Recently I was invited to visit the town of Hanau, Germany by the Mayor of the town to commemorate the last deportations of Jews from Hanau in 1942 which began that year May 30th. My great grandmother and great uncle were on those trains and were killed thereafter in Sobibor and Treblinka. My great grandfather and many cousins, aunts and uncles who had lived in Hanau until they were eventually killed by the Nazis as part of the “Final Solution”.

Here is the presentation I gave to a group of school pupils in Hanau, Germany:

http://www.slideshare.net/theforgottenletters/schwab-family-hanau-presentation-4365104

Ricci and Danny in Germany 30 May 2010.

Today we attended a Holocaust memorial for the Jews of Hanau who were murdered by the Nazis. Included amongst the attendees were a father and son from London – Gerhard and Tony Levi – Gerhard fled Germany on his own as a 16 year old boy (only 1 year older than my grandfather’s brother Hans who was murdered at Sobibor) leaving his brother and parents. We have met incredible non-Jews who have dedicated significant time to educating the German people about the Holocaust. We spent Shabbat with the Jewish community which is made up mainly of Russian immigrants who left Russia after the fall of communism. The Chabad Rabbi from Antwerp travels to Hanau every second Shabbat and he was incredibly hospitable. The community is starting to learn Hebrew and about Jewish tradition after so many years of being under communist rule. They were moved by Danny’s telling of our story. Tomorrow we will go to a school to speak to the students about the history of the Schwab family in Hanau (from 1605). It was very moving at the cemetry this morning seeing our great greatgrandparents’ and great grandfather’s gravestones with very special dedications.
If you are interested in finding out more about our journey into the history of our father’s family you can go to the interactive website set up by my brother www.theforgottenletters.org
More Background
Several months ago my brother (Daniel Schwab) found a box with my late grandfather’s name (Ralph Schwab) on it in my parents’ garage. After further investigation he discovered about 2 500 letters typed (carbon copies) and received by Ralph (mainly in German) spanning over 30 years – before, during and after WWII. Over the past 6 months he has found volunteers from around the world to translate the letters and the contents are astounding. They document Ralph’s arrival in SA from Germany (Hanau) via Holland, his desperate but unsuccessful attempts to save his parents and his brother from extermination by the Nazi’s, his efforts to find out the fate of his family and claims for compensation.

Besides the incredible historical significance of these documents, I believe that there is contemporary relevance to this story. I am an attorney at a large Jhb law firm tasked with co-ordinating the pro bono department, including the attendance by colleagues at ProBono.org’s weekly refugee clinic. Although I always knew my grandfather was a Jew from pre-war Germany, until I became aware of his story in detail I didn’t view myself as having been affected by being a decendent of a refugee or Holocaust survivor. I have now discovered the significant impact it has had on my family and my identity. After reading the letters, my attendence at the ProBono.org Refugee clinic has new significance. I am able to relate to the desperation of the clients at the clinic in a much more personal way. I have heard comments by colleagues that they are not interested in helping refugees for various reasons and it is so tempting to remind them that anyone can be affected by this unfortunately global phenomenon. We remember the words “First they came …” by Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984).

My brother and I have been invited by the mayor of Hanau to a Holocaust memorial on 30 May 2010 to commemorate the date the Jews of Hanau were deported to concentration camps. This event as well as visiting the places where my family lived and were active members of the Jewish and non-Jewish communities will probably make this journey even more real. It is interesting to note that our great grandfather served in the German army in WWI, was held for 2 years as a prisoner of war and received a medal for bravery by the German government. Less than 15 years later he was tortured and murdered by the Nazi’s!

Continue reading

Here is the latest version of all the letters that have been translated into English in docs and a pdf version

Continue reading

On another note we are seeking funding. Please take a look at our funding proposal. We need about $100,000 to get the letters translated from German to English and write an academically well written book by a professional writer who has been successful before in the subject of the Holocaust. All the details are in the book proposal. We’re talking to some well known donors who are considering supporting our efforts.

Still I would like to invite those who may be interested in the subject to order their copy of the book now so that we can use the money to get the book written and not have to wait for big donors to decide whether they like the project or not which is a difficult process as anyone who has tried to get people to donate can testify. Pre purchase of the book is a hybrid between a donation and a purchase.

If we don’t write the book (which is highly unlikely) I promise to give you a printed copy of the raw letters. Also pre purchasing the book means you get a discount from the final price of 30% whatever it is. Based on some research, it seems that $15-20 US dollars is a fair price but you are welcome to donate more if you wish. The best way to transfer funds is through Paypal. You don’t need an account just a credit card and my email address daniel.schwab@theforgottenletters.org.

Thanks for your support!!!

Continue reading

Thanks to all those people who’ve signed up to The Forgotten Letters facebook group. We now have 20 members in 4 days from setting up. I’ve bought the domain names www.theforgottenletters.org and www.theforgottenletters.com. as you can see they’ve not live yet, but watch this space for more news! Translation activity is going well. I also had a great meeting with Dr Shirli Gilbert who has agreed to write the book.

Continue reading