That hadn't occurred to me. I would have assumed there were neutral routes back into Europe.

The first victim was the <SS Athenia>, torpedoed by a U-Boat on the first day of war (that's September 1, 1939, for our American friends), apparently a case of mistaken identity:

<As Athenia was an unarmed passenger ship, the attack was in violation of the London Naval Treaty of 1930 which allowed all warships including submarines to stop and search merchant vessels, but provided that passengers and crew must be transferred to a "place of safety" as a priority if it was decided to sink their ship. Although Germany was not a signatory to this treaty, the German 1936 Prisenordnung binding their naval commanders copied it almost verbatim.>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ath...

This site (http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/Passe...) lists 144 large passenger ships lost during WW2 but it includes ones that were seconded for military duties and those attacked in port, including by aerial bombardment, so the number of seaborne passenger ships deliberately attacked by all sides, let alone by the Allies, during the war seems to have been far fewer.

Nobody from his family (his father was a master tailor) was a chessplayer. Only by chance did the 12-year old Erich get to know the game.

He tried to join the "Innsbrucker Schachgesellschaft" (Innsbruck Chess Association) but they refused him as he was too young. In their stead, the good chessplayer Carl P. Wagner of Innsbruck took care of him. Erich calls him is mentor.

At the age of 14, in 1927, he played his 1st tournament in the newly founded Innsbruck Chess Club "Schlechter" and won 1st prize, shared with Niescher.

At the age of 15, he participated in the Tyrol Championship tournament and won with +7 -0 =1. This success enabled him to compete in the Austrian Championship, held in Innsbruck in 1929. Erich shared 1st place with Glass from Vienna and thereby became Champion of Austria.

Still, he was just a <Mittelschüler>, attending the <Innsbrucker Handels-Akademie> (<Handel> = Trade), whereof the 4 highest classes correspond to the <Gymnasium>. He was a good average student, no exceptional performance in any of the subjects.

He was still attending school, when he participated at the Hamburg Olympiad in 1930, where he was the best Austrian, scoring 73.3% (+8 -1 =6). In the same year, he was the runner-up to Kmoch at Ebensee, ahead of Prof. Beccker and Dr. Dührssen.

Thereafter, he couldn't play in a tournament, except for his bad performance at Bad Stuben 1930, as he had to prepare for the <Matura>. He passed that final test with good success. For the winter semester 1931/32, he attended the Vienna <Hochchule für Handel>. Erich joind the Chess Club "Hietzing" and subsequently won the Club Championship (21 participants).From September 12-24, 1932 he beat Spielmann in Linz.

He started to play correspondence chess in spring of 1928, winning two 1st and one 3rd prize in the preliminary group of the 'Wiener Schachzeitung'. He came in 1st in the 3th Master group and is likely to repeat this result in the 5th Master group.

From page 300 of the October 1933 'Neue Wiener Schachzeitung'.

After the refusal, Eliskases returned to Boulogne but he had to wait for only 4 days until his english friends had taken care of the issue. He could travel to Glasgow, where he played a match against Fairhurst after several smaller events.

From page 321 of the November 1933 'Neue Wiener Schachzeitung'.

The match Eliskases - W. A. Fairhust in Glasgow, 1933 ended +1 -1 =4

It is "Eliskazes" ("a" like in "Athens" not like in "lady". Fairly unusual surname for an Austrian (German) though, I suspect he had some either Jewish or Slavic ancestry...

http://www.soxadrez.com.br/conteudo...

It's in Spanish, without references. Here is the google translation of the text:

<Erich Gottlieb Eliskases

<<>Between the decades of 30 and 40, Erich Gottlieb Eliskases was one of the best chess players the world had. [ed - note however that chessmetrics doesn't even mention him http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/... ]> Made worthy matches of a great master.

Erich Gottlieb Eliskases was born in Austria in 1913 and died in 1997. For other enxadirstas, it differs in one thing, <no one taught chess to him, he taught himself to play 12 years of age>. Compared to other exadristas still starting with 4 or 5 years of age, Erich started playing relatively late.

After mastering all the movements of the pieces on the board, he began to venture into some chess clubs, to try their luck challenging other players <when he was 14 years old, he joined a chess club called Schlechter>. In a surprising way, in its first year of club he had already won the championship organized by Schlechter club.

<In his longíncuos 15 years old, he got another title, maintaining a writing a title per year, this time it was the Tyrolean champion. And a year later, at 16, he was champion of the Austrian Chess Championship.>

<Although he attended higher education in the city of his birth, has always been the chess took most of his time getting to practice about 8 hours daily.> Both training well worth it, and the Chess Olympiad 1930, 1933 and 1935 he was sovereign, defeated all advresários and proved itself to be one of the best chess players of his time.

The 30s were far from being bad for the career of Erich Gottlieb Eliskases, in addition to the first three Olympic titles, he got <two more titles in 1938 and 1939. These bonds came when Germany and Austria were united, and began to be match, then the German Chess Championship in Bad Oeynhausen.>

The life of chess player still had a few surprises. While he defended Germany in the 1939 Chess Olympiad in Argentina, bursts World War II, so he and the other components of the German team that came to South America decided to get even by Argentina, have even, to get a time in Brazil, until tempers calmed down in Germany.

After several setbacks, the deportation threats, among many other things, Erich came to Brazil where he played the Gaucho championship chess, won in the two years she participated in 1947 and 1948. So many years in Argentina, the Austrian took root , and <after 1948 he became a naturalized Argentine, and the 1952 Olympics, in 1958, 1960 and 1964 he went on to defend his new country.>

<He won the titles of International Master FIDE in 1950 and the Grand Master in 1952. He had good results in tournaments, including first place alone or tied in tournaments in Budapest in 1934 (Hungarian Championship), Linz in 1934, Zurich in 1935, Milan in 1937, Noordwijk in 1938 (his greatest success, ahead of Euwe and Keres), Krefeld in 1938, Bad Harzburg in 1939, Bad Elster in 1939, Vienna in 1939, England in 1941 and later in 1947, Mar del Plata in 1948, Punta del Este in 1951, and Cordoba in 1959. His victory in Noorwijk began a series of eight consecutive tournaments without a single defeat.>

At the end of the 30s he was considered one of the three best chess players in the world, the other two were Keres and Capablanca.

Eliskases continued playing in the 1950s, 1960s and even the 1970s, but the results were less impressive. He married the Argentine María Esther Almeda in 1954 and had a son, Carlos Enrico. In 1976 he and his wife tried a return to the Austrian Tyrol, but failed to settle and returned to Córdoba. >

The extra highlighting (<in brown>) are facts that, if correct, should work their way into his bio (imo).

* * * * *

There are no hits for a google search on <allintext: "Erich Gottlieb Eliskazes"> or <allintext: "Erich Eliskazes"<>>.

http://www.cex.org.br/Biografias/El...

<One of the most outstanding masters of chess history, became a resident Argentine citizen in Cordoba, where he lived with his wife and son.

It was soon revealed to be talented at chess. At 16 Tyrolean was co-champion and represented his country in the Olympics in 1930, 33 and 35. He won several international tournaments: Budapest and Linz (1934), Trebistch Memorial, Vienna (1935), Swinemunde (1936). Was Austrian champion in 1936 and 37 had only partial success in Moscow (1936) and Semmering-Baden (1937). Recovered winning tournaments Milan, Krefeld and Noordwijk (1936), this one of his greatest achievements. Champion is Torneou-"Greater Germany" Bad Oyenhausen (1938 and 39), after the annexation of Austria ("Anschluss") by the Nazis. After play was a tournament in Argentina.

Arrived in Argentina in 1939, to participate as a member of the powerful German team Nations Cup. But in early September, when the tournament entered its final, Hitler invaded Poland and soon after England objected to the declaration of a war that would become the second major conflagration war of the century. This condition prevented him from returning to their homeland and after living a while in Brazil, moved definitely in our city. Much had to do with this Maria Esther Olmedo, who in the summer of 1951 seduced him forever. So Cupid joined Caissa and allowed us to have the only great master who lived for more than four decades in Cordoba.

Eliskases - a polyglot who mastered five languages ​​(German, Italian, Portuguese, English and Spanish) and an advanced student of analytic geometry, stood out in the intricate maze game science for his technique and innovative sense in the openings. Today, with all the early computer study, many lines of play who practice some young teachers have the seal of its creation.

Until the last days of his life (he died in February 2, 1997), with the tired look that emanated from those blue eyes and his 83 years followed further analyzed matches to European publications and answering letters from thousands of friends around the world.>

http://www.gardenachess.com/archiv/...

E.g.