Tennenbaum family in Nazi Vienna; departing on the Queen Mary ship

November 1937. Robert (Bobby) Tennenbaum (donor) at age 2 in the Volksgarten park in Vienna with his mother, Ernestine (Erna). Shots of Bobby, wearing a winter coat and hat, smiling and running in the park, while his mother and grandfather look on. Closer views of Erna and grandfather. Erna wears a fur stole around her neck. Other park-goers are visible in BG. Shots of Erna and Bobby's grandfather. More scenes of Bobby with various adults, including his father Marcus. Leo Beller with his son Paul in St. Johann park. Paul poses for the camera and sits on a bench while his father combs his hair. Bobby in the Volksgarten again on December 26, 1937.

01:03:35 January 30, 1938. A group eating a meal around a table in a restaurant in Kahlenberg, a mountain hiking destination near Vienna. Among those in the group are Jules Pressner and Victor Ergas, friends of the Tennenbaums who lived in Paris. [As Marcus prepared to flee Austria, he shipped many of his family's possessions to Pressner and Ergas in Paris. He reclaimed them when he and his family passed through Paris on the way to board the Queen Mary in Cherbourg. Marcus writes in his memoir that Pressner managed to escape when the Nazis invaded France; Ergas was deported and perished at Mauthausen (Gusen).]

01:03:47 Paul Beller with his mother Mina (Tennenbaum) Beller and Sara Austein in St. Johann park in Vienna on February 5, 1938. They walk toward the camera several times. Paul smiles and acts for the camera.

01:04:44 Bobby and cousin Edith (daughter of Marcus's brother Emil and wife Dora Austein) in Drasche Park in Vienna, May 1938. Bobby next to a park bench; Edith walking toward the camera; Bobby and Edith walking hand-in-hand with their cousin Paul. Edith and Bobby playing. A swastika on a lamp post is visible behind Edith at 01:05:19. The camera focuses on some adults in the group, including grandfather and Erna. Others probably in the group include: Edith's parents (Emil and Dora) and Paul's parents (Mina and Leo).

01:07:00 According to Marcus's memoir, on July 31, 1938, Bobby plays with the Tennebaum's maid, Hedy, in the park at city hall. Marcus writes in his memoir that their maids worked for them until September 1938, when they were forbidden to work for Jews any longer. He writes, "They had no chance to get jobs with Christian homes, ours cried and had to return to their families in the countryside to work on the farms to which they were not used any more, having lived in the big city for many years (439)."

01:07:41 Erna, Marcus, and Bobby on board the Queen Mary, headed for the U.S. in March 1939. Bobby and his parents on board ship. Bobby and Erna, both wearing sunglasses, pose on the deck. Bobby greets another child and shakes his hand. Family on deck and looking out at the ocean. Erna holds Bobby and another young child (not a family member) by the hand.

Young Bobby and Edith in prewar Austria

Film

Robert (Bobby) Tennenbaum as a young child just learning to walk. Bobby toddles along the path of a park and climbs stairs in a park in Baden, a suburb of Vienna. His relatives, including his grandparents and uncle, stand by to catch him in case he falls. Bobby plays with cousin Edith. Lots of very cute baby shots. Bobby in the arms of his mother, Ernestine (Erna), walking across a lawn in the park. Bobby and Edith seated on a blanket with their mothers. Very nice scenes of the family playing with the children. 01:27:32 Bobby's paternal grandfather walks in a park-like setting in Sauerbrunn, an Austrian resort town. More scenes of Bobby and Edith and their families, perhaps also in Sauerbrunn? The two children are pushed in carriages down a sidewalk. Bobby drags around a watering can on a porch.

Tennenbaum family vacations

Film

The Tennenbaum family on vacation in the Austrian countryside in August 1937, opening with a panning shot of a lake. A man on a hiking trail with a camera around his neck. People dancing at a hotel or resort; a man paddling a kayak; more leisure activity and nature scenes, some shot from a moving car. Label on the film can identifies the trip as a tour between Poertschach and Heiligenblut, Austria with Dr. Finkler. [Dr. Finkler was a friend of the Tennenbaums. In his memoir, Marcus writes of trying to convince Dr. Finkler to flee Austria, but Finkler felt he could not leave his elderly parents and was later deported and died in Theresienstadt.] Winter vacation in Kitzbuehel, Tirol in the Austrian Alps in February 1938. Street scene in a snow-covered village. Woman figure skating on a frozen lake. More quaint street scenes. Two and then three people posing outside the Hotel Tyrol, holding skis. The same group(?) at the Kitzbuehel train station, then cross-country skiing and throwing snowballs. Skiers coming off of a jump in a competition while crowds watch. One of the skiers falls after he lands. A swastika banner is briefly visible. More scenes at the train station; this time the snow is falling heavily. More skiing. One of the men of the group snowplows very slowly down a gradual slope. The Tennenbaums' companions on this vacation were Jules Pressner and Victor Ergas, both of whom lived in Paris. [As Marcus prepared to flee Austria, he shipped many of his family's possessions to Pressner and Ergas in Paris. He reclaimed them when he and his family passed through Paris on the way to board the Queen Mary in Cherbourg. Marcus writes in his memoir that Pressner managed to escape when the Nazis invaded France; Ergas was deported and perished at Mauthausen (Gusen).]