12 | JANUARY 7 • 2021 

W

hen I was little, my mother told me a story about her 
“Bonpapa:” my great-grandfather, Otto Schirn. During 
her college graduation ceremony, Otto circled names 
in the program he thought were Jewish. He wanted to prove other 
Jews had survived.
Otto died before I was born. When I began studying at the 
University of Michigan in 2017, I knew only a few other facts 
about his life. I knew that he and his wife, Yvonne, managed to 
obtain two of the few emergency visas granted by the United States 
to Jews in 1941. I knew that she gave birth to 
my great-uncle Bob on the boat ride to the 
United States, and that his young family spent 
four months on Ellis Island waiting for Bob’s 
immigration status to be resolved.
In October 2019, while looking through 
my grandmother’s photo album, I got my 
first hint of the tragic and courageous life 
Otto once lived. I learned of the letter he 
received in 1945 that told him of the death 
of his parents, Josef Schirn and Taube Kriss-
Schirn. The letter referred to them as num-
bers 61 and 62 — two entries on a Nazi 
transport list from Malines, France.
I also learned from a newspaper clip-
ping that Otto was “a journalist in Austria 
[who] had spoken out against the Nazi 
government.
” As an investigative report-
er for U-M’s student newspaper, The 
Michigan Daily, I felt a connection in that 
moment that extended beyond my genes. 
I vowed to do all I could to understand 
Otto’s life.
The first article I found about him was 
in the Detroit Jewish News Foundation’s 
William Davidson Digital Archive of 
Jewish Detroit History. It announced a 

SAMMY SUSSMAN 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

IN 
THE
JEWS D
ON THE COVER

Mightier
than the Sword

Thicker
than Water,

U-M student’s research
reveals his ancestor’s 
courageous journalistic
legacy in Nazi-
dominated Europe.

obtain two of the few emergency visas granted by the United States 

to Jews in 1941. I knew that she gave birth to 
my great-uncle Bob on the boat ride to the 
United States, and that his young family spent 
four months on Ellis Island waiting for Bob’s 
immigration status to be resolved.

In October 2019, while looking through 

my grandmother’s photo album, I got my 
first hint of the tragic and courageous life 
Otto once lived. I learned of the letter he 
received in 1945 that told him of the death 
of his parents, Josef Schirn and Taube Kriss-
Schirn. The letter referred to them as num-
bers 61 and 62 — two entries on a Nazi 
transport list from Malines, France.

ping that Otto was “a journalist in Austria 
[who] had spoken out against the Nazi 
government.
” As an investigative report-

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Otto 

Schirn

Otto’s 1936 Belgian press 

pass, which he used to cover 

Nazism’s rise in Austria.

COURTESY OF SAMMY SUSSMAN

