These are from the Livorno archives. She apparently tried to enlist Alfredo Sabato Toaff in her case--presumably to apply moral (rabbinical) pressure on Samuel Faust to cough up the moneys he promised. The timing of this corresponds somewhat to Fela absconding with the moneys intended for Mom (which seems to have been around 1936). She really seems to be in desperate straits, but had time to write many letters about this.
Google translate from my transcription of the French:
Sir :
As soon as I returned to Lucca, I hasten to send you the address of Rabbi T. Majzel, whose residence is as follows:
Lodz Poland
Al. I Maja, No. 21
Please, I implore Professor Professor, to serve my request well.
In thanking you with all my heart for the attention that you have in the end to lend to my story, I beg you, Sir, to believe in my deepest gratitude. I dared to trust no one and even Mr. Reuro Roselli[2] didn't know what they were doing when I asked him to present to you.
Accept, Professor, my most respectful and devoted feelings,
Felicia Baumgarten Campetti
Enclosed with above note. Google translate from French:
The friendly relations of the Baumgarten family with that of Samuel Faust[3] date back several years before the war. Living in the same house in Lodz we lived together almost like a single family and often believed in us as relatives. Samuel Faust was very devoted at the time of my father's death.
Samuel Faust, eldest son of a large family, enjoys the full confidence of his father - the well-regarded founder of a large textile factory - and helped him in the management of this one. Our friendship with Samuel Faust continued during the war and when, by the sad events of the bombardment of the city, my family was deprived of their home, S.F. hosted my brother and me for several months in his apartment.[4] He also took part in everything that concerned me, as if I had been one of his own sisters. I therefore considered him as a man, in whom I could confide and turn to if necessary.
In 1915 I managed to leave Poland and go to Denmark. Samuel Faust was then in Moscow and from there he often wrote to me, also taking advantage of my stay in a neutral country, to have letters sent to his family, who remained in Lodz. And soon after he too arrived in Copenhagen on his own business. His brief visit once again confirmed his attachment to me. I was then alone abroad, forced to earn my living, which was not easy for me, and I blindly followed the advice of Samuel Faust. He never tired of taking care of my person and recommended that I take good care of my health, which he knew to be delicate.
In 1927 I was in Paris and Samuel Faust also came there purely on business from his factory. It was then that I naturally asked him for advice on how to use a small amount of money, which I had been able to save in the meantime. I was afraid to entrust it to a bank given the lack of security it gave, and I did not know anyone who could direct me with kindness and wisdom, it seemed to me. Samuel Faust fully confirmed my fear of placing the sum in a bank, urged me not to trust anyone, and offered to take my sum under his supervision. He told me that the surest way not to lose it would be to entrust the sum in his hands, since he could put it in the factory of his father who was prospering very well and who will be able to give me a good percentage. And moreover he personally will always have the possibility of watching it closely, since this sum must in no way be lost or reduced. His words were such that I had no doubt as to the sincerity of his goodwill, and his person was, moreover, a sufficient guarantee for me to have the slightest suspicion. I didn't even dare to ask him for any document.
Samuel Faust knew very well what this money meant to me, how many sacrifices and how much effort I put into it in order to save it, neglecting my conveniences and even my health; he was a witness to my daily struggles and I have no doubt that this is not enough for him to consider my possession "sacred" to him, in his own words. We agreed that I would pay the sum, which then amounted to only 400.-dollars, in a trading house in Mulhouse in the name of the firm "Herman Faust i Ska" in Lodz, and that immediately afterwards I would receive my %% in four rates per year.
Thus, for some years I sent from time to time small sums saved to the Faust factory and the income came to me regularly. This lasted until 1933. In the autumn of that year I noticed that Samuel Faust stopped answering his letters and that the annuities also stopped. I started demanding them first jokingly, then growing increasingly alarmed. But in vain were all my entreaty pleas. Neither Samuel Faust nor the firm gave me any answer. In April 1934 I was finally told that the firm had suspended payments and that Samuel Faust would write to me personally. Soon after Sam's younger brother Faust committed suicide and it would be known that it was because of the disagreement that reigned between the brothers concerning the management of the factory. Samuel Faust finally writes to me, saying he wants to pay all the debt to me and offered to settle it in 10 years, paying 10% per year. He wanted to do it, he said, because my credit was a personal commitment to him that interested him "more than all his business." And in order to "defend my rights" he had a sheet of paper signed with my name in blanco sent to him. When I sent it to him, I begged him not to expose me to complete ruin. And again he assured me that he had not forgotten what this sum represented for me and that I should in no way lose it. But he didn't use my signature, he told me later, and I never got the answer from him what he did with it. It was by always remaining silent, passing me his promises and assuring me of his best intentions that he had held me back from acting and preventing the only guarantee that I had in the mortgage security all the firm's creditors had been assured that they would not expire.
For a year and a half Samuel Faust pays quite regularly the promised 10%. After this time everything ceases again. And once again the same story repeated itself: as in 1934 Sam. Faust no longer replied to my numerous letters, nor did the firm. Useless was my appeal: to his honor, to his duty, to his given word, useless the description of my condition. Nothing could move the conscience of Sam. Faust. In October 1936 the firm warns that the new laws in Poland no longer allow foreign currency to be taken out without confirmation from the Polish Consulate in Milan that this money is necessary for me to live. I obtained this confirmation at the Consulate, which was very costly, but Faust's income did not come. In the spring of 1937 the aged father of Samuel Faust died and in the summer of the same year I received an announcement that the firm of Herman Faust had once again suspended its payments. My letters to Sam. Faust went unanswered. I wrote to S.F.'s sister, then to his daughter and mother, telling them sincerely in what situation I found myself and begging them to use their influence and restrain S. Faust from bad action towards me. Only the girl answered. She "had no doubt" that her father would surrender all my dues to the firm in time, after the new arrangement with all the creditors was over. Sam. Faust also wrote to me, saying only that he had received "all" my letters and that the firm, being a limited company and not privately owned, he could do nothing about it. This is how he tried to avoid his obligations towards me, hiding behind the firm and forgetting all his promises and his duties taken upon himself. I contacted the judicial inspector of the firm Herman Faust, the lawyer Bernsztejn, asking me to inform me of the financial situation of the latter and to speak with Samuel Faust about my case. The lawyer let me know that he had really spoken with Samuel Faust and then he replied that he will pay me "something" in addition to this 25% granted to all other creditors of the firm when he can. and as much as he; can. On my answer that these vague promises are no longer enough for me and that I want from Samuel Faust a precise and regulatory obligation of these words I have had no news so far. The daughter of Samuel Faust, to whom I said the same words, that is to say that I want written proof and signed by her father of her goodwill, did not answer me either. The current situation is such: the concordat of the firm "Herman Faust i Sza", Société Anonyme, with its creditors was concluded on the basis of 25% settled in two or three years. Lawyer Bernsztejn assures me that this part of my sum will undoubtedly be paid by the firm. But I also want to settle my personal relations with Samuel Faust and remain on the basis of the personal guarantees placed in his hands and solemnly assure by him from the first day that letters during 1934. In addition to the firm Herman Faust, Société Anonyme, I ask that Samuel Faust personally fulfills his duties towards me and his personal obligations, as he had repeatedly assured. Under the legal and moral point of view he is obliged to give me back the rest of my credit that I cannot obtain from the firm in addition to what was granted to me by the concordat, that is to say the 75 % of my credit.
Google translate from my transcription of the French:
Professor
In my letter of January 3, I asked for the address of Rabbi E.Y. Majzel, Lodz, Al. 1 Maja, showing that you have the kindness to put my case to him. As I am until today without any news and since the situation for me is very serious I take the liberty of asking you to communicate to me if XX the Rabbi Majzel before already gives me an answer.
Waiting for your letter, I appreciate you
Notes:
According to an entry in the Italian Wikipedia, he was "President of the Assembly of Rabbis of Italy from 1931 to 1963, as well as Director of the Rabbinical College of Livorno from 1924 to 1955."
Can't find out who this is; obviously someone who connected Fela with the Rabbi.
Samuel Faust has an entry in the Polish Wikipedia. He was killed in Treblinka in 1942, along with his wife and one daughter.
Don't know if we knew any of this about sharing a house in Lodz with another family or the house being destroyed. [Presumably during the Battle of Lodz, which led to the Gemans taking over December 6, 1914. Franka had left long before the war. Granny (Magdalena) went with her mother to Berlin. So if Julek and Fela stayed on Lodz, still is a question about Rosa, since she ends up being the only one who is in Lodz when WWII breaks out.