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Marianne Salinger Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 10199

Scope and Content Note

Following a chronological order, the material in this collection is clustered around various individuals of Marianne Salinger's family in Germany, France and the United States. Spanning four generations, their stories encompass a variety of topics, including Russian immigration to Germany at the end of the 19th century, adolescence in Germany in the early 20th century, emigration from Nazi Germany and immigration to the United States, post-war childhood in France as well as the professional career of an immigrant woman in the United States during the 1950s-1970s. Additional insight into the cultural contexts of these stories is provided by annotated books of various genres, including children's books, language textbooks, a cookbook, and an autobiography by Lilly Pincus. In general, the genres and types of documents in this collection vary greatly. However, a relative bulk is composed of personal recollections and correspondence in the form of diaries and letters, some of which have been translated into English.

General biographical information on Albert and Selma Ginsburg is contained in Folder 1/1, including birth, marriage and death certificates, military documents, testaments, and some postwar correspondence pertaining to the care of their graves. A family tree is also included. Of special interest with regard to late 19th and early 20th century culture may be a German/Russian language textbook (H. von Berthe (Hrsg.) 1878. Deutsches Lesebuch: Hilfsbuch für den Unterricht in deutscher Sprache und Literatur.Eine Auswahl prosaischer und poetischer Stücke aus den Werken deutscher Klassiker aller Jahrhunderte. Elfte Auflage.) (Folder 2/1), as well as a photocopy of Selma Ginsburg's personal cookbook (Folder 1/2).

Only very little information is given in this collection on Albert Ginsburg's cousin, Russian-American journalist and writer Mark Vishniak. However, Folder 1/3 contains, in addition to an obituary from the New York Times, a number of finding aids of other institutions that hold related material for further research.

Folders 1/4 and 1/5 contain documents pertaining to Trude Salinger (*Ginsburg). Folder 1/5 comprises personal correspondence between Trude and various members of her family and friends, 1913-1928. Folder 1/4 contains mostly official documents pertaining to the family's immigration to the United States during the Holocaust: Bank statements, an alien registration card, a naturalization certificate as well as various restitution papers give evidence of the migration process. Some information on Trude's husband, Walter Salinger, is contained in Folder 1/6. It includes engagement announcements, a last will, a death certificate as well as some correspondence with the Jewish community in Bad Kissingen, which took care of his burial after Walter had died on a trip to Germany.

Several diaries by Trude's sister, Lotte Ginsburg, dating from 1910-1919 can be found in the LBI memoir collection (call number ME 1631). In these entries, Lotte describes her experience as an adolescent girl in the early 20th century, covering such topics as everyday life at home and school, travel notes as well as romantic encounters. Translations are included.

Marianne Salinger's personal and professional life is documented in Folders 1/8-1/10. In addition to some personal documents in Folder 1/8, including school certificates or letters written to her parents as well as some of her children's books, which reflect her childhood in Germany, an abundance of material included in Folder 1/9 pertains to Salinger's professional life as a designer in the United States after she had immigrated from Germany. Various advertisements, photographs, trademark papers and business correspondence illustrate both her creative work and the visual culture of post-war America. Of particular interest may be clippings from German newspapers and magazines narrating Marianne's success story in the United States from a German perspective. An issue of Stammbaum from 2006, also included here, features an interview with Salinger in which she reflects on her experience as an immigrant and volunteer at the Leo Baeck Institute Archives. Folder 1/10 contains photocopied letters by Marianne Salinger to her mother, in which she describes the postwar life in Paris, where she took care of the Ginsburg children Jacques and Nina whose parents had been deported to Ausschwitz. This folder also includes later photographs of Jacques and Nina and their families. A few photographs and certificates pertaining to Marianne Salinger's brother Fred (Fritz) can be found in Folder 1/7.

Excerpts from Lily Pincus's autobiography Verloren – gewonnen. Mein Weg von Berlin nach London (1980) in Folder 2/3 illustrate the author's childhood in Berlin, part of which she shared with Lotte Ginsburg. The photocopies included here pertain to these interconnections. The book is available at the LBI Library, call number DS 135 G5 P495.

Dates

  • 1878-2005
  • Majority of material found within 1910-1970

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is in German, English, Hebrew and Russian.

Access Restrictions

Folder 1/10 is for research at the LBI in-house only.

Access Information

Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note<extptr actuate="onload" altrender="Portrait of Marianne Salinger (1923- )" href="http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1559540" show="embed" title="Portrait of Marianne Salinger (1923- )" linktype="simple"/>

Simcha Ginsburg (1832-1899) and his wife, Golde Arkin (1831-1867) had a wholesale business importing herring and exporting wood in Grodno. The couple had seven children. One of their daughters, Mesche (Marie) was married to Benjamin Vishniak and mother of journalist and writer Mark Vishniak (1883–1977), who fled from Russia and later joined the editorial board of Time Magazine as a consultant on Russian affairs during World War II.

Simcha and Golde Ginsburg's youngest son, Albert (1866-1927), moved to Berlin, where he worked for the firm Gebrueder Kristeller and eventually became partner. He married Selma Heymann (1871-1938) and had two daughters with her: Trude (1895-1995) and Lotte (1898-1919), who died from a sudden illness at the age of 20.

Trude married Walter Salinger (1882-1958), who had served in World War I. The couple had two children, Marianne (1923- ) and Fred (Fritz) (1922-1994). After 1933, Trude discovered some distant cousins in New York and managed to obtain an affidavit of support, which allowed the family to immigrate to the United States. In March 1939 Trude and her children left Berlin for the Netherlands and England where they waited for the papers. In June of 1939 they arrived in the U.S. and settled in Kew Gardens. Trude and Walter Salinger separated. He eventually moved to California and died on a trip to Germany in Bad Kissingen, where he is buried.

Their son, Fred, served in the United States army in World War II, and graduated from Pennsylvania Military College with a degree in engineering. He died of lung cancer at the age of 72. His sister Marianne Salinger went to Paris in 1949 to live with Jacques and Nina Gunsbourg, the children of Simon Ginsburg and Annemarie Oppenheimer, who had perished in Auschwitz, as well as their paternal uncle Matwei Ginsburg. Back in New York, Marianne attended Cooper Union School for Design in Manhattan and opened her own design studio in Forest Hills. In the course of her career, she produced a variety of creative work, including patented household products, custom-made windows displays, stage design for show productions, as well as store decorations. Upon her retirement she started volunteering for the Leo Baeck Institute.

Extent

1 Linear Feet

Abstract

The Marianne Salinger Collection comprises a broad variety of personal and professional documents pertaining to Marianne Salinger and her family. Spanning four generations, the material is clustered around individual stories of several family members and their relationships, each illustrated by different document types and genres, including personal and official letters, diaries, clippings, photographs and slides, various certificates, advertisements, restitution papers, as well as a couple of annotated books of various genres such as children's books, one cookbook, one autobiography and a language textbook. Some translations are included.

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged by person, following a chronological order.

Related Material

Both Stanford University and Columbia University hold material pertaining to Mark Vishniak:

Separated Material

Some photographs have been moved to the photo collection. A prayer book rescued from the November pogrom 1938 has been moved to the library collection, [R 25]. Lily Pincus's autobiography Verloren – gewonnen. Mein Weg von Berlin nach London (1980) has been moved to the LBI library. Lace and lace-making supplies owned by Marianne Salinger's mother have been moved to the art and objects collection. A cassette tape of an interview with Marianne Salinger, 2005, as basis for a published interview in Stammbaum magazine, 2006, has been moved to the AV collection. Lotte Ginsburg's diaries, 1910-1918, have been moved to the memoir collection.

Processing Information

Folders have been rearranged to follow a chronological order. A folder containing only one photocopy of a family tree has been eliminated. The family tree has been moved to Folder 1/1. A photograph of Albert Ginsburg has been removed from its original frame and moved to Folder 1/1. The German/Russian book (H. von Berthe (Hrsg.) 1878. Deutsches Lesebuch: Hilfsbuch für den Unterricht in deutscher Sprache und Literatur. Eine Auswahl prosaischer und poetischer Stücke aus den Werken deutscher Klassiker aller Jahrhunderte. Elfte Auflage.) as well as the children's books have been separated and placed in Box 2 of the collection (Folders 2/1 and 2/2). Photocopies are placed in the folders pertaining to their respective owners, Folders 1/1 and 1/8.

Title
Guide to the Papers of Marianne Salinger (1923- ) 1878-2005 AR 10199
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Florian Siedlarek and LBI Staff
Date
© 2012
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Edition statement
This version was derived from MarianneSalinger.xml

Revision Statements

  • April 01, 2015 : dao links added by Emily Andresini.

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States