Last Stop Australia

A New Voice of the Holocaust

Johanna Altmann

• Publisher: New Homeland Publishing
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780995432512
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Holocaust History
• Index: History

In this unforgettable memoir, Austrian Holocaust survivor, Johanna Altmann recounts the horrors and tragedies that she and her loved ones were forced to face. Her tale encompasses suffering, hope, resistance and, most of all, remembering.

Just as we should never forget the horrors of the Holocaust, we should also never forget the heroes of the Holocaust, such as those celebrated in this story. They chose to risk their comfort, their homes, and even their lives and those of their families to help save thousands of Jews.

This is a story of courage and humanity, of life and hope, that transcends the painful realities of the Holocaust without disrespecting its catastrophe.

PART 1

EARLY LIFE

1

Vienna in the 1920s and the Polish Connection

To be born in spring in a city like Vienna is a special privilege. I arrived on 20 April 1923, the second daughter to my young parents Olga and Willy Altmann, a bit of a disappointment to my parents, who hoped for a boy. I was welcomed by my two-year-old sister Susi, who made it perfectly clear who was the “boss” and number one and kept in that way all the years to come.

I must admit, though, that she always cared and protected me and still is there when I need her.

My great-grandmother (Urgrossmutter Johanna), the revered and beloved head of the family, was on my side right from the start.

She took me in her arm, pressed me tenderly to her big bosom and decided that I should be named after her: “Johanna”.

Nobody, least of all my mother, would have opposed her wish. They loved each other dearly. Thanks to her, my mother, a poor girl without a dowry, had been accepted into the rich Jewish family. My grandmother Sophie followed her mother’s example and received her beloved oldest son’s wife with open arms. I was so lucky to be born into such a loving family.

As “Johanna” seemed to be a bit too long and formal for a newborn baby, I was called “Hansi”. Only my father called me “Hannerle”. Both parents were young and beautiful. Mutti couldn’t walk the street without being stared at and admired for her unusual beauty.

Neither of us girls could ever reach her looks. She was surrounded by love and luxury, having two nurses: one for Susi, Sister Wilma, and one for me, Sister Turner. For the housework, she had a maid.

Both grandmothers thought it was a hell of a job breastfeeding a baby, so they insisted that Mutti be served hand and foot. Papa, who was a young officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, continued his interrupted law studies after he got married.

My beautiful mother, Susi and I.

He received a generous allowance to keep up this family standard. Great-Grandma Johanna had married into one of the richest families in Poland, Drohobycz.

The Lindenbaums owned most of the petroleum mines in Borysław and huge estates of land and forests. After her father died, Grandma inherited a large part of this fortune, as did her brother and sister. Her marriage to Grandpa Benedict Altmann was arranged, as it used to be in those old days.

Grandpa Benedict was a doctor of the highest military rank (General Stabsarzt, or “Surgeon General”); he came from the same Polish city of Drohobycz. A perfect match for the unattractive, fat but rich and good-hearted Sophie. So he brought his doctor title, his good qualities and knowledge into his marriage, and Grandma brought in her big fortune. They were wonderful, easy-going and warm people. Their marriage became a perfect one, and they loved each other sincerely.

Grandpa also was happy that his son had married the girl he loved. Like everyone else, Grandpa had been won over by her charm, beauty and intelligence. Although Mutti came from Kraków, Poland to marry her first and everlasting love in Vienna and missed her family in her home country, she adjusted quickly to her new life.

She learned the German language quickly but always kept her Polish accent, which made her even more charming and attractive. The famous Austrian composer Franz Lehar, who met her in Bad Ischl with Susi on holiday (before I was born), became a big admirer. At that time, he was working on his operetta Das Land des Lächelns. He kept assuring her how much he admired her beauty and pleaded with her never to lose her charming accent. Although their friendship was innocent (so she kept reassuring us), she inspired him in composing his operetta, which he completed in 1929.

My dear sister Susi took over as soon as I arrived home from the hospital. Not even the two nursing sisters were able to prevent her from showing her jealousy! She spat into my nappies with disgust and stuffed a spoon in my mouth to stop me from crying. Fortunately my nurse saved me from suffocation just in time. My Great-Grandma had a better way to stop me from screaming.

At the family celebration of my birth (there is no baptism in the Jewish religion, only the circumcision for boys), I had the special urge to scream. As it became more and more unbearable, Great-Grandma found a solution: she poured a few drops of wine on my lips and put me to sleep for hours, to my mother’s alarm.

We lived in Döbling, an elegant suburb of Vienna with beautiful villas and parks. Born in spring on a sunny day, Sister Turner took me all done up in my beautiful pram for long walks. With her two protruding front teeth, she resembled a monster. Whenever she approached or even looked at me I screamed!

Otherwise she was so caring and perfectly trained that my parents had no reason to sack her just because of her looks. I probably got used to her later, but since that time, I have had a special fear of ugly people! I still don’t like them today.

2

The Governess Era

A young, good-looking Kinderfräulein came into our lives when nurses were no more needed. I can’t remember Sister Turner, of course, but can still see Fräulein Elli very clearly in my memory. I was quite aware of, but never really accepted, the fact that my sister Susi tried to get Elli’s attention first and as usual ruled over me. I forced myself into Elli’s heart. She sensed straight away who was everybody’s favourite, so she tried to give all her attention, love and understanding to me.

It was obvious I was her Darling as Susi was Mutti’s. Papa never made any difference between us; we were both surrounded with the same tender loving care.

Fräulein Elli was a trained kindergarten teacher and exactly knew how to handle us both. She was the only one who understood why my sister made me so angry and always made me cry and lose my temper.

She was aware of my jealousy as I had to play second fiddle to my mother. She had a wonderful way to teach me how to control my temper and was the only person I obeyed immediately.

I owe her my gratitude for my early upbringing. She read beautiful stories to us, which I could listen to for hours. Elli taught us how to care and share and how to speak properly. Not only how to use the language correctly but how to speak up and defend yourself. This taught me to enjoy reading and conversing without shyness. I am convinced that she developed our talents for foreign languages. Thanks to her I became an outspoken, confident, cheeky and funny little girl.

I probably can recollect those years with Fräulein Elli so well because they were the happiest years of my early childhood. I am convinced that my mother was a bit jealous of her. Not because of Papa, who never looked at another woman, but because she realised how much more I was attached to Elli than to her.

At a Friend’s Wedding: Susi the oldest and I the youngest Flower Girl.

When I was four years old, my beloved Fräulein had to leave us, and my whole world seemed to fall apart.

Her successor was just the opposite of her.

She was a middle-aged (in my eyes then an “old woman”) governess who only spoke French with us. We had to call her “Madame”.

I hated Madame from the first day she set foot in our home. I wasn’t over my heartbreak of the loss of my beloved Elli and was not ready to b...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• PART 1
• Vienna in the 1920s and the Polish Connection
• The Governess Era
• Der Anschluß: 12 March 1938
• In the Age of Anti-Semitism and the Jewish Diaspora
• New Home in Poland
• Love Is in the Air
• PART 2
• On the Way to Drohobycz
• The Smell in a Cellar
• The Russians Arrive on Yom Kippur
• My Heart Skips a Beat
• The New Communist Regime
• Major Eberhard Helmrich
• Zwetschgenknödel for the Hauptsturmführer
• Die Action – On the Way to Concentration Camps
• A Child Is Born
• Life Undercover in Berlin
• The War Is Over!
• PART 3
• Another Name and a New Child
• A Heart Is Broken Again
• On the Road to Recovery
• A Baby Girl
• Fight for Life
• Poland – A Beautiful Country
• The Gift of a Son
• Leaving the Iron Curtain
• Back Home in Poznań
• PART 4
• The “Batory” Voyage
• Old Port of Québec
• New York, New York
• PART 5
• Meeting the Secret Police
• The Escape
• Starting Again
• A Blind Date
• Wedding Bells
• The Land Down Under
• PART 6
• First Aussie Generation
• Reflections
• Acknowledgments