Magda and Eric Barber
Eric Barber was born on May 24, 1915 in Vienna, Austria, to Margit and Ernst Barber. His father worked at a bank, and his parents raised him and his younger brother, Herbert, who was born in 1921, in a secular home with a strong Austrian identity. (Eric did, however, attend a weekly Jewish Studies class.)
Magdalena, known as Magda, was also born in Vienna, on May 27, 1918 to Berta and Adolf Schwarcz. She was the youngest of three children; her brother, Julius, was born in 1912, and her sister, Elisabeth (known as Mady) in 1913. The family owned a restaurant and, like Eric’s, had a secular Austrian Jewish home. During her free time, Magda loved going to the opera.
Eric and Magda met at a dance in the fall of 1938. Shortly after that, on November 9, Eric took Magda on a date to the movies. As fate would have it, it was Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), when the Nazis orchestrated pogroms against Jewish businesses, synagogues and homes. On their way out of the theater, Eric and Magda witnessed the horrific violence that had been unleashed, which signaled a dangerous turn of events.
The first deportations of Austrian Jews began in October 1939. Magda’s parents were ultimately sent to Theresienstadt and then to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. Her brother survived by fleeing to Australia, and her sister escaped to British-Mandate Palestine, where she lived in Tel Aviv. Magda spent the war in London, where she paid to live with a family and worked as a dressmaker.
Eric and his father were rounded up by the Nazis with other Jewish men and deported to Dachau. His mother was among approximately 1,600 German and Austrian Jews deported to Mauritius, a British Island off of Madagascar, in December 1940. Although this saved them from more dire circumstances, these refugees were detained and kept in a prison complex there. Eric’s younger brother survived by fleeing to Australia, where he settled and started a family.
After five months in Dachau, thanks to lobbying by friends in the United States, Eric’s captors released him, on the condition that a physical examination would show no signs of torture. He lived in London for over a year while waiting for his U.S. immigration to be approved. In the same city again, Eric and Magda spent as much time together as they could until his departure early in 1941. Eric settled in New York City and worked in his cousin Ernie’s workshop manufacturing insect screens. He and Magda stayed in touch, writing each other hundreds of letters that reveal a great deal about their lives during these years.
Eric described taking advantage of all that the city had to offer, including walks through Central Park, a vibrant social life, many restaurants and concerts. But in every letter, he emphasized how much more enjoyable these experiences would be if Magda was with him. Eric also relayed plans to help Magda secure a visa so that she could join him in New York, including a trip to the State Department in Washington, D.C.
Towards the end of 1942, with Magda’s prospects for a visa elusive, Eric contemplated enlisting in the US Army. Immigrants like Eric from Austria and Germany were considered major assets on the warfront because of their knowledge of the language and culture. Eric began his active duty on June 5, 1943. He trained at Camp Wheeler, near Macon, Georgia, and became an intelligence officer for the 3rd Infantry Division. In February 1944, he was deployed with the 15th Infantry Regiment to Anzio, Italy, where his unit stayed for a few months before participating in Operation Dragoon.
This was the code name for the second invasion of France, which occurred on August 15, 1944. Initially planned in conjunction with Operation Overlord (also known as the Battle of Normandy), it was postponed by over two months due to a lack of resources. Eric was awarded a Bronze Arrowhead for his service in that battle.
In February 1945, Eric was granted furlough, which allowed him to visit London, where he planned to marry Magda. He sent her a telegram with this news through the American Red Cross, which assured him it would arrive in two days, but it took two weeks to deliver because of wartime conditions. Eric had also given a letter to a comrade who was travelling to London to mail when he arrived there but, unfortunately, neither of these messages reached Magda.
On the 27th of February, Eric arrived in London, bursting with excitement at the prospect of seeing Magda after five years apart. But while he was in transit, Magda had finally received her American visa and was making plans to leave for New York. Throughout their correspondence, Magda and Eric agreed that she would make her way to the United States as soon as she could, and since she hadn’t heard from him in several weeks, she had no idea that he was heading to her!
Eric and Magda were both heartbroken when they discovered this missed connection. He returned to Austria to complete his military service and was discharged in early 1946. During this time, Magda was living in Philipsburg, New Jersey where she continued working as seamstress.
Eric and Magda were married at last on February 19, 1946. They lived in the Bronx, where they had two daughters, Diane and Vivian. Eric’s parents survived and came to New York. Eric and an army friend opened a children’s clothing store that was in business for many years. Later in life, the partners developed a successful commercial real estate enterprise.
In January of 1967, Eric and Magda visited Israel for the first time. From that point forward, they were on a mission to raise money for the Jewish state. Eric and Magda were very philanthropic and especially involved in UJA and Hadassah. Eric passed away in 1991, while Magda lived until 2006. They had six grandchildren, including Holocaust Commemoration Committee member Beth Miles, mother of Jesse (‘35) and Eli Miles.
