FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: It’s Morning Edition on KRPS. I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro. Tomorrow is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005. January 27 commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the genocide of one-third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945.
The day remembers the killing of six million Jews, two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population, and millions of others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Two holocaust survivors relocated to Joplin. On Thursday, I spoke with Paul Teverow with the United Hebrew Congregation in Joplin. He’s also a retired history professor at Missouri Southern State University.
And Mary Ann Phillips of the Murphysburg Historic District in Joplin. They told me about two brothers who survived the holocaust and immigrated to Joplin. Their story is told in the book, “Saved by the Enemy…The True Story of Fred and Henry Taucher: Survival Amidst Nazi Terrorism in Berlin,” published in 2011.
I started by asking Mary Ann if she could give us some background on the Taucher brothers and the situation they and other Jewish residents faced in Berlin as Hitler was coming to power.
MARY ANN PHILLIPS: Back in about 2016, one of the members of the Jewish congregation here in Joplin said, almost throw away the line. She just said to my next-door neighbor, you know, there's a book written about two boys who escaped Germany and came to live in Joplin.
And then she gave us the address, 204 S. Jackson.
And you know, our antennas went up because we're always looking for stories that happened in the historic Murphysburg district. Well, this technically is just on the other side of our district, but it was such a fascinating story that we did more research on it.
So obviously we read the book and found that two young men from Germany already lived in Joplin, and they had gotten out in 1939-1940 somewhere in there and ended up in Joplin and that's a whole other story.
Then the young boys and their cousins, the two other brothers in Germany, lost their parents. One was, the mother. Was killed in the crossfire and then the father of these two boys was captured and he was sent to the camps. So these boys were, you know, orphaned, they were by themselves.
But how? The book Saved By The Enemy. They were two ladies that they managed to befriend, if you will, one of them was the midwife who delivered the two boys, Henry and Fred. I'm using their American names just to make it easier.
The laws kept coming down and the executive orders from Hitler and the government and the Nazis eventually said that Jewish children could not be born in a hospital. So their mother had to scramble and she found a midwife to help her have that second son and that midwife happened to be in the Nazi party. I mean, the whole thing is just, it just doesn't even make sense.
You know, if it wasn't true, you wouldn't believe that kind of thing. But so then, as time went on and the war escalated everything got worse. She still managed to have a heart for these two boys, for the family, and for the two boys.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: Paul Teverow with United Hebrew Congregation says that the brothers were welcomed to Joplin by an existing southwest Missouri Jewish community, many of whom were actively serving in the US military.
PAUL TEVAROW: The Jewish community in Joplin was certainly involved in the war effort, as you can see in this picture of the leading of the local Benet Brick Lodge in 1942, the 40th anniversary. A good many of the men are in uniform. The Joplin Jewish Welfare Federation and its annual fund drives devoted a substantial part of the funds that were collected to helping Jewish refugees who managed to get out of Europe as well as Jews who could be reached in Europe.
That remained true for part of the war also because Camp Crowder was so close to here, a good many of the Jewish soldiers, who of course came from all over the country, were welcomed at the temple, especially on Jewish holidays. And then after the war again, the Joplin Jewish Welfare Federation was especially interested in raising funds to help displaced persons in Europe.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: When preparing for the interview, I thought of the refugees that have much more recently relocated to Joplin and greater southwest Missouri. The differences and similarities of people fleeing their homes for peace and security. Paul has considered similar questions when considering a world that is extremely challenged.
PAUL TEVAROW: That's a very good point, Fred. I've been thinking about that as well, because for Jews especially, we think how a good many victims of the Holocaust could have been saved if countries had been willing to take them in.
But there were very few that were. And of course, we cannot, the United States cannot take responsibility for all the refugees in the world. But we have to consider seriously if we're not going to take them in. What provisions are we going to make to ensure their safety?
FRED: The Taucher brother's story is much more straightforward in the book, “Saved by the Enemy”. Mary Ann and Paul say their relocation to Missouri was anything but linear and included plenty of assistance from Jewish groups both in Europe and the US.
MARY ANN PHILLIPS: It took them a long time to even get here because Germany still, you know, they had to have all types of visas and they had to prove their mom was dead, even they had to prove they were orphans, but they were helped by all the organizations that were in Germany.
PAUL TEVAROW: Right, there was the Joint Distribution Committee, which still flourishes today and helps Jews all over the world, as well as other people who are facing problems because of natural disasters or armed conflicts.
And then there was a body created right after the war called the Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in the US Zone of Germany. That operated from 1945 to 1950, and I think it was through them that the Taucher Boys managed to gain entrance to the United States.
MARY ANN PHILLIPS: Well, they came, but they chose the United States. I mean, they could have chosen another country, but they did know that they had two what they thought were Uncles because they were you know, like 20 years older than them, but they thought they had two uncles in in the United States come to find out they were Cousins, they weren't Uncles.
The committee has a newspaper, but although it's printed in Germany, I mean, it's printed in German. It's printed in New York, but in German, the language German. And it went, you know, around the world. And so it had a whole list of relatives that were being sought. You know, being you know, hey, do you know these people kind of thing, and then somebody did. The Taucher Boys did not take that paper, but their friends did.
And so they contacted, their names were Felix and Alfred here in Joplin and said, hey, your cousins are looking for you. And of course, they said yes. Yes. We want to sponsor them. We, you know, they want, we want them to come live with us and all the social services said, OK, you know, we're going to send them to New York.
So they get in New York, they're sent to an orphanage there and then they keep, you know, trying to find the which were their cousins, not their Uncles. But there was a problem.
Social services said. Well, wait a minute. There's not a lady in the house. There's not a woman in the house to take care of these boys like two men. Don't know how to cook, I guess I don't know. And so there was a problem. So then instead of letting them come to Joplin, they sent the boys to Kansas City and they were in Foster, Jewish foster families there, but they didn't want that.
They wanted to be with the two cousins that they knew, so they caught, up they had the idea. Oh, wait a minute. We've got another cousin in Palestine who's a female. So they contacted her and said, would you want to come to the United States and live with us? And she said, absolutely. So. But you know this takes a while. It took almost two years for them to finally leave Germany and finally make it to Joplin.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: In a world full of chaos, conspiracy theories, and holocaust deniers Mary Ann thinks that the story of Fred and Henry Taucher is still relevant today, both for adults and adolescents.
MARY ANN PHILLIPS: Well, the books are available online and you can get an ebook or a hardcover book. It was printed in 2011. You'd think it was printed yesterday, and it's a very easy read. It's got some good pictures in it. And you know, I would suggest that even for younger readers, you know, not just adults, it's not so horribly graphic that it wouldn't traumatize, you know, a younger reader, I think, and, because these boys were young, you know, I think it would be a good read for younger children.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: With tomorrow being the 19 anniversary of the UN’s declaration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day Paul is concerned about the rise in the number of holocaust deniers and suggests they do some research or visit a local holocaust museum.
PAUL TEVAROW: The only thing I'd add is because, as you said, this Saturday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. I would encourage people to learn about the Holocaust. I guess another lesson we can get about this is that. There are altogether too many Holocaust deniers out there, and I think it takes only a little bit of reading to realize that no, this really happened.
And there are lots of good resources. People can check the website of the United States Holocaust Museum closer by there is a Midwest Holocaust Resource Education Center in Kansas City. That has online good first-hand accounts of Holocaust survivors who wound up in this region.
The book is “Saved by the Enemy…The True Story of Fred and Henry Taucher: Survival Amidst Nazi Terrorism in Berlin,” published in 2011.
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