Walter Grossmann Collection

The Walter Grossmann Collection contains the papers of this physician. More than half of the collection consists of correspondence. Other papers include certificates, newspaper clippings, sketches, notes, photographs, family papers, and material on the Werner-Siemens-Realgymnasium.

Most of the collection centers around Walter Grossman's service in World War I and the years directly afterward. Such material includes letters, postcards, and telegrams exchanged with his family in Series I, informing them of his wounding, the awarding of the Iron Cross (Eiserne Kreuz, II. Klasse) to him, and of his recuperation in 1915-1916. Later letters in this series consist of his letters to Hede Kessler, at the time his fiancée and fellow medical student. His letters to her provide some information of a visit to Cologne and its surrounding area, as well as of later visits to the Alps for health purposes and to St. Moritz for skiing. Further material on World War I will be found in Series II, which holds various papers related to the war. Included are Walter Grossmann's certificates regarding his military service and the Iron Cross, ration cards, photographs of soldiers and a military hospital, and newspaper clippings about the occupation of Belgium, among other papers.

Later papers relating to the family as a whole are located in Series III. These papers include the family register book of Walter and Hede Grossman, some notes on the family genealogy, and a baby and childhood book of their son, Michael.

The final series holds material on former students of the Werner-Siemens-Realgymnasium, the school Walter Grossmann attended.