THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road, 
Dorking.

June 24 1940

Dear Sir
I venture to write to you to see if you can do anything in the following case
Miss Mahler (daughter of the composer Gustav Mahler) writes that her mother (Mrs Franz Werfel) are¹ in Marseilles and are trying to get to England. Miss Mahler believes that if an influential society like yours were to approach Mr Vansittart that Mr & Mrs Werfel might be given a permit.²
I hear there is no chance but I do not like to leave any stone unturned
Miss Mahler’s address is 
74 Fellows Road
London NW3³

Yours faithfully
R Vaughan Williams

1. sic.
2. Sir Robert Vansittart had been Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office and was at this time Chief Diplomatic Adviser to His Majesty’s Government. Franz Werfel was a Jewish poet and his wife Alma, mother of Anna Mahler, was formerly married to Gustav Mahler; the couple were living in exile in France. In the event the Werfels escaped on foot to Spain and eventually travelled to the USA.
3. Another letter in the file on the Werfels is addressed to Basil Lam at the same address.