In June 1999, 78-year-old Richard Adler and his wife Jehudit left Haifa, Israel, for a trip that took them to Vienna. There they were welcomed by cousins Barbara Kintaert and Peter Koppe. Together, they recalled the tragic events of the Nazi death camps, where Jehudit's family members, Richard's parents and his brother Oswald, lost their lives. Barbara and Peter first learned of the existence of the Italian concentration camps at Fossoli and Ferramonti.
In August of that year, Barbara and Peter decided to embark on a journey into the past. Aboard their camper, they reached the Fossoli Archives, where they discovered documents concerning Oswald and Trude Adler. With the help of Dr. Armentaro, they obtained additional information and the address of the Ferramonti Foundation. However, time ran out and the two had to return to Vienna.
In April 2000, Barbara and Peter traveled to Haifa, where Richard showed them letters written by Oswald and Trude during their internment. These letters, all in Italian to escape censorship, revealed valuable details about their life in the camps. In May, Barbara visited Ferramonti and met Spartaco Capogreco, who provided more information about the Adlers and pointed to the village of San Donato Val di Comino as a significant place.
In August 2000, Barbara and Peter's camper stopped in San Donato Val di Comino at the Cedrone-De Rubeis family. Three years later, Barbara returned to work in the DOEW archive in Vienna, where she found additional documents. Her research culminated in a detailed seventy-page account intended for her children and Richard.
History
of the Adler Family
Leo Adler was born on October 20, 1885, in Brody, Galicia, and his wife Henriette Fleischer on May 22, 1888, in Vienna. From their union were born Oswald on May 27, 1920, and Richard on November 7, 1921. The family lived in Vienna until 1938, when the Anschluss brought Austria under Nazi rule. Richard managed to escape to Palestine on a British visa, but Oswald, too old for the visa, remained in Vienna, where he was arrested and deported to Dachau.
Oswald managed to obtain a visa for Munich and, together with his fiancée Trude Glaser, fled to Trieste. Here they were welcomed by the local Jewish community, but their escape did not end. After several vicissitudes, they were arrested and interned in the Ferramonti Tarsia camp. In 1941, Oswald and Trude were transferred to San Donato Val di Comino, where they lived relatively quietly until 1944, when German roundups forced them to flee.
San Donato Val di Comino became a temporary refuge for Oswald and Trude. Here they received letters from their parents until the tragic extermination in the Opatow ghetto. Despite the difficulties, they attempted to maintain a semblance of normalcy, with Oswald working as a carpenter. However, security was precarious and in April 1944 they were captured by the Germans and deported to Auschwitz.
Oswald was separated from Trude upon arrival at Auschwitz and later transferred to Gross-Rosen, where he died in March 1945. Trude survived and, after liberation, was reunited with Richard. After the war, Richard married Jehudit and lived in Palestine, while Trude remarried and moved to Milan.
Visit San Donato Val di Comino to relive this touching story of resistance and memory. Discover the places that sealed the fate of the Adler family and reflect on human resilience through this journey into the past.
Did you know That...
This residence house of the Adler family is an integral part of the "Twentieth Century" route, connecting the Museum of the 20th Century and the Shoah. San Donato Val di Comino, hosted numerous Jewish refugees during World War II. Among them were. Oswald and Trude Adler, who found shelter there for almost two and a half years before being deported by the Germans.
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