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6th September, 1942: a middle-aged Jewish refugee stands on the Swiss side of the Franco-Swiss border above Geneva. He has been living in Switzerland since he fled Vienna in November 1938, as the Nazi persecution of the city's Jewish population intensified. He is now waiting for the arrival of the wife he has not seen for nearly four years. Against all odds he has managed to get an entry permit for her to join him in Switzerland. She appears on the French side. They see each other. Call out. She begins to cross the few yards of no-mans-land that separate them. An official calls her back. She hesitates, turns, goes back - and is lost forever. This book tells the story of the wartime journey of Toni Schiff, as she ventured across Europe to the this fateful near-meeting at the Franco-Swiss border - and what happened next. Based on the extensive research of her daughter, Kindertransportee Hilda Schiff, and told by Sheila Rosenberg, who shared much of the later research and many of the research journeys, this book sheds light on the lives of one family - caught up in, and ultimately separated by, the tragic and tumultuous events of World War II.
List of contents
Prologue
1. Hilda
2. Vienna: Toni and the family up to February 1939
3. Escape to Belgium
4. Switzerland: The Moses Schiff story 1938-1942. The Swiss via
5. From Antwerp to Annemasse
6. The last journeys: Annemasse to Rivesaltes; Rivesaltes to Drancy
7. The last journeys: Convoy 33 to Auschwitz and Auschwitz
Epilogue: 'And the Sun Still Shone'
About the author
Sheila Rosenberg was a teacher of English Literature and English as a Second Language. She received an OBE in 2011 for her contribution to ESOL teaching.
Summary
6th September, 1942: a middle-aged Jewish refugee stands on the Swiss side of the Franco-Swiss border above Geneva. He has been living in Switzerland since he fled Vienna in November 1938, as the Nazi persecution of the city’s Jewish population intensified. He is now waiting for the arrival of the wife he has not seen for nearly four years. Against all odds he has managed to get an entry permit for her to join him in Switzerland. She appears on the French side. They see each other. Call out. She begins to cross the few yards of no-mans-land that separate them. An official calls her back. She hesitates, turns, goes back - and is lost forever. This book tells the story of the wartime journey of Toni Schiff, as she ventured across Europe to the this fateful near-meeting at the Franco-Swiss border – and what happened next. Based on the extensive research of her daughter, Kindertransportee Hilda Schiff, and told by Sheila Rosenberg, who shared much of the later research and many of the research journeys, this book sheds light on the lives of one family – caught up in, and ultimately separated by, the tragic and tumultuous events of World War II.
Foreword
A moving Holocaust memoir telling the story of a unique journey across wartime Europe.
Additional text
A moving and often unsettling investigation of alienation and reunification under and after the Nazi regime. Rosenberg has crafted a skillfully embroidered narrative of the Schiff children, Hilda and Gitti, their experiences as Kindertransportee children in England, and their efforts to unravel the mystery of their mother, Toni, who was separated from her husband at the Franco-Swiss border in September 1942. The story roves across cities, memories and conversations, while historians and archives reveal the painful conclusion of Toni's journey in Nazi Europe. The Exit Visa is a vital memoir of longing and loss.
