Isidor and Fanny Bieder papers

Isidor Bieder was born on October 1, 1894, in Gorlice, Poland into a Jewish family. He had five siblings: Sahra, Malka, born December 11, 1912, Martha, born August 16, 1895, Heni, and Frieda, born August 6, 1911. Isidor married Fanny (Fiege) Wild, born November 2, 1904, also from Gorlice, on July 6, 1924, in Vienna, Austria. They settled in Vienna where Isidor developed a prosperous retail business. They had two daughters: Frieda, born on September 11, 1925, and Gertrude, born on January 23, 1929. Soon after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany on March 13, 1938, Germans looted the family’s apartment and confiscated their money, car, jewels, and other possessions. Anti-Jewish legislation was enacted and many Jewish owned businesses, including Isidor’s, were confiscated. During the Kristallnacht pogrom that November 10, Isidor was arrested and taken to the police riding school on Kenyongasse where he was severely beaten. Fanny was detained and forced to scrub the streets. The family’s apartment was sealed and they never returned there. As a condition of his release, Isidor had to agree to leave Austria with his family by a specified date. On January 15, 1939, Isidor paid the 25 % government tax on his remaining assets that was required of all Jews leaving Austria; he received a permit to leave the country the next day. They left for Italy and on January 20, they sailed from Genoa on the SS Esperia, arriving on January 26 in Haifa, Palestine. They lived in a small room in a resettlement center for Jewish refugees for several weeks and then in various temporary lodgings. Isidor was able to sell land that he had bought during a trip to Haifa with Fanny in 1933. The family left for Piraeus, Greece, on the SS Andreas-Dorus on November 20, 1939. From there, they sailed to New York City aboard the TSS Neas-Hellas and arrived on December 18, 1939. The family settled in Cleveland, Ohio. All of Isidor’s siblings perished during the Holocaust. Isidor passed away, age 76, on June 17, 1971.

Fanny (Fiege) Wilde was born on November 2, 1904, in Gorlice, Poland. She had 4 brothers, Bernard, Arnold, Joseph, and Sigmund and two sisters, Lea and Ella, born 1914. Her siblings all resided in Vienna where they attended school. Her brothers were involved in the Zionist movement which encouraged emigration to Palestine; they would be forced to leave Austria after the Anschluss. She married Isidor Bieder, born October 1, 1894, also from Gorlice, on July 6, 1924, in Vienna, Austria. They settled in Vienna where Isidor developed a prosperous retail business. They had two daughters, Frieda, born on September 11, 1925, and Gertrude, born on January 23, 1929. Soon after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany on March 13, 1938, Germans looted the family’s apartment and confiscated their money, car, jewels, and other possessions. Anti-Jewish legislation was enacted and many Jewish owned businesses, including Isidor’s, were confiscated. During the Kristallnacht pogrom that November 10, Isidor was arrested and taken to the police riding school on Kenyongasse where he was severely beaten. Fanny was detained and forced to scrub the streets. The family’s apartment was sealed and they never returned there. As a condition of his release, Isidor had to agree to leave Austria with his family by a specified date. On January 15, 1939, Isidor paid the 25 % government tax on his remaining assets that was required of all Jews leaving Austria. He received a permit for the family to leave the country the next day. They left for Italy and on January 20, they sailed on the SS Esperia from Genoa, arriving on January 26 in Haifa, Palestine. They lived in a small room in a resettlement center for Jewish refugees for several weeks and then in various temporary lodgings. Isidor was able to sell land that he had bought during a trip to Haifa with Fanny in 1933. The family left for Piraeus, Greece, on the SS Andreas-Dorus on November 20, 1939. From there, they sailed to New York City aboard the TSS Neas-Hellas and arrived on December 18, 1939. The family settled in Cleveland, Ohio. All of Fanny’s siblings survived the Holocaust. Fanny passed away, age 70, on November 1, 1975.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Gertrude Bieder Meisner and the Estate of Gertrude Bieder Meisner

The papers were acquired by Isidor and Fanny Bieder in the 1930s and were taken with them when the family fled from Austria in 1939. They were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Gertrude Bieder Meisner, Isidor and Fanny Bieder's daughter.