us-005578-irn503357
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Richard Schifter was born in Vienna, Austria on 31 July, 1923, the son of Paul (also known as Pinchas, 1886-1942?) and Balbina (née Blass, 1893-1942?) Schifter, both of whom were originally from Poland. Paul, who was from Stanisławow (modern day Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine), originally had citizenship in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Balbina, who was raised in a town near Warsaw, and later in Lublin, had citizenship in the Russian Empire. Following World War I the birthplaces of both of them were in the new Republic of Poland. They opted for Polish citizenship, but settled in Vienna. Paul had apprenticed in a drugstore in Stanisławow, and around 1907 came to the United States and worked for a pharmaceutical firm in Rochester, New York. By 1913 he had saved sufficient funds to enable him to return to Stanisławow and purchase a drugstore. When World War I began, he was inducted into the Austro-Hungarian army, and served for the duration of the war with the pharmaceutical staff of various military hospitals, first in Hungary and later in Poland. When he was stationed in Lublin in 1916, he met Bajla (Balbina) Blass, whose parents had previously owned a farm near Warsaw prior to moving their family to Lublin. Paul and Balbina were married in a Hasidic ceremony in Lublin in 1919, and after they settled in Vienna, they repeated their vows in a temple in that city. By that time, Paul had sold his drugstore in Stanisławow and used the funds from that sale to purchase another one in Vienna, which he operated until he was forced to give it up, after the Nazi takeover of Austria in 1938. On March 11, 1938, as Paul, Balbina, and Richard heard Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg announce, on radio, his resignation and the Nazi assumption of power, they immediately decided to emigrate to the United States. Paul promptly wrote to an uncle in New York, Harry Brettholz, seeking affidavits. Because of the family’s limited means, and since Paul and Balbina were both natives of Poland, and …
conditions of use: Copyright Holder: Deborah Schifter
has beginning date: 1938-01-01
has beginning date: 1989-01-01
has end date: 1941-12-31
has end date: 1989-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had identifier: 2
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 843
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn503357
record resource extent: folders 3
record resource structure: Arrangement is chronological
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Typescript text, 326 pages, consisting of the transcription and translation of correspondence between Richard Schifter, originally of Vienna, Austria, and his parents, Paul and Balbina, following Richard's immigration to the United States in 1938. The original correspondence continued until 1941, and both of Richard's parents were presumed to have been killed in Poland in 1942. The present document consists of letters transcribed and translated by Richard's daughter, Deborah Schifter, in 1989, but in addition to correspondence between Richard and his parents, also includes transcriptions of related family correspondence beginning in 1932. In general, the letters concern the emigration of Richard Schifter to the United States and the attempts of Paul and Balbina Schifter to emigrate from Poland during the Holocaust. Each German letter is followed by an English translation.
title: One family's story the correspondence of Paul, Balbina, and Richard Schifter