Ernest Pisko’s Thank You Letter of October 22, 1965

Source Description

Austrian-born writer and editor Ernest Sigmund Pisko immigrated to the United States with his wife and daughter in 1940. He worked as a journalist for the American newspaper The Christian Science Monitor for twenty-five years (1940–1965), where he applied his prior experience as a newspaper editor in interwar Vienna and his knowledge of European affairs to bridge cultures, societies, and historical periods. His American journalism shows his resilience, adaptability, and the capacity to recognize the horrors of one of the worst chapters in human history while also maintaining faith in progressive ideals in the aftermath of the Second World War. Following his retirement, Pisko wrote a thank you letter to his former Monitor colleagues. Although a non-observant Jew, emotion expressed about his time at the newspaper inspired Judaic references: his farewell party would be remembered as a “high holiday,” and he recalled his coming to the United States in language from the Hebrew Bible: “I was a stranger in a strange land” (Exodus 2:22). Ultimately, this thank you signaled Pisko’s successful integration into a new country. This letter is part of the collections of The Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston.

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Recommended Citation

Ernest Pisko’s Thank You Letter of October 22, 1965, edited in: (Hi)stories of the German-Jewish Diaspora, <https://diaspora.jewish-history-online.net/source/gjd:source-22> [September 17, 2026].