THE SCHWARZ FAMILY CHEST
The suitcase was found by accident in 2004 during the renovation of a tenement house at 10 Wolność i Niezawisłość Street in Łódź. It is a large object with dimensions 90 x 54 x 34 cm. It was made of wood and reinforced at the edges with leather-like material and metal fitting. Its surfaces were covered with painted canvas. The chest was found to contain objects made in the ghetto: three hangers and a pair of leather laced shoes with wooden soles. However, the inscription on the suitcase's cover, written in black paint on a white background, draws attention: E. & A. SCHWARZ. WIEN and on the underside: Erich & Anii Schwarz Wien. 9 Porzellang. 8.
The suitcase owners were Anni (born 17 January 1910) and Erich (born 25 December 1894) Schwarz from Vienna. On 17 June 1939, the couple got married at the registry office in the Leopoldstadt district (district no. 2). It was probably at this time that they moved into a shared apartment in the Alsergrund district (the number 9 in the address refers to the numerical record of the district) at Porzellangasse 8. Before her marriage, Anni (née Lercher) lived with her parents Marie and Ernst, and sister Gertrude at Praterstraße 35/22 in Leopoldstadt. This part of the town was called Mazzesinsel or "Matzoh Island" by the locals due to the large Jewish population. During this period, Erich Schwarz lived at Kasernengasse 25/36 in the Mariahilf district (district no. 6).
The couple's story was intertwined with the fate of thousands of Viennese Jews. In March 1938, after Austria was incorporated into the Third Reich, repressions began that led to the rapid emigration of Jews. As of May 1938, those wishing to leave the country could do so through the Emigration Department of the Religious Community in Vienna (Israelitische Kulturgemeinde, IKG). In August 1938, the coordination of the entire process was assumed by the Central Office for Jewish Emigration (Zentrallstelle für jüdische Auswanderung), which was established exclusively for this purpose. The thousands of emigration declarations also include those completed by the Schwarz and Lercher families, illustrating the fate of hundred with similar stories. Annie's father, Ernest and her younger sister Gertrude managed to leave Austria. They travelled to Genoa, from where they made their way to New York. The opposite was the case for Marie, Anni's mother, who remained in Vienna. On 26 January 1942, she and Victor Lercher (her husband's brother?, born 23 January 1880) were deported in transport no. 15 to Riga, where they were murdered.
We do not know the reasons why Anni and Erich remained in their home town. Likely, financial (emigration was an expensive undertaking) or formal issues got in the way. It would explain why Ernst Lechrer had to travel first, and later on, attempt to bring the rest of the family members. During this time, the Schwarz family also lost their flat. It was the aftermath of the ordinance of 10 May 1939 regulating the renting of flats and which permitted the immediate termination of agreements with Jews. The municipal authorities used this opportunity to congregate Jews in houses designed exclusively for them. The married couple had to move into one of the so-called collective flats at Kohlmessergasse 6. The house was their last address in Vienna, following which, in the autumn of 1941, they began deporting Viennese Jews from the Aspangbahnhof station to ghettos set up in eastern Europe, including the Litzmannstadt (Łódź) ghetto.
The Schwarz couple were deported to Litzmannstadt on 28 October 1941 in transport no. 9. They arrived the following day, 29 October, in a group of 1,000 people as the fourth transport from Vienna to the ghetto. According to their declarations, they brought RM95 with them (not much, considering that RM100 was the maximum amount allowed for entry per person. Like other displaced persons from various cities in the Reich and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, nearly 20,000 persons in total were sent to collective housing known as "collectives". They were colloquially named after the newcomers' place of origin and transport number. The collective "Vienna IV" was located in two houses at Limanowskiego Street (Alexanderhofstrasse) 25 and 45 (part of these buildings still exist to date). The sanitary and living conditions in the communal quarters were terrible even when compared to the prevailing conditions in the entire ghetto. Permission was only given to move out to separate flats after some time. The Schwarz family took advantage of this opportunity by moving to Brzezińska Street (Sulzfelderstrasse) 35 flat 11 (currently Wojska Polskiego Street) on 29 January 1942. They were not the only tenants; other Viennese occupied the room with them: Seraphine Schindler and Kurt Schick with two children: Igor and Trude.
Initially, they had difficulties finding employment, as did other displaced persons. It was due to unfamiliarity with local realities and the Yiddish or Polish language. Surviving documentation shows that Anni was a housewife before the war while Erich worked as a design engineer. They were, however, in a fortunate situation as they were young (Anni was 31 and Erich 47) compared to the other deportees from Vienna (more than 40% of whom were over 60 years old). Unfortunately, their fate in the ghetto remains unknown; they probably experienced the same ordeal as the newly resettled population.
A few weeks after arriving at the ghetto in January 1942, mass deportations of its inhabitants commenced to the extermination camp in Chełmno on the Ner. Western European Jews were left out in the first few months. It was finally decided that they would join the ranks of the deportees in the last operation between 4 and 15 May 1942. Anni and Erich Schwarz were also on the penultimate transport on 14 May. They were deported and then murdered in the extermination camp in Chełmno on the Ner.
The story of the victims is intertwined with the suitcase. The circumstances of its discovery beg the question of how it ended up in this location. It can be assumed that it was deposited intentionally by the owners themselves. The tenement housed a tailoring establishment where Anni may have found employment later on. Thus, she likely hid the suitcase that she couldn't carry on her further journey into the unknown. Officially, luggage up to 12.5 kg was permitted, but in practice, it was often confiscated at the assembly points or before entering the wagons at the Radegast station. During the deportation in May 1942, the seizure of all baggage became commonplace. Information regarding this practice reached those waiting to be referred for displacement. It is thus possible that they abandoned some of their possessions in this manner. It also happened that people sent for deportation were sent back from the concentration points to the ghetto (in this way, some of them avoided deportation), while their personal belongings were often forfeited. Hiding the suitcase may have served the purpose of protecting possessions from looting (in the absence of their owners). Therefore, the concealment of the suitcase may have served to protect their possessions from being plundered (in the absence of the owners). And if they didn't do it themselves, then did the concealment of the suitcase have anything to do with an attempt to hide for the duration of the displacement. Another unanswered question is how the chest remained in this location for over sixty years until its discovery. Dworska Street (known before the war as ul. Organizacji WiN) was a busy ghetto "arterial road" with several institutions of significance to ghetto life. Oskar Singer, one of the chroniclers of the ghetto, referred to it as the "heart" of the ghetto district. The number of people who could have access to the rooms was considerably high - as was the case in the post-war period.
Currently, this building is displayed at the Radegast Station Branch, embodying the thousands of stories behind each of the victims deported to the Holocaust.
Personal objects salvaged from the Holocaust have a remarkable effect on recipients. They serve as "memory depositories", directing attention to the fate of their owners. Many of these valuable objects are still being discovered and donated to museum collections. These include memorabilia related to the prisoners of the Łódź Ghetto, such as a travel chest belonging to the Schwarz family from Vienna. The unique artefact was restored this year with financial support from the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland and the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź.
Andrzej Grzegorczyk, Muzeum Tradycji Niepodległościowych,
oddział Stacja Radegast