Final contacts

Postcard written by Leo Rosenbaum (born 1892) on the official stationery for Dachau concentration camp prisoners, to his wife Gertrud in Vienna, dated 1 January 1939. Leo writes about plans to get out of Germany, mentions that he was questioned by the Gestapo, and enquires whether ‘Papa’ has any prospects to get away. “… I am healthy and have no more urgent longing than to be with you again."

This is the last communication from Leo as he was murdered in Dachau the following day, 2 January 1939, 47 years old.

This item is part of a collection of letters, documents and photographs belonging to Gertrud Rosenbaum, a Viennese Jew who escaped to England in July 1939. After the war she immigrated to Australia. Included in the collection are letters from her husband, Leo Rosenbaum, murdered in Dachau concentration camp; Red Cross messages between Gertrud in Cambridge and her mother Ida Deutsch, her sister Valerie (Vally) Darebnik, and Rudi (her brother) in Vienna, spanning the years 1939 to 1943.