Tony, Mom tells a similar story about the reception her and my Oma received when they first arrived in Austria. Mom and Oma were not in the camps all the time from 1944-1948. They were frequently sent to work camps. Mom attributes her survival to that because they were able to get more food by working on the farms than staying in the camps. In 1948, they decided to escape the slave labor situation they were in. The made their way to Hungary and then to Austria. They arrived broken, dirty, and in tattered clothes. The Austrians threw things at them and said "Go home gypsies". I guess the Austrians had enough of the refugees by that time. Anyway, mom says they cried. It was a horrible greeting to someone who had lost everything, struggled to survive, and dared death to escape. Despite the cold greeting, Austria is her most favorite place in the world. Rita ________________________________ From: DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> on behalf of afs1--- via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2018 4:51 PM To: Henry Fischer Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [DVHH] Who invited us? This is an interesting discussion. I am from Hodschag, was transferred to Gakowa on Palm Sunday 1945, where we survived until we escaped sometime in the spring of 1947 to Hungary, Burgenland and finally to Vienna where we lived until we migrated to America. I attended school there until 3rd grade. I never felt discrimination while in school but the surrounding community of Viennese did not particularly like these “Schwowa from Southern Europe”. One thing that I always remember during those school days was that there were no public libraries. The local school permitted only the “smart students”to take books out. Luckily I was one of the “smart”. Anyone out there with similar experiences. Tony Selinger Blauvelt, NY Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 2, 2018, at 11:34 AM, Henry Fischer via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: > > Actually ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

My father, his mother and grandmother escaped from the Gakowa Lager in 1946 and made it to Austria via Hungary as well.  They were in the vicinity of Graz until 1952, which is when they emigrated to Canada.  My grandfather was in a Russian prison camp in the Ukraine until 1950, after which he was reunited with the rest of the family.  I grew up living with all of them and I never heard any of them speak badly of the Austrians.  Just as Rita has recounted about her family, my family said that the years they spent in Austria were the best.  Perhaps part of it is that they had just left the worst of conditions.  The only negative thing that my father has said is that at first, some Austrians teased him about his Schwowisch dialect. Roy EngelPickering, Ontario On Friday, January 19, 2018 9:51 PM, Rita Schiwanowitsch via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: Tony, Mom tells a similar story about the reception her and my Oma received when they first arrived in Austria.  Mom and Oma were not in the camps all the time from 1944-1948.  They were frequently sent to work camps.  Mom attributes her survival to that because they were able to get more food by working on the farms than staying in the camps. In 1948, they decided to escape the slave labor situation they were in.  The made their way to Hungary and then to Austria.  They arrived broken, dirty, and in tattered clothes.  The Austrians threw things at them and said "Go home gypsies".  I guess the Austrians had enough of the refugees by that time.  Anyway, mom says they cried.  It was a horrible greeting to someone who had lost everything, struggled to survive, and dared death to escape. Despite the cold greeting, Austria is her most favorite place in the world. Rita ________________________________ From: DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> on behalf of afs1--- via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2018 4:51 PM To: Henry Fischer Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [DVHH] Who invited us? This is an interesting discussion. I am from Hodschag, was transferred to Gakowa on Palm Sunday 1945, where we survived until we escaped sometime in the spring of 1947 to Hungary, Burgenland and finally to Vienna where we lived until we migrated to America. I attended school there until 3rd grade. I never felt discrimination while in school but the surrounding community of Viennese did not particularly like these “Schwowa from  Southern Europe”. One thing that I always remember during those school days was that there were no public libraries. The local school permitted only the “smart students”to take books out. Luckily I was one of the “smart”. Anyone out there with similar experiences. Tony Selinger Blauvelt, NY Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 2, 2018, at 11:34 AM, Henry Fischer via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: > > Actually ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message