Isidor Aufricht was born in a small hamlet of Dolni Tosanovice (Tesin District) in the then Austrian Empire (now the Czech Republic). He lived just a few kilometres to the west in Mistek (now Mystek) which was on the Moravian side of the Ostravice River. Across the river to the north is the sister town of Friedek (Frydek). Isidor was one of 9 children of Samuel and Betti Aufricht. Samuel was a transporter of raw material to, and finished products from, the many textile factories in Friedek-Mistek. Since one brother inherited the business, the three other brothers in the family moved north across the border into the German Empire to the area around Beuthen (now Bytom in Poland). His eldest brother (Emanuel) became a very wealthy timber merchant. (Emanuel’s son, Ernst Josef Aufricht, became a renowned theatre empresario in Weimar Germany between the wars and staged the first production of “The Threepenny Opera” (Dreigrosschenoper) with Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil.)

Emanuel assisted Isidor in setting up a timber mill in Beuthen and he was eventually joined in the business by the fourth brother Hugo (the writer’s grandfather). They lived reasonably well in Beuthen, very much part of the German Jewish community of Upper Silesia (60% German and 40% Polish speaking). Isidor married Berta Centawer and on 8 January 1899 their son Hans was born in Ruda, just a few kilometres distant from Beuthen. It is not clear to me why Isidor moved to Amsterdam, but he probably lived there since around 1938. His brother and business partner, Hugo, managed to get a permit to New Zealand, where he went in 1939. (Hugo’s son - my father - was already in New Zealand. Hugo’s wife – my grandmother – Flora died from starvation and disease in the Lodz Ghetto in 1942.)

I am not sure what became of Isidor’s wife, but in Amsterdam Isidor lived alone. His son, Hans, who took the name Hans Aufricht-Ruda, after a short time as a theatre actor, wrote one novel in 1927 “Der Verhandlung gegen La Roncière” – published a year later in English under the title “The Case for the Defendant”. He wrote the novel while in Austria and in 1935 Hans completed a degree in Psychotherapy in Stockholm. In 1939 Hans left for the USA after spending time with his father in Amsterdam. It is not clear why Isidor was unable or unwilling to go to the United States with Hans. Although Hans had a very brief (arranged) marriage while in Austria, there were no children resulting from that marriage.