Abstract
The article focuses on letters from the first austrian collection of emigrant letters, which is held at the University of Salzburg. It shows how these sources provide insights into migration processes and contribute to a deeper understanding of migration. The article discusses the advantages of using emigrants' letters to learn more about migration history, but also shows the limitations of these documents in historical research. The analyzed material comes from two writers who emigrated overseas from Austria in the 1950s because of the economic situation in the postwar period. For them migration meant an opportunity to improve living conditions. The one migrated to Argentina and stayed for life whereas the other migrated to North America and moved back to Austria twelve years later. They had different socioeconomic backgrounds, which led to different migration experiences and opportunities in the countries of destination. The political, legal, and economic situations in the countries of destination were different and the gender aspect must be considered in analyzing the letters. These contain a lot of information about the daily life of migrants and are important puzzle pieces for historical research. But the examples also show us the difficulty of letters as sources. Reconstructing the life of a person only through letters is like puzzle with pieces missing.
In 2016 a collection of letters and diaries from Austrian emigrants from the nineteenth century to the present was founded at the University of Salzburg. The initiative to collect biographical writings relating to migration history came from historian Sylvia Hahn, the head of the research project.1 Until recently, this first Austrian collection contained seventeen sets of emigrant letters and diaries. The majority of the letter-writers migrated to North or South America after World War II. Fifteen people, who migrated in the period from 1910 to 1966, chose the United States of America, Canada, Brazil, or Argentina as their new “homeland”; one person migrated to England in 1938 and one moved to Australia in the 1950s. More than half of these emigrants (nine) stayed in the countries of destination for their lifetimes. The others decided to remigrate after some years or more than a decade (see table 1).
Elaboration based on the Austrian Collection of Emigrant Letters and Diaries (ACELD) at the University of Salzburg.
Destination . | Origin . | Migration . | Remigration . | Sex . | Letters/Diaries . | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Country . | City/State . | Country . | City . | ||||
United States | Texas | Austria (S) | Salzburg | 1957 | x | M | 1 letter |
Des Moines, IA; Chicago, IL | Belarus | Babrujsk | 1910 | x | F | 11 letters | |
Minneapolis | East Germany | Berlin | 1958 | 1970 | M | 176 letters | |
Milwaukee | Austria (W) | Wien | 1950 | x | M | 1 letter | |
New York | United States | New York | 1938 | 1938 | F | 25 postcards | |
Washington | Austria (W) | Wien | 1938 | 1950 | M/F | 17 letters | |
Canada | Toronto | Austria (NÖ) | Baden | 1955 | 1989 | M | 1 diary |
Vancouver; Ontario | Austria (OÖ) | Wolfsegg | 1951 | x | M | 3 diaries | |
St. Tillsonburg | Austria (NÖ) | Schrammbach | 1966 | x | M/F | 2 letters | |
Saskatchewan; Vancouver | Austria (S) | Leogang | 1930, 1950 | 1939 | M | 1 letter | |
Brazil | Rio de Janeiro; São Paulo | Austria (K) | Völkermarkt | 1939 | 1970 | M | 312 letters |
Porto Uniao; São Paulo | Austria (Vbg.) | Dornbirn | 1921, 1924 | x | F | 66 letters | |
Pontesinha | West Germany | Berlin | 1926, 1954 | 1937; 1956 | M/F | 113 letters | |
Joinville | Austria (OÖ) | Wels | 1952 | x | M | 1 letters | |
Argentina | Buenos Aires; San Juan | Austria (OÖ) | Steeg | 1952 | x | M/F | 78 letters |
Australia | Yeronga | Austria (OÖ) | Steyr | 1956 | x | M | 1 letter |
England | Kingswood | Austria (S) | Zell am See | 1938 | 1940 | F | 18 letters |
Destination . | Origin . | Migration . | Remigration . | Sex . | Letters/Diaries . | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Country . | City/State . | Country . | City . | ||||
United States | Texas | Austria (S) | Salzburg | 1957 | x | M | 1 letter |
Des Moines, IA; Chicago, IL | Belarus | Babrujsk | 1910 | x | F | 11 letters | |
Minneapolis | East Germany | Berlin | 1958 | 1970 | M | 176 letters | |
Milwaukee | Austria (W) | Wien | 1950 | x | M | 1 letter | |
New York | United States | New York | 1938 | 1938 | F | 25 postcards | |
Washington | Austria (W) | Wien | 1938 | 1950 | M/F | 17 letters | |
Canada | Toronto | Austria (NÖ) | Baden | 1955 | 1989 | M | 1 diary |
Vancouver; Ontario | Austria (OÖ) | Wolfsegg | 1951 | x | M | 3 diaries | |
St. Tillsonburg | Austria (NÖ) | Schrammbach | 1966 | x | M/F | 2 letters | |
Saskatchewan; Vancouver | Austria (S) | Leogang | 1930, 1950 | 1939 | M | 1 letter | |
Brazil | Rio de Janeiro; São Paulo | Austria (K) | Völkermarkt | 1939 | 1970 | M | 312 letters |
Porto Uniao; São Paulo | Austria (Vbg.) | Dornbirn | 1921, 1924 | x | F | 66 letters | |
Pontesinha | West Germany | Berlin | 1926, 1954 | 1937; 1956 | M/F | 113 letters | |
Joinville | Austria (OÖ) | Wels | 1952 | x | M | 1 letters | |
Argentina | Buenos Aires; San Juan | Austria (OÖ) | Steeg | 1952 | x | M/F | 78 letters |
Australia | Yeronga | Austria (OÖ) | Steyr | 1956 | x | M | 1 letter |
England | Kingswood | Austria (S) | Zell am See | 1938 | 1940 | F | 18 letters |
As different as the biographies of our letter-writers are the content and the scope of the letters. Some sets of letters contain more than 100 letters, some of them only one. Moreover, some sets not only contain letters, but also postcards, photographs, and other documents. At the moment, the sets of emigrant letters are made available and documented by employees of the University of Salzburg. Some of them have already been already analyzed in academic projects as well as in lectures, both by employees and students. In a next step, the letters and diaries themselves will “migrate” into the Migrationsarchiv at the City Archive Salzburg. This way, the stories of emigrants should be made available for academic research as well as for the general public. In most cases, it is the last generation of people who have written letters. That is why the University of Salzburg and the City Archive Salzburg have made it their objective to collect and archive these individual stories of migration and make them available in exhibitions as well as publications.
In this article, two sets of letters from the collection will be introduced in order to demonstrate how complex and various migration processes are. The aim of this contribution is to show how these sources can provide an insight into migration processes and contribute to a deeper understanding of migration. Referring to these biographies, we discuss the advantages of using letters from emigrants to learn more about migration history. Letters do not “allow us to distance ourselves in the way that more impersonal materials do, but force us emotionally to live in the writer's moment and on his or her terms.”2 They are sources of paramount importance to reconstruct the daily life of migrants and to get an insight into their living conditions. Emigrant letters not only document central issues of migrating people, but also provide information about how communication worked and which topics were discussed with those at home.3 Despite these advantages of ego-sources for research on migration history, we also outline the limitations of using emigrant letters in historical research and the difficulties researchers are confronted with by using emigrant letters as sources.4
Therefore we have chosen two differing sets of letters. First, we focus on the life of Gertrude Dolezel, a woman born in Austria in 1925. She lived with her husband in Upper Austria before migrating to Argentina in 1952. Second, we analyze the life of Wolfgang Müller, who was born in 1933 and migrated from East to West Germany and then to the United States in 1958. Both migrated overseas in the 1950s because of the economic situation in the postwar-period. They were in their mid-twenties and for both migration meant a window of opportunity. They embraced migration as a chance to improve their living conditions. Gertrude Dolezel and Wolfgang Müller had different socioeconomic backgrounds, which led to different migration experiences and opportunities in the countries of destination. Moreover, the political, legal, and economic situations in the countries of destination were different. Furthermore, we have two different patterns of migration: a family migration and an individual migration of an educated man. As well, the duration of migration varies. Wolfgang remigrated and Gertrude stayed in Argentina permanently. In addition to these similarities and differences, the gender aspect has a very important impact on migration processes as well as experiences and must be considered.5 Finally, we compare and analyze the two biographies and point out the added value and boundaries of ego-sources for research on migration history.
Gertrude Dolezel
Gertrude Dolezel was born out of wedlock in Graz in June 1925.6 Her mother decided to give her away, so she grew up in different children's foster homes in Austria until she came to a foster mother, called Aunt Paula, and her sister Tilly in Upper Austria.7 Gertrude finished elementary school in Pöndorf and finished training as a kitchen assistant in a foster home in Bad Ischl. In December 1947 Gertrude married Georg Dolezel and they had four children. We do not know much about her family background or her life in general. The archive received her incomplete set of letters from a very close friend of Gertrude, whom she had met in an orphanage.8 After Gertrude Dolezel's death in 2000, this friend gathered the letters—seventy-eight pieces—and decided to provide them to our collection. The letters can be divided in three main parts:
Letters written in the late 1940s before the migration to Argentina: The letters are written by Gertrude and addressed to Aunt Paula and Paula's sister, Aunt Tilly, as well as Gertrude's friend Isolde.9
Letters from Argentina written in the 1950s, on which we focus on in this article: Most of the letters are written by Gertrude and addressed to Aunt Paula and Aunt Tilly as well as Isolde.10
Letters from Argentina written in the 1980s and 1990s: All of these letters are written by Gertrude and addressed to Elisabeth Höllerer, who provided the letters for our collection.
Migration Motives
It is very interesting that Gertrude did not write much about her plan to emigrate to Argentina. The only evidence that can be found is in a letter she wrote in 1951.
Dear Aunt Tilli and Aunt Paula, […] believe me, I am going away with a heavy heart. You both were good mothers and loyal protectors and this small space up there is what I have come to call home. […] Be happy and don't bother too much, the lord send me a faithful husband I could trust on, otherwise I wouldn't go so far away.11
The few letters of this time do not convey which personal reasons were important for Gertrude. According to academic literature, in the case of young families in the postwar period the following reasons were important: the general economic situation in countries of origin, bad working conditions or unemployment, precarious housing conditions and the serious housing shortage, as well as the wish to provide one's children with a better future.12 All of the above reasons surely played an important role when it came to the decision to emigrate. After World War II in Austria, acute food, housing, and fuel shortages were prevalent. Moreover, many streets, train stations, rails, and factories were destroyed; industrial production was low due to a shortage of raw materials. Only the policy of nationalization of large enterprises in 1946 and 1947, as well as the establishment of support by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the European Recovery Program (EPR) in the context of the Marshall Plan in 1948, slowly led to an improvement of the living conditions. Although postwar inflation was curbed by 1951, until 1952/53 Austria recorded high rates of unemployment (8.7%). Moreover, Austria was divided into four zones of occupation and administered by the Allied Forces until 1955.13
Consequently, the economic and political situations were the main reasons why Austrians left their home country after World War II. It was especially the Western neighboring countries like Switzerland or the Federal Republic of Germany that were favored countries of destinations. The migration to transatlantic destinations, however, decreased over the course of the second half of the twentieth century. Typical countries of immigration, like the United States, have recorded a decline of Austrian immigrants since 1945. Between 1953 and 1954, approximately 4,000 persons left Austria for Canada. The numbers of emigrants to South America, which Gertrude Dolezel and her family opted for, also went down. In 1960 about 6,000 expatriate Austrians lived in Argentina, whereas there were only 5,000 in 1970. Since the 1980s numbers have risen slightly. In return, Australia as well as South Africa established themselves as destinations for Austrians after 1945. Between 1946 and 1961, nearly 20,000 persons emigrated to “down under.”14
In the immediate postwar period until the 1960s, emigration was government sponsored in order to relieve the Austrian labor market. Employment offices supported foreign firms concerning the recruitment of workers; government mediating authorities were established; and countries of destination, like South Africa or Canada, opened recruitment offices in Austria. Furthermore, various employment programs and agreements to support emigrants were signed.15 The newspaper Wiener Wochenausgabe published the special issue “South America Today. Essential Advice for Emigrants” in 1949, which depicted the entry requirements for countries such as Argentina. This can be seen as an indication that numerous Austrians emigrated to this country. According to the special issue, one had to put in an application for immigration at the responsible consulate. This would then be forwarded to the management of immigration in Buenos Aires. However, it was “only those requests, in which the applicant had either a job or relatives in Argentina, which had a prospect of success.” For Argentina, it was announced that skilled industrial workers as well as agricultural workers especially were favored, as they were urgently needed in the industrialization and cultivation of the country.16
In the case of the Dolezel family, a relative of Georg, called “Matz,” already lived in Argentina. It can be assumed that the Dolezels received their main information about Argentina and the migration process from Matz.17 The family boarded the ship Marco Polo in Genoa on November 25, 1952, and arrived in Buenos Aires after three and a half weeks at sea. “We had a nice time on board, we had more than enough to eat and also the storms were bearable.”18 The family was one of more than 13,000 Austrian immigrants who entered Argentina from 1947 to 1955. Nearly 10,000 left Argentina several years later and more than 4,000 stayed like Gertrude Dolezel.19 During this period, President Juan Perón (1946–55) promoted the immigration of experts from war-torn Europe for agricultural cultivation of rural areas as well as to technologically lead the country to the level of an industrial nation. The five-year plan of the Perón government from 1947 included the wish to bring 4 million immigrants to Argentina for agricultural cultivation. At the same time, internal migration from rural regions to cities was promoted in order to push ahead industrialization.
Although the number of immigrants rose during the 1940s and 1950s, these plans could not be put into practice. Many of the desired European immigrants migrated to the booming economic regions of Northern, Western, and Central Europe, as rising numbers of Austrian migrants in the German Federal Republic (GFR) or Switzerland attest. Amid the different military dictatorships between 1955 and 1983, Argentina established a restrictive immigration policy. Still, European immigration for the population of rural areas was desired. The repressive measures were primarily against migration from neighboring states as well as illegal migration.20
New Life in Argentina
The start in Argentina was very difficult for the family. Georg's relative offered them a place to stay in Buenos Aires for the early days. They accepted the offer and informed him about their arrival dates. After the Dolezels left the ship in Buenos Aires they waited for Georg's relative for hours, but he did not show up at the port. In a letter, Gertrude wrote that it took them a whole day to get to the relativeá house without any language skills. He told them that he lived in a big house where they could stay. In the end, it was a tiny state-supported apartment and the Dolezels—two adults and four children—had to sleep in one bed.21 Many migrants described their living conditions much better than they actually were to impress relatives and friends back home or to convince themselves that all of these efforts and difficulties were worth it.22 Gertrude was very upset about the situation and wrote that she could not live together with Georg's relatives in this tiny apartment.23
Matz provided Georg with a job, but the income was too low to pay the very high housing costs in Buenos Aires. That was one of the reasons why the family moved to a village near San Juan, over 1,100 kilometers away from Buenos Aires, in the western part of Argentina near the border of Chile. Georg found work there as a helping hand on an estate, a job arranged by his relative. The Dolezels spoke almost no Spanish, the rural life was very hard, Georg earned next to nothing, they suffered from loneliness, and to make things even worse their youngest child died due to food poisoning. The suffering of the child had already started on the ship. They thought it was seasickness and went to see a doctor in Buenos Aires, who did not pursue the right treatment. In San Juan, it was too late for the little girl; she suffered until death. Gertrude wrote that this was one of the hardest things she had experienced in her whole life. She spent three days in the hospital as the child died in her arms. “I could not believe that the lord took my little girl.”24
Life in the village was very difficult for Gertrude and Georg. He earned only 400 pesos a month, the next shop was about four kilometers away, and they had to pick up water cans from far away. After four months, the family moved to San Juan where Georg found a better paying job as an administrator of an estate, which was owned by a German man. There they could live for free and had some chicken and pigs as well as a vegetable garden to save money. “We bought a rabbit and goat because we need a lot of milk. After Christmas we will buy a pig as well. […] It is all very nice but also a lot of work, which I have to do on my own because Georg has very long working hours,” wrote Gertrude.25
During this period, Gertrude had to work, too, to increase the family income. She worked as a nanny for a German family—a hint of how important the German/Austrian network in Argentina was for new immigrants. After several months Gertrude became pregnant again and quit the job. With the little money they had, they managed to build their own ranch with one room and a kitchen. Gertrude wrote: “We are happy to have our own home, because the last four weeks we had to sleep under the stars.”26 This is evidence of their challenging life in Argentina and how difficult it was to earn and save money. The family shared a fate with numerous other emigrants, whose living condition did not improve immediately after the emigration. The first years, especially, were marked with deprivation. The living conditions of the country of origin were only achieved after some time.
Another hint of the importance of networks is when Gertrude got to know an Austrian woman and her husband from Linz in San Juan. They became close friends and the couple got very involved in the German Club. “Sometimes I visit her to chitchat. It felt like ‘home.’” This was very helpful for Gertrude. Although she was not a member of the club, she was supported by them when she got ill and had to stay in hospital for several weeks. The women of the club took care of her children and the club also paid the hospital bills.27 Already in the 1820s, German traders, craftsmen, and colonists founded German-speaking communities in Argentina, and in 1878 the first Austro-Hungarian association was founded. Therefore, a large network of German and Austrian communities with a long history existed in Argentina. Within the German-speaking colony, the Germans were the numerically biggest group, but Austrian and Swiss people built a part of the community, the language being a strong connecting link. Due to these established structures, Austrian emigrants were in close relation to other German-speaking people. Specifically Austrian organizations developed relatively late. The Sociedad de Beneficencía Austro-Húngara Francisco José I was founded before World War I and was renamed Asociación Austria after 1918.28
This development is accompanied by the Argentinian immigration politics and nationhood. “Migration policies and discourses were used in different ways to achieve the same end—the construction of Argentina as a white nation of European descendants.” In the period between 1895 and 1914 the population of Argentina nearly doubled due to overseas migration, from 4 to 7.9 million inhabitants. Since the interwar period, overseas migration decreased and the migration from Latin American countries increased—especially from Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru—as well as internal migration from the northern regions to Buenos Aires. After World War II European migration decreased, although in the immediate postwar years manz labor migrants and political refugees, including former National Socialists, migrated to Argentina. Argentina's migration politics in the postwar period was based on a dual strategy, the promotion of Argentina as a white nation of European descendants and the implementation of restrictions for immigrants from neighboring countries.29
In 1953 life seemed to have normalized for the Dolezel family until the next the blow of fate. One of the older boys died, probably in 1954, because of an infection. Gertrude and Georg had many challenges to faceé three years after their arrival, in 1955, they got divorced. The set of letters also contains one letter from Georg written in 1955 after the divorce, indicating how Georg felt about the divorce. He wrote to Gertrude's foster mother:
I have to tell you [Aunt Tilly] that Gerti and I are already divorced, because she made my life impossible, maybe unintended. Gerti doesn't love me anymore, and she never really loved me. She loves someone else. […] She told me that she wanted to get divorced […] we went to a lawyer […]. I pledged to take two children—Anni and Heinzi with me to Buenos Aires where they join the German school and live in the German boarding school. I will pay for the school. I have a good job in San Juan, but therefore I have to quit and move to Buenos Aires.
He wrote that he was in contact with German mechanics from Buenos Aires and they would help him with accommodation and finding a job. The reason why Gertrude sent her children away with Georg is the poor education provided in San Juan. In 1954 Gertrude had already written that the children did “not learn anything at school.” Moreover, fights and problems with other children occurred repeatedly.30 Consequently, the two of them found a solution that was not common for their time and the father took the children to Buenos Aires, where the first German school was founded in 1843. Before World War I about seventy German schools existed.31 Gertrude stayed in San Juan and saw her children every few weeks. She fell in love with another man—an Italian-born Argentinean—and remarried in 1957. They had two more children and Gertrude stayed in Argentina until her death in 2000. Her body was buried at the cemetery in Escobar.32
Wolfgang Müller
Wolfgang Müller was born in Leipzig under National Socialist rule in 1933.33 He was the first-born son of Bruno Müller, a self-employed engineer, and his wife, Wally Müller, who had worked as a nurse until the marriage in 1932. His father was the co-owner of a gearwheel factory until 1953.34 With the expropriation of the business by the GDR regime, the Müller family lost their economic basis.35 After his high school exam in 1951, Wolfgang Müller apprenticed as a steel fitter. He wanted to study at the technical college in Dresden; however, his political attitude toward communism was doubted. Two years later, in 1953, Müller escaped to Western Germany. His family followed shortly after. Arriving there, they had to stay in refugee camps and did not feel welcome.36 Supplying the population with essential goods was a massive problem in postwar Germany and the first years were characterized by a housing shortage. In this situation, the United States of America was seen as a country where a better life seemed to be possible—including for Wolfgang Müller.
The Wolfgang Müller collection comprises 176 letters from 1958 to 1970, including three postcards, primarily written by Müller to family members. A few letters are written by his wife, Susan Schwager, and Müller's parents-in-law to his family in Germany. Almost two-thirds of the letters are typewritten. Most of the letters from Wolfgang Müller are addressed to his parents and siblings, some individual letters to his brothers Siegfried, Rudolf, Horst, and Manfred, and his sister Regine. The archive received the set of letters from Wolfgang Müller himself, who is now retired and lives in Austria. That is why his letters are part of the Austrian Collection.37
The letters contain many mathematical formulas and technical descriptions and reflect Müller's special interest in technics and economy. Diverse calculations and income and expense accounts underline his personal economic situation in the United States. Drawings and sketches illustrate the housing situation, everyday life, or workplace.38 The handwritten letters are characterized by a clear script and high level of style and language. Typography and wording illustrate Müller's advanced education and demonstrate self-confidence and personality. From the very beginning, Müller included English expressions in his letters, describing the meaning, which shows a strong identification to the English language and his linguistic flexibility.
The main topics in the letters are working life, standard of living, and housing in the United States, followed by social life, networks, and private life.39
Migration Motives
In some ways, Müller can be seen as a counterpoint to Gertrude Dolezel. He was male, well educated, emigrated alone, and his destination was the United States, where he lived in a metropolitan and not in a rural area. He came from a bourgeois family with many children. Müller was the oldest son of six children. But why did he leave Germany and go overseas? Alexander Freund states three motives for single migrants in the 1950s: individual goals, family goals, and societal goals. In the case of Wolfgang Müller it seems to be a combination of individual and societal. Because he experienced World War II and the postwar situation in East and West Germany, he was seeking his fortune in a different, open-minded society. During the last days of war, Müller experienced the bombing of Leipzig, forcing him to hide in air-raid shelters. In the postwar period, he felt how the GDR imposed increasing restrictions on private and occupational life. However, the situation in the German Federal Republic (GFR) did not seem to better his life. Like many other single migrants at this time, Müller broke with convention and took control of his life. His emigration marks a special search for identity after the disruptions of World War II. Furthermore, his decision to leave Germany centers on self-realization.40
When Müller emigrated to the United States in April 1958, he was twenty-five years old and had just finished his studies in aviation at the technical college in Stuttgart. To get by, Müller took on different temporary jobs. Living in a small flat, he dreamed of a better life. Although his background was not poor, his general situation left him feeling unsatisfied. As in many other cases, his final step to emigrate was more emotional than rational.41 “I had to go away from Germany, because I didn't feel welcome as a refugee. As a young student in Stuttgart, I could afford a shack of ten square meters without water and heating,” Müller remembers later.42
After finishing his studies he worked for an industrial company in Augsburg—where his parents lived—to earn money. At this time, his decision to emigrate became real. He met an American who worked for the Red Cross in Germany and who helped him to get “Sponsoring Papers.”43 These documents opened the doors to the States. Apart from Müller's acquaintance to the American Red Cross worker he had another big advantage—his language skills. Müller graduated in English, which later helped him. Additionally, he was part of the small desired group of “professional workers,” who only made up 5 percent of German immigrants to the United States and Canada, according to Freund.44
The postwar situation in Europe and the prospect to a better future led to mass emigration. Four million European migrants went to South and North America between 1945 and 1955. Besides Canada and Australia the United States remained an important destination for European emigrants. If we look at Germany as an emigration country after World War II the situation is very similar. Between 1946 and 1961 about 1.5 million people from Western Germany went overseas. Around 50 percent—780,000 people—were Germans. Exactly 384,700 had chosen the United States as their destination, 234,300 emigrated to Canada, and 85,000 to Australia. It was the strongest emigration movement from Germany in the twentieth century. With the reduction of emigration restrictions in 1948, Germans were able to emigrate in big numbers. And they did until the 1960s. In September 1948 the U.S. immigration regulations were loosened. Moreover, in July 1949 the American and British occupation zones let go of exit restrictions.45 The year 1951 marked the final transition from the emigration of Displaced Persons (DPs) to labor migration. Before most of the emigrants to the United States were DPs, among them German expellees, so-called Volksdeutsche. In 1952 German emigration to the United States reached its first peak, when the McCarran-Walter Act was introduced, and 1956 there was another.46 For many Germans, America was the embodiment of wealth and modernity.47
The so-called economic miracle in the German Federal Republic made it possible to return to normal life in many areas and to insure prosperity for large parts of the population;48 however, interest in emigration in postwar Germany remained high, even if not all those who were interested would eventually emigrate. Due to high unemployment and simultaneously a shortage of manpower, the GFR's emigration policy aimed at keeping qualified employees in Germany by simply not providing financial support until the 1950s. The restrictive policy failed. What followed were state attempts to control emigration. This way West German departments succeeded in promoting the emigration of DPs. However, the government failed to conclude bilateral migration contracts, as the United States was not interested in binding agreements.49
Unlike other industrial nations, the United States was able to increase its production efficiency during World War II. The economic advantage was huge. In 1950 6 percent of the world's population lived in the United States and produced 27 percent of the global gross domestic product. The annual average growth rate was about 2.5 percent. In addition to birth surplus, immigration was a key factor for population growth in the United States. In the middle of the twentieth century the United States reflected a global world.50 Like other immigration countries the United States preferred young and healthy skilled workers who were single.51 Müller was one of them. When he emigrated to the States, he was in his mid-twenties, alone, and had just finished his studies.
New Life in the United States
On April 23, 1958, Müller took the train from Munich via Salzburg and Tarvis to Trieste. On May 10, he arrived in New York, after departing from Trieste on the steamship SS Saturnia on April 25, with stops in Venice, Patras, Naples, Palermo, Gibraltar, Lisbon, and Halifax. In his first letter, Müller mentioned 700 Italian emigrants who came aboard at Palermo; others came from Austria and former Yugoslavia. Much of the first letter is dedicated to the crossing and Müller's arrival in the United States. Müller's descriptions of the primarily Italian emigrants were stereotypical. Women he found to be “southern beauties,” as the advertisements had promised. Müller found differences concerning mentality toward food, which mainly consisted of spaghetti noodles, but also in the Italian emigrants' emotional behavior at the departure. Except for seasickness, the moaning in the cabins, and fog—in which they lost their sister ship—the trip across the Atlantic went well. On May 8, 1958, Müller entered the American continent for the first time in his life and ate his first hamburger in Halifax.52
Müller's first letter is dated June 1, 1958, from Winona, Minnesota. It was addressed to his parents and his siblings and written in response to a letter from his father and a postcard from his brother Siegfried. The closing words are typical for emigrant letters and are intended to convince the relatives that everything is fine: “I am healthy, happy and cheerful and will write to you soon.” Already in his opening, Müller talked about his financial situation in the United States: “It's not that difficult, to get some money here. […] I arrived in Winona with 17 Dollars, and now I have 24. And great perspectives,” he wrote.53 Positive reports about chances and freedoms in the country of destination can be found in many immigrant letters of the United States. With sentences like the above, emigrants composed a positive comparison to their home country and thereby strengthened the myth of America. Alongside his admiration of the new and the seemingly unattainable, he also expressed dismay and disgust about the conditions of living in a large city were.54 In Wolfgang Müller's first letter, this contradiction becomes clear in his description of the arrival in New York City: “on the horizon we could see an endless chain of lights—the American Coast. The first light ship was named, of course, Belief and I was freezing. […] The house walls were spoiled with oversized billboards and loudspeakers were bawling all the time. I would not even like to be buried in New York.”55 One has to bear in mind that Müller had been traveling around the United States for over two months and wrote these lines retrospectively. When writing the letter, Müller had already arrived in Winona and was far away from hectic New York.
Upon arrival Müller had taken a Greyhound bus from New York to Washington, where he got to know an American student named John Pruner. Together with Pruner and another student, Müller made his way to Durham, North Carolina, where he could live at the student league house. Müller felt welcome at Duke University. According to his letter to his family, American people were interested in Germany, in Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, especially. Müller took over a German lesson from a German professor and taught judo at the university.56
For the first time, Müller saw signs banning blacks from restaurants, which irritated him. Racism and “the land of the free” did not fit together in his mind. Racial segregation in the southern states determined American domestic politics and divided American society. Until 1960 public schools and universities that did not admit black pupils and students could be found in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia. There were restaurants that did not serve African Americans, hospitals denied black patients' treatment, and taxis were reserved for “whites only.”57 After two weeks in Durham, Müller took the Greyhound northwest to Chicago and from there to Madison and finally to Winona. There he met Susan, who would later become his wife, and settled down.
The themes of work, income, and prices hold the greatest share of space in Wolfgang Müller's letters. This overlaps with Wolfgang Helbich's study about “Auswandererbriefe als Quelle für Historiker.”58 In vivid stories Müller described how much a German beer cost in America and that American beer tasted like nothing. He informed his parents and siblings how much a pound of bread and half a gallon of milk were and how expensive it was to have one's hair cut. All those prices were set into relation to his rent. In June 1958 Müller proudly talked about a made-to-measure suit that Susan's father gave him as a present. It was worth $40 and “looked great.”59
In many letters to his family Müller described his career in the United States, showing them what he had achieved in a very short period. In June 1958 he started evening classes at the Minneapolis School of Arts. A few months later, Müller moved to Minneapolis where he lived in a Polish quarter. He worked as an engineering draftsman and later as a designer. In another letter, he described his job as a designer for the Federal Ski and Engineering Corporation. One year later, he registered to study aviation engineering at the University of Minnesota. Two professors from Germany helped him get an assistant position. Working as an assistant Müller financed his studies at university and provided the family's income while Susan contributed her teacher salary. The subsequent letters were about his academic success as well as the offspring, which was to be expected by the end of 1960. Although Müller discussed the double burden of family and work, failure was not yet an issue in the letters.60
Müller wrote also about his daily activities and purchases. He compared prices and goods in Germany and the United States so that his family could imagine his living standards in America. He reported his hourly wage to his father and told him about the insurance situation in the United States. At the same time he offered financial help to his siblings. These descriptions underline his professional success. But one does not know if his finances were always that good. In the fall of 1961 there are signs of a financially difficult situation. Also, in 1969 the letters reveal that Müller was unemployed for four months.61
German emigration had a big impact on the Midwest United States. In Minnesota, as in other states around the Great Lakes, the German population had been relatively high since the late nineteenth century. Around 1900 over 20 percent of the inhabitants of Minnesota were German.62 Large industrial centers were situated around the Great Lakes. German immigrants shaped the cultural image of the state. Strong German communities supported by the Catholic and Lutheran churches were established. German clubs provided a wide range of cultural life.63 That made everyday life in the United States easier for German immigrants. Therefore, it was no coincidence that Müller migrated to the Midwest and finally settled down in Minneapolis after his short time in Winona. Reading the letters, we get an idea of how Müller lived in Minneapolis. He wrote about his first refrigerator, which was s0 big that he did not need to buy anything for two months when it was filled with groceries.64
On the one hand, the letters reflect the prosperity Müller experienced in the United States; on the other hand, we know many migrants described their living conditions much better than they actually were in order to impress relatives.65 In another letter, Müller wrote about his income and expenses. “The rent of 65 dollars is relatively cheap, especially because it is furnished. But the house is located in a Polish neighborhood. Elsewhere people pay 90 to 110 dollars monthly for four rooms unfurnished kitchen including […] I spend about six to seven dollars weekly for food (and eat at home) but have all including tinned food in the refrigerator. I'm getting fat.” Furthermore, he mentioned his plans to buy a car, which would cost ten times the rent.66 This is an indication for his increasing wealth.
Through the letters from Wolfgang Müller we also learn about the social and cultural life of German migrants in North America and about their networks. We learn that there had been German newspapers and magazines in circulation and that the Lutheran church looked for members. Müller wrote to his parents in June 1958:
On Sunday, I was at the (Lutheran) church and in the program I found an attendance list with some questions, if one was a member or not, and if one was willing to become a member. I wrote them that I was interested, just to see, what would happen. Yesterday evening a lady with a questioning sheet came to me and told me that I had to make a statement, how many Dollars I would like to spend every Sunday for the collection. […] Strange. I don't know if I would like to become a member.67
As for many immigrants, the United States seemed to be a land of unlimited opportunities and Wolfgang Müller was fascinated by it, which is why he adapted to the American way of life. “My lunchbreak is over. I have to stop writing and have a hamburger,” he wrote in a letter to his family. This not only shows when he wrote his letter, but also how: At work, during the lunchbreak, because it needed to be done quickly. Humorously, he reported on the course of the driving test in the United States and made up a quiz about the traffic signs. In another letter, Müller told his brother Siegfried about his first flying lessons and that he would like to have a pilot's license. He was fascinated by the American system. Although he was impressed by multistory buildings and by multilane roads from a technical point of view, Müller did not like the appearance of the city. In a letter, he used the word “terrible.” His fascination on the one hand and the repulsion on the other became clear in the following lines of a letter from August 16, 1958: “No one has time, because time is money. And perhaps money makes the world go round, but definitely America.”68
On January 5, 1959, Müller wrote about an important event in his life—his marriage to Susan Schwager. A few months earlier he mentioned, almost in passing, his engagement. Attached to the letter was a picture of the couple, which had been published in a newspaper: “The picture was taken by a famous portrait photographer and printed in the press. Proud of that,” Müller added. Now, he had not only been in the newspaper for occupational matters, but also for personal ones. His economic success was followed by private success. For the first time, his wife Susan wrote a few lines to his family in Germany. “Now we are married for about two weeks and we regard it as our duty to report to you in detail.”69
His marriage and the birth of his sons changed the content of the letters. With Susan and their children, Müller moved to a new flat and a new chapter in life began. Suddenly family affairs became central in letters and on postcards. In January 1961 Müller wrote a letter to his parents and siblings telling them about the comfort in the new flat. “[W]e have a modern bathroom […] running cold and hot water at any time at day and night.” A detailed drawing of the floor plan helped visualize the new living conditions. Family and private matters also figured in Müller's letters, such as a child's colic or his wife's clothing. Since 1962 life seems to have stabilized for the four-person family. After his final exams, Müller found employment as an engineer at the Pioneer Parachute Company. This is the company he stayed with until 1969, relocating the family to Connecticut into a “beautiful new flat.”70
After ten years of marriage, Susan filed for divorce in June 1969. Letters from both Susan and Wolfgang Müller show differing gender-specific way of telling their story. Ursula Lehmkuhl demands that immigrant letters should be read according to a gender-historic perspective.71 Susan Schwager wrote to Müller's parents on June 26, 1969, describing the situation after they were divorced. She reported that she had been awarded custody of the children before explaining: “I have thought of you very often, but I decided not to write until legal matters were settled. I would not know where to begin to tell you of this whole sad business. […] I did what I thought was right, and now after a year, I still think I made the decision that was best for the children and myself.” Contrary to his ex-wife, Wolfgang Müller reported on their divorce in a very factual manner three months after Susan's letter. He briefly mentioned his passive role in the divorce proceedings and said that he accepted the maintenance payments. After four months of unemployment, he had found a job at Stanley Aviation, where he would earn $4,000 more than at Pioneer Parachute Company.72
After twelve years in the United States, Wolfgang Müller remigrated to Germany, then lived in Norway, Israel, and the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia). Today, together with his life partner, he lives in Lower Austria, in the Waldviertel.
Conclusions
These two examples demonstrate the difficulty of migrant letters as sources. Reconstructing the life of a person only through letters is like a puzzle with pieces missing. In most cases we only have letters from one side so we can only gain insights into one part of the conversation. Without other sources it is hardly possible to reconstruct the biography of writers. It is important to contextualize these letters on the macrohistorical level and connect them with other sources. Another important point is that there are letters missing. Moreover, letter writers would often cast themselves in a positive light. Therefore, the letters as historical sources present difficulties of interpretation. This is why it is necessary to conduct deeper research in archives.73
Such as Austrians lived in Argentina or the United States in the 1950s. We know about the laws and the economic situation in the country of origin and destination. But what do we know about the everyday lives of migrants? Exactly this is the benefit of migrant letters. We learn how hard life was for Gertrude Dolezel, how she managed to migrate with four children, how she dealt with the death of two children, how she went on with life, ended an unhappy marriage, and remarried. We are able to trace Wolfgang Müller's professional career in the United States, how he found his way in American society and how he experienced life in his new “homeland.” So we gain an insight and deeper understanding of the challenges facing of two of many migrants.
Most families who emigrated after World War II did so for economic reasons, to provide themselves as well as their children with better prospects for the future. It can be concluded that the decision in favor or against migration happened “in the nexus of socio-economic, family, and individual factors and with the aim not to disturb the balance of the economic and emotional household of the whole family, its subgroups and members.”74 In the case of Gertrude Dolezel, the whole family immigrated to Argentina to a rural area. In the case of Wolfgang Müller, he immigrated alone to a city. Although there are some fundamental differences, there are some similarities in their biographies and topics discussed in their letters. Gertrude Dolezel tried to start a better life with her husband and children. Like Wolfgang Müller she got divorced, but married again. She never gave up, stayed in Argentina, and started a new family and life with another man. Wolfgang Müller is an example of a male breadwinner. He graduated from university, worked in professional positions, married, and divorced after ten years. He stayed alone and later remigrated to Europe where he lived and worked in different European states before he retired 2005 in Gmünd, Austria.
Gertrude Doezel and Wolfgang Müller's letters are a unique source to capture migration processes on an individual level and to depict experiences of migration from a migrant's perspective. There are dozens more undiscovered stories like Gertrude Dolezel and Wolfgang Müller's waiting to be uncovered in the Migrationsarchiv in Salzburg.
Note
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Letters in Troubled Times: Evaluating Epistolary Sources” conference, February 16, 2018, at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, organized by Suzanne M. Sinke, G. Kurt Piehler, and Sylvia Hahn.
Sylvia Hahn is historian at the University of Salzburg and lead the Sammlung österreichischer Auswandererbriefe- und Tagebücher. She is a founding member of the Österreichisches Netzwerk für Migrationsgeschichte (ÖNM).
David A. Gerber, “The Immigrant Letter between Positivism and Populism: The Use of Immigrant Personal Correspondence in Twentieth-Century American Scholarship,” Journal of American Ethnic History 16, no. 4 (1997): 3–34.
Stephan Elspass, “Briefe und Tagebücher als Quellen der Alltags- und Alltagssprachgeschichte,” Der Deutschunterricht, no. 3 (2007): 42–51.
Wolfgang Helbich, “Auswandererbriefe: Nutzen, Missbrauch, Möglichkeiten,” in Migration und Erinnerung. Reflexionen über Wanderungserfahrungen in Europa und Nordamerika (Transkulturelle Perspektiven Bd. 4), ed. Christiane Harzig (Göttingen: V&R unipress, 2006), 96.
Ursula Lehmkuhl, “Heirat und Migration in Auswandererbriefen. Die Bestände der Nordamerika-Briefsammlung in der Forschungsbibliothek Gotha,” L'homme. Zeitschrift für feministische Geschichtswissenschaft, no. 1 (2014): 127.
Austrian Collection of Emigrant Letters and Diaries University of Salzburg (ACELD), Dolezel, 1–78, 1946–2000.
Gertrude lived in foster homes in Vienna, Pöndorf, and Bad Ischl. Her biological parents were Hilda and Karl Dolezel. We do not know why they gave her away—only that the marriage was very difficult. Gertrude also had a younger brother, who lived with Gertrude's biological mother. If Gertrude and her biological mother had contact, we cannot reconstruct it from the letters. We do only know that her mother wrote letters to Gertrude's foster mother to ensure that everything was all right. ACELD, Dolezel, B32_1931_12_21; B31_1931_6_20; B33_1933_5_2.
Elisabeth Höllerer was made aware of the ACELD when reading an Austrian newspaper in May 2017 that contained an appeal to the public to collect documents from emigrants. This was when she decided to make the letters, cards, and pictures from Gertrude available for the collection.
In this period, the collection also contains two letters from Gertrude's parents. One was written by her biological mother, Hilda, who wanted to make sure that everything was fine with Gertrude. The other one was written by her biological father, Karl, who described the difficult relationship between him and his wife. ACELD, Dolezel, B32_1931_12_21; B33_1933_5_2.
One letter is written by Georg to Aunt Tilly after Gertrude and Georg divorced. ACELD, Dolezel, B27_1955_3_19.
ACELD, Dolezel, B_12_o.D.
Alexander Freund, Aufbrüche nach dem Zusammenbruch. Die deutsche Nordamerika-Auswanderung nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg (Osnabrück: V&R unipress, 2004), 306–7.
In the early years (1948–49), food was provided and investments were made in agriculture by the European Recovery Program (ERP). After covering the need of food and groceries, in a second phase (1949–52), energy supply and basic industry were recovered. The third phase of the ERP (1952–53) aimed at convenience products, export industry and tourism. Roman Sandgruber, Ökonomie und Politik. Österreichische Wirtschaftsgeschichte vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart (Wien: Überreuter, 2005), 450–56.
Gerda Neyer, “Auswanderungen aus Österreich: Von der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart,” Demographische Informationen (1995/96): 64–65, 70; Sylvia Hahn, “Österreich,” in Enzyklopädie: Migration in Europa, ed. Klaus J. Bade et al. (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2007), 182–88; Andrea Strutz, “Kanada hin und retour Aspekte der Auswanderung aus Österreich nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg unter Berücksichtigung von temporären Migrationsverläufen,” Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 31, no. 1 (2011): 39–42.
Neyer, “Auswanderungen aus Österreich,” 67.
Richard Klatovsky, Südamerika heute. Unentbehrliche Ratschläge für Auswanderer (Wien: Ring Verlag, 1949), 27, 61–62
In a letter, Gertrude referred to Matz's description of great living conditions in Buenos Aires. ACELD, Dolezel, B17_1952_12_1.
Ibid.
Hans Werner Tobler, “Zwischen Beharrung und Aufbruch. Lateinamerika,” in Die Welt im 20. Jahrhundert nach 1945, ed. Helmut Konrad and Monika Stromberger (Wien: Mandelbaum Verlag, 2010), 310–36.
Tanja Bastia and Matthias vom Hau, “Migration, Race and Nationhood in Argentina,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 40, no. 3 (2014): 477–84; Susana Novick, “Transformations and Challenges of Argentinean Migratory Policy in Relation to the International Context,” Migraciones Internationales 6, no. 3 (2012): 210–13.
ACELD, Dolezel, B17_1952_12_1.
Helbich, “Auswandererbriefe,” 96.
ACELD, Dolezel, B17_1952_12_1.
Ibid.
Ibid.; ACELD, Dolezel, B19_1953_11_21.
ACELD, Dolezel, B19_1953_11_21.
ACELD, Dolezel, B17_1952_12_1 and B20_1953_12.
Edith Blaschitz, Auswanderer, Emigrante, Exilanzten. Die österreichische Kolonie in Buenos Aires. Von den Anfängen bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Jahre 1918–1945 (Wien: Universität Wien, 1992), 6, 111.
Bastia and Hau, “Migration, Race and Nationhood in Argentina,” 476, 479–84.
ACELD, Dolezel, B27_1955_3_19 and B25_1954_12_30.
Blaschitz, Auswanderer, 21.
ACELD, Dolezel, B78_2000_07_28.
ACELD, Müller, 1–176, 1958–70.
The gearwheel factory was called Zahnradfabrik-Müller and was situated in Leipzig-Wahren. It was founded by the grandfather of Wolfgang Müller, Max Müller, in 1899. The company was nationalized by force by the GDR regime in 1953 and restituted around 1994. “Bombenangriff auf Wahren, Zeitzeugenbericht Wolfgang Müller,” Viadukt, Die Bürgerzeitung für Möckern, Wahren und Lindenthal, no. 148 (April 2017): 11.
GDR stands for German Democratic Republic.
Interview with Wolfgang Müller, March 2017; Personal Data Sheet Wolfgang Müller and Email-Correspondence with Wolfgang Müller, September 12, 2018.
Wolfgang Müller was made aware of the ACELD when reading an Austrian newspaper in April 2016 that contained an appeal to the public announced by the University of Salzburg. Consequently, he decided to allow for the digitalization of his letters, postcards, and photographs in order to make them available for the collection. The originals remained in Wolfgang Müller's ownership. Email correspondence with Wolfgang Müller, May 3, 2016.
ACELD, Müller, B004_1958_06_27; B010_1958_10_06; B011_1958_10_18; and B047_1961_01_30.
ACELD, Müller, 1–176, 1958–70.
Freund, Aufbrüche, 270, 274–75.
Ibid., 268.
Interview with Wolfgang Müller, March 2017.
In the “Sponsoring Papers” U.S. citizens (referred to as sponsors) act as the immigrants' guarantors and confirm that they have enough financial means to help the immigrants. The aim was to prevent immigrants from becoming a financial burden of the United States.
Freund, Aufbrüche, 405-406.
Ibid., 391, 396, 216, and 201.
Ibid., 393; Sylvia Hahn, “Klassische Einwanderungsländer: USA, Kanada und Australien,” in Migrationen. Globale Entwicklungen seit 1850, ed. Albert Kraler, Karl Husa, Veronika Bilger, and Irene Stacher (Wien: Mandelbaum Verlag, 2007), 87. The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 upheld the national origins quota system established by the Immigration Act of 1924.
Freund, Aufbrüche, 98–99.
Eckart Conze, “Eine bürgerliche Republik? Bürgertum und Bürgerlichkeit in der westdeutschen Nachkriegsgesellschaft,” Geschichte und Gesellschaft 30, no. 3 (July–September 2004): 531–34, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40186083.
Freund, Aufbrüche, 204–5 and 209.
Gerd Hardach, “Ungleiche Nachbarn. Nordamerika,” in Die Welt im 20, ed. Konrad and Stromberger, 288, 284.
Freund, Aufbrüche, 202–3.
ACELD, Müller, B001_1958_06_01.
Ibid.
Ralf Roth, “Amerika—Deutschland. Folgen einer transatlantischen Migration,” Historische Zeitschrift 281, no. 3 (December 2005): 646, 649.
ACELD, Müller, B001_1958_06_01.
Ibid.
Willi Paul Adams, “Die USA im 20. Jahrhundert,” in Oldenbourg. Grundriss der Geschichte, ed. Lothar Gall, Karl-Joachim Hölkerskamp, and Hermann Jakobs (München: Oldenbourg Verlag, 2008), 84.
Wolfgang Helbich, “Auswandererbriefe als Quelle für Historiker,” in Abwanderung und Migration in Mecklenburg und Vorpommern, eds. N. Werz et al. (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, 2004), 79.
ACELD, Müller, B001_1958_06_01; B011_1958_10_18; and B002_1958_06_08.
ACELD, Müller, B002_1958_06_08; B018_1959_01_20; B041_1960_10_16; B044_1960_11_22; B045_1960_12_04; and B061_1961_10_09.
ACELD, Müller, B061_1961_10_09 and B167_1969_09_03.
Wolfgang Helbich, Walter D. Kamphoefner, and Ulrike Sommer, eds., Briefe aus Amerika. Deutsche Auswanderer schreiben aus der Neuen Welt 1830–1930 (München: C. H. Beck, 1988), 21.
Roth, “Amerika,” 625–27.
ACELD, Müller, B010_1958_10_06.
Helbich, “Auswandererbriefe,” 96.
ACELD, Müller, B011_1958_10_18.
ACELD, Müller, B004_1958_06_27.
ACELD, Müller, B004_1958_06_27; B008_1958_09_04; and B007_1958_08_16.
ACELD, Müller, B017_1959_01_05; B010_1958_10_06; and B017_1959_01_05.
ACELD, Müller, B047_1961_01_30 and B086_1962_11_20.
Lehmkuhl, “Heirat und Migration,” 127.
ACELD, Müller, B166_1969_06_26 and B167_1969_09_03.
Helbich, Auswandererbriefe als Quelle, 78.
Freund, Aufbrüche, 315, 343.