Happy 88th Birthday, Liesl!

*Liesl is magnetic drawing in friends who span all ages*

There is an older woman in Vienna who I have known for several years now. We are not related, yet we are family. Let me tell you our story…

It was a cold night on December 17, 1938, just five weeks after the devastating progrom Kristalnacht, and the Jews of Vienna were in state of shock and terror. My dear friend, Eveline Elisbaeth März, also known as Liesl, was a four-month-old baby and her family was desperate to get out of Austria. Somehow, they had managed to get train tickets to Switzerland, but on the night of their escape, things did not go as planned. Their train would be late by several hours.

Under normal circumstances this would have been a small inconvenience, but this trip was anything but normal. This was a Jewish family fleeing Nazi controlled Vienna. Run into the wrong person on the street and you could end up at Dachau, or worse. That night, it was cold outside, and as Jews, baby Liesl and her family were not allowed to wait inside the train station.

With nowhere to go, and not wanting to subject their infant daughter to the cold, the März’s called on their cousins, the Bernblum’s.

Could we wait in your apartment until it’s time to go to the train station?

Of course, they said yes.

I know the Bernblum’s apartment building. I have seen the old floor to ceiling stoves that kept families warm on that winter night. Perhaps Mrs. Bernblum made everyone coffee and passed around cookies. Maybe baby Liesl slept the entire time cradled in her mother’s arms in the warmth near the stove. All I know for sure is the family, hours later, boarded the train to Switzerland.

In the short time that Liesl occupied that space, the tone was forever set in our connection. The Bernblum’s lived at Mariahilferstraße 112, the same building where my great-grandmother Fanni lived. They were Grandma Fanni’s downstairs neighbors. Maybe Mrs. Bernblum was out of coffee and borrowed some from Fanni. Perhaps Grandma Ricky was on her way home from a visit bringing along my father who was four years old at the time. They could have bumped into each other on the stairway.

*Great-Grandma Fanni, Grandma Ricky and Grandpa Paul, with Dad in 1938, probably weeks or even days before the Anschluss*

On a typical day, perhaps this seemingly casual link might not resonate. But, the intensity of the circumstances and the longing to make connection where one can opens up many possibilities.

In Vienna, Liesl and I are the only ones who remain with ties to the people who lived in that apartment building on a beautiful and popular tree-lined street, and that night resonates deeply. Max and Sidonie Bernblum were murdered at Maly Trosntinec and Fanni Feilbogen was murdered at Chelmno.

Liesl survived her journey and made it to the United States. So did my father, who went on to have three daughters. The youngest returned to live in Vienna. So, we are here in this shared space, Liesl and I, and our connection to each other binds us to our ancestors and their memory in a new and profound way.

There have been films made about Liesl’s family and she regularly speaks at schools throughout Vienna. Here she delivered a speech at a ceremony at Vienna’s City Hall commemorating 25 years of an organization that installs Stones of Remembrance throughout the city.

On August 7, Liesl will be 88 years old. Nearly 88 years have passed since that December night. It is my honor to wish her a very Happy Birthday.

The Sound of Music