong to? Write me soon and be greeted many times by
your [cousin] Walter
Berlin, 25 February 1915
Welfare Card, The Fatherland Patriotic Women's Association, Provincial association Berlin for the benefit of the war welfare
Volunteer Neisser Hospital Resident, Orphanage Lichtenthal Baden
Dear Walter,
We received your card and were glad that you are well; I hope you make a complete recovery. Walter Nothmann and Erwin are no longer in the hospital; for the time being they are at the Thorn garrison for 4 weeks. We are sending you some cigarettes and many greetings
from the dear uncle, the boys, and your aunt Regina
From Eduard Neisser to his son Walter
24 March 1915
Dear Walter,
You are probably guided by the saying that you will be measured by the same measure that you measure others. I consider this to be false if you judge by the correspondence we send you and you complain [about]; and now, in the hospital, you have a lovely, long time to write home in detail. But your reports are as thin as the bread rations. I have some rheumatism now and it is my intention, if nothing intervenes, to visit you after Easter and maybe take a few [thermal] baths in Baden-Baden. Greetings from all of us, and from him who has always loved you,
your Father
[Postscript from Schimansky] Get well and hope to see you soon, [I] wish you well with many regards, Schimansky
[Postscript from Walter's mother Martha] The best greetings are sent to you from your loving mother. Why don't you sometimes write your grandmother? She's annoyed about it.
* * *
Walter was discharged in the summer of 1915 and started working in Gleiwitz in one of the many plants owned by the coal magnate Fritz von Friedlaender-Furd, a convert and one of the richest men in Germany. Presumably this was an office job, for his foot was never fully healed and he comments that he does not have to walk far. Sadly we do not know how long he stayed with the company, when he left, or why. What is clear is that he gravitated to the energy sector from his earliest years.
* * *
From Walter to his brother Fritz
18 August 1915
18. VIII Since yesterday I am employed at the coal works Company Em. [Emanuel] Friedlaender & Com. [Company], owner Fritz v. Friedl. [Friedlaender]-Furd and receive a salary of M. 100 per month, pension M. 80 [expensive __________]. I like it quite well here and I do not need to walk very far. In a short time I expect detailed letters from you, and then followed by a letter from me. Receive greetings and a kiss,
your brother Walter c/o Frau Rosenthal Oberwallstr. 8
CHAPTER 2I Have a Great Deal of Work
* * *
Argentina and Chile, 1923–1927
GIVEN the terrible economic conditions in Germany, with high unemployment and rampant inflation, Walter's departure was a gamble, an immigrant's dream for a better life. Like the majority of immigrants at the time, he headed first for Buenos Aires. Argentina in general and Buenos Aires in particular were focal points for European immigration, for it was widely believed that Argentina had the same potential as the United States. Millions of immigrants arrived, the most numerous from Spain and Italy, but Poles, Russians, Germans, Greeks, and Jews also came by the hundreds of thousands. In the year 1900, immigrants made up half the population of Buenos Aires and work was easy to find. By the time Walter landed in 1923, immigrants were still pouring into the country but work was scarce. Like most immigrants, Walter arrived penniless and took whatever job came along. In his first year, he was a butcher, a butler, a farmhand, and a teacher.
* * *
From Walter to his youngest sister, Erna Neisser, aged fourteen
26 October 1923, Urdinarrain, Argentina
My dear little Erna,
Thank you very much for your dear letter. I am sorry to hear that you were sick for such a long time and I hope that you are now completely healthy again. I am well and I have to play teacher for 1 to 3 more weeks. I teach 3 boys and 2 girls reading, writing, and arithmetic. I live at a farmer's who has 8 children, 4 of whom I teach; the other 4 are still under school age.
I took a picture of the family and I am sending you a sample. The corrugated iron house is the school here, much like a junk storage room where [I], a photographer of old stuff and similar junk, stay. Beside my bedframe the chickens brood and raise their little ones, and during the night animals such as fleas and the like visit me. But otherwise it's very nice. The food is excellent and I would like to send you the many eggs, cream, and all the nourishing things that we have here every day and in large quantities. Every farmer has many, many cows and horses; the farmyard is left to the geese, laying hens and chickens, four dogs, and the riding horses that live there.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Walter's Welcome"
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Copyright © 2018 Eva Neisser Echenberg.
Excerpted by permission of Skyhorse Publishing.
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Table of Contents
Family Tree viii
Introduction xi
1 The Best Greetings Are Sent to You from Your Loving Mother: The Neisser Family, 1897-1915 1
2 I Have a Great Deal of Work: Argentina and Chile, 1923-1927 17
3 Miraflores Is Like a Summer Resort: Lima, 1927-1933 41
4 Ruth Actively Coordinated the Paperwork with Walter: The Arrival of Walter's Family, 1933-1940 73
5 You, Dear Fanny, Can Thank God You Are Out: Letters from Germany, 1937-1940 103
6 In Our House There Was Always Music: Lima, 1936-1945 127
7 I Hope This Wretched War Will Soon End: The Nothmann Family Letters and Memorabilia, 1941-1946 151
8 A Cup of Bean Coffee Is Medicine for Me: Postwar Requests, 1946-1950 177
9 The Mediocre in Any Profession Don't Get Very Far Lima, 1948-1960 203
Acknowledgments 235
Glossary 239
What People are Saying About This
“This is a fascinating and little-known account how one family clan from among German Jewry found a new home in unusual circumstances in a distant country in which people of such background were seldom welcomed. I am still digesting the book’s riches—and sharing it with others.”—Walter Laqueur, historian and bestselling author of Putinism : Russia and its future with the West
"This captivating life account of an extended German-Jewish family that survived the Holocaust thanks to the determined efforts by one of its members to bring his relatives to Peru in the 1930s reads like a beautifully conceived epistolary novel. Combining a rich trove of family photographs with an extensive archive of letters, Walter’s Welcome meshes personal stories with larger histories to render a complex, multifocal contribution to our understanding of the German-Jewish refugee experience in Latin America. . . . A pleasure to read, it manages to instruct and enlighten us while also touching our heart.”—Leo Spitzer, author of Hotel Bolivia: The Culture of Memory in a Refuge from Nazism, Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor of History Emeritus, Dartmouth College
“I found Walter’s Welcome very interesting and absorbing—the letters from both sides of the ocean are informative throughout. And what marvelous photos.”—Natalie Zemon Davis, author of The Return of Martin Guerre
“Who is Walter Neisser? A scrappy youth who makes his own welcome in Peru? Or is he the patriarch who welcomes those leaving their crumbling lives in Europe? In this gripping story, he is both, of course. Candidly and vividly, Echenberg’s story preserves and organizes a unique record of the extent of the Jewish diaspora in South America.”—Raúl Necochea López, historian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Eva Echenberg’s book is a very moving true story of tikkun olam—acts of kindness performed to repair the world—in Peru during the turbulent years of World War II by one decent and secular man who saved family and friends from certain death. Walter’s Welcome is essential reading for all, particularly now, at this time of change.”—Gaby Klehmann Winter, interpreter and translator