Beller family papers

Paul Beller was born in 1931 to Simche Leib (Leo) Beller (b. 1901) and Mina Tennenbaum. He was one of the “50 children” rescued in 1939 by Americans Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus. Leo Beller was born in Bubrika, Poland (now Bóbrka, Ukraine) and moved to Vienna in 1915. Mina Tennenbaum was born and raised in Austria. In the spring of 1939, fearful of the future, Leo and Mina sent Paul to the United States with the “50 children.” He was taken to Pennsylvania, where he spent the summer at the Brith Sholom summer camp and then spent a year living with the Amram family on their farm in Feasterville, PA. Mina was able to obtain a visa for the United States, and immigrated in early 1940, joining several members of her family and reuniting with Paul. Leo, who had never taken Austrian citizenship, was officially stateless. He managed to evade arrest at one point by having his appendix removed, an unnecessary procedure that kept him in the hospital for several days. At the American consulate, he was denied a visa on the grounds that he had tuberculosis, which he did not. In the spring of 1940, he sailed down the Danube to Bratislava on the "Patronka" and was interned near Bratislava. In August 1940, he left on the "Helios", transferring to the "Atlantic" for the trip to Palestine, where the ship's passengers planned to attempt an illegal entry. They witnessed the explosion of the Patria and were turned away from Palestine, sailing instead for Mauritius and arriving in late December. In Mauritius, Leo was interned in the Beau Bassin prison, where he remained until August 1945, when he was permitted to enter Palestine. He immigrated to the United States to join Mina and Paul in 1946. Paul later married, and he and his wife, Glenda have three children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grand-children. They live in New Jersey.