us-005578-irn524189-irn524409
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn524189-irn524409/acquisitions/1
identifier: irn524409
biographical history: Margit Morawetz was born February 26, 1922, in Innsbruck, Austria. Her parents were Gottlieb Morawetz and Lilly Tritsch. She had three older brothers, Paul, Felix, and Bruno. They ranged in age from 8 to 5 years older than Margit. The family was wealthy and assimilated. Margit's father came from an orthodox Jewish family of poor tenant farmers in Bohemia. He studied law in Vienna and worked as a bank director. Her mother came from an assimilated Jewish family in Vienna and was educated in England and France. When Margit was one year old, the family moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia, where her father taught on the law faculty of Charles University, in addition to working in finance. Margit and her brothers grew up speaking Czech, German, French, and English. Lilly was ambivalent about the family's Jewish identity and wanted to have the children baptized. Her husband would not allow it, and the children were never given any religious education. In 1932, Gottlieb died suddenly at age 52. Lilly was then 39. The two oldest brothers, Paul and Felix, went overseas. Bruno stayed in Prague and studied agriculture. In 1938, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria, Lilly decided it was safer to take Margit, then 16, out of school and send her to Paris, where she lived with a French family and studied dressmaking. Lilly was visiting Margit in Paris later that year when Germany annexed part of Czechoslovakia. Lilly hurried back to Prague to sell their home and ship their possessions to Paris, but while she was still in Prague, Germany annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia. Both she and her son Bruno managed to escape to Paris, but had to leave everything behind. Because of his agricultural training, Bruno was allowed to go to England to work as a farmhand. During this period, Margit was baptized a Lutheran with her mother's encouragement, possibly with the thought that it would provide some protection. Even before that, however, their papers did not identify them as Jews, only as Austrian …
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn524189-irn524409/alternateIDs/1
is or was included in: us-005578-irn524189
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-cb/317
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
record resource extent: overall: Height: 24.000 inches (60.96 cm) | Width: 16.875 inches (42.863 cm)
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had some members with language: deu
scope and content: Broadside acquired by Margit Morawetz Gyorgy announcing a book collection drive for a youth program in Germany after World War II. It was held under the auspices of the U.S. Army Assistance Program to German Youth Activities. Established in 1946, the Program oversaw the re-education of former Hitler Youth. Margit worked as a youth activities specialist for the program. Margit's mother, Lilly, had sent her to study in Paris in 1938 because the expansion of German rule posed a threat to their life in Prague. Lilly joined Margit there a year later, but because she was an Austrian citizen, was imprisoned as an enemy alien after France declared war on Germany following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. Lilly was released when Germany occupied France in May 1940. She and Margit escaped to Portugal and, in 1941, were able to immigrate to the US. After America's entry into World War II, Margit worked for the Office of War Information, making use of her knowledge of languages. After the war, Margit worked for this program, re-educating former Hitler Youth in Furth, Germany.
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1947-01-01
type: RecordSet
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1947-12-31
has record set type: Item
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
title: Collection day for the German book Book drive poster for postwar US Army Assistance Program activities for German youth
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular beige colored paper broadside with text and images in dark blue, light blue, and orange. On the center right is a large image of a book, accompanied by German text.
archival history: The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2007 by Margit Meissner.