|
|
Before the warBertold Linder is born in 1911 in Brody, today in Ukraine. He is the elder son of Jacob and Malka. When in 1912, his little sister Frieda is born the family leaves Brody for Vienna. Jacob was until then working in a brush factory while Malka was s a hairdresser. The consecutive births of the two children push the family in changing their way of life. Malka is now taking care of the children as Jacob, who signs in the army is assigned to a base in the suburbs of Vienna. After the WWI, the family expands with the birth of Wilhelm. Bertold leaves high school at 18 to attend a trade school. According to his testimony, he joins the socialist youth.
Standing from left to right: Bertold & Emilie Linder,Frieda & Nathan Kornweitz. When in 1938, the Reich’s annexation of Austria is complete, Bertold runs away to find haven in Belgium with his brother. They enter illegally the Belgian territory on Mai 14th 1938 and declare themselves to the authorities on Mai 24th. Emilie, who is an Aryan, files rapidly for divorce. Bertold, contrary to the majority of refugees, manages to get proper papers and a work permit quite easily. InternmentOn May 10th 1940, Bertold is arrested by the Belgian police during the massive arrests of enemy aliens ( citizens of the Reich territory). He finds his brother at the gathering centre. They are deported, in southern France; after a tiring journey they arrive in the camp of St Cyprien. The filthy shape of the camp, makes them sick, typhus and malaria are alas, the common share for internees. The two brothers are hospitalized at an undetermined time; they escape from the St Louis’s hospital in Perpignan before the internees’s census of October 1940.
Salleles d’Aude gathers about thirty foreign Jewish refugees, among them, the Spira Family. Bertold is most likely detailed to a group of foreign workers, and is probably doing rural labour. In January 1942 the two brothers wed, Bertold spouses Gisela Spira, who is ten years younger than him, while Wilhelm marries Rosalie Eilander. Bertold is sent after that, in forced residence in Lamalou les Bains and avoids getting arrested during the large arrests of August 26, 1942. On December 25, Gisela gives birth to a son; Roland.
In spring 1943, they settle in Saint Martin Vésubie, a small town situated in the Southern Alps, under Italian control not far from Nice. Bertold registers at the city hall to get some provision vouchers. The large community of Jewish refugees is quickly organizing itself with the help of the welfare committee and of the UGIF, who ships from Nice, means and human resources. Bertold is involved in sports activities and joins the adolescents in their partying. Bertold is 32 years old, he is a father and a husband, and yet, during that summer of 1943, he behaves like the teenagers he socializes with. Surviving through collaboration
The convoy 64 leaves Drancy on December 7, 1943 and arrives in Auschwitz on December 12. Bertold is selected able to work and tattooed. Gisela and Roland are gassed as soon as they arrive.
 Bertold in 1945
On January 2 1946, Bertold marries Johanna Winkler with whom he has two children.
In 1995, for the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of the camps, Bert Linder publishes his memoirs. He dies in 1997. None of the legal charges against him by Holocaust survivors were relayed by the countries harbouring him. |
Bertold LinderDate of birth: August 16, 1911Place of birth: Brody, PolandLocation before 1938: Leystrasse, 21 Vienna (20)Steps in exile: Brussels - St Cyprien - Salleles d'Aude - Lamalou les Bains - Borgo San Dalmazzo - Nice - DrancyStatus in 1945: Survivor
Deceased on September 22, 1997 in the US |
In 1933, he marries his sister’s friend, Emilie Meier. As she is not Jewish, they get married at the City Hall in Vienna. He’s now employed as a driver and says being an active member of the socialist party.