Fleeing War on the SS Nyassa

My maternal grandfather Theodore Schwartz (1887-1965) was the first of his family to come to America from Ungvar, their Hungarian hometown. He then helped his brother Sam and sister Mary to come to America. 

Unfortunately, many of their siblings were killed in the Holocaust, including the oldest sister, Rezi Schwartz Winkler (1881-1944). 

Happily, in recent weeks, I've discovered that some of Rezi's descendants escaped Europe during and after World War II. As it turned out, in-law connections proved pivotal.

Fleeing the war

Rezi's daughter Leni Louise Winkler Price (1909-1997), her husband Eugene Preisz (Price) (1906-1979), and their daughter Edith came to America on the SS Nyassa, which left Lisbon on April 15, 1941. This trip was made possible because blocks of tickets were purchased by HIAS, the Jewish relief group working to get people out of harm's way.  

The Prices had their passports issued in Marseilles, France, in January of 1941. Waiting for safe transport from Europe, they had lived in Belgium for a time and then made their way to Lisbon, somehow, for their voyage. 

Fleeing on the very same ship were the parents and grandparents of Bettie Lennett Denny, whose blog post vividly brings to life this agonizing ordeal, truly a flight for life.

Nearest relative in America

According to the SS Nyassa's passenger list, Leni and Eugene were going to join Eugene's older brother David Price (1893-1985), who was already established with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 

After the war, Eugene Price (now also living in Brooklyn) was the US contact noted on the 1948 passenger list for his brother-in-law Albert Winkler. I wrote about Albert recently in this blog post. Albert and Leni were my first cousins, once removed. 

Thankfully, I've connected with a couple of cousins in my extended Winkler and Price families, thanks to public family trees and ancestor memorials on Find a Grave.

This week's #52Ancestors challenge by Amy Johnson Crow is "extended family."