Tennenbaum family in Nazi Vienna; departing on the Queen Mary ship

Marcus (Mark) Tennenbaum was instrumental in securing exit visas and making other emigration arrangements for most members of his family. Marcus, Ernestine, and Robert escaped Vienna via the Queen Mary which left Cherbourg, France on March 19, 1939 and arrived in New York on March 23. Edith [now Edie Ostern], her brother George (not in the film), mother Dora, and grandparents Malka and Leib arrived in the U.S. in November 1939. Their cousin Paul Beller was rescued by the Americans, Gil and Eleanor Kraus, and arrived in Philadelphia without his parents in 1939 as part of the Fifty Children initiative. Edith's father, Emil Tennenbaum, was arrested on Kristallnacht and imprisoned in Dachau for several weeks. He eventually made it to the U.S. in January 1940. Paul's mother Mina (Dora's sister) also escaped to the U.S., but his father Leo failed a health exam and was rejected by the U.S. Consulate. Leo Beller departed Europe on a ship bound for Palestine but was intercepted by the British and imprisoned on the island of Mauritius for several years before making it to the U.S. after the war. Edith's maternal grandmother, Sara Austein, was briefly interned in Gurs, a camp in southern France. Leo (Simche Leib) Beller was from an agricultural family in Poland and arrived in Vienna in 1915. He married Mina Tennenbaum on November 18, 1928 in the Siebenbrunnen-temple of Vienna. He was employed in a hardware store and taken in as a partner in the Tennenbaum family's established plywood business. Since he was not an Austrian citizen and considered stateless, he decided to undergo (unnecessary) appendix surgery and escaped to Bratislava. He waited out the war in a British detention facility on the island of Mauritius, where he had been sent after being caught trying to enter Palestine illegally. After the war, he was allowed to immigrate to the United States, sailing on a freighter that arrived in Baltimore in July 1946. Mina arrived in the US in late January 1940. Paul Beller was born around 1932 in Vienna to Leo and Mina (Tennenbaum) Beller. He was one of the Fifty Children (the 50 children) rescued in 1939 by the Americans, Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus. Paul lived with the Amram family in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, for about a year. His mother, Mina, obtained a visa for the United States, arrived in late January 1940, and settled in New York City. His father, Leo, waited out the war in a British detention facility on the island of Mauritius, where he had been sent after being caught trying to enter Palestine illegally. After the war, he was allowed to immigrate to the United States, sailing on a freighter that arrived in Baltimore in July 1946 Paul attended City College of New York and later obtained a master's degree in public administration from New York University. He spent two years int he U.S. Army, after which he began a forty-year career with the federal government, most of it working for the national Medicare office his Maryland. Paul and his wife, Glenda, have three children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. They live in New Jersey. November 1937. Robert (Bobby) Tennenbaum (donor) at age 2 in the Volksgarten park in Vienna with his mother, Ernestine (Erna). Shots of Bobby, wearing a winter coat and hat, smiling and running in the park, while his mother and grandfather look on. Closer views of Erna and grandfather. Erna wears a fur stole around her neck. Other park-goers are visible in BG. Shots of Erna and Bobby's grandfather. More scenes of Bobby with various adults, including his father Marcus. Leo Beller with his son Paul in St. Johann park. Paul poses for the camera and sits on a bench while his father combs his hair. Bobby in the Volksgarten again on December 26, 1937. 01:03:35 January 30, 1938. A group eating a meal around a table in a restaurant in Kahlenberg, a mountain hiking destination near Vienna. Among those in the group are Jules Pressner and Victor Ergas, friends of the Tennenbaums who lived in Paris. [As Marcus prepared to flee Austria, he shipped many of his family's possessions to Pressner and Ergas in Paris. He reclaimed them when he and his family passed through Paris on the way to board the Queen Mary in Cherbourg. Marcus writes in his memoir that Pressner managed to escape when the Nazis invaded France; Ergas was deported and perished at Mauthausen (Gusen).] 01:03:47 Paul Beller with his mother Mina (Tennenbaum) Beller and Sara Austein in St. Johann park in Vienna on February 5, 1938. They walk toward the camera several times. Paul smiles and acts for the camera. 01:04:44 Bobby and cousin Edith (daughter of Marcus's brother Emil and wife Dora Austein) in Drasche Park in Vienna, May 1938. Bobby next to a park bench; Edith walking toward the camera; Bobby and Edith walking hand-in-hand with their cousin Paul. Edith and Bobby playing. A swastika on a lamp post is visible behind Edith at 01:05:19. The camera focuses on some adults in the group, including grandfather and Erna. Others probably in the group include: Edith's parents (Emil and Dora) and Paul's parents (Mina and Leo). 01:07:00 According to Marcus's memoir, on July 31, 1938, Bobby plays with the Tennebaum's maid, Hedy, in the park at city hall. Marcus writes in his memoir that their maids worked for them until September 1938, when they were forbidden to work for Jews any longer. He writes, "They had no chance to get jobs with Christian homes, ours cried and had to return to their families in the countryside to work on the farms to which they were not used any more, having lived in the big city for many years (439)." 01:07:41 Erna, Marcus, and Bobby on board the Queen Mary, headed for the U.S. in March 1939. Bobby and his parents on board ship. Bobby and Erna, both wearing sunglasses, pose on the deck. Bobby greets another child and shakes his hand. Family on deck and looking out at the ocean. Erna holds Bobby and another young child (not a family member) by the hand.