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Moritz Schoenberger walks down a street in Marseilles.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 78981
Moritz Schoenberger walks down a street in Marseilles.

Moritz Schoenberger walks down a street in Marseilles.

Date
1941
Locale
Marseilles, [Bouches-du-Rhone] France
Variant Locale
Marseille
Photo Designation
JEWISH REFUGEES: SEARCH FOR SAFE HAVENS (1933-1945) -- Emigration/Refugee Assistance -- In France
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Julie Klein

About This Photograph

Biography
Moritz Schoenberger, the donor's grandfather, was born in Sarvar, Hungary on October 30, 1887. In his youth he moved to Vienna, where he became a commercial artist and vendor of window decorations. Moritz married Helene Rosenthal of Frankfurt am Main and had one child, Bianka. In March 1939, one year after the annexation of Austria, Helen and Bianka left Vienna for the United States aboard the SS Hansa. Moritz planned to follow them a short time later and booked passage on the MS St. Louis. At the conclusion of the ill-fated voyage, Moritz disembarked in Belgium. From there, he made his way to France, where he was later arrested and interned in a series of camps, including Gurs, Les Milles and St. Cyprien. In the meantime, from her new home in the U.S., Moritz' wife, Helene, petitioned American authorities to secure immigration papers for him. The U.S. State Department finally approved his visa in November 1941. However, it took another eleven months before Moritz could acquire an exit visa from the Vichy government and leave the country. From Marseilles he made his way to Lisbon, where he sailed for the United States.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Provenance: Julie Klein
Source Record ID: Collections: 1988.108.181
 
Record last modified: 2013-05-17 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1045692