Rebecca Gratz to Maria Gist Gratz - April 04, 1820

Rebecca writes to her sister-in-law Maria about the scarcity of literary talent in America, wishing for an author like Sir Walter Scott. She also talks about her needlework and other household responsibilities.

Rebecca writes to her sister-in-law Maria about the health and future plans of family and friends, the newest literature, and progress in transportation. She also mentions her nephew's excitement about the visit of Maria's children.

Rachel asks her cousin Rebecca to help her husband choose a house for them and tells her about the visit of her deceased stepdaughter's husband and children at her house.

Agnes Adachi, nee Mandl, was born in l9l8 in Budapest. She was the only child in a minimally observant Jewish family. She attended a Reformed Church school, where she received some Hebrew instruction. In l943, prior to the German invasion, she was baptized by a Reformed Church pastor to save her from deportation. Her father was taken away by the Hungarian Arrow Cross and his Christian partner in a textile stored appropriated the business.

Agnes was given asylum in the Swedish Embassy together with many other refugees and helped in the distribution of Schutzpasseswith Raoul Wallenberg. She describes Wallenberg’s wit and daring in dealing with Arrow Cross and German officers. She credits the Swiss Red Cross as well as the Swedish Red Cross for their aid. In l945, after the war ended, she was in Sweden, where she worked with Count Bernadotte as a teacher of refugees.

Her memoir is Child of the Winds: My Mission with Raoul Wallenberg, Chicago: Adams Press, l989.

Margaret Beer, nee Weiss, was born January 9, 1911 in Sighet, Hungary. She details the swift transfer of all the Jews of Sighet in the first month of the German invasion, describing howS.S. troops moved into many Jewish homes, including hers during the German occupation, and how Hungarian authorities identified prominent Jews whomthe S.S. forced to form a Jewish Council. The Germans then confiscated Jewish businesses and personal property. Once ghettoized, the Jews were helped by non-Jewish Hungarians who smuggled food into the ghetto. She describes the evacuation of all Jewish patients from the local hospital, the formation of a Jewish police force, the evacuation of the Jews from the ghetto and the transports to Auschwitz.

She describes in great detail life in Auschwitz including the initial selection, showers, barracks, Appells, work conditions, food allotment, wash barracks, and her selection by Mengele. In July 1944 she was transported to Gelsenkirchen, Germany to work in the Krupp armament industry. She describes the working conditions and Allied bombings. In September 1944 she was transferred to Sömmerda in Thuringia, Germany to work in another ammunition factory. As the Allies drew close in April 1945, the camp was evacuated; Margaret escaped during the death march and eventually found housing in a German village until liberation at the end of April 1945. She describes help from Russian POW’s and later American liberators. Her skills as a dressmaker helped sustain her until May 1946 when she could join her brother who had been living in Philadelphia.