Children’s songbook brought with a German Jewish prewar refugee

Nellie Wiesenthal (b. 1930, later Fink) was born in Berlin, Germany, to father, Fritz (1893-?) and Gertrude Loewenberg (1898-1986) Wiesenthal. Both sides of her family were assimilated and had lived in Berlin for several generations. Her father was a medical doctor, like his father, Otto (1859-1930), and grandfather, and specialized in Ophthalmology. His mother, Ernestine (1873-1947, née Unger) stayed at home. The family had an estate, Cartlow, several hours from Berlin where they often went for vacations. Gertrude’s father, Caesar, had been in the import-export business. He died young, and Gertrude’s mother, Anna, later married Josef Lehman. Nellie had one older sister, Illa (b. 1921, later Ilse). Their mother, Gertrude, suffered from an obsessive compulsive neurosis that made her fear she might get her children sick because she thought that she was carrying diseases like polio, meningitis, and scarlet fever. This condition controlled much of her life, and she often spent her days washing and cleaning items repetitively. She was often away in sanatoriums due to her condition, and when Nellie was very young, her mother began living apart from the family.

In 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor, and by that spring, anti-Jewish legislation was in effect. The Nuremburg laws were enacted in 1935, and life for Jews in Germany became extremely difficult and dangerous. That year, Nellie’s father, Fritz, and grandmother, Ernestine, took a trip to Palestine in search of a safe place to live. Eventually, Fritz decided that it would be better to resettle in the United States because they had family there. In 1935, Illa was sent to boarding school in England. In 1936, Nellie was forced out of public school and enrolled in the Goldschmidt School near her grandmother’s house, so she went to live with her. German insurance and social security payments to Jews were no longer authorized, which sent her father’s medical practice into decline. Eventually, Jews were no longer able to practice medicine, and Fritz made plans to go to the US. In the spring of 1938, Fritz visited Illa in Brussels, Belgium, on his way to the US. After finishing school in England, Illa had moved there to study at a convent school, St. Dorothe. She focused on learning French, as well as secretarial and domestic skills, because her father felt that she would need to be able to make her own living once they got to the United States.

Fritz arrived in New York on April 14, and lived with Gertrude’s brother Walter Loewenberg, and his wife, Annemarie, both physicians, who had left Germany at the end of 1935. At that time, German doctors could practice medicine in New York without taking the medical board exams. That was changed in 1937, due to the large influx of refugees and concerns regarding competition. This meant that Fritz had to study and retrain for the exams. Several months later, Fritz sent for Illa who arrived in the US on August 12. In September, Nellie, who was still living with her grandmother in Berlin, was sent to Switzerland with her aunt, Helene Meyer (1892-?, née Wiesenthal), and her three cousins, Eva, Peter, and Angelika. Ernestine could not leave because she was unable to acquire the necessary papers. Helene and the children stayed in a hotel in the town of Horv-Winkel. One day, Helene’s husband, Edgar (1893-1963), who had been in the US, returned to take his wife and children to Cuba, where they would wait to get US entry visas. Nellie’s father did not want her to take that roundabout journey, so she was placed in a children’s home in Lucerne until arrangements for her journey were finalized. During the trip to Cuba, Nellie’s cousin Angelika fell ill and died. The remaining family members eventually made it to Florida, and later settled in New Jersey.

In late 1938, a family friend, Frau Kehrli, arrived at the children’s home to take 8-year-old Nellie to Paris, France, and then on to Cherbourg. Nellie boarded the SS Deutschland, along with a governess hired by her family. The ship arrived on January 28, 1939, and Nellie was reunited with her family in New York. Nellie’s arrival was covered by the newspapers, which wrote about how brave it was for a little girl to travel so far without her parents. At first, Nellie stayed with her uncle Walter and aunt Annemarie. Nellie’s father, Fritz, worked as an ambulance doctor, and lived at St. John’s Hospital in Brooklyn while he studied for the board exams. In March, Nellie’s mother, Gertrude, immigrated to the US. Later on, Nellie went to live with several different family friends and acquaintances throughout New York City and on Long Island, and briefly in Florida with Helene. Her sister, Illa, lived with an American family as an au pair and had a day job as a secretary.

Nellie’s grandmother, Ernestine, emigrated from Berlin to London, England, in late 1939. While waiting for US immigration papers, Ernestine lived in a rented room and spent her time knitting supplies for the Red Cross. In 1942, Ernestine received her immigration papers, and was one of seven female passengers in a three-week-long convoy of Greek freighters travelling across the Atlantic Ocean. In New York, Ernestine was reunited with her family and taken to her daughter Helene’s house in New Jersey. Nellie had not known that she was on her way, and when she went to visit her aunt that weekend, she was incredibly surprised to see her grandmother. Fritz passed the medical exams that year, and established a private ophthalmological practice. Soon the family was living comfortably, and in the same home for the first time in years. Nellie’s mother continued to live apart from the family, and Ernestine cared for them and kept house. After graduating from high school, Nellie attended Queens College, CUNY. In the summer of 1950, Nellie attended summer school at the University of Wisconsin, and she met Sheldon Fink. In 1952, Nellie graduated from college, and in August, she married Sheldon. The couple settled in Chicago, and had two sons.