Werner Meissner Part II: Leaving Europe

Werner ended his obligatory military service in the Czechoslovakian Army in 1938. In 1939, he witnessed the entrance of German troops into Prague. The future looked grim and Werner soon joined an illegal transport to Palestine.

In order to prepare for the transport, he enrolled in a Hahalutz and was ready to enter a Hachshara. This was a camp of sorts, preparing young people both emotionally and physically for their new lives in what was then Palestine. Werner was assigned to a small camp in Shipsko and he drove there in April of 1939. At the camp, he met seven individuals, his new "haverim" which included one married couple, five young men and one young woman. Everyday, the group rose early to clean the cowshed and then ate together at 7:30am. After breakfast, a ranger led the group to a nearby forest equipped with axes, rakes, shovels, saws and ropes. After arriving at their destination, the forester picked three trees that were to be chopped that same day.

Werner remembers this time as almost idyllic: "The silence of the forest, the marvelous air, and nature. We hardly knew what happened in the world around us."

Around September of the same year, the group was called to Prague to join an illegal transport. First, a personal call to the German emigration office was necessary but luckily the visit went without incident. Then Werner went shopping....a rucksack would be filled with boots, some underwear, a blanket, and other small items. Werner tried to convince his brother Kurt to join the transport but Kurt wanted to finish medical school. Unfortunately, he would not succeed.

The Czech universities were soon closed and Kurt also did not want to leave behind his quasi-fiance in Bilitz. Later, he joined a "Hachshara" in a failed effort to join an illegal transport to Palestine. Eventually, he ended up spending time in Prague and then Theresienstadt. His group was then sent to Auschwitz and Kurt was selected to be the pediatrician of a children's transport that the Germans were preparing to send to Switzerland in exchange for a few lorries. The negotiations failed in the last moment and the entire group of children (including their adult chaperones and their Doctor Kurt) was sent to the gas chambers.

The Meissner family would learn Kurt's story after the war.

Werner left Prague with his group from the Hachshara in November of 1939 and quickly arrived in Bratislava. Along with 300 others, all disembarked the ship and were housed in a shelter originally established for the homeless. The men slept in a big hall while the women were housed on the third floor. There were not enough toilets and washing facilities for the group; the entire transport was guarded by some kind of military police. The manager of the transport paid for these accomodations and the Jewish community of Bratislava also helped enormously. The group received board from a nearby Jewish restaurant and Werner spent quite a bit of time in its kitchen (anything to get out of the shelter).

Life in the camp was monotonous yet the group organized courses (in subjects such as Hebrew and literature), performances and lectures in order to fill up the empty days. Volleyball teams were formed and tournaments established. The group did not lack creative, educated souls.

In the meantime, the Danube was frozen and leaving Bratislava was out of the question. Then came spring and summer and still no movement. The group quickly grew anxious. The Slovak authorities threatened to send the group back to Germany and thanks to a pooling of funds, the group avoided this return trip which would have resulted in their immediate deportation to concentration camps.

Thanks to Werner and the help of a few others, the small group from the Hachshara was given permission to leave the camp to work in the fields.

"Our delight lasted only ten days and we were called back since the transport was to leave Bratislava with an unknown destination--in all probability to Auschwitz. But it was a false alarm."

It became August.

Finally on September 13th, 1940 the group was brought to the river where two ships of a Danube steamship cast anchor.

Photo: From Meissner family collection. Erich and Werner Meissner with their parents. Prague.