WE WERE LUCKY
An autobiography by Hilde Gerrard neé Weissenberg, born 1907 HITLER'S GRIP TIGHTENSThe ties between Mussolini and Hitler became closer and the surveillance of the refugees stricter. Many of the books we loaned out were by such authors as Werfel, Feuchtwanger, Kafka, Brod etc who were well known in Germany but no longer published because they were by Jews. Their new publishers were in Holland and we distributed their books in Italy. At first the German consulate in Milan could do very little about it. Later on, however, we were warned by them to stop importing anti-Nazi literature, but we did not take much notice. The more "Anschluss" progressed the more interfering the German Consulate became. Then in September 1938 came the decree that all immigrant Jews, who entered Italy after 1911 must leave within six months. There were about 40,000 Jews in Italy, who had got out of the Nazi clutches - but not far enough - and had once more to find somewhere to live. Where could we go? The pressure by Germany increased our need to find another country that would accept us.
At the time there was no Israel yet. America seemed heaven to everbody and our first step was in that direction. We filled in the application forms, and the date on which we posted them was the lst September 1938. We had a clear new month, so important - September 1st. We soon found out that immigration to the United States is controlled by the quota system, depending on the place in which one was born. If the country was Germany at the time of once's birth, but now belongs to Poland the quota of entry was "Polish". The quota meant that only the same number of immigrants was allowed to enter the States as in the year 1890. It was a ridiculously small number of the Polish quota. If we had been willing to separate, I could have gone on the German and the Children on the Italian quota, but we wanted to stay together and Gerhard's quota was Polish. Until the time arrived when we could enter the United States we had to find a piece of earth that would carry us. Some applicants with the right quota did get visas and the last date for the acceptance of applications for German quota was 31st August 1938. Walter and Margot posted their letter together with ours, but they had the foresight to date it 31st August 1938 and they were in the German quota direct to the States and were able to leave a few weeks later. The next requirement after the quota was the affidavit. The larger the family, the larger the affidavit had to be. If a near relative gave the affidavit it counted for more than that of friends. Gerhard's brother Max, who was an architect, lived in the States. He left Europe at the time Gerhard was born, and therefore had never met him. He was not helpful and refused at first, but our friend Herbert Wolff gave Max a guarantee that he would pay anything needed in case we should require help, as long as Max - being the brother whose affidavit was very valuable - would give it to the authorities.
Where should we go until all that was settled? The day when we were to be out of Italy came nearer. Whilst we tried to get the papers ready for the entry into the States and knowing that so many obstacles were in the way, we had to try to get entry into any other country, if only to wait our turn on the Polish quota.
Expulsion was not popular amongst the Italian population. We knew a policeman, who was on duty one day in the Piazza Duomo and as soon as he saw us coming, he would turn the traffic the way in our favour and would greet us in a friendly way. It was unimportant but just the gesture of friendliness and smile did us good.