Author: fariscassell

In 1939, as the Nazis closed in, Alfred Berger mailed a desperate letter to an American stranger who happened to share his last name. He and his wife, Viennese Jews, had found escape routes for their daughters. But now their money, connections, and emotional energy were nearly exhausted. Alfred begged the American recipient of the letter, “You are surely informed about the situation of all Jews … Jews in Central Europe…. By pure chance I got your address…. My daughter and her husband will go… to America…. Help us to follow our children…. It is our last and only hope….”…