Henry and Hilda Gottfried collection

The Henry and Hilda Gottfried Collection includes personal and official documents belonging to them.

The first folder contains documents belonging to Henry Gottfried. These include documents concerning his immigration to the United States, such as the Declaration of Intention and the Certificate of Naturalization. Additionally there are documents of the Army, like certificates and letters of recommendation from his superiors to other army officers, for example about setting up a radio station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Furthermore there is a newspaper clipping, the declarations of death of his parents Elsa and Jacob Gottfried, and photographs of his parents, himself and a picture of Gerda Gottfried at her wedding to Otto Glaser. The second folder consists of medals and a Jewish Veteran cap from the United States Army with an insignia.

The third folder contains documents of Hilda Gottfried. There is, for example, a passport, her certificate of birth, photographs and also official documents of her immigration to the United States. There are also two letters of her father Emil Breier, addressed to his "children", Hilda and Henry. In one letter he told them that he wanted to rent his house and give the proceeds to them. He also congratulated Hilda on her birthday and wrote about the very cold weather, his business and everyday life. Unfortunately the letters are undated. The fourth folder holds several photographs. Many of these photographs were taken during Henry's time in the army, for example in Paris, Germany and Ethiopia. There are also photographs of Hilda and Henry Gottfried's wedding.

The last folder consists of photocopies of the covers of different prayer books. There is a Hebrew-German prayer book, printed in Vienna in 1882. It was Emil Breier's prayer book, which (according to family lore) he brought back with him from Auschwitz (provenance unknown). It has a decorative cover that may be ivory and copper. Also included are "Der babylonische Talmud", which was printed in Berlin 1919-1923, and a prayer book, which was given to Henry Gottfried on his Bar Mitzvah from the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, Wien (Jewish Community). The books were given to the LBI library.