Contacts worth more than money
Agnes Graetz uses her network to help her daughter emigrate to the USA
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"I ask you to write to me, if at all possible, in the near future, as to whether you see a possibility which does not - as seems to be customary now - require implausibly high guarantees and legal fees."
Lucerne
An illness during a journey forced Wilhelm Graetz to extend his stay in Switzerland. In light of the escalating situation in Germany, he decided to relinquish his home in Berlin. The formerly well-off couple was in no position to help out their four children financially but benefitted from widely spread contacts. Wilhelm Graetz had been a member of the board of the Berlin Jewish Community, and as the chairman of the German “ORT,” he knew potential helpers in many places. In August, a trip took him to Hungary. On the 27th, his wife Agnes made use of her time by asking the well-known territorialist and “ORT” leader, David Lvovich, to help one of her three daughters, who urgently needed an affidavit in order to be able to emigrate to America.
SOURCE
Institution:
Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin
Collection:
William Graetz Collection, AR 4121
Original:
Archivbox 1, Ordner 3