Josef Salzmann was born in Vienna on June 9th 1899 to Jakob and Josephine Löwe. He married Anna Scharf in 1926 and their son, Kurt, was born on April 28th 1927, followed by Renate in 1936.
In November 1938 the family fled Austria after the Night of broken glasses and crossed over into Belgium to settle in Anvers. On May 10th 1940 they were all arrested during the roundups of undesirables and the family was separated. Josef was sent to St Cyprien camp where he remained until October 1940. He was on the transfer list to Gurs and then he also appeared on the lists at les Milles in May 1941 where he waited for a visa for the United States. Anna and the children were interned, like Frieda and Karin Kornweitz at Vallon en Sully for three months. Anna was freed and went to Marseilles. In July 1941 the police in Marseilles issued them with identity cards. Kurt stayed for while at the Château de Chabannes in the Creuse area, which was run by the Society for Aid for Children (l’Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants). Renate died in Marseilles on May 16th 1942. Josef was sent from Les Milles to Aubagne, from where he escaped in order to rejoin his family. In April 1943 they headed to Nice in the Italian zone, from where they were sent into forced residence in St Gervais in the Haute-Savoie.
Josef and Anna described their treatment by the Italians as acceptable. On September 7th 1943 the Italians left St Gervais and the Salzmann family set out into exile again in an attempt to escape the arrival of the Germans. They stayed in Nice until March 1944, escaping the roundups. From Nice they took the train to Menton and then headed in the direction of San Remo. From there they headed on to Genova, then Milano and Luio, where they arrived on March 8th 1944. The same day, a guide led them over the mountains to Switzerland, where they then headed for Lugano, and from where they took the train to Bellinzona, capital of the canton of Ticino.
They lived in Zürich between 1944 and 1948.
On March 3rd 1948, one week before the 10th anniversary of the Anschluss, the Salzmann family disembarked at New York, bringing to an end ten years of exile.
