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3 East 51st. Street,
New York, New York.
February 3rd., 1939.

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Dear Petite-Mere:

You are probably surprised not to have heard earlier from me on the topic of the affidavit for Erich Alenfeld, but I have had the grippe and in fact still have, practically for the past three weeks and am leaving tomorrow morning early, to take a week's cruise to see whether I can get rid of it.

As the National Coordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees, etc. has a tremendous amount of work to do, no one could come to see me and I of course, couldn't go there until my health allowed, which was this morning - hence the delay and this typewritten note.

The situation is as follows, starting with the end: From what I have been told, of course, the fate of the Emigrant is entirely in the hands of the American Consul of the city he lives in - but leaving out, of course, all influences which can be brought to bear upon the Consul. Therefore, the more interesting the case, either from the end of family ties or of the surety given, in principle the better the chances for to-be-emigrant to receive a visa to the U.S.A.

Furthermore, I was told that if Erich had not yet reported to the American Consul there would be hardly any chance for him, at least for years to come, to get out of Germany - the waiting list being already so long.

It seems thus, that the very first thing to do would be to have him immediately go to the American Consul in Magdeburg, to apply for entry into the U.S.

Now I understand that there are two ways of helping such cases: A - is the affidavit which shows the ties or interest, friendship, etc., one has with the case, and one's personal signatory-of-the-affidavit's means of living, showing that for a period of 5 years (the 5 years are not official, but the government here wants to be sure that for four or five years the Emigrant won't be a public charge) the signatory can take care of him, but that period of time. The other way (B) is to provide a fund which for a period of 5 years - this again is not official - will be enough to provide for this particular Emigrant.

From purely unofficial sources I was told that $5,000., would be more or less required, though cases have been admitted with a fund of $3,000., and probably a great deal less.

Now from the above, I suggest that you get in touch with the American Consul in Paris, who knows us - or to whom you can get in touch through our friend Theodore Rousseau - and discuss the matter with him, as from what I understand and wrote you previously, it entirely depends upon the American Consul in Magdeburg, and the Paris consul, I suppose could add a personal note to his

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