Wolff family

This collection documents the family of Bernhard Wolff, extending back to his earliest known ancestor in 1646 through his grandchildren born in the 1970s. Born in Esens (Ostfriesland, Germany), Bernhard escaped National Socialist persecution by emigrating to Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1938, followed shortly thereafter by his wife Fanny née Mitau. His six siblings and mother Flora née Oppenheimer also emigrated, eventually settling in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, or the U.S. The collection contains correspondence, family trees, vital records, official documents, and photographs of family and Jewish historical sites. Also included are a three-volume family chronicle and a two-volume collection of materials on the Jewish community of Esens (Ostfriesland) created by Bernhard Wolff. A unique highlight of the collection is the postcard album belonging to Fanny’s mother Ida Mitau née Jacobsohn, who was not able to escape Germany and perished in Theresienstadt.

The bulk of the collection (photocopies only) consists of Fritz Blumenthal’s poems: handwritten German poems, ca. 1929 – 1934; and typed English poems, ca. 1979 – 1987. Also included are genealogical materials – correspondence, notes, family trees – for the families Feibelmann and Wolff, as well as biographical materials about Fritz Blumenthal.

The main content of this collection consists of materials documenting the genealogical research of Dr. Ivan A. Wolff. The bulk the material is correspondence with archives and genealogy institutes, as well as friends and relatives concerning Dr. Wolff’s ancestors and family history in Germany. The collection also contains papers relating to his research, including birth, death and marriage certificates, photographs, newspaper articles and family trees, specifically about his mother’s relatives from small towns such as Bebra, Pfungstadt, Essingen, Alsbach, Morschen, Binsfoert and Niederstein, all located in the state of Hesse. A study of Jewish cemeteries of this region as well as books and pamphlets concerning general genealogical research can also be found in the collection.

This collection contains a wide range of personal and family papers of the Jacobi, Kornik, and Mosse families of Posen and Berlin, as well as extensive family trees for the Jacobi and Wolff families.

This collection contains a large amount of correspondence and documents of Adolph Bernd's (the father of Janet Isenberg) restitution claims, as well as five family trees documenting the genealogy of the Bernd, Schild, Drucker, Wolff, and Heine families.