A recently-opened exhibit at the Frisco Heritage Museum tells the inspirational story of how a couple escaped from Nazi Germany and made their way to the Texas prairie. Fleeing to Frisco: How One Jewish Family Escaped Nazi Germany and Rebuilt Their Lives shines a light on Leo and Irma Wollenreich. It is a moving story with a uniquely Texas twist.</p
p>Mr. Wollenreich was a wealthy cattle trader living in Straubing, Germany. He was a decorated German World War I soldier who mingled in high circles. None of that mattered when the Nazi regime came to power in the 1930s. He was forced to sell his business and his home for much less than what they were worth. On Nov. 10, 1938, he was taken into “protective custody” after the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom (also known as the “Night of Broken Glass”) in which some 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Two days later, Mr. Wollenreich was taken to the Dachau concentration camp and held for nearly a month. He had been beaten badly and required the aid of a cane to walk for several years. Though he would eventually recover physically, the emotional scars lasted a lifetime.</p
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The specifics of Mr. Wollenreich’s case are not entirely known. At the time many Jews were released if they could show proof that they were emigrating to other countries. It took two-and-a-half years for Mr. and Mrs. Wollenreich to escape. They fled to Portugal and eventually took a ship to the United States. With the help of his cousin, the couple was able to set up a cattle ranch in Lebanon, Texas, near present-day Frisco. A historical marker near the intersection of Gaylord Parkway and Preston Road denotes the settlement’s former location.</p
p>What makes the museum exhibit even more compelling is how the story came to be told. For years, Frisco residents Jesse and Lupe Sanchez had many of the Wollenreichs’ possessions boxed away. This was not well known until their son, Mike Sanchez, joined the Heritage Association of Frisco board. He is a musician who had loaned the museum some interesting items from his own collection. In conversation with museum staff, he mentioned what his parents had.</p
p>Initially, Jesse Sanchez was not keen on sharing the items with the museum. He was concerned that putting such personal items from their late friends on display would be a violation of their trust. Eventually, he came around to the idea and agreed that it was an important story to share with the community. “We needed the world to know about this,” Mike Sanchez recalled telling his parents.</p
p>The story of how the Sanchezes came to be friends with the Wollenreichs begins with a teenage Jesse Sanchez working at an area farm. He had found work building fences and mowing pastures at the former Phillips Ranch, near the eastern side of Lake Lewisville. At first, he would ride with another friend from his downtown Frisco home to the ranch about 10 miles away. After his friend got sick, Mr. Sanchez often found himself hitchhiking. An area farmer would usually pick him up and take him at least part of the way to work. As fate would have it, one day Mr. Wollenreich picked up Mr. Sanchez. In his broken English, he asked the young farmhand if he would instead come work at his ranch. “He said, ‘Well, I’ll pay you 50 cents an hour,’” Mr. Sanchez recalled. “I said, ‘Well, OK. I’ll work for you.’”</p
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