The Life and Thought of Louis Lowy: Social Work Through the Holocaust

5. Louis and Ditta

92 5 Louis and Ditta Nearly all the residents of the Deggendorf Center were hoping to find others who had survived—family, friends, acquaintances from their hometowns—and some would continue hoping and searching for the rest of their lives.1 Success or failure in finding a loved one depended less on formal tracing services than on gossip, rumor, chance, and luck, and so it was for Louis Lowy and Ditta Jedlinsky, who had promised to find each other after the war. Louis and Ditta had parted in May 1944, when Ditta and her mother, Hilda Jedlinsky, were deported from Terezín to Auschwitz. The last Louis had heard of Ditta had been during the final months of the war, when he and his small band were making their way toward the Black Sea. As Vern Drehmel remembered, “Early in our travels, Louis had been told by someone that he had carried Ditta’s corpse into a burial pit. Many people told stories like that,” but often the stories were false. In October 1945, possibly on the day of the election in the Deggendorf Center, Louis learned that Ditta was alive. As Louis recalled: There was a time when somebody in Deggendorf told me that he just came from Vienna. Of course, there was no traffic, but people did go back and forth. There were only army trucks and lorries, and the Americans took you around, and the British took you around, and the Russians took you around. There was no mail, except for the military government . The military had mail, and you could get something through the army. It was a society without a future. But there were young guys from Deggendorf who went and tried [to find people] and eventually some reached Vienna. Vienna had already established a Jüdische Kultusgemeinde [Jewish Community Council] Louis and Ditta | 93 where people could meet. And so one of these guys came into the office, and he said, “Look, Louis, I have news for you!” And I said, “What’s the news?” And he said, “I have just seen Ditta!” “My God! Where did you see her?” I mean it was almost impossible to hear about anybody. The likelihood was so remote. And he said, “Well, I met her in Vienna. She was at the Kultusgemeinde with her mother to find out who’s around. But they are not living in Vienna. They are living in Slovakia, in Bratislava. There was nothing for them in Vienna anymore, so they wanted to see whether they could get into any of the displaced persons camps.” So I said, “Well, I’ll go to Bratislava and see what’s what.” Now that was easier said than done. First of all there was no transportation . So I negotiated with UNRRA, and they gave me space on a truck that went back and forth. The American troops were occupying Czechoslovakia. They were in Pilsen, about twenty miles from Prague. But from Pilsen, you had to go into the Russian occupation zone, which I wasn’t particularly keen on doing! On top of that, there was another problem. I was a Czech citizen, and all Czech citizens were liable for the draft. The Czech government had immediately reintroduced the draft at the end of the war, and I had no desire to join the Czech Army! So I had to avoid being identified as a Czech, and I had to get myself through the Russian zone, which wasn’t allowed, but anyhow, what wouldn’t you do for love? And so I did it! I managed to get to Pilsen, and from Pilsen, I went on a Russian train going with the troops. Again, the language helped a great deal. I got through and ended in Bratislava. I knew the address. I went to see Ditta and her mother, and by golly, they were there! And we stayed a few days, and then I said, “I’ll take both of you to Deggendorf to the DP camp.” Finally I made the arrangements. I took others, too, by the way. I organized about twelve or fourteen people to take back with me. We went by train to Pilsen and from Pilsen, I managed to get a lift to the Bavarian border. But there was a curfew. You couldn’t go out at night. So we stayed outside. It was in November 1945. 94 | The Life and...