Telephone Wisconsin 7-2800 Cable Address: ZAROHC
SPECIAL DELIVERY / AIR MAIL
ZARO TOURS
AUTHORIZED TRAVEL AGENCY
152 West 42nd Street • New York City
November 7, 1941
Miss Mina Kaufmann
c/o Engel
4006 Norfolk Ave.
Baltimore, Md.
Dear Miss Kaufmann,
Today we received from our Basel branch the cable enclosed in copy. Immediately
upon receipt we sent a telegram to the address given in New York City, but have just
learned from Mrs. Heller that you have moved your residence to Baltimore.
As you can see from the cable, you are to arrange entry to Cuba for your relatives
by the quickest route. For this you will need — as already mentioned —
for costs $ 830—
" deposits 1300—
" bank fee for opening the deposits 41.30
total: $ 2,171.30
Of this amount, the $1,300 will be refunded after leaving Cuba.
We are enclosing a questionnaire, which we ask you to fill out and return to us
in the enclosed reply envelope. Immediately upon receipt of this questionnaire and your
check in the above amount drawn on a New York bank, we will apply for the Cuba visas,
which will be issued in approximately 12–14 days through the Cuban Legation in Berlin.
As you can see from the cable, the matter is very urgent. Since you yourself
know what is currently happening in Germany, we would advise you to send the check
immediately.
Please send us your immediate reply in any case, as we must cable back to Basel
regarding your decision.
Respectfully,
ZARO TOURS
[Signature]
encl. Typed letter
Typed letter from Zaro Tours to Mina Kaufmann, in German, regarding Cuba visa...
Telephone Wisconsin 7-2800 Cable Address: ZAROHC
SPECIAL DELIVERY / AIR MAIL
[40th Anniversary logo: 1899-1939]
ZARO TOURS
AUTHORIZED TRAVEL AGENCY
152 West 42nd Street • New York City
November 7, 1941
Miss Mina Kaufmann
c/o. Engel
4006 Norfolk Ave.
Baltimore, Md.
Sehr geehrtes Frl. Kaufmann,
Wir empfingen heute von unserer Filiale in Basel das in
Copie beigefuegte Cabel. Wir hatten Ihnen sofort nach Erhalt ein Telegramm
an die genannte Adresse nach New York City gesandt, erfahren aber soeben
von Frau Heller, dass Sie Ihren Wohnsitz nach Baltimore verlegt haben.
Wie Sie aus dem Kabel ersehen, sollen Sie fuer Ihre Angehoerigen
die Einreise nach Cuba auf schnellstem Wege besorgen. Hierzu benoetigen Sie
— wie bereits erwaehnt —
fuer Kosten $ 830—
" Depots 1300—
" Bankgebuehr fuer Eroeffnen der Depots 41.30
zusammen: $ 2171.30
Von diesem Betrag werden die $1300— nach Verlassen Cuba's
zurueckverguetet.
Wir lassen Ihnen anliegend einen Fragebogen zugehen, welchen Sie
uns bitte ausgefuellt in beigefuegtem Antwort-Umschlag zuruecksenden wollen.
Sofort nach Erhalt dieses Fragebogens und Ihres Checks in obiger Hoehe auf
eine New Yorker Bank werden wir die Cuba-Visen beantragen, welche in etwa 12 — 14
Tagen durch die Cuba-Legation in Berlin erteilt werden.
Wie Sie aus dem Kabel ersehen, ist die Angelegenheit sehr eilig.
Da Sie wohl selbst wissen, was augenblicklich in Deutschland vorgeht, wuerden
wir Ihnen raten, den Check sofort einzusenden.
Bitte lassen Sie uns auf alle Faelle Ihre sofortige Antwort
zugehen, da wir nach Basel zuruecktelegrafieren muessen, wie Sie sich
entschieden haben.
Hochachtungsvoll
eh. ZARO TOURS
encl. [Signature] This letter represents the final, desperate attempt to rescue Julius and Elsa Oppenheimer. Zaro Tours — a well-known New York travel agency that specialized in helping refugees (founded 1899, celebrating its 40th anniversary on the letterhead) — relayed the urgent cable from their Basel, Switzerland branch. The plan was to obtain Cuban entry visas through the Cuban Legation in Berlin within 12-14 days, at a total cost of $2,171.30 (approximately $46,000 today). The $1,300 deposit was refundable upon leaving Cuba — a standard requirement to guarantee that refugees would not become permanent charges on the Cuban state. The chilling line "Since you yourself know what is currently happening in Germany" alludes to the escalating persecution without explicitly naming it — by November 1941, mass deportations of German Jews to eastern ghettos and killing sites had already begun. Mina Kaufmann had moved to Baltimore (c/o Engel, 4006 Norfolk Avenue), and the scramble to reach her — first a telegram to New York, then learning from Mrs. Heller about the move, then Special Delivery to Baltimore — underscores the frantic pace. The Cuba route via the Cuban Legation in Berlin was one of the last remaining escape paths, but it required an agonizing sequence: payment from New York to Zaro Tours, application through Berlin, visa issuance, and then actual departure from Germany — all within a rapidly closing window. The United States would enter the war exactly one month later.