Martha Cooper

Birth record from the Index of the Jewish Records of Vienna and Lower Austria (original is in sources)

https://www.genteam.at/index.php?option=com_db53&id=184841&limitsta...

No. 184841

Last Name Wieder / Tieger First Name Marta

First Name Father Mortko Jacob Last Name Mother Lilien

First Name Mother Amalie

Location Wien Book 1904/2 I Volume 1904 Date 15.11.1904 Number 2680

Addition Namensänd. Wieder / Tieger 11.6.1919

from taped recollections of Martha Tieger Cooper (MC) interviewed by her son Steve (SC)

MC:​And, uh, we, we heard that Hitler is supposed to come, to march in tonight. All of a sudden--we didn’t expect it--I mean, we expected it but not that day and not so fast. And, um, meanwhile we had friends in our building living--I have to say that because, uh, they called us up: “Did you hear what, uh, uh, the, the, the last speech of Schuschnigg?” (That was our Bundeskanzler.) [SC: Mm-hmm.] And, and I was sitting here with my husband and I, we said “yes, we just heard it, they are supposed to march in today, tonight”--it was five o’clock about. And, uh, really, at about seven o’clock we rushed to the window, we went down to our friends and rushed to the window and didn’t open it anymore. Behind the curtains we were hiding that they shouldn’t see us, that we are standing there and watching them, because we had a police on our, on Petersplatz, where I lived, and, uh, we saw it. They came out and all in a minute they all had the swastikas on their, they all were dressed like nazis, in our Vienna. We, we didn’t expect it so fast and so soon and, and then there was a big jubilation, and such a jubilation, much more than in Germany at that time, in, in nineteen, five or five years or three years I, how many years ago was it? Our, in us it, it was, uh, March, March 13th, in ‘38, 1938 that they marched in and there were jubilations all night in . . . .

SC:​1938 or 1937?

MC:​‘38.

SC:​Really?

MC:​March 13th, ‘38.

SC:​Right. OK. Sure.
MC:​They marched in. And, uh, and from there on it was awful. They started to, there they jubiliert and jubiliert and, and, otherwise, uh, in a, within the next very short time it started--whenever anybody went down they, they, anybody came to you and said “come here, wash the floor, the, the street, here clean it.” To old men, to young men, to women, to anybody. That, that was the begin.

...  
SC:​So Jews had to wear the yellow arm bands?  
MC:​Of course, every, of course, everybody had to wear a, a yellow, uh, band and a Hackenkreuz [swastika]. And a Hackenkreuz they put on you, you had to wear.  
SC:​Jews had to wear a, a swastika also?  
MC:​Of course, they, they, uh, [SC: Hmm.] everybody, uh, uh, uh, every little boy, uh, who was Gentile, who was aryan at that time came and commanded you to do something, you know. They didn’t, uh, see if you were old or young. It was a bad time. Oh and so many, and how they were sent away. First it was the doctors whom they took, then it was the lawyers [TAPE IS BLANK] who did something. They did it by . . . .  
SC:​Profession? ....

MC:​Oh, it was, everything was full. The streets were full. And the people had to clean it. Whomever, whoever came by, they said “here, Jew, you clean that.” Old, young, you know. And that went for years. It went, it didn’t go away so, uh, then people started to want to go away and went, und to look for where they could go, you know. They couldn’t go, they, there was no visas to be gotten. And the, the consuls from the other countries, I had a very close friend in Budweis [a city in Czechoslovakia], ten letters I got. I had already thousand dollars for her. When I was, I was already here, you know, because I left four weeks, and the consul asked for money--$20,000 or $2,000, twenty, $15,000 for the visas, then they could have come. And they didn’t have it. And I remember he wrote me a letter: “that’s the last moment. If we don’t have it by this day, we all will be got completely dead.” She, her husband, and the two year’s beautiful child they had. That was one story.

SC:​So when did you finally leave?

MC:​I left four, four, two, weeks later, then, on four weeks after, about six, I left exactly in November ‘38. [SC: November . . . .] Before and before I, we left, we arrived November. I left in October, the end of October [October 27],  ...

....

” And, uh, that, I mean, that’s actually, and it was very bad. Four weeks after, the minute we were supposed to go then, with my cousin and Lotte was with us, we, und Ida and, uh, and, uh, we, the two of us. But my husband took sick. Oh, another thing--ja--that Dr. Fliegel’s wife [Karla], he was in, in Dachau three months and she was a head nurse in Allgemeinen-Krankenhaus [a hospital] in Vienna. And one night that leg got, uh, got, uh, uh, entzündet [infected], [SC: Mm-hmm.] you know [SC: Yeah.] and, uh, I called her and I said “what should I do? It, it, pus is coming out.” And she said “I’m coming with my sister tonight.” We, we had to go out of the apartment and we rented a one room, just one room for one month with some people. [SC: Mm-hmm.] [After having been forced to leave their apartment, the Kupfermans rented a small room in the Third District until they left; this made it a long trip for Karla.] And she as a nurse went with her sister who was just a private woman and did that for us, because she knew what we did for Edy, for her brother-in-law. [SC: This was . . . .] And we were friends.

.....SC:​This was Karla, right?

MC:​Karla, Karla and her sister. And she came at twelve o’clock at night to the Third District with a big operating thing and she operated on Fred, she cut him without anything, his leg and took all the, the pus out. [SC: Mm-hmm.] And, uh, he was there four-five days lying and, and, uh, then she went home and came every day, and she wasn’t allowed to do that, you know that. So, it was, but I was the lucky one because I had my family here and I came home actually. [SC: Mm-hmm.] Only that I lost everything, we came, as I said, with $60.

SC:​What was it like when you actually left?

MC:​Nothing. Nothing, we left, we just, uh, I, I tried not to turn back even to that woman, to that, uh, concierge, to that, uh, super, superintendent was who standing there with picture of Adolf Hitler in her hand and kissing, “are you finally, did you come, and we are so glad that you came, and,” but she died, now, it’s fifty years ago.

SC:​Pop kept getting sick right before you were supposed to leave, right?

MC:​Nah that’s what I say and that what’s, so Pop didn’t go for two week. We, they went alone and we postponed that, uh, it was a boat ticket we had, [SC: Mm-hmm.] there were no planes, and, uh, we went alone then. But, uh, Rosie and Ida went at the time and, uh, Lotte and, uh, I and Papa, we went two weeks later. And I, I, for me it was, I saw my family. For me it was a coming, my sister came from Milwaukee [SC: Mm-hmm.] with the two babies and, and, but, uh, poor Lupo, you know, Lupo Liebermann, remember him? [SC: Mm-hmm.] When they got him one day, an old man he was, and he had to wash the, the, the streets; they all had to do it that, uh . . . . [SC: Mm-hmm.] Right where there were, young boys came to him, “here, Jew, wash, now you wash for us.” That’s how it was. In Vienna they were worse than, much worse than in Germany, I must say. begin. ..... MC:​In the 1930s I didn’t live in New York. 1940s, 1938 end, what is that, ‘40? November 5th I arrived in New York. [SC: Mm-hmm.] And, um, I actually came home. My whole family was at the pier; [SC: Mm-hmm.] my sister came from Milwaukee with her two children.

.....

SC:​So, um, how about coming to America, what was that like?

MC:​Oh that was for me, my Mama was here, and my, my brothers and sisters were all here--I haven’t seen in seventeen years. [SC: Mm-hmm.] And I came home, because my mother took a big apartment and we stayed one year with her. And I took it, I got a job immediately. And my husband started to, uh, get, uh, affidavits from strange relatives, or strange people, actually, for other friends whom we promised we’ll help them, and didn’t work for a month. But, uh, we did then fine. He got a job from a cousin. He told, uh, one store man in, on 14th Street in the store that his mother told him they have relatives there and, and he gave him a job. That was a nice man. He said “even without relatives, we will help everybody who comes against the nazis.

....

  SC:​Now let’s see. So when, when Pop came to the, or when you and Pop came to this count, country, you lived where?  
MC:​Washington Heights.  
SC:​So you say. But you actually lived on about 163rd and Broadway.  
MC:​On, ja, on 163rd and Broadway, between Broadway and, and Amsterdam Avenue, in the, on, in the corner Broadway. And there were all, they were all empty houses, you know, [SC: Mm-hmm.] because nobody, uh, so, uh, all the refugees moved in--einer, one, told the other one, you know, [SC: Mm-hmm.] that there are big house--big families, we had five rooms, five bedrooms, because Mama moved out and took another room for us, and, and . . . .  
SC:​When did she move to Long Island City?  
MC:​She did, uh, when she moved? [SC: Mm-hmm.] Oh that was uh, uh, many years later. She moved about three-four years later.  
SC:​Why did she move?  
MC:​Two, two-three year. Because there came too many, too many, uh, poor people in then, you know. They came in and, uh, because they, they had nothing. But our boys were working here; they were here since 1921 [SC: Mm-hmm.] in America. So they were not refugees. We were the refugees. [SC: Mm-hmm.] And I, I started to work immediately. Next week my sister went with me and got me the job immediately. Monday I started to work.  
SC:​Did you work at Bendel or . . . ?  
MC:​No I worked in John Fredericks.  
SC:​And Pop got a job by calling . . . ?  
MC:​By calling a, a, uh . . . .  
SC:​A Cooper and saying he must have been a relative, right?  
MC:​His mother told him that he should call him up, he will help him. [SC: Mm-hmm.] And he gave him a job. And he put $2 every week, $12 they all got weekly, and he gave him $2 separate.  
SC:​Because he was his cousin?  
MC:​Because he was his cousin, ja. And when a fire was, you know, one day a fire came. And Fred was taking all the stuff, the, the silks and the curtains from the, where, they wanted to, they started to burn, so all the other employees told him “don’t do that, let it burn [laughs], you know.” [SC: Mm-hmm.] That was, he came back and he said “I don’t understand that.” That, that, that, there was, much could have been saved, and the boss probably knew, and he, he was very happy with him, he, he wanted him to, to be in his place, you know, because he was very happy with him, but he didn’t. He, he opened up a year later, our own business.  
SC:​He opened, that was at 19 West 57th?  
MC:​No that was one year 20 West 57th. In, in, uh, sublease [SC: Mm-hmm.] with that furrier together, with Mr. Pikus. And with that dress shop together. And then we went in, across the street, moved across the street und, and had it alone.  
SC:​You were there for about forty years, right? No, less.  
MC:​Yes. We were there till 1940, er, in, since 1940. [SC: In 1940 . . . .] We moved into that apartment, and into, and into that, er, er, one, I worked one year, and, uh, half a year in John Fredericks; then they let me go. Then I worked for Dickerts half a year. And, uh, then I went, I said, now I know already what I wanted to know and we started to, there were many places open, the big lofts on 57th Street. [SC: Mm-hmm.] And, um, we went with May’s dress shop together. Three years. And then she died.

SC:​When, when did you move out of 19 West, that was in about 1973 or so, right?

MC:​No. In 1972, no, no in 1972 Pop got sick but we had to move out when they started [SC: Mm-hmm.] to turn down [SC: Yeah.] to burn down five buildings. Five years prior to that, we had to move. Three years, I think. We were in 50 West [SC: Mm-hmm, right.] at the end because they made that building, you know, [SC: Mm-hmm.] the high building there. Now it’s full again, but it was years and years they couldn’t rent it too much and they still didn’t use it the way that was, my God, they, they were building two years on that building. But anyway there was Longchamps in the building and, and the big, uh, Emmy was in that building, and we were, and, uh, what’s his name, he’s still today a dressmaker, uh, on 57th Street but not in that building anymore because it was burnt down, and another big building, it was torn down, and five buildings they tore down, from number nine to number twenty-one, these five buildings and that’s why it’s a big nine now.

....

SC:​No, no, I mean what was New York City like then? MC:​New York City was, well, as I lived in one building, Stevie, it was all the time the same. The same neighborhood. I knew everybody. Forty years I lived in that building.

SC:​I mean what, what about the changes New York went through in the time you lived there.

MC:​Oh it got now, in the last years it got better. I lived, uh, in a neighborhood where--it was really a bad neighborhood but I had to live there because my business, we walked to our business, which was a big advantage. And, uh, I didn’t want to move out, and, uh, it was, I, thank God, I never had any trouble in New York. Never.

SC:​No, but I mean was it clean, was it dirty, was it friendly, [MC: No, it was . . . .] was it unfriendly?

MC:​No, it was friendly. I must say, uh, I have a good thing about New York all the time and if anybody told me “why don’t you move out from Hell’s,” what was the name of that part?

SC:​Hell’s Kitchen.

MC:​Hell’s Kitchen, I didn’t want to because the theater section was here. And everything was in the center. And we walked to our business. And, and, uh, and it was a nice, for me it was always a good living there. [SC: Mm-hmm.]

MC:​And, uh, and, and, should I talk about, uh, that we decided to have a child?

SC:​Sure.

MC:​And we had no child ‘til that time. We got married in 1930. And I had no child because I started business, and I, I was needed in business. And, uh, it got bigger the business and my husband built up a, a, first we were three, my sister was a partner but then she didn’t want to.