Clutching at straws
Will a fleeting encounter with a stranger help Erika get an affidavit?
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“It is very difficult to write to you because I am quite sure you have no idea who I am.”
Vienna
Erika Langstein was a young English teacher living in Vienna. In June 1938, having experienced the persecution of Jews in the Austrian capital for several months already, Erika sent a letter to Donald Biever, an American citizen, imploring him to help her and her Jewish father flee Austria by issuing an affidavit for them. Nothing would be unusual about this, except for the fact that the young woman had met Biever just once, briefly, on a train ride a year earlier, and had not communicated with him since. Despite the tenuous nature of their relationship, Erika describes to Biever the hopeless of the situation in Vienna. She also attaches a photo, in case Biever does not remember their encounter.
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SOURCE
Institution:
Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin
Collection:
Letter from Erika Langstein to Donald Biever, AR 3757
Source available in English
on the days before
Curated by Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin © 2018 Leo Baeck Institute
Website and exhibition design by C&G Partners
