Leo Hirsch’s story is inseparable from that of his wife Gerda, (née Shaffer) and his sister, Gertrude. It’s a story of connectedness; of maintaining family ties in the face of devastating loss and separation. Leopold Franz Hirsch (known throughout his life as Leo) was born to secular Jewish parents in Vienna, Austria, on 6 February 1910. His younger sister, Gertrude (nicknamed Gerti), was born on 15 June 1911. They were close and remained so all their lives. As fascism intensified in Austria, Gertrude emigrated to India to pursue a career as an art teacher, Gerda escaped to England, while Leo escaped to Adelaide. From Adelaide, Leo and his sister (in India) tried desperately to get their parents out of Vienna to safety but ultimately, they failed. After the war, Gerda and Leo married in Sydney. Leo kept Gertrude and her family close and maintained the connection throughout his life, giving financial aid and in-kind support. Leo was a strong supporter of progressive social and peace initiatives all his life. As one so affected by war, for him, peace was the only alternative.
Leo and Gertude as children,1918 (Courtesy BulbulArt)
Leo and his sister, Gertrude, were the only children of Margarethe (née Rebenwurzel) and Markus Hirsch. The children were close not only in age, but also as friends. With their extended family they enjoyed shared Sunday picnics on Kahlenberg Hill – feasting on Wiener schnitzel and potato salad carried in mason jars bound with parchment paper, and with weichselstrudel or torte for dessert. Both children took French tuition, and Leo attended the Radetzky Realschule. Some of the aunts and uncles shared business arrangements and both Leo and Gertude worked in family enterprises as they grew up – Leo as a leather apprentice, and Gertrude in a haberdashery shop. As a teen and young adult, Leo spent many Sunday afternoons talking politics and playing billiards with friends in the Postsparkasse Coffee House. He loved attending the opera and theatre and often went as a Claqueur – gaining free entry in exchange for enthusiastic clapping in the right places. He was also very athletic – a member of the Vienna Hakoah Sports Club, and a keen ski guide, visiting Raxalpe, Stubai, Lawinenstein, and Grießenkar.
Margarethe and Markus on their balcony in Vienna, 1932 (Courtesy BulbulArt)
The growth of fascism in Austria in the 1930s heralded bleak times for the Jewish community as changes in laws and contracting effectively removed Jews from economic life. Gertude, who was an artist with a Diploma in Fine Art from the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts (now Die Angewandte – University of Applied Arts), accepted an offer to teach art with the Theosophical Society in Madras, India, and left Vienna in January 1937, aged 26. By 1939 she had established herself in the art community in Madras and had married Bengali artist, Kiron Sinha.
Just before Gertrude left for India, Leo met Gerda Schaffer (27 March 1913 – 12 September 2008), the woman who would become the love of his life and ultimately his wife. The times were so uncertain that they agreed not to marry at that time. In August 1938 Leo obtained a visa to England, arriving in early September with barely more than his toothbrush and ski boots. From there, with the Rev. Louis Rubin-Zacks, of the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation, acting as guarantor, and with some financial aid from his cousin in London, and the Theosophical Society, he was given the support he needed to emigrate to Adelaide, where he arrived in March 1939.
Leo with his skis in the mountains, c1935 (Courtesy BulbulArt)
Gerda recalled the terror of being in Vienna during the November Pogrom (Kristallnacht 9–10 November 1938), where she was hidden by friends and suffered severe asthma attacks. Afterwards she wrote to Leo in London to reassure him about his parents’ well-being. Soon after, she emigrated to England, missing Leo’s departure by six weeks, and spent the war years working as a nanny for wealthy families, including for Dance Band leader, Joe Loss. She experienced many traumatising trips to the London Underground when the platforms became makeshift air-raid shelters. She suffered from claustrophobia for the remainder of her life.
Leo and his sister worked strenuously to get their parents out of Vienna and to safety, but their endeavours were slowed when Leo was detained as an enemy alien in Tatura internment camp in Victoria for some months in 1940. The significant funds he’d sent for his parents’ travel went astray during this time. Their efforts were entirely thwarted when Italy joined the war in June 1940 and there was no longer an escape route open to their parents. They did not hear of the fate of their parents and other relatives until after the war.
Leo settled in Adelaide because the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation’s Rev. Rubin-Zacks was his guarantor. Leo arrived with £15 in his pocket, soon realised that there was ‘no yoghurt and no opera house’ and that, ‘one could not even buy a job’! It was a tough beginning, but he was hard-working, resilient, gregarious, and willingly grasped any opportunity that came his way. The Adelaide social network was strong, and he soon met people who would remain lifelong friends. Jimmy Crimes, a union activist and keen Member of the West Torrens Soccer Club, recruited him to the club and Leo was soon in the top team as centre forward, helping them win the premiership for the first time in 1939.
West Torrens Football Club with Leo, incorrectly named as L T Hirsch, 1939 (Courtesy BulbulArt)
When he first arrived, Leo’s employment prospects were dire. However, he initially picked up a short-term job as a shop assistant at the Myer Emporium. Meanwhile, Leo met Lady Bonython, former Lady Mayoress and charity worker, through the Handicrafts Unemployed Sales Depot in Gawler Place, and she helped connect him with people as he tried to open a business. In Vienna, Leo had worked in his father’s Lavinite business, having trained under its inventor, Willy Henker in Berlin. Lavinite was a manufactured material that mimics marble. Henker and Markus sent tools to Leo which arrived just before the outbreak of war and by July 1939, Leo had established a small workshop at 211 Flinders St, Adelaide. He called the business Marbleart Ware and initially made ‘not even a scant living’. By April 1940, international imports from Japan stopped and Leo grasped the opportunity to rapidly build his business. His terrifying internment two months later at this critical point saw not only his business suffer, but also many of his moulds and tools were stolen from his workshop. Upon his release he started again and by the end of 1940 he had re-established himself and repaid his debts. His business flourished until plastics made his product obsolete. He then turned his business acumen to agencies for knitwear and other goods, eventually settling on an agency for high-value, Felicia Swiss watches which he operated until his retirement.
Even when hard up, Leo supported his sister and her family in India. Kiron and Gertrude built their creative lives under immense pressure. Materials were scarce, money was tight, distances were vast. But Leo refused to let geography or politics sever their connection. He sent pigments, brushes, paper, food parcels — whatever he could manage — not because he had plenty, but because he had purpose. Kiron was a prolific and full-time artist painting plein aire as well as in his studio. In India in the 1950s and 1960s, his work was highly regarded and his exhibitions received warm reviews. From here in Adelaide, Leo became the steady and supportive link between continents.
Kiron and Gertrude’s daughter, Kamona, was born in 1945. She was their only child. Later she was nicknamed Bulbul (an Indian songbird) because of her beautiful singing voice. The family settled in the cultural centre of India, Santiniketan in West Bengal. It was the ideal place to live as a family of creatives. It became their base and although they continued to work and travel across India they always returned to their home, which they called Bulbul Art Gallery.
Gerti setting up Saga on Santals Exhibition, 1963 (From the collection of the NAA A1501, A4730/1)
Leo brought some of Kiron’s paintings to Adelaide with the assistance of the Contemporary Art Society in 1952. The works were exhibited in Adelaide and Sydney and were greeted with acclaim. Then, in 1963 Leo brought Gertrude and 17-year-old Bulbul to Adelaide, along with many artworks. He helped to organise exhibitions in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, and Launceston, where the works attracted considerable interest. There was also time for family outings and Bulbul and her cousin Robert, then 13, finally met in person. These few months were the only time that Gertrude and Leo would see each other in person again. Sadly, Bulbul died in a tragic accident in 1972 aged 26. Leo and Gerda continued to support Kiron and Gertrude and, after Leo’s death the remainder of the family took up the responsibility.
Leo, Gerda and Bulbul in Victor Harbor, 1963 (Courtesy BulbulArt)
Many of Leo’s contemporaries who travelled from Vienna to Adelaide had professions and quickly moved to Sydney and Melbourne where they thrived. Without a professional background Leo felt he was unable to go interstate and so remained in Adelaide where he had friends and contacts. He did not regret his decision, though he pined for his beloved mountains and, after his arrival in Australia, never went skiing again. From this relatively quiet city he was actively involved in peace organisations, was a constant presence at anti-war rallies, took action to help new immigrants and refugees, provided financial and moral support for people wanting to emigrate to Australia, as well as supporting his sister and her family in India. He lived in Adelaide until his death in 1993.
After he left Vienna in 1938, Leo maintained contact with Gerda Schaffer and by 1946, he had saved enough funds for her travel to Australia. He sent her the money and applied for permission for her to land and reside in Australia. Permission was granted, but on the condition that Leo prove to the Department of Immigration that they had married within three months of her arrival. Gerda arranged her travel via flying boat from London to Rose Bay, Sydney, arriving on 5 Dec 1946. She hastily shopped for wedding attire, and the couple were married at The Northern Sydney Hebrew Congregation three days later. They had waited eight and a half years and were not going to wait another three months! As Leo was already an Australian citizen, upon their marriage she immediately became Australian. They set up home in Marryatville.
Leo and Gerda at home, c1965 (Courtesy BulbulArt)
The last family arrival from Vienna was Julie Schaffer (née Dvórák, 17 May 1883 – 1 April 1968), Gerda’s mother, who had converted to Catholicism and spent the war in Vienna. She left her beloved sister behind but arrived in Australia on 3 July 1949, in time for the birth of her grandson, Robert Steven Hirsch (b. 4 November 1950). She remained in Adelaide for the rest of her life, helping the family financially by baking incredible apple strudels for sale.
In 1986 Leo and Gerda’s son, Robert, married Verna Blewett and in 1987 their only child, Lily Frances Hirsch was born. She is Leo and Gerda’s only grandchild. Robert died suddenly on 9 August 2015 leaving Verna and Lily to continue Leo’s legacy. They established BulbulArt (www.bulbulart.com) to bring the art of Kiron and Gertrude to the world.
Kiron and Gertrude in Santiniketan with a painting of Bulbul, taken by Robert Hirsch, 1988 (Courtesy BulbulArt)
Leo loved his sister, although he was frequently dismayed at her lack of practicality. He supported her artistic career and was a primary patron to Kiron as a way of supporting their family. Their prolific correspondence over many years is characterised by their conversational style and exchange of everyday information. Particularly poignant is their correspondence during the period that they worked together, despite the distances, attempting to get their parents out of Europe and to safety. Leo and Gerda were renowned for their lifelong support of peace organisations, refugees and asylum seekers, and progressive politics.
Leo and Gerda at Petrel Cove, Victor Harbor, c1990 (Courtesy BulbulArt)
Several members of both Leo’s and Gerda’s families were victims of the Holocaust, but these details did not come to light for many years, so Leo, Gerda, and Gertrude lived with uncertainty about their fate.
On 15 June 1942, Leo and Gertrude’s parents, Markus and Margarethe Hirsch were told that they were being rehomed and were sent by train to the extermination camp at Maly Trostenets, near Minsk. On arrival in the Blagovshchina Forest they were forced to undress, kneel at the edge of a pit, and were shot. It was Gertrude’s 31st birthday. Gerda’s half-sister Dora and her husband, Julius Markbreiter suffered the same fate a few days before. In October 1941, Leo and Gertrude’s aunt, Sarah Hirsch was deported and murdered in the Łódź ghetto. Another aunt, Gisella and husband, Jacob Tűchler both committed suicide rather than be deported. Gerda’s half-brother, Oskar Schaffer died in Theresienstadt in 1943, his wife Else in Auschwitz in 1945. Gerda’s cousin, Olga Koralek died in Auschwitz in 1943. Another cousin was drafted against his will by the Nazis and died as a soldier. Leo and Gertrude’s step cousin, Gertrud Erika Spitzer died in Shanghai in 1944 after escaping the Nazis in Vienna.