us-005578-irn720992-irn514527
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Markus and Ida Link emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Vienna, Austria, along with a number of their friends. Markus Link was in the liquor business and opened up his own store in the Hitzing neighborhood in Vienna. In 1937, Ida and Markus made their final payment on their mortgage and owned all of their properties. When the Anschluss occurred in March 1938, they stayed in Vienna because they did not think that Hitler would be a threat and were very fond of living there. Their son, Otto, a foreign correspondent who spoke five languages, would not leave his parents and remained in Vienna as well, although his brother, Alfred, had already immigrated to the United States. On November 10, 1938, two SS men arrived at the Links’ residence and asked for Otto. When they learned that he was out visiting his closest friend, Dr. Otto Lippert (who was not Jewish), they ransacked the house and threatened Otto’s parents with arrest if Otto was not there when they returned. When Otto returned, the house was in shambles, the door was off of its hinges, and there was a suitcase by the door. His parents told him that the SS was looking for him but did not tell him about the threat. His mother told him to leave Austria, and Otto left, traveling to Belgium. Once he arrived in Belgium, he applied to a Jewish organization for financial assistance. After Hitler’s invasion of Belgium, Otto fled to France where he survived by begging for food. In 1939 he was sent to the Merxplas internment camp in Belgium. In 1940 he was sent to Les Milles then to St. Cyprien and finally to Camp de Gurs. While at Gurs, Otto became friends with an elderly gentleman who did not speak the language. One morning, Otto heard Germanspeaking people and saw SS men at the camp. A few days before, Otto had discovered a section of the camp gate that did not quite reach the ground, and Otto and his friend were able to dig under this section and escape from the camp. Otto had papers and a ticket on the Holland-America line…
date: circa 1941
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 17
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn514527
is or was included in: us-005578-irn720992
record resource extent: folder 1
record resource structure: The collection is arranged as a single series.
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: The papers consist of two postcards from Markus and Ida Link that were sent from the ghetto in Opole Lubelskie, Poland, to a non-Jewish neighbor and friend, L. Lippert, in Vienna, Austria.
title: Link family papers