In search of the lost Jews of Laa
Hilda W. left Vienna in 1939 and came to Australia with her sister. Over the years of living in Adelaide the memories of Laa a.d. Thaya, the small town where she had spent her earliest years before moving to Vienna, and which had a Jewish community of only 30 families, grew ever dimmer.
Until one day in 1992, when a letter arrived. It was from a 16-year-old girl who attended the same high school where Hilda had been a student. In her letter, the teenager, who was not Jewish, explained that she had seen a television program on extinct communities, one of which was the Laa Jewish community. This fired her curiosity and she began to make enquiries. But nobody would acknowledge that any Jews had lived in Laa, until, after several weeks, she found a woman who was prepared to talk.
The woman's daughter, through her husband's work at a university, was in contact with Carmella Z. in Israel. She too had come from Laa. Hilda and her late husband had met Carmella in Israel twice and it was she who had given Hilda's address to the young girl.
Hilda, moved by the letter, immediately replied telling her story and that of the Jews of Laa as the Nazis marched into Austria. After rereading her own letter Hilda wept - how could anybody today understand what she and others had experienced? And yet, she pointed out to the young girl, she had been one of the fortunate ones to escape the horrors the followed.
In her second letter the girl wrote that she wanted to do research of the Jews in Laa as a matriculation project. But, subsequently, her history teacher refused to supervise her. After a lengthy silence she wrote to say that she had entered a competition in a magazine called "Magazine Das Jüdische Echo". Young people from 16 - 22 had to write about an "ism" (for example fascism, antisemitism, Nazism). Her essay was entitled "The big lie in Laa".
In it she described her search for the missing Jewish families of Laa. Not only was her article published, but she also won a trip to Israel.
The story now takes another remarkable twist. A cousin of Hilda's, who lives in Vienna, saw the article and contacted the teenager. The girl then told her of a woman in Adelaide who was helping her. To her astonishment Hilda's cousin discovered the family link. The young girl from Laa and Hilda's cousin arranged to meet.
In April the teenager - Hilda wants to protect her privacy and prefers that her name not to be publicised - went to Israel. Once again she wrote to Hilda describing her Impressions. And, once again, the story takes a special turn.
In Laa, Hilda used to coach a young student in Latin. Now living in Israel, Arie N. had also read the youngster's article and of her impending trip to Israel. He decided to meet her at the airport. Carmella Z.'s family had lived opposite the N's in Laa. They had also come to meet the young Austrian traveler.
It was only at the airport that Carmella and Now living in Israel, Arie discovered that they had both been living in Israel all this time. Now living in Israel, Arie has since written to Hilda explaining how, for years, he had tried to trace Hilda and her sister.
So it was that more than 50 years later the interest, perseverance and courage of a young girl determined to undercover the fate of the lost Jewish families of her small Austrian town, linked the chains of the past - from Vienna to Adelaide, and from Tel Aviv to Laa.