Employment book of Lilli Tauber's father Wilhelm Schischa

This is my father Wilhelm Schischa's employment book from 1941.

From looking at this book I can tell that he was making part of his money by working from home. The Jewish Cultural Community supported Jews as well.

My father was the oldest son from my grandfather's first marriage. He was born in Gloggnitz on 11th October 1883. My father was a master tailor. He opened a menswear shop in Wiener Neustadt, and his master craftsman's certificate was hanging on the wall there. He regularly drove to Vienna to buy clothes from wholesalers, which he then sold in his shop.

I came to England with a Kindertransport before the war and first learned about places like Auschwitz in 1944, at the time of Rosh Hashanah, when they spoke about it in the British Parliament. It crossed my mind back then that my parents might not be alive any more.

My parents's life gradually became harder: As a qualified tailor, my father managed to earn some money in the beginning. He worked for the 'Damen und Herrenkleiderfabrik Richard Kassin' in Vienna's 1st district from 4th September 1940 to 21st February 1941. My parents were brought to Opole ghetto in Poland from Vienna on 26th February.

I own a large number of letters, which my parents wrote to Aunt Fany, Aunt Berta and my grandmother from Opole ghetto before they were murdered. Aunt Berta gave me a little leather suitcase after the war which included all documents and letters she had collected before Aunt Fany and my grandmother were deported. That way all these valuable documents were preserved.

My parents were murdered in either Belzec or Sobibor concentration camp in Poland in 1942.