Baggrund

Background

Friedrich René (kaldet Fritz) og
Amalia Margherita (kaldet Rita) Weltsch
boede fra efteråret 1953 på Bakketoppen 16, Virum.
Jeg boede på nr. 14.
Som dreng kom jeg meget i deres hjem.
Her hørte jeg mange sprog og fik fortalt
mange muntre og andre historier.

Friedrich René (Fritz)  and Amalia Margherita (Rita) Weltsch were living in a suburb to Copenhagen from the fall 1953 untill the second half of the seventies.
Their address was Bakketoppen 16, Virum.
I, Elias Ole Tetens Lund, was a neighbor on number 14 in that street. As a boy I visited their home daily. I listened to many languages and here I was told many cheerful and other stories.

Fritz blev født  4. januar 1904  og døde fredag d. 17. august 1979.  Yahrzeit: Av 24, 5739

    Fritz voksede op i et jødisk hjem i Wien som søn af Dr. jur. René Norbert Leopold Weltsch og Josefine Fini Weltsch. Faren var var en højt placeret embedsmand i et jernbaneselskab.
Fritz havde en broder Kurt Leopold Moritz Weltsch. Farbrødrene hed Oscar, Egon og  Hugo. (se foto) Hugo fik sønnen Heinz.   Bedstefaderen og oldefaderen var religiøse jøder i Prag. Fritz'  familie var flyttet til Wien. I Prag levede fortsat flere medlemmer af slægten frem til 1944. Deres navne er sammen navnene på næsten 80.000 andre ofre for tilintetgørelsen indskrevet på murene i Pinkas synagogen i Prags Josefov-kvarter.
   Da Fritz var mellem 10 og 15 år skete de store omvæltninger: Første Verdenskrig og sammen-bruddet af  Østrig-Ungarn. I hælene på disse spredte antisemitismen og nationalismen sig i Europa.
En fætter til Fritz var jurist, Heinz Weltsch. Heinz, giftede sig med Ruth, bosatte sig i Israel og fik sønnerne Uri og Eli, der fødtes i Tel Aviv 1949 og 1951

 

Fritz was born on 4. January 1904 and he died on  Friday 17. August 1979. Yahrzeit: Av 24, 5739

   He grew up as a jewish boy  in  Vienna. His Father, René Weltsch, was a high official in a railroad company. His mother was  Josefine Fini Weltsch.
Fritz had a brother Kurt Leopold Moritz Weltsch. The Father had had three brothers: Egon, Hugo and Oscar (see photo). The grandfather and the great-grandfather were religious jews in Prag. His family moved to Vienna  while many members of the family stayed in Prag until they were wiped out by the nazis in 1944. I have read their names among the 80,000 murdered jews in Shoah whose names are written on the walls in the Pinkas Synagogue in the Josefov compound in Prag. Antisemitism was a part of the daily life when Fritz was born. It has mowed through the european countries, from Russia to France to Austria.
   When he was 10-15 years old Fritz experienced the collaps of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire as a result of the First World War. Antisemitism was escalating all over Europe - together with nationalism..
 A cousin to Fritz was Heinz Weltsch. He married Ruth and his  two sons Eli and Uri were born in Tel Aviv 1949 and 1951.

Robert Weltsch  klik

  Felix Weltsch - see wikipedia

To fremtrædende ledere af zionismen i Tyskland og Tjekkoslovakiet Robert og Felix bar familienavnet Weltsch. Begge stammede de fra Prag, de var fætre; men det har ikke været muligt for mig at finde ud af slægtskabet med Fritz Weltsch. Om Fritz havde personligt kendskab til Robert og Felix har jeg ikke kunnet finde dokumentation for.  Research

Two outstanding leaders of the zionistic movement in Germany and Czechoslovakia Robert and Felix Weltsch were cousins from Prag.It has not been possible for me to find out their relationship  to Fritz. They were born almost 20 years earlier.

Kafkas fast unbekannter Freund       
Zeitschrift: Selbstwehr

Fritz talte wienertysk, italiensk, fransk, dansk, svensk. Han blev souschef ved firmaet Skandinavisk Kontrol. Hans øverste chef havde sit hovedsæde i Vevey, Schweiz. Fritz var meget nervøs, når han skulle til samtale med bossen.
Selskabet havde afdelinger i Århus og København og i mange lande. Afdelingen i Stockholm blev redningen for Fritz 1943.

Fritz was an international oriented man. He was speaking german with  wiener-dialect, italian, french, danish, swedish.  He was the deputy head in the danish division of a swiss company with it's headquarters in Vevey. The danish name was "Skandinavisk Kontrol" on Oesterbro near Nordhavn Station. From October 1943 to May 1945 Fritz was staff at the bureau in Stockholm.

Amalia Margherita (Rita)  blev født 26. maj 1907 og døde d. 15. februar 1977.
Sprog: Italiensk, tysk, fransk, dansk, svensk. Rita underviste mig i tysk og latin. Rita havde uddannelse som sproglærer.

Rita's forældre med familienavnet Suesz  (findes også stavet Süss) boede endnu i 1950'erne i Trieste. Byen var efter Østrig-Ungarns sammenbrud omstridt mellem Italien og Jugoslavien. Istrien på den anden side af grænsen var skueplads for grusomme massakrer i årene efter 1945
 

Amalia Margherita (Rita) was born 26. May 1907 and she died 15. February 1977. Yahrzeit:  Shvat 27, 5737

Her maiden name was Suesz. A sfarad family name, I guess. The danish immigration autorities spelled it in the azkenasi way: Süss . Her parents has survived the german occupation of Italy and they were still living in Trieste in the fifties. The city of Trieste was situated on the iron curtain line and was disputed between Italy and Jugoslavia in the postwar years. The neighboring Istrien  was a scene for cruel massacres during the encounter after the second World War.

En familie i skyggen af nazismen

A family in the shadow of nazism

Parret boede i Venedig i nogle år (årstal?)  Familien blev spredt ud fra Østrig-Ungarn. Fritz' mor Josefine døde i Theresienstadt KZ-lejr 19. november 1943. Hverken Rita eller Fritz talte om jødeforfølgelserne i tyverne og trediverne eller om shoah - tilintetgørelsen. Men Fritz nævnte aldrig dette for mig.

På Allé-Scenen i december 1956 optrådte Helle Virkner og Helge Rode med Anne Franks Dagbog. Jeg så teaterstykket der eller i en senere opførelse sammen med mine forældre. Det gjorde et dynt indtryk på mig.

En dag o. 1960 kom et brev, der indeholdt  meddelelsen fra den vesttyske stat om "Wiedergutmachung" dvs.  erstatning for den tabte ejendom i Wien. Jeg så dette brev og Rita fortalte om det.  En gæst, fru Rohden, havde et nummer tatoveret på armen. Jeg fik forklaringen, men forstod vel næppe meget deraf dengang.

Der var familie i Beograd: Milena og fætteren Vjerko kom i forbindelse med en fagkongres i slutningen af 1950'erne på besøg i Virum.

Rita and Fritz Weltsch were living in Venezia for some years before they went to Denmark.  Fritz' mother Josefine died in Theresienstadt concentration camp November 19 1942. Neither Fritz nor Rita told me about the prosecutions of the jews in the twenties and thirties or the extermination of the jewish people.  The simply wanted to live, but they had a hard time being unable to forget.

Anne Frank's Diary was published, and in 1956 it was put on the stage at Allé-Scenen in Frederiksberg. Helle Virkner was playing Anne Frank. As at 10 years old boy I was deeply touched by that experience.

One day arrived a letter from the Bundesrepublik Deutschland with the announcement of "Wiedergut-machung" for the loss of real estate in Vienna. I saw this letter and Rita told about it.

Another guest mrs. Rohden  had a number tattooed on her arm. I got the explanation, but I think that I didn't understand very much at that time.

Family members from Belgrade:  a  cousin to Fritz, Vjerko and his wife Milena had got opportunity to
leave Yoguslavia to attend a professional conference in Copenhagen in 1959 or 1960. It was interesting for all of us to listen to Vjerko and Milena from " the other side".

 Research Yad Vashem.

Da Eichmann blev fanget og stillet for retten i Jerusalem i foråret og sommeren 1961 fulgte vi på TV med i reportagerne fra retssagen. Jeg forsøger at genkalde mig Rita og Fritz' kommentarer, men jeg husker kun tavshed .  1961 læste jeg den fransk-jødiske forfatter André Schwartz-Bart's bog Den sidste retfærdige. Den gav mig en mystisk tilgang til  forståelsen af europæisk historie fra middelalderen til 1945. Jeg pløjede også igennem alle Poul Borchsenius' bøger om den jødiske historie fra den jødisk-romerske krig til grundlæggelsen af Staten Israel. Bladet Israel læste jeg hos familien Weltsch.

At the time Adolph Eichmann was taken prisoner and brought to justice in  Jerusalem 1961, we were together in front of the TV to follow the reports. In the public discussion in Denmark the Eichmann-trial was a break through for the knowledge about Shoah.   I try to remember the words from Rita and Fritz, but I remember only silence.
As a young boy I was active at finding my own way to know and understand jewish history through the ages. 1961 I read  the french-jewish author André Schwartz-Bart. His book "The Last of the Just" gave me a mystical entrance at understanding  the European history from the middle ages until my own era. Another author was the danish Poul Borchsenius whose books on jewish history from the destruction of the second temple until the creation of the State of Israel and its early years under the leadership of David ben Gurion. I read all of them several times.

Parret var barnløse. Rita var stærkt svækket og fik megen medicin, som nedbrød organismen. 

Rita and Fritz had no children. Rita was very sick and had to eat medicine, that weakened her organism. She consulted dr. Fini Schulsinger, an outstanding psychiatrist in Copenhagen.

Langt senere har jeg fået at vide, at Fritz 1979 besøgte sin fætter Heinz i Israel, men at han måtte rejse hjem i utide p. gr. a. dårligt helbred. Samme år døde han d. 17. august.

Fritz visited his cousin  Heinz Weltsch in Israel 1979, but his health was bad, and he had to go home. He died August 17. 1979 (Thank you, Uri, for the information)

Weltsch testamenterede deres formue bl.a. til Det Mosaiske Trossamfunds alderdomshjem, til Kofoeds Skole og til DTH (nu DTU, der har oprettet et legat der bærer Weltsch's navn).

Fritz  stated that their property should be disposed to Mosaisk Troessamfund, to a home for homeless people and to The Technical University of Denmark.
 

Jeg fik i 1979 forærende nogle billeder af Fritz:

Fritz disposed to me a couple of paintings and an etching before he died.

to malerier med motiv fra  Venezia  - og en radering med et motiv fra Stockholm, signeret: Gaston

two paintings showing motives from Venezia (?) and an etching from Stockholm (signed: Gaston)

Jeg fik tillige i arv en tysk litteraturhistorie, den er tydelig vis positiv overfor al den nye litteratur, som nazisterne ville fordrive med deres bogbrændinger.
(Werner Mahrholz, Berlin 1930)

I inherited a book by Werner Mahrholz, a German history of literature printed in Berlin 1930. Mahrholz gives a committed presentation of german authors who a few years later had their books burned at the nazi autodafées.

1962 fik jeg af Rita og Fritz foræret en  tysksproget Siddur  trykt i Wien 1902.
Den var delvist ødelagt. Et helt hæfte er revet ud af den. Netop på disse  sider skulle findes Arons velsignelse: Yevorechah adonai veyismerechah...
Måske var det den siddur, som Fritz brugte, da han stod bar mitzvah i 1917. Det var året, hvor to europæiske imperier forsvandt: Det russiske tzarrige og Det østrig-ungarnske kejserrige.

Much earlier, in 1962 Rita an Fritz gave me a Siddur in the German and Hebrew languages. It was printed in Vienna 1902. Probably it was the siddur Fritz used when Fritz stood a Bar Mitzva in 1917, the  year , when empires collapsed.
At the same time the British army marched into Jerusalem. The 20. Century was all too filled up with history when it started.  Fritz's siddur has been traveling  in danger. It was partly distroyed. One part has been torn out. The part with the Aharonitic blessing is missing. Why? 

1967 flyttede jeg til Århus for at studere og bo sammen med Birthe. Weltsch og jeg havde jævnlig kontakt med hinanden, men ikke så konstant som i de  foregående år.

In 1967 I moved to Århus to study at the University and to live together with my wife Birthe and our children, Jakob and Thoeger. It was only after Rita's and Fritz's death that we got our third child, a daughter, Marie.
I had continuous contact with Weltsch, but of course not as constant as in the previous years.

Sverige   oktober 1943 - juni 1945

In Sweden from October 1943 to June 1945

Fra september eller tidlig oktober 1943 til juni 1945 boede familien i Malmö og Stockholm.  Fritz arbejdede fortsat i den internationale kontrolforretning. Rita arbejdede på Karolinska Sjukhuset. De fleste danske jøder havde som flygtninge ikke lov til at opholde sig i Stockholm, så de har været heldige - tror jeg nok. Men var der andre sider af denne historie, som  ikke har været så hyggelige at fortælle om? Har de haft forbindelse til deres familie, og hvor længe?  Hvad skete der med dem ? 

From September or early October 1943 until June 1945 Rita and Fritz lived in Malmö and Stockholm. Fritz has probably been helped to a new job in the Swedish section of Skandinavisk Kontrol. Rita had a job as a secretary at Karolinska Sjukhuset. The jewish refugees were settled all over Sweden. But few was allowed to settle in the capital.

How much did Rita and Fritz know during their stay in Sweden about the fate of their family members?


research

Nelly Sachs sad i Stockholm's Södermalm og skrev om Job, og der stillede hun på sin måde spørgsmålet om "mi-penei hataeinu": skal vi straffes på grund af vore synder ?  (Olof Lagercrantz: Den vedvarende skabelse. 1966)

  A refugee in Stockholm Södermalm, Nelly Sachs wrote about the Book of Job. She did put the question "mi-penei hataeninu" -  shall we be punished because of our transgressions ?

Dette spørgsmål blev senere årsag til dyb splittelse mellem Europas overlevende jøder. Var tilintetgørelsen overhovedet mulig at forklare ?  Kunne nazisternes forbrydelser på nogen måde forstås som en del af Guds plan med sit ejendomsfolk? En del jøder vendte sig bort fra religionen. Det var en selvstændig følge af Shoah. Moderniteten  som vi møder den hos Franz Kafka havde allerede på et tidligere tidspunkt fjernet mange fra den traditionelle religion. Mange var så fjernt fra deres traditionelle religiøse praksis, at de betragtede sig som tyske, franske, italienere, ungarere eller danske. Nazismen tvang de europæiske jøder til igen at anse sig for jøder.
Robert Weltsch (1891 - 1982), en fremtrædende zionistisk leder, forsøgte  i "Jüdische Beobachter" at gøre en ære ud af nødvendigheden ved at skrive "Tragt ihn mit Stolz, den gelben Fleck!".

This particular question caused a deep disruption among the surviving jews of Europe. Could it be possible that the destruction  was explainable ? Were the crimes of the Nazis' in any way understandable as a part of God's plan with His People?
Some Jews turned their back to religion as a specific product of Shoah. But modernity as we meet it in Franz Kafka's novels and short stories  has already estranged several jews from traditional religious praxis. Some felt that it was Hitler and his gang, who had decided which persons should be considered to be jews.

Robert Weltsch argued in his articles in "Jüdische Beobachter" that jews in Germany should to be proud of their heritage and to "Wear IT With Pride - The Yellow Badge"

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Weltsch
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelber_Fleck

Europa var en så væsentlig del af jødisk identitet, at zionismen med dens krav til jøder om at forlade Europa var traumatisk. Jeg tror, at det var tilfældet for Weltsch.
Amos Oz skildrer dette markant i erindringsromanen "Fortællinger om Kærlighed og Mørke" (dansk oversættelse 2005 af Hanne Friis)

Europe was such an intrinsic part of jewish idendity  that Zionism with its demand to Jews to leave Europe went traumatically. I think it was the case for my friends. Amos Oz describes this phenomenon in his novel  "A Tale of Love and Darkness" (2003)

Dansk statsborgerskab 1951 og tiden i Virum 1953 - 1979

Citizenship in Denmark 1951

Rita of Fritz Weltsch fik dansk statsborgerskab  28. marts 1951  kilde: Immigrantbasen
To år senere flyttede de fra Gentofte til adressen Bakketoppen 16 i Virum

Rita and Fritz were granted danish citizenship on March 28. 1951.
On Octobre 1953  they moved from Gentofte to their new home Bakketoppen 16, Virum - North of Copenhagen.

Weltsch havde gode venner fra tiden i Sverige. Vollmond-familien flyttede til Virum og var et kvarters vandretur væk. Hans Otto Vollmond erindrer Fritz som en ekspert i at fortælle jødiske vittigheder med sit wieneriske tonefald.
Der var familierne Rawitscher og Rebner.  
Sybil Rebner (1945 -1996) var en god tegner. Hun var elev hos Harald Isenstein.
En anden familie var dansk-svensk . De boede i Dragør. Erik var kommandørkaptajn. Gun var kunstner. Hun lavede decoupager og udsmykkede brugsting - blandt andet æsker  med sine fine papirklip. Så var der "konsulen"  Herbert Michel, en handelsmand med store ambitioner, der fik dem tilfredsstillet ved at blive udnævnt til konsul for et latinamerikansk land.

Weltsch had good friends from the exile in Sweden. The Vollmond's moved to Virum just in a neighborhood nearby. Hans Otto Vollmond remembered Fritz as an expert telling jewish stories in his wienerish tounge.
Other families were the Rawitschers and Rebners. Sybil Rebner (1945-1996) a young talented girl was a good artist with her pencil and crayons. She was a student by the famous artist Harald Isenstein. Isenstein came to Denmark from Berlin 1933 as a refugee. (Isenstein-samlingen).
One family was swedish: Erik and Gun. She was exellent at making decoupages.
Herbert Michel was a mercant with great ambitions. He succeeded to be appointed a danish Consul for a latin-american country. But he was not generous concerning his own wife. She had to repair her clothes continuously.

Indtryk  og påvirkning

Experience and inspiration

Min mest intense erindring fra de første år hos Weltsch er blandet med en musikalsk erindring:
Dumky-trioen af Antonín Dvorák (op.90, 1891). Der sad jeg hos den fremmede familie og lyttede med de store ører og de endnu for korte ben dinglende fra sofaen i den store lyse stue. Et stort maleri på endevæggen i mørkemalerstil - måske af en svensk maler - et helfigursportræt - en mand siddende i en afslappet tre-kvart-figurs stilling i et eksteriør, jeg ikke kan huske. Store philodendron-planter, som var moderne i halvtredserne.  I loftet en drejet trælysekrone og en smedejerns-lysekrone  med utildækkede glødelamper, der gav stuen et karakteristisk hvidt lys, der reflekteredes af de hvide skrå lofter. meget forskelligt fra den danske tradition med lampeskærme alle vegne. Et bogskab og en reol. Et mahogniskrivebord med en spinkel konstruktion der bar en smal hylde med portrætfotos af familien. På væggen et antikt kulbækken med skinnende messinglåg - vist nok af italiensk oprindelse.
Akustikken i stuen var tydelig, hvilket gav genklang ved tale og musik. Og så var det jo lyden af dansk med italiensk og wienertysk tonefald.

The most intense moment I remenber from the first years in Weltsch's house is mixed with music: The "Dumky-trio" by Antonín Dvorák. There I sat listining with this foreing and strange family. With big ears and too short legs in the sofa in the big light room with the strange arrangement of furniture. A huge dark-styled painting hanging at the end of the room showing a man with a soft hat sitting in an oblique position on the corner of a table in an atelier. On the wall surrounding the painting a huge philodendron.  A  chair like the one in R. B. Kitaj's "Cecil Court, London WC2 " was the place where Fritz rested and read his newspapers in the evening.

From the ceiling in the middle of the room a chandelier shining with non-shaded  bulbs made the room even more white with it's white sloping ceilings. The room had a  acoustic with a short echo,

Fritz was  german-speaking with a wienerish accent

Til min realeksamen i tysk blev jeg spurgt af censor, hvordan det kunne være, at jeg talte med wiener accent. Og det var der jo en begrundelse for.

When I graduated form my primary school I was asked, why I pronounced the words in wiener-tongue. The explanation was quite natural.

Familien havde et radiogrammofonskab med indbygget højttaler og skabsplads til samlingen af lakplader og longplayingplader. Den musik der senere gjorde mest indtryk på mig var Dvorak's efterfølger Bela Bartok.
Jeg fik forærende Bartok's  Koncert for Orkester i en indspilning fra 1963 af det Czekiske Philharmoniske orkester med Karel Ancerl som dirigent . Pladen blev siden slidt helt ned, men jeg kan ikke nænne at smide den væk. Nu har jeg på en tur til Prag købt en såkaldt "remastered" CD med nøjagtigt den samme indspilning. Så er sløjfen bundet.
Bela Bartoks skæbne var parallelt forløbende med Weltsch's i krigsårene. Han var dog en generation ældre, og hans oplevelse af eksilet var bittert. Alligevel var han i stand til at skrive sit store værk Koncert for Orkester i september og oktober 1943 og færdiggøre det i de dage hvor - de danske jøder færgedes over i sikkerhed i Sverige - Værket opførtes i New York 1.december 1944 med Boston Symphony Orchestra. Bartok døde 1945.

Weltsch had a special  cabinet in wood with a radio, a gramophone and room for all the records. No other families on the road had such a fine thing. Dvorak came out of this cabinet most mysteriously.
Later on I was impressed very strongly by the music of  Bela Bartók.
Fritz gave me Bartok's Concert for Orchestra in a recording from 1963 by Karel Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Now a remastered version on CD is available.

Bartok had a parallel experience with that of Weltsch' during the war. His exile was bitter, but he was able to compose his big opus The Concert for Orchestra in September and October 1943 and complete it in the days when the danish Jews were brought in safely to the Swedish harbours. Bartok's opus was performed in New York on 1. December 1944. Bartok died 1945.

En hyppig gæst var Laura Ulmer, mor til sangeren George Ulmer. Laura  var forfatter og journalist og skrev mange kritiske artikler om den fascistiske diktator Franco (kilde). Laura var et muntert og resolut menneske, der skete altid noget interessant, når hun dukkede op og blev boende hos Weltsch i længere perioder.

Rita og Fritz rejste hvert år til Italien eller Schweiz og enkelte gange til Spanien.

Laura Ulmer, George Ulmer's mother, was a very frequent guest by Weltsch. Laura was a journalist and wrote many critical articles against the Spanish fascist dictator Franco.
Laura was a cheerful person. She was very active and interesting things happened when she showed up in Virum.

Der lå numre af Bladet Israel på sofabordet. Selv ønskede Rita og Fritz ikke at gå ind i det zionistiske arbejde. Deres vennekreds blev splittet på grund af zionismen.
Marianne Goldmann var en stærk tilhænger af at jøder burde drage til Israel, og selv tog hun af sted.
Fritz havde forretningsforbindelser også til arabiske lande, og han udtrykte sympati for de arabiske handelsmænd, han kendte.  Modsætningen var nasseristerne, der kom til magten i Ægypten i midten af 1950erne med deres drømme om panarabisme og tilintetgørelse af Israel.

On the coffee-table were copies of the Zionist periodical "Bladet Israel". Rita and Frits read it of course, but they were not willing to join the appeal for aliyah. They disagreed with some of their friends on that issue. Marianne Goldmann was a enthusiastic zionist.  Her daughter Annette Atsmon made aliyah 1954 and was frequently host for her mother the following years.
Fritz had contacts with arabic merchants and was full of sympathy with them as persons, he argued. The bitter political development in the Middle East was a problem, when Nasser's panarabic dreams became a threat to Israel in the 1950'es.
1979 Fritz visited his cousin Heinz in Israel. At that time he was very ill, and Uri, his grand-cousin went to his home in Denmark together with him.
The photo with Fritz and Laura Ulmer is probably the last picture which was taken.

Den kolde krig skar forbindelserne over til Østeuropa. Tomrummet i Østeuropa efter  mordet på og fordrivelsen af jøderne var ensbetydende med en ødelæggelse af en kultur. Kafka mente, at østjøderne havde det bedste at byde på , mens vestjøderne var usikre og splittede. Mange år senere blev muren brudt ned mellem øst og vest. men det udfyldte ikke tomrummet. I midten af 1990'erne begyndte jeg at studere Kafkas verden. Det fortsatte med skrivningen af netsiderne: http://www.kotel.dk/kafka
 

The cold war made a cruel division of Europe. But the void in eastern Europe as a result of the murder and expelling of the Jews was a devastating blow to a culture, that will never more be reconstructed. Franz Kafka thought that the Eastern Jews were identic with that culture - while hte Western Jews were unstable and split between modernity and tradition. Many years later the wall was torn down. But the void was never to be filled up. About 1995 I started to study Kafka's world. I continued by writing the netsite  http://www.kotel.dk/kafka

I dedicate this work to Fritz Weltsch

Yizkor  -  minde

Yizkor - remembrance

Yom HaShoah 27. Nissan ( 19. april 2012)

På denne dag erindrer vi den mest ødelæggende begivenhed i vor historie. År efter år glider den lidt længere tilbage i fortiden, men dens enorme omfang vil forblive uden for vor forståelses grænser, og dens smerte udenfor trøstens muligheder. Alt, hvad vi med sikkerhed ved, er at vi har pligt til at huske: af hensyn til de der forsvandt for at de ikke må blive glemt; af hensyn til slægtningene, der overlevede dem, så at de kan vide, at de ikke er alene i deres sorg; af hensyn til os selv, så at vi ikke må være blinde overfor den ondskab, som mennesker er i stand til at forvolde; og af hensyn til kommende generationer, så at de kan overveje grundigt, hvad der er nødvendigt for at forhindre tilintetgørelsen fra at ske igen for vort folk eller for noget folk i verden.
John D. Reyner.

Yom HaShoah  Nissan 27 (April 19, 2012)

On this day we remember the most devastating episode  of our history. From year to year it recedes a little further into the past, but the magnitude of it remains beyond our comprehension, and the pain of it beyond consolation. All we know for certain is that we have a duty to remember: for the sake of those who perished, so that they may not be forgotten; for the sake of those descendants who survived them, so that they may know, that they are not alone in their sorrow; for our own sakes, so that we may not be blind to the evil of which human beings are capable; and for the sake of future generations, so that they may consider well what is needful to prevent such a sho'ah - such a destruction - from happening again, to our people, or to any people.
John D Reyner.  Siddur Lev Chadash London 1995 p. 367
 

Fra Annette Atsmon har jeg fået nye oplysninger om kredsen omkring Weltsch. Blandt de tilsendte billeder er et maleri af  Harald Isenstein. Isenstein måtte betale med et maleri, da han skulle til tandlægen. (Isenstein-samlingen)

Det andet er et avisbillede fra immigranternes registrering i Klagshamn tæt ved Malmø, Sverige,  natten mellem 2. og 3. oktober 1943 . Det er Annette og hendes mor, Marianne Goldmann med tørklæde om hovedet der ses på billedet. Fotografiet dukkede også op i en britisk avis, så slægtninge i England på denne måde fik underretning om flugten til Sverige.
Rita og Frits Weltsch var på tidspunktet for den tyske jødeaktion allerede taget af sted.

I have got some very fine informations and pictures from Annette Atsmon. A painting showing a dentist at work in his clinic is painted by the artist Harald Isenstein. As an immigrant in Denmark he needed money and had to pay his own visit at the dentist with a painting. (Isenstein-Collection)

A photo from a swedish newspaper shows the bureau for registration of the jewish immigrants in Klagshamn near Malmö, Sweden, on  the night between 2. and 3. October 1943.  Annette and her mother Marianne Goldmann are in focus on the photo. It happened to be printed in a british newspaper as well. In that way their family in England got news about the escape  to Sweden.

Erindringer sendt fra Annette Atsmon datter af Marianne Goldman (modtaget 16. oktober 2006 pr mail fra Rehovot, Israel)

Thanks to Scandinavia: Annette Atsmon Denmark in WW II

Andre navne fra omgangskredsen:
Elemér og Rosa Endree

Nye oplysninger

More information

Sidder du inde med viden om familien Weltsch's historie, som du vil dele med mig ?


Hvordan var skæbnen for familien i Wien? og de der hørte til familien Suesz i Trieste? Hvordan var Rita og Fritz  tilværelse i Italien før de kom til Danmark?


Under hvilke omstændigheder kom parret til Danmark  ?
Under den tyske besættelse af Danmark var de som alle andre jøder i fare. Hvordan var Fritz' ansættelsesforhold i  besættelsesårene? Med hvilke betingelser blev han overflyttet til firmaets kontor i Stockholm?


Hvornår og under hvilke omstændigheder kom parret til Sverige? Hvordan var deres vilkår ved deres tilbagevenden til Danmark i 1945 indtil de fik bevilget statsborgerskab d. 28. marts 1951

Have You got more information on   ha'mishpoche Weltsch ? Will You share them with me?
 

How was the fate of the family-members living in Vienna? - and of those of the family Suesz in Trieste ?
How was their life together in Italy during the Moussolini era?

Under which circumstances did they arrive at Denmark?
How did the danish authorities handle Weltsch's applications for residence permit? How was Fritz' job situation in Skandinavisk Kontrol during the german occupation of Denmark?

Under which conditions was Fritz job moved from Copenhagen to Stockholm in October 1943? How exactly did Rita and Fritz escape to Sweden? How were their conditions at their return to Denmark untill they were granted danish citizenship on March 28 1951?