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British Duchess' 1938 "Crowdfunding" Campaign Saved Jewish Family from Nazis

(The Times-UK) Mark Bridge - Weeks after the annexation of Austria by Germany in March 1938, Lady Millicent Hawes, 70, the widow of the 4th Duke of Sutherland, arrived in Vienna to visit her teenage granddaughter who was at school nearby. The duchess stayed at the stately Hotel Imperial and visited the hotel's bookshop, but found only "shelves and shelves" of Hitler's Mein Kampf. The proprietor, Karl Buchberger, told her that the Nazis took away all the other books and burned them. Buchberger told her of the danger his family faced because of the Jewish origin of his wife Mitzi. Although the couple and their 18-year-old daughter, Herta, were Catholics, Frau Buchberger was classified as Jewish under the Nuremberg racial laws. As a result, he had been told that he would lose his apartment unless they separated. Soon afterwards, the Duchess of Sutherland published a letter in The Times about the need for money to support families who sought to emigrate to Canada. She also referred to the bravery and sacrifice of British Jewish soldiers she had known during the First World War and suggested that readers might donate in their memory. Through the exertions of the duchess, the Buchbergers were able to leave Austria and sail to Canada before the outbreak of the Second World War. By the spring of 1941, Karl had established his own bookshop that he called the Old Vienna Bookshop and the duchess went to visit the Buchbergers in Toronto.
2019-10-25 00:00:00
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