Houston’s Survivors

When Hermann Rath fled his native Austria in August 1938, he had mixed feelings. In the five months since German troops had marched into Austria, absorbing it into the Greater German Reich, life had become unbearable for the Jews there. Yet, as Hermann wrote in a memoir many years later, “In spite of all the personal hardship, I had loved Vienna, the place of my birth.” As he stole across the border into neutral Belgium, Hermann was plagued with fears for the family members he was leaving behind. After Germany seized Austria, Hermann’s father had gathered the family together and exhorted them to “choose life,” seeking ways to escape the clutches of the Nazis even if that meant splitting up. Accordingly, Hermann’s two sisters had secured permission to go to England and work as domestic servants. Like the rest of the family, they realized that there was no future for them in Austria, where anti-Jewish regulations had already driven the family’s hand-knitting business to the brink of insolvency. But Hermann’s parents and his two brothers had yet to find a way out. They remained in Vienna, struggling to eke out a living and to steer clear of the violent anti-Jewish thugs who roamed the streets.

As a refugee, Hermann was not permitted to seek paid employment in Belgium. He subsisted on a modest stipend from a Jewish relief committee in Brussels. During his first weeks there, hunger was a constant companion. In October 1938, Hermann was overjoyed to learn that an uncle in the United States had agreed to support his immigration application by serving as his financial guarantor. But when Hermann reported to the U.S. Consulate to collect his visa, joy turned to frustration. The consul told him that his uncle’s guarantee of support was insufficient, and refused to grant him a visa. Over the course of the following year, Hermann routinely visited the Consulate, but the answer was always the same. In November 1939, Hermann visited as usual, expecting to be rebuffed once more. Instead, to his “delightful surprise,” he was asked to raise his right hand and swear an oath. Then the clerk stamped a precious, life-saving American visa in his passport.

Hermann arrived in the United States in December 1939, settling in New York and working as a shipping clerk. In Europe, he had begun his career as an engineer, but he was grateful simply to be self-supporting in the United States. Hermann was inducted into the U.S. Army, serving as a commissioned officer. While on assignment at Harvard University, he met Ann Shankman, whom he married in 1943. They raised one daughter, Paula. Honorably discharged from the Army in 1945, Hermann established a career as an engineer, eventually switching to the chemical and oil refinery field. His career took the family to Europe, South America, and Asia. After Hermann’s retirement in 1983, he and Ann settled in Houston, were he volunteered at Seven Acres Geriatric Center and served with the Holocaust Survivors Organization.

Parents:
Berisch Rath, survived
Ester Schecter Rath, survived

Siblings:
Elias, survived
Josefine, d. 1911
Regina, survived
Lina, survived
Otto, survived
Alfred, d. 1934