Form AC Rev.
File No. 811.11
THE FOREIGN SERVICE
of the
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
American Consulate
Stuttgart, P.O. Box 949
4 APR 1941
Date of postmark
To the holder of registration number 9831 for 2 persons
You are hereby informed that the documents you submitted for review have been
provisionally deemed sufficient, and that your case can be processed immediately,
provided that quota numbers are still available, as soon as proof is furnished that you
would be in a position to travel to the United States if a visa were issued to you. The
ability to travel to the United States consists not only of being able to leave Germany,
but also of having the possibility of obtaining ocean passage and reaching the port of
embarkation. In view of the currently limited availability of ship passages, the deposit
of a sufficient amount for your ocean passage cannot be regarded as final proof of the
ability to travel to the United States.
As soon as you have made firm travel arrangements, you should submit documentary
proof thereof, so that you may receive a summons to appear at the Consulate for your
visa application.
THE AMERICAN CONSUL GENERAL
O/1009 Document
Official letter from the American Consulate General in Stuttgart to the Oppen...
Form. AC Rev.
File No. 811.11
THE FOREIGN SERVICE
of the
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Amerikanisches Konsulat
Stuttgart, Postfach 949
4 APR 1941
Datum des Poststempels
An den Inhaber der Registrierungsnummer 9831 für 2 Personen
Hierdurch wird Ihnen mitgeteilt, daß die von Ihnen zur Prüfung eingesandten
Dokumente vorbehaltlich als genügend erachtet worden sind und daß Ihre An-
gelegenheit sofort berücksichtigt werden kann, vorausgesetzt, daß noch Quoten-
nummern zur Verfügung stehen, sobald der Nachweis vorliegt, daß Sie in der
Lage wären, nach den Vereinigten Staaten zu reisen, falls Ihnen ein Visum aus-
gestellt würde. Die Möglichkeit, nach den Vereinigten Staaten zu reisen, besteht
nicht nur darin, daß Sie in der Lage sind, Deutschland zu verlassen, sondern auch,
daß Sie die Möglichkeit haben, Ozeanpassage zu erhalten und den Einschiffungs-
hafen zu erreichen. In Anbetracht der zurzeit nur in beschränktem Maße erhält-
lichen Schiffspassagen kann die Hinterlegung eines genügenden Betrages für Ihre
Ozeanpassage nicht als endgültiger Beweis für die Möglichkeit der Reise nach den
Vereinigten Staaten angesehen werden.
Sobald Sie feste Reisevorbereitungen getroffen haben, sollten Sie dokumen-
tarischen Nachweis darüber vorlegen, damit Sie eine Vorladung erhalten können,
um zur Visumantragstellung beim Konsulat zu erscheinen.
DER AMERIKANISCHE GENERALKONSUL
O/1009 This is the pivotal document in the entire collection — the American Consulate's response to over a year of accumulated affidavits and sponsorship documentation. Dated April 4, 1941, the Stuttgart consulate acknowledges that the Oppenheimers' paperwork has been "provisionally deemed sufficient" (registration 9831 for 2 persons) — a hard-won victory after affidavits from Samuel Morris, Mina Kaufmann, William and Ottilie Langerbein, and Bertha Katz. However, the letter immediately imposes a devastating new condition: the Oppenheimers must prove they can actually travel to the United States. The consulate explicitly notes that this means not just leaving Germany, but obtaining ocean passage and reaching the port of embarkation — an increasingly impossible requirement by April 1941. With the Netherlands, Belgium, and France under German occupation, traditional embarkation ports were closed. The consulate further states that merely depositing money for passage is not sufficient — firm travel arrangements must be documented. This Catch-22 — visas granted only upon proof of travel arrangements that required visas to obtain — was a bureaucratic trap that ensnared thousands of would-be refugees. By mid-1941, the U.S. State Department under Breckinridge Long was actively using such procedural barriers to restrict Jewish immigration. Whether Julius and Elsa Oppenheimer were ultimately able to satisfy this final condition and escape is the central question left unresolved by this document.