Berti Oppenheim-Wertheimer Collection
Scope and Content Note
This collection documents the life of Berti Wertheimer née Oppenheim (1915-2002). It includes personal, educational, and professional records, as well as correspondence and restitution papers.
It includes approximately 30 letters from her parents in Bebra from 1940 and 1941, shortly before they were deported to Theresienstadt; address books, date books, and a few brief diary entries in two mostly blank notebooks; a small amount of correspondence with friends, including a 1973 letter from Ludwig Levi enclosing a photo of the memorial for Bebra on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem; educational documents including essays, certificates, and diplomas from her training as a medical assistant and from her undergraduate and graduate work at Hunter College and Fordham University; employment and financial materials including a reference from Ottilie Schoenewald; emigration and travel documents including American and German passports, affidavits, a certificate of naturalization, and correspondence regarding a lost passport; a book of prayers by Berta Pappenheim and a typescript collection of inspirational quotations; and papers relating to restitution of the home of Wertheimer's parents in Bebra, Hesse.
Dates
- Creation: 1934-1987
Creator
- Wertheimer, Berti, 1915-2002 (Person)
Language of Materials
This collection is in English and German.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open to researchers.
Access Information
Readers may access the collection by visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. We recommend reserving the collection in advance; please visit the LBI Online Catalog and click on the "Request" button.
Historical Note
Berti Wertheimer née Oppenheim (1915-2002) was born in Bebra, Hesse (Germany). Her parents were Willi Oppenheim (1868-1943) and Mathilde Oppenheim née Tannenberg (1875-1944). They were deported to Theresienstadt in 1942 and did not survive.
In 1939, Wertheimer worked as a maid for Ottilie Schoenewald, the last president of the Jüdischer Frauenbund, in Bochum. She then immigrated to the United States via England in 1939, with supporting affidavits from her aunt Clara Plaut née Tannenberg and uncle Salli Plaut. She was briefly married to Harry Wertheimer in the mid-1940s. Berti Wertheimer worked as a medical assistant in New York for many years before she went to college in 1972. She received a master’s degree in social work from Fordham University in 1976 and held several positions in the field of social work.
Extent
0.5 Linear Feet (1 box)
Abstract
This collection documents the life of Berti Wertheimer née Oppenheim (1915-2002). It includes personal, educational, and professional records, as well as correspondence and restitution papers.
Arrangement
Folders are arranged alphabetically.
Digitization Note
The collection was digitized in its entirety. Access is restricted to box 1 folders 6 and 10 due to privacy concerns. Researchers with questions regarding suppressed materials may contact the LBI Archivist at lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org.
Processing Information
Materials were refoldered. Photographs were placed in envelopes. Duplicates and photocopies were removed. The letters in folder 3 are fragile, and some material in folder 9 is fading.
Subject
- Wertheimer, Berti, 1915-2002 (Person)
- Schönewald, Ottilie, 1883-1961 (Person)
- Oppenheim, Willy, 1868-1943 (Person)
- Oppenheim, Mathilde, 1875-1944 (Person)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Occupation
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Berti Oppenheim-Wertheimer (1915-2002) Collection undated, 1934-1987 AR 25167
- Author
- Processed by Kevin Schlottmann
- Date
- © 2013
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- Described, encoded, and digitized as part of the CJH Holocaust Resource Initiative, made possible by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
