Erika Tamar (F / Austria, 1934), Holocaust survivor

Erika Tamar (F / Austria, 1934), Holocaust survivor

Henry Tamar (M / Austria, 1929-2014), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : <Refugees> <United States> <Kraus Rescue Mission>

Biography

Erika Tamar was born in Vienna on June 10, 1934. She and her brother Heinz (Henry) were among the "50 children" who arrived in the United States thanks to the Kraus Rescue Mission.

USHMM

Erika Tamar, born on June 10, 1934 in Vienna, Austria, discusses her parents, who originated in Poland; her father, who was a physician; seeing the broken glass on the streets after Kristallnacht; her fear upon seeing SS at the bakery; her desire to join the Nazi Youth Party when she watched the girls march down the street; her family being forced to fire their Austrian au pair when Hitler came to power; being chosen for the Kindertransport to the United States along with her nine-year-old brother (Henry); her parents’ attempts to prepare their children for the US by giving them English lessons; waving goodbye to their parents from the train that was to take them to a ship; stopping in Berlin along the way; her brother taking care of Erika during their journey as well as when they arrived in the US, stayed in a camp (waiting for foster parents), and took a bus to Texas; spending several months living with foster parents in Texas; the foster parents, who had no children nor training in childcare, which made them appear mean at times; her parents’ arrival in New York in June 1939; taking a train with her brother and reuniting with their parents; residing in an apartment in Queens, NY; not recognizing her mother at first; her father obtaining his medical license and setting up his practice in Washington Heights; attending a conference of the 1,000 children who arrived unaccompanied to the US during WWII; and her career writing teenage novels and picture books (22 books in all).