RCA Radiogram (telegram) from Zaro Tours Basel branch to Zaro Tours New York,...

07.11.1941 Basel, Switzerland Julius Oppenheimer , Elsa Oppenheimer , Mina Oppenheimer , Tal Shacham , Margit Bernstein , Jacob Kaufmann , Simon Oppenheimer , Frida Oppenheimer 2 pages

[Cable from Zaro Tours Basel to Zaro Tours New York:]

URGENTLY ARRANGE CUBA VISAS [for] ISAAK OPPENHEIMER BORN GEMMINGEN
5/5/82 [and] ELSA OPPENHEIMER [born] GEMMINGEN 14/2/94 RESIDENT [of]
MUNICH GERMAN NATIONALITY STOP COLLECT
415 DOLLARS INCLUDING PREVIOUS EXTRA EXPENSES AS WELL AS 650 DOLLARS
DEPOSIT AS WELL AS BANK FEE 41.30 DOLLARS FROM DEPOSITOR
MINA KAUFMANN 622 WEST 141 STREET APARTMENT 3D C/O HELLER

                                            ZAROHC [Zaro Tours]

[RCA RADIOGRAM header — R.C.A. COMMUNICATIONS, INC.]
[A RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA SERVICE]
[TO ALL THE WORLD — BETWEEN IMPORTANT U.S. CITIES — TO SHIPS AT SEA]

Send the following Radiogram "Via RCA" subject to terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to

HBELZ  SZ1257                              November 7, 1941

BASEL  131/120  6  1855  PAHE  1/50

NLT  ZAROHC  NEWYORK

EILBESORGET CUBAVISEN ISAAK OPPENHEIMER GEBOREN GEMMINGEN
5/5/82 ELSA OPPENHEIMER GEMMINGEN 14/2/94 WOHNHAFT
MUENCHEN DEUTSCHE STAATSANGEHOERIGKEIT STOP EINZIEHET
415 DOLLAR INCLUSIVE BISHERIGE EXTRASPESEN SOWIE 650 DOLLAR
DEPOT SOWIE BANKGEBUEHR 41.30 DOLLARS VON EINZAHLER
MINA KAUFMANN 622 WEST 141 STREET APARTMENT 3D C/O HELLER

                                            ZAROHC

Main Office: 66 Broad Street, New York, N.Y. (Always Open)     Phone: HAnover 2-1811

FULL-RATE MESSAGE UNLESS MARKED OTHERWISE
Sender's Name and Address
(Not to be transmitted)                     Form 100-38-TA-0840

This radiogram marks a dramatic shift in the rescue strategy. By November 1941, with direct U.S. immigration still blocked by the Stuttgart consulate's travel-proof requirement (see 0029), the plan pivoted to obtaining Cuba visas — a last-resort escape route. The cable was sent from Zaro Tours' Basel, Switzerland branch to their New York office (cable address ZAROHC), urgently requesting Cuba visas for "Isaak" (Julius Israel) Oppenheimer and Elsa Oppenheimer. The financial breakdown totals $1,106.30: $415 for costs and expenses, $650 for a deposit, and $41.30 in bank fees, all to be collected from Mina Kaufmann — now residing at 622 West 141st Street, Apt. 3D, c/o Heller (she had moved from her longtime 145 West 86th Street address). The use of "Isaak" instead of "Julius" likely reflects the forced adoption of the middle name "Israel" imposed on Jewish men by the Nazi regime's August 1938 decree. The date — November 7, 1941, exactly one month before Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) and the subsequent U.S. declaration of war on Germany — places this cable in the final weeks when any transatlantic rescue was theoretically possible. Cuba had been an alternate refuge for Jewish refugees since the famous St. Louis voyage of 1939, though by late 1941, Cuba's own immigration restrictions had tightened considerably.