FEW FATES OF MANY

OTTO LÖFF
A member of the Jewish community, who was born on June 6, 1896. Otto, well-liked in Lostice, came from Kromeriz. In 1935 he opened a grocery and hardware store in the town square (house no. 54). He took an active part in the social life of Lostice and was also a member of the local Sokol orchestra. Otto and his wife Erna (neé Simerlova) were sent to concentration camp Raasika, where they perished in 1942.

THE SOCCER TEAM SK LOSTICE, 1935
Secretary Otto Löff, standing first from top left

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GRETA HIRSCHOVA
Greta was born in Lostice on September 30, 1923 and she lived with her parents on 100 Pivovarska Street. Her father Karel Hirsch was a butcher. The entire family - Greta, her father, mother Irma and sister Lisa were sent together to concentration camp Treblinka where they perished in 1942.

PUBLIC SCHOOL LOSTICE 1930
Greta Hirschova first from down left

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KURT WISCHNITZER
Kurt was born in Lostice on November 7, 1915. He was popular with his Jewish and Christian friends in Lostice and surrounding area. Kurt, his younger sister Lily and parents Markus and Irma were sent a concentration camp, where they perished.

KURT WISCHNITZER
Lostice ca 1925
Lostice ca 1925 In the background: boxes for maturing of the tvaruzky cheese . Wischnitzers bought a house in Zadlovicka Street in 1923 and manufactured the tvaruzky cheese there. Since their business was good, by 1937, they purchased a small truck for the distribution of their goods.

LOSTICE FRIENDS
Kurt Wischnitzer first from right, Chateau Bila Lhota ca 1935

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KURT SCHNITZLER
For his Jewish origin Kurt was fired from the Medical Faculty, sent to a forced labor program and later imprisoned in a concentration camp. The addressee of these letters was his Christian beloved Marie. H., who lives in Lostice (2007).

Letters contain his personal thoughts, description of life in confinement and a list of medications, which he needed for the treatment of other prisoners. Marie was able to send him several letters and a few parcels with food and medicine. It was quite difficult for her, as she was on the Nazis black list, because her father was in the concentration camp since 1939. Illegal correspondence was punishable by strict penalties including capital sentence.

Kurt Schnitzler was born on May 12, 1916. Before WWII he lived with his parents in Olomouc and studied at the Masaryk University in Brno. He was sent to Terezin in 1942 and on December 18th 1943 transported to Auschwitz, where he perished. Marie's father was killed in 1945.

SET OF SMUGGLED LETTERS
Written by a Kurt Schnitzler
Vojnice, Olomouc and Terezin 1940 – 1942

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EGON MORGENSTERN
He was born on July 27, 1914 to Laura Morgenstern, who lived and worked as a midwife in Lostice. The Morgensterns were Jewish. After the Nazi invasion Egon and his younger brother Armin escaped from the Brno detention center to Poland. They planed to go via the Baltic States and Sweden to the West and fight the Nazis. In Latvia they were arrested by the infamous Russian secret police (KGB) and Egon was accused of spying. He survived the transport of death and many years of imprisonment in a gulag by the Petchora River near the polar circle.

After WWII he was released from the gulag, but was not allowed to leave the Soviet Union. All of his attempts to get permission for the return to Czechoslovakia failed. Until 1958 his closest relatives believed he was dead. Presently Egon lives in Vilnius (Lithuania) and occasionally visits Lostice and Mohelnice. He has not given up hope for a permanent return.

His brother Armin, due to his young age, was not sent to the gulag. Later he joined the Czechoslovak army unit of volunteers in Russia and fought the Nazis. As a member of the air force he took part in many battles and after the war returned home. He was awarded the Order of the Red Flag, the Medal for Heroism, the Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 (twice), etc.

At the time of the 1921 census, the Morgensterns lived in the Jewish quarter of Loštice in the house adjacent to the synagogue. From about 1820 their ancestors had resided in Ztracena Street - house no: XV. (620).

In 1941 Egon's younger sister Renata was shot by the Nazis near Minsk. In 1942 his mother perished in the concentration camp Rejowiec and father Julius was killed in the Warsaw ghetto.

EGON MORGENSTERN

In the uniform of Czechoslovak army, 1938	Visit to the Mohelnice Museum in the fall of 2000. He is holding a midwife's bag, which belonged to his mother

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ARTUR LANGER

Arthur was born in 1923 as the youngest offspring of Mrs. and Mr. Langer. He had six oldest sisters. His parents owned a small cotton-wool factory. When their factory burned down, they opened a tvaruzky cheese manufacture. Several other Jewish families in Lostice were making this local specialty - tvaruzky cheese. Langers also grew and sell fruits.

“During the WWI my father served in the Austrian Army as a cavalryman. He was injured and therefore sometimes he had to walk with a cane. But it was not too serious,“ recalls Arthur Langer. “We lived in a house with a large garden and we had a dog - German Sheppard. My sisters and I went to the Czech school; at home we spoke Czech and also German. Our Yiddish was not very good. Twice a week we attended the exercise in the Czech Athletic Club Sokol (Falcon). We considered ourselves to be a Jewish family, but my friends were Jewish and also Christian boys. I do not remember any anti-Semitism in Lostice.”

About religion Arthur Langer says: “There were several Jewish families in Lostice. We had minyan - it is a minimum of ten adults, who are required for public act of worship and for sefer Torah readings. Our synagogue was very nice; I still clearly remember my sister´s wedding there. We were not too religious, but we observed all Jewish holidays. On big holidays we did not go to school.”

In 1933, when Arthur was ten, Langers moved to the nearby town of Mohelnice. This town was predominantly German, but even here Arthur attend the Czech school and was member of Czech Athletic Club. The family lived in an apartment house together with Czechs and Germans. However, shortly after Hitler occupied Sudetenland their landlord asked them to leave the house, because they were Jews. They moved to Brno, which was then in the unoccupied territory.

Escape to Palestine.
In 1939 situation in the rest of the country started to be quite dangerous. Three Arthur´s sisters managed to acquire a special permit and left for Palestine. Arthur wanted to leave as well, but his parents disagreed. They thought he is too young for such unsafe journey to a distant and unknown destination. He was just sixteen. He was also small and skinny so he looked about 14. Against the will of his parents he devoted most of his energy and time to preparation for the passage to the Promised Land. In September 1940 he received a nice gift for his birthday from German police – the permission to emigrate. With a group of a few hundred other lucky people he left Prague. They were supposed to travel to Vienna, where they would board a ship, which would bring them to Rumania and eventually to Palestine. Unfortunately the initial feeling of happiness was for many travelers premature. Not all of them were destined to come to Palestine. The first obstacle awaited them at the border with Austria. Nazis decided to do the last control. One of their evil procedures was dividing some families. Langer explains:

“They allowed a father to leave with a child, while mother with other child had to return home. Fortunately I traveled alone and I passed. We went to Vienna, where we boarded the ship, which took us to Rumania without problems. Soon our delight was spoiled by another unexpected event. We continued our trip on ship Rosita (Milos). I remember it was quite crowded there. Suddenly at night some other vessel collided with our ship and made a large hole in our hull. Repairs took about three days. Then we left the port called Tulce. After a quite long sail we finally saw the Palestine coast. However, there we were caught by the English Navy who escorted us to vicinity of the port of Haifa.”

The land of their dreams was in a sight, but their drama continued. At that time the Palestine was under the British administration, which tried to limit the immigration as much as possible. Arthur and other refugees were not allowed to leave the ship. Instead they were transferred to the ship Patria. The infamous story of Patria still belongs to shameful chapters of the history of the WWII. When the passengers and members of Jewish underground movement learned, that Patria has the order to transport poor and tired refugees to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean they decided to prevent the ship from sailing. They tried to damage the engine, but unfortunately their attempt resulted in an accidental explosion. Patria sank and 257 people drowned.

Arthur was lucky again. He was a good swimmer and managed to reach the pier. He was happy he saved his life, even though he had different expectation about his arrival to the Holy Land. Those who survived were put in a jail in the same day. They were released after eight months. Then all men got opportunity to register in the Czechoslovak unit and fight Nazis under the British Army.

A persecuted man is transformed into a soldier
In July 1942 Arthur Langer joined the Czech army unit. He learned much later that exactly in the same time most of Jews of Lostice - 59 men, women and children where transported to a concentration camp.

“I started with the anti-aircraft artillery training. I served some time in Haifa. Our gun was stationed on the pier which I reached some time ago when I swam from Patria. Later I was sent to the port of Tobruk in Libya, which we defended against the German Army. After about six months I was sent to England. During the time of the D Day I served as the driver of an armored vehicle called Half truck. I spent the rest of the war in France. When the Peace treaty was signed I went back to Czechoslovakia. General Liska and about thirty soldiers including me were stationed in the War Academy in Prague. I functioned there as a driver until December 1945”.

There were some German prisoners of war in the Academy as well. They worked as helpers and cleaners. One of them spoke Czech well. He was older then Arthur and by a coincidence was born in the town, where Arthur used to live as a boy - in Mohelnice. During their conversation Arthur realized this man´s parents were those who kicked out Langer family from their apartment in 1938. No revenge took place. He considered it more as a funny fluke of fate. Shortly after the war he learned much more tragic facts. His parents Emil and Flora, three sisters Greta, Marta, Erna and her four years old son Peter perished in the Holocaust. For some time Arthur Langer worked as a clerk and also as an instructor of Israeli soldiers in the Czechoslovak army training base. In early 1949 he moved back to Israel, which most probably saved him from being arrested by the communist police.

Life in Tel Aviv
Presently Athur Langer lives in Tel Aviv. In November 2006 Rabbi Bruce Elder and members of the Congregation Hakafa from Glencoe (Illinois) visited him in his home. The Congregation Hakafa uses one of the Lostice historic Torahs. Their wish was to meet a member of the prewar Jewish Lostice Community. Members of the Foundation Respect and Tolerance helped to organize the meeting. They are in a contact with Arthur Langer. About two years ago they sent him a small package with information and a photograph of his father with a pipe.

“He called us by a phone and in very good Czech thanked for material and a photograph, which he saw for the first time. He was happy we contacted him. He said sometimes he talks to his descendents and relatives about his childhood in Lostice and he wanders if they believe him. Now he is happy he can show them some proofs. He considered it as an unexpected gift from above,” says a member of the Foundation Ludek Stipl about the first contact with Mr. Langer.

Wheel work of History
Arthur Langer became a participant in several important historical events of the 20th century. Some of them are still partially covered by an imaginary veil. It is not generally known that it was still possible to get permission to leave the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1940. It was not certainly easy, abut about 6 000 Jews left legally the country in that year. During the next year situation changed from bad to worse. Jewish people were forced to wear the yellow star and first organized deportation to concentration camps begun. Possibility to sail to Palestine became for millions of people just an impossible dream.

The truth remains that many refugees who started their journey to the free world never reached their destination. Unfortunately the sad story of Patria is not the only one. The British Navy sent some other ships back to ports, where their trip originated, which meant almost certain death for its passengers. To this gloomy chapter for instance belongs also a story of the ship Struma, which was sung by a mine or Russian submarine in the open sea, after she was not allowed to land in Palestine and a drama of the river paddle steamer Pencho, which wrecked in the Aegean Sea or the tragedy of the ship transport which got stuck in the frozen Danube River in 1939. Refugees suffered there for months from hunger and cold and were saved only after international agencies became involved in the affair.

Life stories of Arthur Langer bring us also to involvement of Jewish men and women in fight against Nazis. While historians of the previous (communist) era in our country tried hard to minimize the Jewish participation in war efforts and described them as passive participants of tragic events, Mr. Langer´s memories lead us to information, which illustrates that majority of those who managed to escape, did not care about their own well being, but immediately started to work for the renewal of Czechoslovakia and took an active part in the fight against Nazis. From 8000 Czech and Slovak Jews in Palestine about 2000 joined the Czechoslovak army unit. Jews from our country also served in Royal Air Force and other units and represented almost 70% of all soldiers in the Czechoslovak unit fighting Nazis in the Russian front.

Text LS
Photos: Respect and Tolerance archives

Sources:
Rybickova, S. a Stipl L.: Jeden osud uprostred holocaustu. In: Moravsky sever 30. 01 2007 Telephone conservation and letters from: A. Langer a G. Kornfeld, Tel Aviv (RaT archives) Artur Langer, Tel Aviv, Israel (cassette 1049 a –b A.L., Jewish Museum in Prague)

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Fanny Neuda
(1819 – 1894)

Fanny Neuda (a wife of the Lostice rabbi Abraham Neuda) is the author of an important book of prayers, written in Lostice in 1854. Her book is titled: “Studen der Andacht” (Hours of Devotion) is quite significant, because it was the first of its kind to be written by a Jewish woman for Jewish women. Soon it became a best seller, published in more than 30 editions. Around 1860 it was also translated into English (Published in New York in 1864, reprinted until 1900). The modern German edition was issued for Jewish women living in the Nazi Germany (Frankfurt, 1936) and reissued after the war during 1950s and 1960s. The new enlarged English edition was recently prepared by Dinah Berland (editor of Getty Publications) and will be published by Schocken Books (New York) in August 2007.

Fanny Neuda (née Schmiedl) was born on March 6, 1819 in Ivancice (Moravia) to a rabbinical family. Later she lived with her family in Prostejov and then she moved to Lostice.

Fanny’s husband Rabbi Abraham Neuda (1812 - 1854 Lostice) succeeded his father, Aron Moses Neuda (1761 – 1835) as the rabbi of Lostice. Abraham Neuda was one of the first "progressive" rabbis in Moravia, who supported reformist views and believed in delivering sermons in German (instead of Hebrew). Abraham was elected as the rabbi by the Lostice community, but the chief rabbi of Moravia, Nehemiah Trebitsch interposed a veto, because Abraham “preached in German and acquired too much secular education”. This resulted in lengthy legal proceedings, which attracted an attention of several scholars, including a Viennese preacher Mannheimer. After six years, the dispute was finally terminated in favor of Neuda, when he had passed an examination before a committee consisting of rabbis and a Catholic priest. Rabbi Abraham Neuda died on February 22, 1854, at the age of forty-two. Fanny Neuda admired and supported her husband’s views. In the foreword to her popular book, Fanny states:

“I would like to build , with my weak hands the monument of loving memory for my rare and unforgettable husband Abraham Neuda, the rabbi in Lostice, Moravia…“

Fanny’s brother dr. Adolf Schmiedl (1821 Prostejov – 1913 Vienna) was a scholar, who served as the rabbi in several Moravian places (including Lostice for a short period) and in Vienna. He supported reformist ideas and practices as well. He was interested in many areas including Jewish and Arabic religious philosophy and was a prolific writer.

Fanny Neuda also wrote stories for children titled "Naomi" (1867) and "Children's Stories from Jewish Family Life" (1876). She died in Meran, (formerly Austria, now Merano, Italy) on April 16, 1894, at the age of 75.

This important person became totally forgotten in Lostice, while her popular book continues to be published in Europe and United States. Members of the foundation Respect and Tolerance were searching for historical information regarding Fanny Neuda. It was for instance found that Fanny was a mother of three sons, who were born in Lostice – Moritz (1942), Julius (1845) and Gottheld (1846). Discovered materials were shared with Mrs. Dinah Berland, who came to a working visit to Lostice in May 2006.

For more information please see:
Others – Fanny Neuda and Dinah Berland
Others – Awards and Prizes
News 2007

News:

September 2008: September 2008

July 2008 July 2008

Červen 2008: Theatre performance CHAHA in the Lostice synagogue

June 2008: Opening of the Usov Synagogue

May 2008: Educational program, Klopina Elementary School

During 2007 the Foundation Respect and Tolerance created a new website and put together education programs on DVD and CD titled „Remembering Jewish Families from Lostice, Mohelnice and Usov”. Programs were produced tanks to the financial assistance from the Foundation for Holocaust Victims in Prague and are available to students free of charge.

31.12.2007: PF 2008

31.12.2007: Summary of activities 2007 - file size 3MB

26.06.2007: Warning anniversary

16.06.2007: Berta Horova

10.05.2007: Respect and Tolerance gives books about the Holocaust to schools

05.05.2007: Project - Books for the University

01.05.2007: Fanny Neuda and Dinah Berland - New edition of a book which originated in Lostice in 19th century

19.04.2007: Lostice synagogue

16.04.2007: March of the Living

23.03.2007: Exhibition in London

26.01.2007: Terry Haass Prize 2007

20.01.2007: Artur Langer

01.05.2006: Bar mitzvah

Summary of activities:

9.12.2006: There is RaT summary of activities and programs 2006 in PDF format, here