United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Nelly Szabo Ullman was born Nelly Szabo on 11 August 1925 in Vienna, Austria to Viktor and Elisabeth Szabo. Viktor Szabo (1894-1941) was born in Hungary and worked at a synagogue. Elisabeth Szabo (née Rosenberg) was born in Hungary and worked as a seamstress. The family was religious, and spoke Hungarian, Yiddish, and German at home. Nelly had an older brother Wolfgang Szabo (b. 1922?). After the German-annexation of Austria in March 1938 (Anschluss), the Szabo family began making plans to emigrate. Nelly’s brother Wolfgang illegally immigrated to Palestine on 31 October 1938. During Kristallnacht, Nelly’s father Viktor was arrested while in line at the American Embassy on 10 November 1938 and deported to Dachau. Nelly and her mother left their apartment to warn other Jews about the arrests. When they returned to their apartment later, they found it sealed and they were forced to reside in a mattress factory. Viktor wrote Elisabeth several letters while at Dachau, and was released on 22 March 1939 on the condition that he emigrate from Austria. Nelly received a United States visa and immigrated in May 1939. She lived with distant relatives in Passaic, New Jersey. After World War I, Viktor’s village became part of Romania, and Elisabeth’s was in Czechoslovakia, so both of them had to apply for American visas under the quota systems for those countries. Elisabeth received a visa and immigrated to the United States in December 1939, and was reunited with Nelly. Viktor was unable to get a visa, and secured passage on a ship to Palestine organized by the Hechalutz Zionist youth organization in December 1939. British authorities imposed restrictions on entry into Palestine, and Viktor and the other refugees were housed in Sabac, Yugoslavia (Sabac, Serbia) in September 1940. After the German occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941, the refugees were moved to a concentration camp on the Sava River. On 12-13 October 1941 Viktor and the other male prisoners, including Roma and Sinti men, were murdered in Zasavica and buried in a mass grave. Nelly and her mother did not learn his fate until after the war. Viktor Szabo (1894-1941) was born on 30 September 1894 in Hungary. He was married to Elisabeth Rosenberg and they had two children: Nelly (b. 1925) and Wolfgang (b. 1922?). Viktor worked at a synagogue and his wife was a seamstress. The family was religious, and spoke Hungarian, Yiddish, and German at home. After the German-annexation of Austria in March 1938 (Anschluss), the Szabo family began making plans to emigrate. Wolfgang illegally immigrated to Palestine on 31 October 1938. During Kristallnacht, Viktor was arrested while in line at the American Embassy on 10 November 1938 and deported to Dachau. Elisabeth and Nelly left their apartment to warn other Jews about the arrests. When they returned to their apartment later, they found it sealed and they were forced to reside in a mattress factory. Viktor wrote Elisabeth several letters while at Dachau, and was released on 22 March 1939 on the condition that he emigrate from Austria. Nelly received a United States visa and immigrated in May 1939. She lived with distant relatives in Passaic, New Jersey. After World War I, Viktor’s village became part of Romania, and Elisabeth’s was in Czechoslovakia, so both of them had to apply for American visas under the quota systems for those countries. Elisabeth received a visa and immigrated to the United States in December 1939, and was reunited with Nelly. Viktor was unable to get a visa, and secured passage on a ship to Palestine organized by the Hechalutz Zionist youth organization in December 1939. British authorities imposed restrictions on entry into Palestine, and Viktor and the other refugees were housed in Sabac, Yugoslavia (Sabac, Serbia) in September 1940. After the German occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941, the refugees were moved to a concentration camp on the Sava River. On 12-13 October 1941 Viktor and the other male prisoners, including Roma and Sinti men, were murdered in Zasavica and buried in a mass grave. Nelly and her mother did not learn his fate until after the war.
folder 1
The collection is arranged as a single folder.
The Szabo family papers document the Holocaust experiences of the Szabo family of Vienna, Austria, including Viktor Szabo’s imprisonment in Dachau after Kristallnacht, his death in Zasavica in 1941, his daughter Nelly Szabo Ullman’s account of Kristallnacht, and her immigration to the United States in May 1939. Material related to Nelly Szabo Ullman consists of a handwritten account in German of the German-annexation of Austria (Anschluss) and Kristallnacht, written fall 1939, along with an English translation she produced in 1996. Material related to Viktor Szabo includes 3 letters written to his wife Elisabeth Szabo while he was imprisoned in Dachau, 1939; a power-of-attorney document signed by Viktor to help Elisabeth gather documents to secure his release from Dachau; a certificate confirming Viktor’s military service in Hungary during World War I; a telegram and letter confirming Viktor’s death in Zasavica; a document regarding Viktor’s burial in a mass grave in Zasavica, 1970; and a narrative statement regarding Viktor’s Holocaust experiences authored by Nelly, 1993.
Szabo family papers