I am trying to recreate my family's exodus from Vienna in 1938.  Once in Holland, they stayed with family friends, the Bärandses and the Bäcks. I know they left Rotterdam on the S.S. Staatendam on Sept. 10, 1938, arriving in New York on Sept. 18. My best guess is that they left Vienna some time after June 27 as that date is stamped on my grandmother's password. Sadly, I never asked my mother for more details of her journey. Of course, her memory may have been limited since she was only 6 at the time. All she remembered was being on a train at night. She remembered seeing what she thought might have a huge hotel on fire. What route might that train have taken? How long would the trip have been? How much might the fare have been? My grandfather, Paul LICHTENTHAL did not travel with his wife and daughter to the US until later as he was not released from Buchenwald until Feb. 11, 1939. In a letter written February 17, 1939, he said, "I will probably fly to Rotterdam, because my recent need for rail travel has been met" (I'm sure that's a reference to the trains which took him to Dachaua and Buchewald!) How much would a flight like that have been?  He said on the S.S. Zaandam on March 4 - 15, 1939.  I would appreciate any information related to travel from Vienna to the US via Holland during this period,.

Deborah Samuel Holman
Hamden, CT
JewishGen ID: 358160