Winter family papers

Max Winter (1893-1976) was born on 18 September 1893 in Ebreichdorf, Austria to Leopold (b. 1860) and Rosa (née Heisz) Winter. He had two brothers: Richard (b. 1897) and Josef (b. 1901), and one sister, Margaret (b. 1905). He married Anna Federmann after serving in World War I. Anna (1893-1988) was born on 2 May 1893 in Německý Brod, Czechoslovakia (Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic) to Samuel Federmann (1852-1923) and Josephine Spitz (b. 1862). She had three brothers: Karl (b. 1890), Siegfried (b. 1891), and Heinrich (b. 1892), and one sister, Hedwig (b. 1893). Max worked as a banker and Anna was a music teacher. They had two children, Marianne (later Marianne Selinger, b. 1921) and Stephen (b. 1926).

In order to improve her English, Marianne became pen pals with Jane Bomberger (later Jane Bomberger Wentzel) in Reading, Pennsylvania through an international pen pal project. They began corresponding in 1935. After the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, the Winter family began to look for ways to emigrate. Marianne asked Jane for help and her father Joseph Bomberger (b. 1897) immediately agreed to sponsor the family. The Winters left Vienna for Prague in the summer of 1938 and they left Europe from Genoa, Italy on the SS Conti di Savoia on 26 January 1939. Upon arrival, they moved to Reading. Max then began trying to help his father emigrate from Austria, but was not successful and Leopold was deported to Theresienstadt on June 28, 1942 and died on July 26, 1942. Max’s brother Josef fled Vienna and survived the Holocaust in Shanghai.