Irma's Passport: One Woman, Two World Wars, and a Legacy of Courage

by Catherine Ehrlich

Inspired to learn languages by her multi-lingual Austrian grandmother, Irma, the author seeks the wellsprings of Irma’s indomitable spirit. By delving into the late Irma’s extraordinary memoirs, shared in this book, she explores her outspoken grandparents’ influential lives at the crossroads of German and Jewish national movements. Along the way, she uncovers a deep heritage of empowered women.

Golden-haired Irma grew up in Imperial Austria believing that wars and prejudice were fading. Her journey from Bohemian country girl to grande dame in New York would traverse a fascinating landscape of renowned people at pivotal moments in history, captured in her memoirs. Irma studied languages as one of the first female university students in Prague while her cousin, Franz Kafka, was there. Her marriage after World War I to influential Zionist Jakob Ehrlich, sole Jewish representative on Vienna’s city council, placed her at the crossroads of German and Jewish nationalism at a fateful time. Irma would leave Vienna with her son under the calculating watch of arch-Nazi Adolf Eichmann and find her voice among a dazzling world of power elites, including British parliamentarians, Chaim Weizmann (first president of Israel), and unsung female philanthropists. Seeking an unencumbered life for her son, she would move on to New York and a career devoted to resettling refugees. The author, Irma’s granddaughter, blends Irma’s vibrant chronicles into a riveting narrative of history, heritage, and adaptation. Part personal memoir, part historical drama, Irma’s Passport is ultimately a tribute to human dignity, in which one woman can restore the lives of many and courage is a victory in itself.

225 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 2021

About the author

Catherine Ehrlich is a nonfiction writer. Trained as an Asian linguist (University of Michigan) and diplomat (Johns Hopkins SAIS), she has been a trade representative, interpreter, public relations executive, and marketing consultant in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan as well as New York, Washington DC, and Seattle.
Irma's Passport is the culmination of six years of research and writing focused on the true story behind her grandmother's testimonial memoirs.

Reviews

[Leora Krygier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catherine Ehrlich's rich family history emerges from this story of a courageous women living between two world wars. The author incorporates her grandmother, Irma's, memoirs with her own keen understanding and exposition of the historical background.

Both the author and Irma share a talent for a well-written tale of tumultuous times, especially the 1930's, a time of "wild conspiracy theories, propaganda and media control." There are lessons for us to be learned from those times, the reader quickly understands.

Irma herself is a spitfire of a woman who attended university when there were only 4% women students, and who shared an English literature class with Franz Kafka. (It's not the only time, historical figures pop out like gifts in the book) Irma is also the kind of empowered woman who battled freezing temperatures on a doomed quest to find her missing first husband in the aftermath of WWI.

The book too provides a window into the assimilated life of the Jews of Bohemia, early Zionism, Antisemitism and the Holocaust. "Come with me into Jakob and Irma's world in March of 1938. Set aside your cache of foreknowledge," the author instructs and forewarns the reader.

Still, knowing what we know now, you hold your breath and inspired by Irma, read on.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir will have you on the edge of your seat. Irma Ehrlich's story growing up in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the impact of both the Great War and World War II on her life will have your heart racing. It is a wonderful read.

[gino mazzuchetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seldom read books on Austrian involvement in WW2 so this book was an eye opener to me as what happened to the country and its peoples during the war, written from Irna's personal history and experiences, starting at WW1 and ending in WW2. Hard to imagine what the people went through during the Nazi regime and in particular how many families were lost and misplaced during the wars, although some did manage to escape and find themselves reunited in western countries.

[Elio Lerner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historic and well written

The book narrates the life of Irma narrating the historic context throughout her life. It encompasses important global events such as World war I and world war Ii. I recommend this reading not only for those interested in the holocaust but to everyone that appreciates a good reading.

[Francine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a detailed, erudite and colorful account of Jewish communities in Austria and the former Czechoslovakia, and their migration and partial demise, from 1890 through the early 1940’s, with brief later references to the pertinent family’s life in the United States.

The author’s grandmother is the Irma we all get to meet, a vivacious, well-educated and determined woman who eventually helped to facilitate the exodus of many Jewish children to Palestine during World War II. Irma’s Passport is a tribute to her perseverance, not only in her good works, but in her emotional world as well, while she lives through being widowed twice, and then raises a son during the Nazi occupation.

The book is exceedingly well researched, and I learned so much about this part of the world and how it was affected by invasions from other countries. We think we know the Holocaust, and most of us have heard of aspects such as the French underground, but I honestly knew little about the diverse Jewish communities in Austria and the work they did to create the beginnings of the state of Israel.

Irma brushes shoulders with Einstein, Kafka and even Eichmann in her comings and goings, moving in circles that assisted her in accomplishing all she did in this era.

Overall, a fascinating historical memoir and biography.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an excellent complement to my previous read, "I Am Cyrus." Whereas von Buseck's account focused on the lengthy history of the Jewish people, Catherine Ehrlich offers a personal account of her grandmother, Irma Ehrlich, and her father Paul.

Drawing from Irma's journals and her own memories and conversations with her grandmother, we get a first-hand account of Irma's life. Born in Austria, Irma's family considered themselves assimilated Jews, i.e. as long as they were free to practice their religion as they desired, they felt comfortable engaging in the broader community. They looked with some disdain on those Jews who insisted on a separate homeland--until events beyond their family and community impacted them.

Married to one of the leaders of the Zionist movement, Irma's education, social connections, and sheer determination enabled her to escape Nazi Austria only months before Joseph Eichmann launched his full-on assault on European Jews and perfected his extermination techniques in the concentration camps. Hers is a story of courage in the face of evil. Highly recommend.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Born in 1890, Irma went to college in Prague where Franz Kafka was in her English class and Einstein taught a class across the hall. She married a fellow student in 1914 and they planned to go to England to continue their studies, but WWI started and things changed. By the end of that year, she was a widow; her husband killed in the war. But she was a survivor, marrying again, bearing a child, fleeing the Nazis. Fascinating story of events in the 20th century by someone who lived them.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erma was a strong, proud woman who lived in the extraordinary times of both World Wars & the creation of a Jewish nation. This memoir introduces us to an incredible life recreated by an adoring granddaughter.

Tracing an ancestor’s life is a daunting challenge, yet Catherine Erhlich has done a masterful job. Well written; easily read.

I recommend to those who enjoy memoirs, readers of Austria WWI & WWII, and those who wish to better understand Zionism.

[Shelley Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

The strength of one woman in a time of conflict and pain

This book gives a true historical insight into the lives of Jews during two world wars. The loss of two husbands, one in each conflict, and her determination and strength to support her only child to leave behind everything to start a new life in a world unknown to her. She spent her life supporting others to achieve the same.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an engaging and UPLIFTING book about a Holocaust survivor. A mix of memoir and biography, it is a truly inspiring story of resilience and hope.

[Chava · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although you will probably not read about Irma Ehrlich in a history book, she led an interesting and accomplished life. There is a lot of history in the book written by her granddaughter, but you need this background to see how Irma's life intersected with people like Chaim Weizmann and Adolf Eichmann. Irma had her share of tragedy. Her first husband was killed in World War I, and she lost most of her family in the Holocaust. Her second husband, Jacob Ehrlich, a leader of the Jewish community in Vienna, was arrested after the Anschluss, and taken to Dachau, where he died. It was later learned that he was beaten to death from not cooperating with the Nazis. But the book emphasizes that she refused to be a victim. She used her knowledge of languages to leave Nazi Vienna for London, when she became a popular speaker and advocate for Jews trying to escape the Nazis. She then moved to the US so her son Paul would not feel belittled for being an immigrant.

For me the tragedy is that they did to themselves what Hitler tried to do. Irma's son Paul was raised without a real religious background, he married a non-Jew and the author and her siblings were raised without religion.