Ernst Fuerth Collection

Ernst Fürth (Arnošt Fürth) was born in Sušice in the Pilsen region of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) on April 8, 1865, the youngest of the eight children of Daniel Fürth. Ernst's grandfather, Bernard Fürth, owned a match factory there which was the family business. After the death of his mother when Ernst was 11 he was sent to live in Vienna, where he attended the Akademische Gymnasium and then studied chemistry at the University of Vienna. After serving in 1884 for one year as a lieutenant in the reserve cavalry, he went to Berlin to study at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. He then returned to Sušice, where he and his brother Bernard managed the match factory.

In 1898 he married Elza Roheim; they had two daughters, Margarete (Gretl) and Eva. In 1913 the family moved to Vienna, Austria, where Ernst Fürth was named head of the corporation Solo A.G., a partnership of match factories in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This position required him to travel throughout Central Europe as well as take business trips abroad. In 1931 his wife Elza committed suicide. In 1936 he married Ella Siebert.

In spring 1938 Ernst and Ella Fürth left Vienna, traveling first to Sušice and then Switzerland before settling in Paris in December 1938. By the spring of 1939 they had moved to Nice, accompanied by Ella's sister Cecile; in September they moved to Arcachon, near Bordeaux, France. Here they remained for some time, where they lived in reduced circumstances from their lives before their emigration. Ernst wrote frequently to his daughter Eva, who had immigrated to the United States with her husband George Perl and their two daughters. Arcachon became part of occupied France in June 1940 and letters between Ernst and his daughter ceased for a year. In one of the last of these letters, Ernst asked Eva about acquiring an immigration visa to the United States.

In November 1940 Frank C. Wright, a former acquaintance of Ernst Fürth, responded to Eva and George Perl's request for assistance in acquiring an immigration visa for Ernst. The immigration paperwork was sent to the American embassy in France by April 1941, but in May 1941 exit permits were denied to anyone wishing to leave occupied France.

By July 1941 Ernst was able to establish contact with the Perls in the United States through the assistance of Frederic Reyfer, a former business acquaintance who lived in Geneva with an office in a town on the French border. In addition to smuggling postcards out of France he also provided Ernst with funds from the Perls and with packages of food and supplies. In August 1941 Ernst, Ella and Cecile moved to Tours, France, and in September to Angers. During this time Ernst met Pierre Lelièvre, a friend of Reyfer's, who visited the Fürths and brought packages. Reyfer and Lelièvre supported Ernst after the Perls' payments could no longer reach him. On October 9, 1942 Ernst Fürth was deported to the Drancy internment camp. He was released on December 7, 1942 after the interventions of his wife and Pierre Lelièvre; too weak to return to Angers he stayed with Frederic and Marguerite Lelièvre in Paris before being taken to a nursing home due to his frequent attacks of angina. Ernst Fürth died in Paris on January 4, 1943.