In memory of close family holocaust victims (conveyed to Yad-VaShem)

My grandfather with his mother, brothers and sisters:

Fischer brothers and sisters with their mother, photographed probably in the wedding of Vojtech (my grandfather) in Vienna in ~1901. Standing from left to right: Vojtech, Wilhelm, Adolf, Josef and Emil. Sitting from left: Bertha Kutner, Helen Stern, their mother Katalin (née Wosner), Karoline Ganzel, and Hermine Kohn. Their father Emanuel is missing since he died from a heart-attack before Emil was born (they had the same Jewish name – Menahem Tzvi). Their Fischer grandparents Ignatz Löb and Hermine (née Subak) were born and grown in Třebíč (Trebitsch, Moravia, Czechia. Třebíč’s Jewish quarter is a World Heritage site, having in it Subak or Subakova Street and Subak’s renovated building of their old tannery converted to art workshops/galleries). The young Fischer couple was forced to move (according to the “Familiants Law” – “Familianten Gesetz” – to limit the number of Jewish families in Czech lands, ordered in 1726, reformed later in 1745 by the Austrian Empress Maria Theresia, and repealed in 1859), and settled in or near Bratislava (Kolarovo ?), ironically closer to Vienna. Their Wosner grandparents lived in Dunajska Streda.

My grandparents (my father’s parents):

Vojtech and Rosalia (née Deutsch) Fischer. They were murdered by the Germans in 1944. They were taken with many of their family members from Kolarovo, now Slovakia, to a nearby Ghetto and from there to Auschwitz. Vojtech was born in 1876 in Kolarovo and Rosalia in 1877 in Austria. They lived in Vienna and later in Kolarovo. They had four children: Maximilian, Sarlote, Eduard (my father) and Margarete. Also were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944 their daughter Sarlote and her husband Julius Steiner, their (Fischer’s) two daughters in law, the wife of their son Maximilian, and the wife of their son Eduard, Giselle Fischer (née Deutsch), their (Rosalia and Vojtech’s) ten grandchildren: Hertha, Eveline, and Kornel, the children of Sarlote and Julius Steiner, (their eldest son Harry, the only survivor from his family, was sent after the Anschluss in 1938 from Vienna to England via the Kinder-Transport), Hedwig (Heidi), Wilhelm (Willi), Josef and a fourth child who was probably born on the way to Auschwitz, the children of Giselle and Eduard Fischer, and Ditta, Walter and Eva, the children of Margarete and Leo Schotten. The Schotten parents escaped from Austria to France after the Anschluss in 1938, and two of their children, Ilse and Salomon (Scholem) joined them later. Yosef-Shmuel was born to them in France. Margarete died in 1947 in France and was buried in Har HaZeitim in Jerusalem. (B.F.)

 

My sister and brothers with their mother:

Giselle (Gizi) Fischer (née Deutsch), the first wife of Eduard Fischer, with their children: Hedwig (Heidi), Wilhelm (Willi) and Josef. They were all murdered in Auschwitz in 1944  (with a fourth child who was probably born on the way to Auschwitz). Giselle was born in 1915 in Austria. She was taken with her children from Kolarovo to a nearby Ghetto and from there to Auschwitz. Also were murdered there the children’s grandparents, Vojtech and Rosalia (née Deutsch) Fischer, their aunt, Sarlote (née Fischer) Steiner and her husband Julius Steiner, two other aunts – the wife of Maximilian Fischer and Giselle – the wife of Eduard Fischer, and six cousins: Hertha, Eveline, and Kornel, the children of Sarlote and Julius Steiner, (their eldest son Harry, the only survivor from his family was sent after the Anschluss in 1938 from Vienna to England via the Kinder-Transport), and Ditta, Walter and Eva, the children of Margarete (née Fischer) and Leo Schotten. The Schotten parents escaped from Austria to France after the Anschluss in 1938, and two of their children, Ilse and Salomon (Scholem) joined them later. Yosef-Shmuel was born to them in France.(All listed names here are known and taken only from the Fischer side. B.F.) The picture was taken probably around 1943-4 before they were taken and murdered by the Germans in  Auschwitz in 1944.

 

My cousins:

Children of Margarete (Margite, née Fischer) and Leo Schotten: Ditta-Edith, Walter and Evi, who were murdered by the Germans in Auschwitz in 1944, with their grandparents Vojtech and Rosalia (née Deutsch) Fischer. Also were murdered there their aunt Sarlote (Sari, née Fischer) and her husband Julius Steiner, the wives of the children’s uncles Maximilian and Eduard Fischer (Giselle, née Deutsch), and seven of their cousins. They were taken to Auschwitz from a Ghetto near Kolarovo, now Slovakia, after they escaped-left Austria. The Schottens lived in Mattersburg, south of Vienna, in Burgenland, Austria. The Schotten parents escaped from Austria to France after the Anschluss in 1938. Two of their children, Ilse and Salomon (Scholem) joined them later. They later escaped to Switzerland and returned to France after the war. The children were all born in Vienna except Yosef-Shmuel who was born to the Schottens later in Lyon (France). Their mother Margarete died in France in 1947 and was buried in Har HaZeitim in Jerusalem. (The information here is known and written only on the Fischer side. B.F.)

 

My aunt and her daughter:

Margarete (née Fischer), the wife of Leo Schotten, with her daughter Ditta-Edith. Ditta was murdered by the Germans in Auschwitz in 1944 with her brother Walter and her sister Eva. Also were murdered Margaret’s parents Vojtech and Rosalia (née Deutsch) Fischer, her sister Sarlote (Sari) Steiner (née Fischer) and her husband Julius Steiner, the wives of her sisters in law Maximilian and Eduard Fischer – (Giselle-Gizi, née Deutsch), and her seven nephews and nieces: Hertha, Eveline, and Kornel, the children of Sarlote and Julius Steiner, (their eldest son Harry, the only survivor from his family was sent after the Anschluss in 1938 from Vienna to England via the Kinder-Transport), Hedwig (Heidi), Wilhelm (Willi), Josef and a fourth child who was probably born on the way to Auschwitz, the children of Giselle and Eduard Fischer. The Schottens lived in Mattersburg, south of Vienna, in Burgenland, Austria. The Schotten parents escaped from Austria to France after the Anschluss in 1938. Two of their children, Ilse and Salomon (Scholem) joined them later. Later, they escaped to Switzerland and at the end of the war they returned to France. The Schotten children were born in Austria except Yosef-Shmuel (Francois) who was born in France. Margarete died in France in 1947 and was buried in Har HaZeitim in Jerusalem. (All listed murdered names are only from the mother Margarete side. B.F.)

My aunt:

Margarete (Margite, née Fischer), the wife of Leo Schotten. Her children Ditta-Edith, Walter and Eva were murdered by the Germans in Auschwitz in 1944. Also were murdered her parents Vojtech and Rosalia Fischer, her sister Sarlote Steiner with her husband Julius, her two sisters in law, and seven of her nephews and nieces. Her murdered children were taken to Auschwitz from a Ghetto near Kolarovo after they escaped-left Austria in 1938.

 

My cousins:

The children of Sarlote (Sari, née Fischer) and Julius Steiner: Harry, Hertha, Eveline (Evi), and Kornel, who were murdered with their parents, Sarlote and Julius Steiner, by the Germans in Auschwitz in 1944, (except Harry, the only survivor from his family as he was sent via the Kinder-Transport from Vienna to England after the Anschluss in 1938). Also were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944 their grandparents Vojtec and Rosalia (née Deutsch) Fischer, the wives of their uncles Maximilian Fischer and Eduard Fischer (Giselle-Gizi, née Deutsch), and seven cousins (from their mother side. B.F.). (The picture was taken in 1935 in Vienna, where they were born and lived.)

 

My grandmother (my mother’s mother):

Margita Schwartz (née Ringwald). She was murdered by the Germans in Auschwitz in 1944. She was the wife of Samuel Schwartz. They had four children: Eugen, Ruzena, Magdolna, and Oskar. They lived in Trhova Hradska near Dunajska Streda and Bratislava, Czeckoslovakia. Margite was born in Füss (probably Travnica) Pri Vrable near Nitra in 1895. Samuel returned from concentration camps and immigrated to Israel in 1949. The eldest son Eugen, who was born in 1920, was enlisted and taken by the Austro-Hungarians who then dominated most of Czechoslovakia and was killed in 12.8.42, probably by a bullet of the Russian army, and was buried by his Jewish friends near Velykyi Bereznyi in west Ukraine, near a big tree. Their two daughters, Ruzena Fischer (née Schwartz) and Magdolna Krakauer (née Schwartz) were taken to Auschwitz in 1944 and were sent to work as slaves first in Plaszow near Krakow in Poland, and then in a company in Germany (probably KK Werk, manufacturing aeroplanes’ parts). They both returned, got married, immigrated to Israel in 1949, and had four and three children, respectively. Schwartz’s youngest child Oskar returned from the camps, immigrated to Israel in 1949, got married and had three children.