
A Tribute from the Family
Susan (Elsa) Marshall (née Held), the youngest of four surviving siblings, was born in Vienna in 1920. At the age of 19 and having witnessed the horrors of Kristallnacht first hand , she fled Vienna to London in 1939 on a domestic visa with her sister Luzi and her mother Esther who she cared for throughout this traumatic period of their lives.
Her intelligence and skills were quickly recognised, and she worked as manageress of a garment factory in the East End, looking after her mother at the same time. She was an active member of WIZO giving generously to that organisation and also a supporter of Project Renewal in Ashkelon in the 1980s (supporting dental and health clinics through volunteers).
Over the years and a happy second marriage to Charles Marshall, this feisty woman was a successful entrepreneur/business woman, hugely respected and loved by associates, family and friends.
She was the archetypal ‘matchmaker‘ (shatchen) having successfully married off both her nephew (Emil Landes) and nephew’s son (Anthony Landes)
She is honoured here today for having fled Vienna from the Holocaust at such a young age and her extraordinary strength in making such a success of her life in the place she found refuge.
She was a woman of huge compassion who always had the interests of her close family at heart.
She died in London on 18 November 2007 and is much missed.