Oscar Meyer Collection
Scope and Content Note
Much of the material in this collection consists of residual fragments of Hilferding's estate, which his widow probably gave to Meyer in the United States in the 1950s. Included are letters of August Bebel and Albert Einstein to Hilferding; letters of Rudolf and Rose Hilferding to Oscar and Margarethe Meyer; a postcard with photographs and signatures of Hilferding, Meyer, Heinrich Brüning, Paul Lejeune-Jung and Hans von Raumer, the members of the Reichstag delegation to the International Interparliamentary Conference in Rio de Janeiro, 1927; and a letter from Max Nordau.
Dates
- 1902-1949
Creator
- Lehmann, Stephen (Person)
- Brandt, Oskar Ludwig, 1889-1943 (Person)
- Hilferding, Rudolf, 1877-1941 (Person)
Language of Materials
This collection is in German.
Access Restrictions
Open to researchers.
Use Restrictions
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011
email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org
Biographical Note
Born in Berlin on December 18, 1876, Oscar Meyer was a lawyer and politician active in the Deutsche Demokratische Partei (DDP). He served in the Berlin City Council, the Prussian Landtag, and from 1924 to 1930, in the Reichstag. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1933, to Great Britain in 1939, and to the United States via Columbia in 1941. He was active in exile organizations, and died in Berkeley on January 1, 1961.
Born in Vienna on August 10, 1877, Hilferding studied medicine and became active in the socialist movement. In 1906, he moved to Berlin, wrote for and edited various socialist journals, and published Das Finanzkapital in 1910. After World War I, he was a leader of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) and a member of the Reichstag, serving as minister of finance in 1923 and again 1928-1929. He fled to France in 1933, and died in Paris, under mysterious circumstances, on February 12, 1941.
Hugo Heimann (1859-1951) was a German publisher and high ranking politician affiliated with the Social Democratic Party in Germany (SPD). Shortly after the Nazis’ rise to power he immigrated to New York via England.
Extent
3 Folders
Abstract
Much of the material in this collection consists of residual fragments of Hilferding's estate, which his widow probably gave to Meyer in the United States in the 1950s. Included are letters of August Bebel and Albert Einstein to Hilferding; letters of Rudolf and Rose Hilferding to Oscar and Margarethe Meyer; a postcard with photographs and signatures of Hilferding, Meyer, Heinrich Brüning, Paul Lejeune-Jung and Hans von Raumer, the members of the Reichstag delegation to the International Interparliamentary Conference in Rio de Janeiro, 1927; and a letter from Max Nordau.
Other Finding Aid
The original German language inventory is available in the folder.
- Bebel, August, 1840-1913
- Deutsche Demokratische Partei
- Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955
- Europe -- Emigration and immigration
- Germany -- Politics and government -- 1918-1933
- Heimann, Hugo, 1859-1950
- Hilferding, Rose
- Hilferding, Rudolf, 1877-1941
- Meyer, Margarethe
- Meyer, Oscar, 1876-1961
- Nordau, Max Simon, 1849-1923
- Photographs
- Politicians -- Germany
- Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
- Title
- Guide to the Oscar Meyer Collection, 1902-1949 AR 7243
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Michael O'Connor
- Date
- © 2013
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- March 2013: Link to digital object for Folder 1 added in Container List.
- March 2015: Links to digital object for Folders 2 and 3 added in Container List.
- October 30, 2015.: Biographical note edited.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
