Linhard family papers

Alfred Linhard was born on September 25, 1923 in Vienna, Austria, to Bernhard and Regina Blum Linhard. Bernhard was born on October 28, 1888, in Vienna, Austro-Hungary, to Abraham, a ladies’ tailor, and Rosa Linhard. Bernhard was a textile factory worker before he fought in World War I for Austro-Hungary, rising to the rank of sergeant. Regina was born in 1900 in Vienna. She had a sister, Stephanie (b. 1896), and two brothers, Arthur (1894-1946), and Jack. Both of her brothers fought for Austria during World War I. Bernhard and Regina married on March 6, 1921. Bernhard co-owned three successful cafes in Vienna, with his brother in law and father in law, Arthur and Anton Blum. Alfred had three siblings, Edith (Ditta 1922-1998), Franzi (b. 1926), and Peter (1933-2005). The Linhards lived in a well furnished apartment with a Steinway piano and spent the summers traveling to resorts and villages in Czechoslovakia, Austria or Hungary.

On March 13, 1938 Austria was annexed into Germany, in what became known as the "Anschluss." German authorities quickly created new legislation that restricted Jewish life. Alfred was no longer allowed to attend school and it became dangerous for Jews to walk the streets. Within weeks Bernhard was forced to turn the cafés over to a new owner, eliminating the family’s income. After this, Bernhard began actively seeking ways to get the family out of the country. To make money, the family sold their furniture, receiving a fraction of its value. Friends, extended family members, and neighbors began to disappear. Food was scarce, but the family was able to get daily rations at an American relief organization kitchen. Alfred’s niece, Marietta Blum (1922-2010) was sent to England. His brother in law Arthur made an arrangement with a ship captain to help him escape the country quickly if necessary. When the Sturmabteilung came to arrest him he escaped through a rear door, contacted the ship captain and absconded to Singapore. Not long after, his wife, Alice, was able to get out of Vienna and reunite with their daughter in England and Alfred’s sister Edith was granted asylum in England. Alfred’s sister in law, Stephanie, married Oscar Winkler-Raphael and had a daughter, Eva who was sent to England. On November 10, 1938 the Linhard family’s home was raided by Sturmabteilung who searched the apartment and confiscated 2000 schillings. On April 20, 1939, Bernhard, despondent over the decreasing likelihood that he would be able to emigrate, took his own life.

In the spring of 1939, Franzi and Peter were selected to be part of the rescue mission of Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, an American Jewish couple who obtained 50 visas to rescue 50 Jewish children from Vienna and help them immigrate to the United States. Peter and Franzi boarded a train to Berlin with the rest of the children on May 21, and Alfred and their mother saw them off at the station. They arrived in Berlin later that day and were scheduled for physical examinations and final processing the following day. From Berlin they went to Hamburg, Germany, and boarded the SS President Harding which left for New York on May 23. Once they arrived in New York the children were taken to the Brith Sholom retreat in Pennsylvania. While there they took courses in civics and US history, as well as English-language training.

Alfred was granted a visa to immigrate to the United States and on July 13, he boarded the SS Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany. Franzi, age 13, died of bronchopneumonia on August 28, 1939, in Philadelphia. In November, Alfred’s mother, Regina, left Europe via Trieste, Italy, arriving in the US in November aboard the SS Saturnia. His sister, Edith (later Ginsberg) boarded the SS Lancastria in England and arrived in New York on December 27. In July 1940 his sister in law Alice Blum, immigrated to New York from England, and in September her husband Arthur immigrated to New York from Singapore, via Kobe, Japan. On August 13, 1942, Alfred’s maternal grandfather Anton was deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia, where he was murdered October 12. Stephanie was arrested October 1, and deported to Theresienstadt where she was murdered. Jack Blum is presumed to have died in the Holocaust.

Alfred, Regina, and Peter settled in the Philadelphia area, where they were joined by Arthur, Alice and Marietta. Marietta married Dan Kurland they had two daughters, Lisa and Judy. Eva served as a British Army nurse during the war. She met Stephen I. Winston, a fellow holocaust survivor from Vienna, they married and had a daughter, Stephanie, named after her grandmother. Regina opened a small Park Shoppe in Philadelphia. Peter joined the US Army when he came of age and was discharged in 1955. Afterwards, he worked as a semi-professional pool player with the moniker Peter Rabbit. Alfred married Marion Abrams (b.1924) in 1949, the couple had one son, Steven. Alfred, aged 80, died in 2003 in Philadelphia.