Page 72 [72]
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 lo¬
cated 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, lo¬
cated across from our hotel, I read signs posted, „No Dogs Al¬
lowed“. 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 sy¬
nagogue 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 fif¬
ty 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 loca¬
ted 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 critici¬
zed 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 spe¬
ak in my native tongue, made my visit more appealing.
In Budapest, the first country on our itinerary, we were great¬
ly impressed by the Dohaney Synagogue, the second largest tem¬
ple 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 re¬
latives 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 out¬
side 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 sty¬
le inspired us the most. The four synagogues, now belonging to
the Federation of Jewish Communities in Czech Republic, hou¬
se 40.000 exhibits from a single territory — Bohemia and
Moravia. It was impossible for us to fully absorb that many ex¬
hibits during our short stay in Prague.
The Pinkas Synagogue, one of the four synagogues mentio¬
ned, 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 Syna¬
gogue. It had on display 4.000 children’s drawings from Terezin
1942-1944 (Theresienstadt). The drawings presented to us amo¬
ving 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 ma¬
thematician. Our hotel was located on Ve Smeckach, a narrow
street; a couple of footsteps away from the popular broad bou¬
levard, Wenceslas Square that is lined with numerous stores sel¬
ling fine crystal. While drinking my coffee in the plush dining
room of our hotel, I began to think of a close friend currently li¬
ving 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 subse¬
quently 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 im¬
pression 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 ex¬
perience; 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 Medi¬
zin 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“.