Asylum
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de Gaulle, Charles (1890–1970). Head of French government in exile, 1940–44, as leader of Free France and the Free French Forces, and head of Provisional Government, 1944–46. He returned to lead the government in 1958, at the height of the Algerian War, where a bitter struggle against the FLN eventually gave way to negotiations and independence.
Gerlier, Pierre-Marie (1880–1965). Archbishop of Lyon and primate of Gaul from 1937. Although he avowed support for Pétain, and seems not to have been unequivocal in his condemnation of anti-Semitic policies, he did something to raise concern publicly about both deportations and inhumane conditions in French camps; he also gave support to Glasberg and the Amitié chrétienne. In September 1942 (after Saliège) he sent a pastoral letter, to be read in churches, condemning the deportations more openly.
Glasberg, Alexandre (1902–81). Catholic priest (and by birth a Ukrainian Jew) who led the formation of the charity Amitié chrétienne in 1941, comprising both Catholic and Protestant laypersons, aiming to help Jews under persecution. One activity was the establishment of shelters to house Jews released from French internment camps. After the mass arrests of 1942, the activities of Glasberg and Amitié Chrétienne became clandestine.
Herriot, Édouard (1872–1957). Politician of the French Radical party, three times Prime Minister and for a long period President of the Chamber of Deputies. He was exiled from 1942 to 1945 for his opposition to the Vichy régime.
‘Hilaire-Buckmaster’. Hilaire was the codename of George Starr, who ran Britain’s SOE (Special Operations Executive) in south-western France, in sabotage operations, etc., from 1942. There was clearly some friction with de Gaulle. Starr is credited with uniting communist and non-communist elements in his outfit. Maurice Buckmaster was from July 1941 head of the French (F) section of SOE and worked with the communist FTP, the Francs-Tireurs Partisans. The immigrant wing of this was the FTP-MOI (Main d’Oeuvre Immigrée).
International Student Service. Geneva-based organisation active in assisting student refugees in the 1930s; it was run in conjunction with, and funded by, local universities.
Kofler, Edgar. Son of Emil Kofler (see below). Konrad Singer recalls: ‘[Emil] Kofler had a son, who was quite friendly with us, about two years older than me; he joined the Resistance in Paris and was captured by the Germans, or by the Vichy French, and killed, shot. I knew him quite well–we were very friendly… he was a nice boy!’ He is commemorated by a street name in Voiron: Bd Edgar Kofler.
Kofler, Emil. Romanian compatriot of Moriz Scheyer who settled in France before the War. Konrad Singer recalls: ‘Kofler was a friend from Bucharest… who had a business in Paris and once, twice a year would pass through Vienna from Bucharest to Paris and visit us.’
Kolářová, Sláva (born Jindřichův Hradec, Czechoslovakia, 1893; died Belvès, France, 1948). Moriz and Grete Scheyer’s housekeeper and companion, and Konrad Singer’s beloved nanny ‘Veili’.
Laval, Pierre (1883–1945). A socialist leader of two French governments in the 1930s, before playing a prominent role in the Vichy government in 1940. Pétain, however, disliked him and dismissed him at the end of that year. He was brought back as Prime Minister in 1942. The nature of his collaboration with the Germans–negotiating with them the precise numbers and categories of Jews to be deported, and assisting in the process, but thus arguably reducing the overall total that might have been deported–remains highly controversial.
Lenormand, Henri-René (1882–1951). French playwright, known for works exploring subconscious psychological motivation and influenced by Freud’s theories.
Mahler, Gustav (1860–1911). A legendary conductor as well as composer, Mahler presided over the Vienna Opera from 1897 to 1907. The cast remembered in the narrative by Scheyer is almost identical to that of the production of Fidelio in 1904, a famous musical-dramatic event; and each of the musicians mentioned was part of the Mahler ‘team’: Anna von Mildenburg (1879–1947), a dramatic soprano, with whom Mahler had a close personal relationship; Leopold Demuth (1861–1910), a baritone; Wilhelm Hesch, a Czech bass; the Danish tenor Erik Schmedes. Arnold Rosé (1863–1946) was concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic (and Mahler’s brother-in-law); Friedrich Buxbaum the first cello (and cello in the Rosé quartet). The first ever recording of Mahler’s Lied von der Erde was conducted by Bruno Walter.
Malraux, André (1901–76). Novelist and art theorist who fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and was active in the French Resistance; he also served as Minister for Cultural Affairs in de Gaulle’s government, from 1958 to 1969.
Mark, Hermann (1895–1992). Born to a Jewish mother and gentile father in Vienna, he had a successful career both in industrial chemistry and academia, as a pioneer of polymer science. Professor of Physical Chemistry at Vienna until 1938, after the Anschluss, he managed a dramatic escape (smuggling out his assets in the form of platinum concealed in coathangers) to Switzerland, from where he travelled eventually to the US, where he completed his career at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.
Masereel, Frans (1889–1972). Flemish artist who worked especially in woodcut, sometimes in graphic-novel form, depicting the brutality of the modern world. He was a pacifist, and an artist much admired by Stefan Zweig; indeed there were published collaborations between the two. He was persecuted by the Nazis as ‘decadent’.
Mathieu, René and Henriette. Both teachers, and the latter mayor, at St-Cernin-de-l’Herm, near Belvès. They saved at least two other Jewish families (one introduced to them by the Rispals), by providing them with false identity papers and finding them secure hiding places.
Mauriac, François (1885–1970). Distinguished French novelist, awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1952.
Maurras, Charles (1868–1952). Writer and political theorist, founder of a journal influential in right-wing and, later, fascist circles: Action Française. Though opposed to Germany, he was virulently anti-Semitic.
Musikverein. The historic venue for orchestral concerts in Vienna. Franz Schalk was its head from 1904–21; both he and Felix Weingartner, another distinguished Austrian conductor, were also at different periods heads of the Vienna Opera.
Neues Wiener Tagblatt (NWT). One of the two ‘quality’ dailies in Vienna in the 1930s, for which Scheyer wrote feuilletons and was the arts reviews editor.
Ordeig, Charles-Henry, known as Carlos.
Pétain, Philippe (1856–1951). The French general was the ‘hero of Verdun’ in World War I. In June 1940 he sought an Armistice with Germany and was then voted absolute powers as head of state, leading the Vichy régime in ‘Unoccupied’ France but collaborating closely with the German authorities.
Rebière, Georges. Resistance fighter and native of Belvès. Later the author of a history of Belvès and a Resistance memoir, Aimez-vous cueillir les noisettes? (Do You Like Chestnuts?). Now in his 90s, he runs a museum in Belvès of local culture and traditional musical instruments of his own construction.
Reinhardt, Max (1873–1943). Austrian-Jewish theatre director, and founder in 1920 of the Salzburg Festival (with a production of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Everyman, which is still repeated every year). Also a significant film director, including in the US, where he ended his career after emigration in 1938.
Rispal, Gabriel (1875–1970); Hélène (1903–79); Jacques (1923–86). The Rispal family were Resistance organisers in Belvès and were responsible for the survival of Moriz Scheyer, Grete and Sláva.
Rolland, Romain (1866–1944): French author, thinker and pacifist admired by Scheyer and Stefan Zweig.
Romains, Jules (1885–1972). Well-known literary figure of the period, whose major work was a 27-volume cycle of novels, Les Hommes de bonne volonté. He was sufficiently close to Scheyer that he gave him a number of signed copies of his novels.
Roth, Joseph (1894–1939). Austrian-Jewish novelist, best known for Radetzky March (1932), about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
le Roy, Eugène (1836–1907). French writ
er, known for his nonconformist lifestyle and political outlook, and author of a number of Republican and anti-clerical writings as well as the novels mentioned by Scheyer.
Saliège, Archbishop Jules-Gérard (1870–1956). Archbishop of Toulouse and the first senior cleric in the Unoccupied Zone to appeal publicly, in a pastoral letter of August 1942, against the mass deportations and treatment of Jews in camps. His letter is seen by some as having had a profound effect on French opinion and contributing to the saving of many Jewish lives.
Sax, Victor. Konrad Singer recalls: ‘he was a rich Swiss and was regarded as a good friend by my stepfather… he asked [Victor and his wife] to look after my upkeep while in Zurich.’ The couple are also remembered in one of Scheyer’s feuilletons, published in his 1919 book Europeans and Exotics, which tells the story of a dog they had that wanted its freedom.
Schaumburg, Ernst (1880–1947). German Lieutenant-General, from 1941 Commandant of ‘Greater Paris’ and effective second-in-command to Stülpnagel.
Scheyer, Margarethe (Grete), née Singer (1892–1977). Grete married Moriz Scheyer in 1927, after the death of her first husband, Bernhard Schwarzwald.
Schnitzler, Arthur (1862–1931). Austrian playwright and prose writer acquainted with Moriz Scheyer.
Schuschnigg, Kurt (1897–1977). Chancellor of Federal Republic of Austria from July 1934 (after the assassination of Dollfuss) until March 1938.
Schwarzwald, Dr Bernhard. First husband of Grete Scheyer and father of Stefan and Konrad Singer.
Seyss-Inquart, Artur (1892–1946). Nazi sympathiser appointed to the cabinet of Dollfuss in 1933 and made Minister of the Interior by Schuschnigg as part of his attempt to compromise with Hitler. He was temporarily Chancellor on Schuschnigg’s resignation at the Anschluss; he subsequently served the Third Reich as administrator in Poland and in the Netherlands. He was convicted at the Nuremberg trials, in particular for his extreme repression in the Netherlands, and executed in 1946.
Sieburg, Friedrich (1893–1964). Nazi journalist who had worked in France and was author of a well-known book, Gott in Frankreich (‘Is God a Frenchman?’), celebrating the ‘French’ ideals of devotion to pleasure and freedom from commercial values. Sieburg allied himself to Pétain. As Scheyer suggests, the ‘love of France’ that Sieburg professes actually conceals the Nazi contempt and desire to dominate. (It is interesting to compare the attitude described in the 1942 novel Le Silence de la Mer, by Verors (pseudonym), where the notion of the ‘musical’ German with a love of French culture is replaced by the dawning realisation of the Nazi reality.)
Singer, Konrad (1917–2013); Singer family.
Stülpnagel, Otto von (1878–1948). World War I veteran, recalled to active service by Hitler and made Military Commander of France from October 1940. Carried out mass executions of hostages in obedience to Hitler’s orders, although he protested this and attempted to mitigate the violence of German policy in France. He resigned in 1942, was succeeded by his cousin Carl-Heinrich, and committed suicide in prison in 1948.
Thil, Georges (1897–1984). Lyric-dramatic tenor with a huge international profile in the 1930s, he is considered by some the greatest of French tenors.
Vallat, Xavier (1891–1972). Committed anti-Semite. From March 1941, he was Commissioner of the Vichy Commissariat général aux questions juives but was replaced, apparently for being too moderate, in 1942.
Vorms, Pierre. An old friend of Moriz Scheyer, resident in Paris where he published art books (especially those of Frans Masereel). After the débâcle he settled in Belvès, where he seems to have remained after the War; he was also actively involved in the Resistance. Konrad Singer recalls: ‘he visited us even in Vienna before; lived in Paris; then in Belvès he also had a house, very close to the maisonette [of Hélène Rispal]… he was regarded by my parents as a good friend’.
Walter, Bruno (1876–1962). A major figure in the European music world from the early 1900s to the 1930s, Walter was a charismatic conductor and protégé of Mahler’s. He moved to Vienna in the mid-1930s when it became impossible for him to perform in Germany, and his association with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg festival both gave rise to legendary recordings. After the Anschluss he was offered and accepted French citizenship; he subsequently emigrated to the United States, where he continued an active career until his death in 1962. He seems to have been at least an acquaintance of Moriz Scheyer’s.
Wessel, Horst (1907–30). Nazi activist and ‘martyr’ (he was killed in Berlin by two Communist Party members) who wrote the lyric of the eponymous song, also known from its first line as ‘Die Fahne Hoch’ (‘The banner high’), which was the marching-song of the storm-troopers and functioned as a Nazi national anthem. The incident Scheyer describes may remind one of the famous episode in the film Casablanca, where, however it is ‘The Watch on the Rhine’, rather than the Horst Wessel song, which provides the Nazi competition to the Marseillaise.
Weygand, Maxime (1867–1965). French Major-General, under Foch, at the end of the First World War, and involved in the armistice negotiations at Compiègne. He was recalled from retirement in 1939 to head French operations in the Orient, then to France as commander-in-chief in May 1940 after the German breakthrough had begun; from September 1940 he served in Pétain’s government.
Zweig, Stefan (1881–1942). Austrian-Jewish writer with an enormous international reputation in the 1920s and 1930s, for his short stories, essays and biographies. A friend of Moriz Scheyer’s from early days in Vienna, he emigrated, first to England, then to the US and finally to Brazil, where he died in a suicide pact with his second wife in February 1942.
A chronology of events 1933–45
1933 Hitler achieves absolute power in Germany.
1934 Schuschnigg succeeds Dollfuss as Chancellor of the Federal State of Austria. His policies are authoritarian and undemocratic, but pro-independence.
1933–39 Large numbers of Germans, especially Jews, flee to France.
9 March 1938 Schuschnigg announces plebiscite for 13th March to decide between Austrian indepedence and absorption in greater Germany.
12 March 1938 Anschluss: German annexation of Austria. Seyss–Inquart appointed puppet Chancellor; implementation of anti–Semitic policies, with dismissal from jobs and acts of violence against Jews, followed by appropriation of assets and ‘Aryanisation’ of businesses.
30 September 1938 Munich agreement, followed directly by German invasion of western and northern Czechoslovakia (‘Sudetenland’).
November 1938 ‘Kristallnacht’: widespread looting and destruction of Jewish businesses and synagogues, supposedly in response to assassination of a German diplomat in Paris.
1938–39 Anti–immigrant legislation in France in response to influx of refugees.
March 1939 German Occupation of remainder of Czechoslovakia.
August 1939 ‘Molotov–Ribbentropp Pact’ signed (non-aggression treaty between Germany and USSR).
September 1939 Invasion of Poland by Germany (and USSR); Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
September–October 1939 Arrest of ‘German’ Jews in France, interned as aliens; most are freed by May 1940.
May 1940 Germany invades Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium and France.
14 June 1940 Fall of Paris; beginning of ‘Exodus’.
22 June 1940 Armistice: division of France into German-occupied region in north and west, and ‘zone libre’ (Vichy France).
July 1940 French senators vote full powers to Marshall Pétain to negotiate with German authorities; massive movement of people south, especially from Paris.
1940–41 Series of anti–Jewish orders by German authorities and Statuts des Juifs by Vichy régime.
October 1940 First French Statuts des Juifs excludes Jews from range of occupations. German ordinance requires Jews to declare assets and appoint ‘temporary administrators’ of their businesses and finances. Systematic appropriation of Jewish assets in France (administrated by Otto Abetz).
1940–41 Beginnings of French Resistance activity.
March 1941 Creation of Commissariat général aux affaires juives under commissioner Xavier Vallat in Vichy.
May 1941 6494 Austrian, Czech and Polish Jews in Paris (aged eighteen to sixty) requested to attend police station ‘pour examen de votre situation’; those who do are taken to concentration camps at Beaune–la–Rolande and Pithiviers.
June 1941 Second ‘Statut des Juifs’ extends definition of ‘Jewish’; requires census in Unoccupied Zone. German invasion of USSR.
August 1941 Further roundup of Jews in Paris, taken to Drancy.
December 1941 Roundup of 743 French Jewish professional men in Paris.
March 1942 First deportation from French concentration camps to Auschwitz; the deportations continue regularly and systematically from this time onward.
April 1942 Laval offers German authorities ‘La Relève’–a voluntary French workforce for Germany in exchange for the return of prisoners of war.
May 1942 Jews in Occupied France must wear yellow Star of David with word ‘Juif’.
June 1942 First deportations from Beaune–la–Rolande to Auschwitz.
July 1942 Roundup of Jews in Paris, sent to Drancy, Beaune-la-Rolande or Pithiviers (the usual end destination from these camps is Auschwitz).
August 1942 Second deportation from Beaune–la–Rolande to Auschwitz.
Summer 1942 Roundups and deportations of Jewish immigrants in Unoccupied Zone; some protests and clandestine assistance operations from church figures.
Autumn 1942 The voluntary French workforce becomes the forced ‘Service de travail obligatoire’; this provokes defection (réfractaires) and swells ranks of Resistance and maquis operations.
November 1942 Allied invasion of North Africa (‘Operation Torch’); Germany responds by occupying previously Unoccupied Zone in France.