At the beginning of January 1940 they had obtained all the documents required for
emigration, and Joseph’s ”application to take along household goods etc.” had been
submitted to the council of the Jewish congregation in Frankfurt - for the purpose of
advice and being passed on to the office for foreign exchange. The Frankfurt Jewish
congregation was coerced by the Nazis to collaborate with emigration procedures.
The German Jews hoped, that with this kind of collaboration something much worse
could be prevented. It is not known, whether the Wertheim grandparents had also
applied for exit visas at that time. At any rate, all the members of the Strauss family
hoped almost until the end that they would manage to escape from Germany.
From ”Kristallnacht” up to Deportationon
