Else Blum Collection

The collection consists of photo albums, photos, private and legal documents, private correspondence, and correspondence and documents regarding the reparation claims members of the Blum family after the emigration.

The photograph series contains mostly pictures documenting the life of Else and Paul Blum in Germany, including pictures of travels, friends and family pictures. There are some pictures documenting Kurt Hirschfeld’s live and work as well as pictures of his daughter.

The letters series contains personal correspondence, mostly letters from friends and other Jewish families who left Germany. There are also letters from Selma Hirschfeld, nee Nachmann, who probably was the second wife of Hermann Hirschfeld and who calls herself aunt of Bernd. Although this Selma Hirschfeld is probably the stepmother of Kurt and Else Hirschfeld, she is referred to in the Visa application as their mother.

The reparation files series contains documents about the different reparation claims of Else, Paul, Bernd and Sofie Blum, as well as of Kurt Hirschfeld. There are correspondences with government offices as well as with lawyers. This series contains handwritten notes and calculations.

The collection also documents the course of the emigration of Paul, Else and Bernd Blum to the USA in 1938. It contains the correspondence, which Else and Paul Blum undertook in order to obtain visa for Else’s and Kurt’s father, Hermann Hirschfeld, and Selma Hirschfeld, who was the stepmother (the first wife of Hermann Hirschfeld was named Selma as well, nee Auerhann, but she died in 1926). Unfortunately, their efforts where unsuccessful, and in 1941 both Selma and Hermann Hirschfeld where deported to a concentration camp in Riga. The procedure for obtaining an emergency visa for Kurt Hirschfeld is also documented in this series.

See inventory.