Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)

The Beigel Family Collection holds materials about the Beigel family members from Berlin. The collection consists of post-war personal correspondence between the various family members and documents on restitution claims. It includes original handwritten letters and papers from the time Liane Beigel (née Bick) was in Sweden, as well as official correspondence with the United Restitution Organization after she immigrated to the United States. Also included are her husband Horst Beigel’s restitution claims against Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG.

This collection documents the experiences of members of the Solinger and Vogel families of Aschaffenburg, Germany with a particular focus on Ernst Solinger (1913-2008) and his wife Martha née Vogel (1917-2007). Materials include correspondence, photographs, poems, vital records, property and inheritance papers. Also included are records of Ernst and Martha Solinger’s emigration, education, banking, and taxes, as well as their efforts to sponsor their parents’ emigration and their later restitution efforts on behalf of their parents.

This collection documents the history of the Weiss family with a focus on Gerald Weiss’ parents Jacob and Selma Weiss née Falk and their siblings. Jacob (alternatively Köbes) Weiss (1883-1965) was born the second of nine children to the cattle dealer Albert Weiss and his wife Mathilde Amalie née Michel. As a young man, he lived in Cologne and started a bed linen manufacturing business, S & J Weiss, with his brother Siegmund. As the situation for Jews in Germany worsened in the 1930s, he and Siegmund smuggled money from the business to banks in Holland to aid in the Weiss family’s emigration. Jacob Weiss emigrated with his wife and children in 1939 and settled in New York. This collection contains family trees, family correspondence, translations of family correspondence, vital records, immigration and naturalization records, correspondence and legal documents concerning restitution claims, correspondence and legal documents concerning the estate of Hermann and Carolina Michel née Frank, and correspondence and photographs concerning family gravesites and the restoration of a Jewish cemetery.

This collection documents the family history and restitution claims of Gertrude Guckenheimer née Goldschmidt (1916-2003) and her husband Ludwig Guckenheimer (1911-1991). Half of the collection relates to the family histories and family businesses of Gertrude and Ludwig, while the other half documents the restitution claims brought by them and their family members. Included are family trees, birth, marriage, and death certificates, inheritance documents, business contracts, and personal and business correspondence, bank records, official and legal documents concerning restitution claims, and a few photographs. The history of the family businesses Herz Hachenburger Sohn and Max Baer Söhne are well documented in contracts and correspondence.

This collection contains the personal papers of members of the Hecht, Bielefeld, Günther, and Gottschalk families. Materials range widely in time period and content, providing insight into varied experience of these families from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Materials include vital records, emigration records, apprenticeship and journeyman records for a merchant, education records, letters of recommendation, personal correspondence, military records from World War I and World War II, restitution claims, property records, tax and financial records, friendship books (Poesiealben), documents related to religious services during military service, family trees, photographs, a diary about emigration, and a Hebrew primer.

The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence sent from Jenny Pelz in Berlin to her children and grandchildren in the United States during the second World War.

This collection contains correspondence and family papers from the Mittler, Herzog, and Picard families, mostly from or concerning the time and events of the Holocaust.

The Paul Egon Cahn Collection holds personal and official papers of Paul Egon and Senta Ilse Cahn and their families, as well as about one thousand personal and family photographs.

This collection contains the papers of Resi Weglein and reflects various periods of her life, especially the time period 1942 to 1945. Resi Weglein and her husband Siegmund Weglein were deported to Theresienstadt in August 1942, where she helped to provide health services to the detainees. The bulk of the documents in the collection consist of personal correspondence, restitution materials, emigration and immigration papers, and photographs. The collection also includes two handwritten notebooks of Resi Weglein and associated manuscripts which reflect her experiences as a nurse in Theresienstadt. The collection also provides information about the rest of her family, especially her husband Siegmund Weglein, who served in World War I, and her son Walter Weglein (later Weglyn), who was rescued via Kindertransport. Also included are clippings, book reviews, reports and correspondence from the War Refugee Board, and an assortment of materials pertaining to the Theresienstadt period.