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Schischa family papers

Document | Not Digitized | Accession Number: 2003.454.1

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    Overview

    Description
    The papers contain correspondence between Johanna and Wilhelm Schischa in the ghetto in Opole, Poland, and their daughter, Lilly, in England; photographs of the Schischas and the Opole ghetto; documents concerning Lilly's emigration to London, England, from Vienna, Austria, on the Kindertransport in 1939; and correspondence between Lilly and her elder brother, Edi, who immigrated to Palestine in the early 1930s.
    Date
    inclusive:  1930-1950
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Lilli Schischa Tauber
    Collection Creator
    Lilly Schischa Tauber
    Biography
    Karoline (Lilli/Lilly) Schischa was born on March 13, 1927, to Wilhelm and Johanna Friedmann Schischa in Vienna, Austria. Wilhelm was born in Gloggnitz in lower Austria on October 11, 1883, the oldest son of Josef and Karoline Gerstl. He had three siblings, Paula, Helene, and Adolf. Josef, originally from Mattersdorf, was a master tailor and was very religious. Wilhelm’s mother died in 1894 and his father remarried Anna Guenser and had four children, Ludwig, Richard, Malwine (d. 1927), and Erna. Lilli’s mother Johanna was born in 1885 and had two sisters Berta Ohme and Fanny Bauer. Lilli was raised in Wiener Neustadt, along with her older brother, Eduard (Edi), who was born on October 5, 1914. Lilli’s family was very religious and followed Jewish traditions. The Schischas owned a menswear store in Wiener Neustadt which was seized after the Anschluss, the integration of Austria with Nazi Germany in March 1938. Edi emigrated to Palestine that October. During the Kristallnacht pogrom that November 9-10, Wilhelm was arrested and detained in prison for ten days. He was then forced to sell their home. Lilli became ill with scarlet fever and had to be hospitalized. After she recovered, she joined her mother in Vienna, where she had gone with her sister-in-law. On July 13, 1939, Lilli was sent on a Kindertransport to Great Britain. As they waited at the train station, her father put both hands on her head and blessed her.

    Lilli was sent to live with a group of Jewish refugee girls at the Hackney hostel in London, but soon transferred to Cockley Cley estate in Swaffham, Norfolk. She worked as a seamstress. The war ended with Germany’s surrender on May 7, 1945. Lilli eventually learned that her parents Wilhelm and Johanna, unable to secure visas, were deported from Vienna to the ghetto in Opole Lubelskie in German occupied Poland on February 26, 1941. In spring 1942, the Germans liquidated the ghetto. The Jewish residents were sent to Belzec and Sobibor killing centers and Lilli's parents presumably perished there.

    Lilli returned to postwar Vienna in 1946 or 1947 as a member of the Young Austria Refugee, a group dedicated to creating a democratic Austria. She was reunited with her mother's sister Berta Ohme, who had not been deported because her husband was not Jewish. Berta had preserved a collection of documents, correspondence, and photographs that Lilli’s mother gave her just before she was deported to Opole. Along with these, she gave Lilli correspondence sent by Johanna and Wilhelm from Opole. Lilli married Max Tauber in 1954. Max, who was also Jewish, was born in Vienna on June 11, 1920, and had lived in Jerusalem. They have two sons. Lilli’s brother Edi lived in Israel until his death in 1963, age 49.

    Physical Details

    Language
    German English
    Extent
    1 box

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The papers were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Lilly Schischa Tauber.
    Record last modified:
    2023-05-01 10:16:47
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn514971

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