Schulim Schatzberg was born in Poland in 1896. He fought for the Austrian Empire in the First World War and was wounded in 1916. Schatzberg was honoured for his services with a bronze medal. He trained as a dentist at the University of Vienna. He and his wife, Mina Amalia (née Anstern), obtained Austrian citizenship in 1925. They had one daughter, Stella (born 1929). From October 1938 his work was restricted to Jewish patients only due to new antisemitic legislation. Stella had to change school as Jewish children were no longer allowed to attend public schools. After the November pogroms all of the doctors and dentists in Vienna were rounded up. Schatzberg was arrested and imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp. He was released in February 1939 upon proof of his merits during the First World War, on condition that he would leave the country immediately. Schatzberg was accepted by the Kitchener camp scheme and left Vienna in April 1939. He obtained a domestic visa for his wife and organised for a foster family for his daughter. Both followed him on 28 August 1939. Schatzberg continued practising dentistry in England. Stella's uncle, his wife and daughter were able to travel to America. Her grandmother however was deported to one of the death camps where she perished.
From the guide to the Schulim Schatzberg: personal papers, 1916-1939, (Wiener Library)
