One day in 2009, Santa Rosa County native Josh Wilks went to gas up for a trip to south Florida and ended up saving a piece of world history.

Earlier this month, Wilks, now 35, donated a collection of letters he found that day to the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The letters detail the efforts of a Jewish woman in Milton to help a cousin and his family escape Nazi Europe in the late 1930s.

The letters were found at the former home of Katie Finkelstein, who died in 1990. They tell the story of how Finkelstein worked to help a cousin she had never met: Eugene Fuchs; his wife, Ester, and their two small children, Klara and Harry.

When the Nazis began infesting Europe, the Fuchses were living in Prague. They made it to London before England entered the war and, after the war, they immigrated to the U.S., living briefly with Finkelstein in Milton.

Fuchs’ letters to Finkelstein were blunt.

“I am not doing well here,” he wrote on May 30, 1939. “The people are not very nice. In England one can die of hunger since one is not allowed to work. I would really appreciate if you could give me support and when I come to America you will be reimbursed for everything.

“Please don’t get mad at me for bothering you with all my troubles but I have nobody else to turn to. I hope that you don’t forsake me and will help me with all I ask of you. The good Lord will look kindly upon you and your family and I will never forget you in all my life.”

Now, thanks to Wilks’ efforts, history will never forget, either.

 ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY

Wilks discovered the letters in August 2009 when he stopped by the home, which had been slated for demolition. He wanted to speak with the owner, Dorothy Green – Katie’s daughter – about preserving the old structure.

At the time, Wilks worked for the Blackwater River Foundation preservation group.  He was heading to Milton to buy gas before a road trip and noticed activity at the house on Henry Street.

“While I was talking to her, things were being dragged out of the house,” he said. “There was a little suitcase sitting on top of the trash can that was going to the dump.”

Green gave Wilks permission to take the suitcase, which appeared to be filled with keepsakes from the World War II era – including the trove of letters.

“I noticed that a lot of the letters had European postmarks and stamps. Initially, I thought the postage might be worth something because they were from the ‘30s – from 1938 and ’39,” he said.

“Then, it dawned on me that these could have something to do with what was going on in Czechoslovakia in 1939 when the Nazis were occupying Prague. Since I knew the family was Jewish, I thought it might have some sort of historical value.”

The collection encompasses about 20 correspondences in all, including posts between Fuchs and Finkelstein, as well letters between Finkelstein and the president of the local Jewish temple, the State Department, U.S. Rep. Millard Caldwell, the Czech Refugee Trust Fund and the New Orleans Chapter of the British Relief Society.

Finkelstein was trying to get Fuchs a job as a rabbi or cantor at a temple. He had performed those duties in Europe.

Rebecca Erbelding, archivist for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, said the letters give a glimpse into the circumstances of the day.

“So there are really two main pieces, both interesting,” Erbelding said. “The collection documents Katie Finkelstein's efforts in the U.S. to sponsor the Fuchs family and obtain a cantor position for Eugene Fuchs so his family can immigrate outside of immigration quotas, but also the letters written by Fuchs about his fears and desperation to leave Europe.”

While such letters are not uncommon, Erbelding said Wilks’ find is unique.

“Normally, we have a few letters from the refugee, or we have a few letters from the potential sponsor in the U.S. In this collection, we have both,” Erbelding said. “The perspective from both sides of the ocean makes this collection more interesting, and rarer to find.”

PERSONAL MISSION

Wilks took the letters on as a personal project. He successfully located the surviving members of the Fuchs family, who had Americanized their name to Fox when they immigrated.

Reading the letters made history come alive for him. He pieced the Fuchs’ narrative together using the letters. Although they didn’t leave Europe until after the war, Finkelstein’s financial help was invaluable to them.

“She was able to finance their way out of Prague,” Wilks said. “The rest of their family (was left behind). Nobody survived.”

The assistance continued in England.

“Because they were not citizens, and it was the Depression, they were not legally permitted to work in England. Mrs. Finkelstein sent them money throughout the war,” Wilks said. “It’s pretty remarkable that she actually took this upon herself.”

Wilks grew up in Bagdad and graduated from Milton High School. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he graduated from the University of West Florida with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at American University in Washington, where he works for the National Parks Service in the Cultural Resources Directorate.

With the family’s permission, he donated the letters to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to make sure they would be preserved and studied.

“There are other people mentioned in the letters and other organizations and dates and names (that may be useful in other projects),” he said.

Erbelding praised Wilks’ efforts to save the letters.

“Josh has done a fantastic job in saving and preserving these documents.  His persistent efforts to find the children of Eugene Fuchs meant that this family now has a much greater understanding of their own history,” she said.

“I already know of a few historians who will be eager to use the collection.”

The tale also shows how easily -- and inadvertently -- history can be lost.

“Had I not gone to get gas in Milton before I was going to leave town that day, those things would have been gone,” he said. “Everything needs to be evaluated to see if there is some sort of story behind it.”

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