Fellner family papers

Rudolf Fellner (1913-2011) was born in Vienna, Austria to Eugen (1888-1942) and Stefanie (née Sohr, 1887-1974) Fellner. Eugen grew up in Vienna, and worked as an entertainer, singer, and magician for many years. He married Stefanie in 1912, and then worked in his father-in-law’s knitting and garment store. Rudolf was an only child, but spent a lot of time with his cousin, Fred Freiwirth, whose mother was Stefanie’s sister, Elsa. Rudolf pursued a career in music, and studied to become a conductor. After the Nazi annexation of Austria and increased persecution of the Jews there, Rudolf began to search for ways to emigrate. He obtained a passport and on July 8, 1938 and flew to Italy. He stayed there over a year before obtaining papers to immigrate to Bolivia, but the papers turned out to be invalid. Eventually he received an affidavit to come to the United States from a distant cousin, Arthur Wise. He booked passage on the SS Conte di Savoia, and arrived in New York on September 23, 1939. He settled in Dallas, Texas where he taught music. In 1941, he was then drafted into the United States Army. He trained as an interrogator and went overseas in 1944 to Cardiff, Wales where he would soon be assigned to the Second Armored Division. While in Cardiff, he also met Anita Heufeld at a Passover service, and they became engaged soon after.

Eugen and Stefani Fellner also began to search for ways to emigrate from Vienna in 1938. In 1940, they booked passage on the SS Pentcho, a boat illegally sailing to Palestine. On October 9, the ship's boiler exploded, and the ship broke in two off of a deserted island under Italian control. The passengers and crew were able to get ashore before the ship finally sank. Ten days later, Italian authorities picked up the refugees and brought them to Rhodes, Greece where they stayed for the next year and a quarter in a hastily constructed camp. In January 1942, the refugees were transferred to the Ferramonti concentration camp in southern Italy. Stefani’s sister, Elsa and her husband Leopold were also there. Eugen died in the camp from disease in 1942. Stefanie immigrated to Palestine in 1944 before immigrating to the United States in 1949.

Anita Fellner (née Heufeld, 1925-2011) was born in Fischach, Germany to Samuel (b. 1891) and Erna (née Weil, b. 1892) Heufeld. She had one brother, Walter (b. 1907). Her parents owned a business that sold wholesale tobacco, wine, and cigars. After Walter and Anita were prohibited from attending school, Walter went to work as a secretary for a cousin's plastics factory, and Anita worked for a Jewish dressmaker in Augsburg, Germany. On Kristallnacht, both Samuel and Walter were arrested and sent to Dachau. Both were eventually released, but Walter suffered frostbite on his hands and feet. The family began searching for ways to leave Germany. Walter received an affidavit to the United States, but his quota number was too high to immigrate. Instead he went to the United Kingdom where his cousins had relocated their plastics factory in Wales. Walter initially was interned in the Kitchener Camp, but his cousins petitioned for his release on the grounds that he was essential for their business. On May 18, 1939 Anita came to England on a Kindertransport. At first, she could correspond with parents and even tried to find them employment. However, this became impossible after the start of World War II, though she managed to write to them via the United States for the next two years. Anita lived in a children's home in Windermere and worked as a dressmaker, but later joined her brother in Wales where she worked as a hospital nurse. In spring 1944, American servicemen flooded into Cardiff, and the local Jewish community invited Jewish soldiers to join them for Passover. It was here that Anita met Rudolf Fellner. They were soon engaged, and married after the war. Anita joined her husband in the United States in 1946.

After the war, Anita learned that her parents were deported, and likely killed in 1942. Rudi resumed his career as an opera conductor and eventually became the head of the Opera Workshop in the Fine Arts Department of Carnegie Mellon University. Anita worked as a dressmaker, including being in charge of all the costumes for New York's Gaslight Club for many years. After the family moved to Pittsburgh, she maintained a thriving private dressmaking business until a year before her death at age 87.