Letter

Held by

Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

September 07, 1942 (indexed as 1942)

Level

item

Extent

Letter : Paper : Typewritten : Ink : Beige, black, brown ; Ht: 16 cm x W: 21 cm

Scope & content

Page with two holes punched on left edge, tea stain bottom, Jewish Refugee Committee header. Letter to Mr. Isaac Isselbacher requesting an approximate value of his luggage to be shipped for insurance purposes. Mr. Isselbacher had great difficulty obtaining his belongings from England. By this time he was working at the Ville Lasalle. Narrative: Isaac Herbert Isselbacher was born 1919-11-20 in Isselbach, Germany. His brother was Helmut Isselbacher, born 1921-12-20. Their father was Jacob Isselbacher, born 1883-08-05. They had an uncle and aunt, David and Betty Loewenstein, who lived in New York City with their two children. Isaac left Germany on 1939-07-29, hoping to join his relatives in NYC. He only had the time to get to London, England before the war broke out and started working in a factory. He was arrested at his workplace as an ‘enemy alien’ and sent to Canada for internment in 1940. Isaac was interned in Camp N in Sherbrooke, Quebec. He was drafted into the Works Program Division for woodworking and net-making. In 1940, he received a last letter from his parents which suggested their imminent deportation. After his release, circa November 1942, Isaac worked as a locksmith. He married Fanny Azeff on 1943-12-26 at the Bnai Jacob synagogue in Montreal. Fanny was born on 1921-12-23 in Canada, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Azeff. Isaac was naturalized as a Canadian citizen on 1946-06-08. Fanny was naturalized on 1946-08-30 (she had lost her citizenship by marrying Isaac). Isaac’s brother, Helmut Isselbacher, was deported with Transport XXII A from Dossin casern in Mechelen (Malines), Belgium to Auschwitz Birkenau, Poland on 1943-09-20. Of the 2,450 people on the transport, 100 men were selected to work –including Helmut- and the remainder prisoners were gassed. Helmut was made to work as a welder, and was soon fitting new pipes for the gas chamber. He suffered a nervous breakdown as a result. As he was a valued welder, he was transferred to a labour camp in Upper Silesia (Poland) where he remained for two years. As the Russian army advanced, the 6,000 prisoners of this camp were evacuated by train. Helmut remembered being forced to march as the other prisoners died from exhaustion. When liberation was announced, the survivors travelled by ship from Luebeck, Germany, to Sweden with the aid of the Red Cross. After recovery, Helmut decided to remain in Sweden as a welder. Upon learning of his brother’s survival, Helmut travelled to New York in April 1946 to meet with him and their Loewenstein relatives. Afterwards, Helmut travelled to Canada bringing with him a washing machine and bras as late wedding presents for his brother and Fanny. By 1946-08-12, their parents were presumed dead and the two sons inquired into their estate. They received a deed for the land and travelled to the estate to discover that the current owner of their house was their old maid and her son had become the town mayor. Various disputes arose with the current ‘owners’ who believed the Isselbacher family dead. Isaac wished to discuss a settlement, but the mayor’s mother –not realizing Fanny understood German- called the neighbours at work to warn them not to come home as the Isselbacher sons had resurfaced. Payment for the land had reportedly been sent to Israel, though no documentation could be provided.

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DocumentInsuranceJewish CommunityLetterLetterheadOffice WorkSignatureTaxationTypewrittenTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

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JEWISH REFUGEES COMMITTEETelephone : MUSeum 2900Cables : "Refugee, Westcent, London"In your reply, please quote the reference given belowLUG/CK- 31578BLOOMSBURY HOUSEBLOOMSBURY STREETLONDON, W.C.1September 7th, 1942.Mr. I.Herbert Isselbacher,Machinery Service Ltd.,Ville Lasalle,By Air MailMontreal, Q.Canada.Dear Sir,Yours truly,LUGGAGE DEPARTMENT.ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO BE ADDRESSED TO THE DEPARTMENT AND NOT TO INDIVIDUALS.Further to our letter of the 20th ultimo we have pleasure in informing you that we have received meanwhile list of contents from Mr. Rosenthal, and are enclosing copy of this inventory herewith.Before we can submit the necessary application for export permit we must ask you to let us know the approximate value of your luggage since the authorities require this information for statistical purposes.With regard to the question of insurance we would strongly advise to take such one out for the value of say £ 25, in which case the cost would amount to approx. £ 3 ( this would include war risk insurance). The transport cost would come to £ 3.5.0.Looking forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience we remain, dear Sir,Read automatically; may contain mistakes.

Language

English

Harvested

2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

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