Concentration Camp

Prior to the 1940s, concentration camps were prisons from which most of those incarcerated were eventually freed. By the 1940s, the phrase “concentration camp” came to mean certain death for those sent to them.

The Anschluss

The Anschluss was the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany that occurred in March 1938 when the Austrian chancellor resigned and the country was invaded and occupied by the Germans.

Yellow Star

The Nazis required the Jews to sew a cloth five-point yellow star on their outer clothing so that they could immediately be identified as Jewish. Being caught without it would lead to arrest and incarceration. On several occasions, Edith ran the risk of such a fate when she refused to wear it.

St. Anthony’s Medal

When Edith returned to Vienna she was virtually homeless. She encountered a young man who insisted on buying her a cold drink. She...