Western Union telegram from Julius and Elsa Oppenheimer in Munich to Mina Kau...

[WESTERN UNION header]
R. B. WHITE, PRESIDENT     NEWCOMB CARLTON, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD     J. C. WILLEVER, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT

The filing time shown in the date line on telegrams and day letters is STANDARD TIME at point of origin.
Time of receipt is STANDARD TIME at point of destination.

D36CC  4A  VIA RCA

CD  MUENCHEN  25  10

NLT  RP$3.87  DOKTOR KAUFMANN  [handwritten: AW]

622 WEST 141 STREET APT 3D  NEWYORKCITY

VOCKANGEBOT SIEBTER AUGUST ERREICHBAR WENN DU EINVERSTANDEN EINZAHLET
HALBE PASSAGE DREIHUNDERT DOLLARS

                                            ELSE JULIUS

THE COMPANY WILL APPRECIATE SUGGESTIONS FROM ITS PATRONS CONCERNING ITS SERVICE

This telegram — one of the very few direct communications from Julius and Elsa Oppenheimer themselves in the entire collection — was sent from Munich, likely on October 25, 1941 (based on the routing code "MUENCHEN 25 10"). Julius and Elsa inform Mina ("Doktor Kaufmann") that a travel offer from Reisebüro Vock (a Stuttgart travel agency — see 0037 and 0040) is available, with a departure date reachable by August 7th [likely a reference to a ship sailing]. They ask Mina to deposit $300 — half the passage fare — if she agrees. The telegram was sent to Mina's new address at 622 West 141st Street, Apt. 3D, New York City (c/o Heller, as per the Zaro Tours documents). The fact that Julius and Elsa could still send international telegrams from Munich in late October 1941 indicates they had not yet been deported, but the window was closing rapidly. Deportations of Munich Jews to Kaunas (Lithuania) and Riga (Latvia) began on November 20, 1941. The telegram is signed "ELSE JULIUS" — Elsa's name first — suggesting she may have been the one managing the practical arrangements from the Munich end.