From exile to exile
A German jurist sticks with his Jewish family
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“We are in the midst of a catastrophe of such a massive scope that we cannot even grasp it. This has long ceased to be just about the fate of a persecuted minority, this is about the future of humanity as such.”
New York/Basel
With the expressiveness of a poet, the jurist Paul Schrag on December 9th, 1938 describes to his friend Max Gutzwiller in Basel his circumstances after emigration. Since July, he had been living in a Manhattan hotel with his wife and baby. Apart from emigration and the professional uncertainties it occasioned, Schrag also had simple human matters to cope with. In September, his father had unexpectedly passed away, and now his sick mother needed to be taken care of. He experienced the catastrophe of humanity in the 1930s very profoundly and hoped for the onset of a “profound emotional and moral countercurrent.” A little bit of sanguinity was brought into his life by his little son, whose bliss remained untouched by current events and change of location.
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Institution:
Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin
Collection:
Paul Schrag Collection, AR 25161
Original:
on the days before
Curated by Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin © 2018 Leo Baeck Institute
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