Heidecker and Schmitt Family Collection

The Heidecker and Schmitt Family Collection holds the papers of Ludolf and Ruth (née Schmitt) Heidecker and of some of their related family members. Prominent among the collection's papers is documentation of the family members' efforts to emigrate during the 1930s and 1940s. Other subjects include Ludolf Heidecker's role in New York soccer organizations following his arrival in the United States, family genealogy, and efforts made to acquire restitution for the family's losses during the Holocaust. The collection includes prolific correspondence, photographs and photo albums, newspaper clippings, cookbooks, official documents, poetry, a friendship album, and other items.

Documentation of Schmitt and Heidecker family members' plans to emigrate and join Ludolf and Ruth Heidecker in the United States can be found in several areas of the collection. This subject is most prominent in the correspondence of Series I. Much of its first subseries consists of letters from parents and siblings that mention their struggle through the morass of paperwork required to acquire an American visa, or visas for transit countries, and the interminable waiting required in this process. Related are also the routine correspondence and forms of American immigration offices along with letters regarding financial assistance from other family already in the United States, located in the series' second subseries. Other letters, such as those from friends in the same subseries as well as Red Cross Tracing letters in Subseries 2 and the restitution correspondence of Subseries 3, document the family members' failure to acquire visas and their deportations to Poland. Correspondence from family members' who were able to flee Nazi Germany, especially Ludolf's brothers Justin and Fritz, are also included in the first subseries of Series I. Ludolf and Ruth's own immigration is documented to a lesser extent, primarily via the official documents and passports of Series II.

Another notable topic of this collection is the history of the Heidecker and Schmitt families, along with photographs of family members. Several folders of family trees can be found in Series II, along with material on the history of Jews in the town of Hirschaid. This series also holds the photographs and photo albums of the collection, which includes many photographs of Heidecker and Schmitt family members as well as of their former residences in Hirschaid and Georgensmünd. A few papers of family members are included in the final series of this collection, Series V.

The hobbies and interests of Ludolf and Ruth Heidecker are documented in this collection as well. Ludolf's participation in the soccer community of New York following his arrival is particularly well-documented, especially his role in the establishment of the New World Club and in the activities of the Eastern District Soccer League and the German-American Football League. This material makes up Series III, and includes correspondence, information on games and regulations, and newspaper clippings related to soccer clubs and players. Series IV consists of a number of cookbooks and recipes, possibly owned or used by Ruth Heidecker. In addition, poems by or about the couple are also part of the personal papers of Series II, as is a friendship album of Ruth Heidecker and documentation related to a prayer book.

Users of the collection should note that several times it references "Oma" (grandma), specifically in a photo album, as an owner of a prayer book, and in a folder of recipes. Although Oma is not directly named, from examination of the collection's papers it seems likely that Oma refers to Ruth Heidecker.