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ring the fifty-seven years that I have known him. A friendly Islamic woman opened the door and asked me to come in after I told her about the purpose of my visit. It was there, 21 Bauerle Gasse, where his father and sister spent their last days before they perished in the Holocaust. The following day we took a tour of the famous Burgtheater located in the heart of Vienna, where my Stepfather, while working for the Oesterreichische Siemens-Schuckert-Werke, installed the light fixtures above the sound stage. The company director later advised him that unless he is discharged from his job, the Nazis would declare Siemens a Jewish company. He was subsequently relieved from his high paid position. As I walked in the morning through Vienna’s Stadt Park, located across from our hotel, I read signs posted, „No Dogs Allowed“. When I continued to gaze at the sign, the words turned around in my mind that read ,,No Jews Allowed“. Later in the day we visited the Viennese Stadt Temple (synagogue) where we could not enter because of security. We found it a bit ironic that fellow Jews visiting from a foreign country could not view the synagogue from inside. However, the Jewish Museum, a few blocks away from the Synagogue, was open to the public. There, we were again reminded of the Holocaust by an enormous display of artifacts confiscated by the Nazis from synagogues during WW IL. Austria’s Jewish population reached 190.000 in 1937, of which the Nazis murdered 65.000. There are today approximately 10.000 Jews living in Austria. In spite of my ambivalence toward visiting Vienna, we found the city beautiful and fascinating, echoing the sounds of Mozart and Johann Strauss. We especially enjoyed the performance of Der Zigeunerbaron at the Volksoper, an operetta I always dreamed of seeing in its original language. The highlight of my visit was a reunion with an old school chum from Shanghai, Freddy Stern, whom I have not seen, in fifty even years. After our initial and long embrace, we reminisced about our childhood pranks and the games we played together with his sister, Susie, amidst the ruins behind Joseph Court located on Muirhead Road. Freddy, now retired, operated a garment store he took over from his mother. In conclusion with regards to my controversial visit to Vienna for which I was severely criticized by my friends and colleagues, I must admit that I was glad to have been there at least once in my lifetime. My early European upbringing around Shanghai’s ,,Little Vienna“, my early exposure to Viennese songs and culture, and the opportunity to fully speak in my native tongue, made my visit more appealing. In Budapest, the first country on our itinerary, we were greatly impressed by the Dohaney Synagogue, the second largest temple in the world. Next door to the synagogue we found another Jewish museum also with an extensive exhibit of the Holocaust. The display primarily showed different paraphernalia used, and left by Jewish inmates of nearby concentration camps. Of the 725.000 Jews that lived in Hungary in 1941, an estimated 564.000 were deported and murdered by the Nazis during WW II. Today, there are approximately 8.000 Jews living in all of Hungary. A stroll on the famous Chain Bridge early in the morning that crosses the Danube River, was indeed a delightful experience, and not to forget Hungarian Goulash soup, a bit spicy, but very tasty. The focal point of our visit to Budapest was to meet assumed relatives we discovered on the Internet two years ago. We were all very happy to meet for the first time, and to get fully acquainted. They spoiled us in every way they could, making our stay in this beautiful and historical city very comfortable and pleasant. The last city we visited was Prague, the Mecca of Judaica outside Israel, and one of the oldest Jewish communities in Europe. 72 We began our tour by visiting four synagogues managed by the Jewish Museum of Prague, and one other synagogue; the Altneu Schul built in early Gothic style around the middle of the 13th century. The Spanish Synagogue, built in 1868 in a Moorish style inspired us the most. The four synagogues, now belonging to the Federation of Jewish Communities in Czech Republic, house 40.000 exhibits from a single territory — Bohemia and Moravia. It was impossible for us to fully absorb that many exhibits during our short stay in Prague. The Pinkas Synagogue, one of the four synagogues mentioned, built in 1535, was turned into a memorial to the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia murdered by the Nazis. On the walls of the synagogue are meticulously inscribed the 80.000 names of victims of that region. One of the permanent exhibits that I must mention was housed on the upper section in the Pinkas Synagogue. It had on display 4.000 children’s drawings from Terezin 1942-1944 (Theresienstadt). The drawings presented to us amoving testimony to the cruel fate that befell the children. For the most part, they are the only relics of those who did not survive. We were told that there were over 10.000 children under the age of 15 at the time of imprisonment. Our visit to the museum ended with a walk through the old cemetery, established in the first half of the 15th century. I was in awe as we stood next to the tombstone of Rabbi Loew (d. 1609), associated with the legend of the robot „Golem“. We also visited the tombstone of David Ganz, noted astronomer and mathematician. Our hotel was located on Ve Smeckach, a narrow street; a couple of footsteps away from the popular broad boulevard, Wenceslas Square that is lined with numerous stores selling fine crystal. While drinking my coffee in the plush dining room of our hotel, I began to think of a close friend currently living in Los Angeles, who was living here with his parents in an apartment on the same street, and only a few footsteps away from where I was sitting having my breakfast. It was from that house where he lived in the early 1940’s when he had to report with his parents to a gathering place for deportation, and subsequently to the Death Camp. Fortunately he was able to escape with a friend from the Death March. Following my sumptuous breakfast, I walked to his former dwelling and took a snapshot, which I presented, to him after my return to Los Angeles. Of 92.000 Jews residing in Czechoslovakia in 1939, the Nazis during WW II massacred 78.000. Today, there are approximately 6.000 Jews living in the Czech Republic that does not include Slovakia, a former part of Czechoslovakia. We found Prague to be an intriguing city where time stood still. The beautiful Charles Bridge that spans the famous Moldau River left a lasting impression on us. Aside from the feelings that haunted me during our trip, we found no traces of anti-Semitism in any of the three countries we visited. Our trip was not only a memorable and rewarding experience; it also left us a lot to think about. How fortunate are we today to be able to walk the streets again in those countries, as United States citizens, without fear, and without the infamous „Yellow Star“ and the word „JUDE“ stitched on our garments. Ralph Harpuder, geb. in Berlin, emigrierte 1939 mit seinen Eltern nach Shanghai. 1947 nach Kalifornien gelangt, studierte er Medizin und arbeitete bis zu seiner Pensionierung als Umweltmediziner in Los Angeles. Dort wohnt er noch heute und beschäftigt sich mit genealogischen Studien und Philatelie. Den Text über eine Europareise vom Sommer 2000 entnehmen wir mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Autors der Website „The Rickshaw Express“.
