Ruth Blumenstock / Ruth Mandel (F / Austria, 1938), Holocaust survivor
Ruth Blumenstock / Ruth Mandel (F / Austria, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Refugees> <MS St. Louis> <England> -- <United States>
Biography
Ruth Mandel (born Ruth Blumenstock) is the daughter of Mechel Blumenstock (b. 1902) and Lea Schmelzer Blumenstock (b. 1914). Ruth was born in Vienna in 1938. After the Nazi takeover of Austria, Mechel, who was born in Poland, was officially declared "stateless." On the night of Kristallnacht, November 9-10 1938, he was arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp. Lea managed to secure his release by obtaining a visa for him to immigrate to Shanghai. Mechel, however, attempted to flee to Belgium and join his oldest brother who was living there illegally. He was caught and sent back to Vienna. In the meantime, Lea's brother, Gabriel Schmelzer, who was living in New York, arranged for the family to receive Cuban visas and purchased three tickets for them on the MS St. Louis. Ruth, aged eight months, was probably the youngest passenger on board the ship. After the ship was turned away from Cuba, the Blumenstocks sought refuge in England. Originally they were forbidden to seek employment. England wanted Mechel to serve in the Polish army, but having been stripped of his prior citizenship, he refused. He then was drafted into the British army. Mechel's brother had also been in England, but having been declared an "enemy alien," he was deported to Australia. The Blumenstocks stayed in England until 1949 also caring for a cousin, Henry Schmelzer who had arrived earlier on the Kindertransport. In 1949 they immigrated to the United States, and Henry went to Israel.