Herta and Carl Mayer Collection

The collection documents the life of Carl and Herta Mayer and especially her struggle for restitution after World War II. Closely connected are the documents that refer to the long-term effects of her incarceration in concentration camps.

The Herta and Carl Mayer Collection includes the documents of Herta Mayer. Most of the file on Herta Mayer holds official documents, such as certificates of birth; a Nazi-era certificate of being Jewish;, marriage and naturalization certificates; and identification papers. It also includes her will. Most of the official documents pertain to her restitution claims. Correspondences with physicians show some aspects of her physical and psychological condition after her incarceration in the concentration camps. The collection also holds the Mayer family correspondence and photographs; the photographs show family members, but are partly undated and it is uncertain which persons they portray. It includes a correspondence from the year 1945 between Herta Mayer and her relatives who lived in the United States, and discusses the general postwar situation in Germany and Herta Mayer's attempts to immigrate to the United States. Later correspondence from 1999 refers to the search for members of the Mayer family who were deported to the ghetto Lodz, Poland

The Carl Mayer folder contains mainly official documents that provide biographical information, such as passports, his driver's license, certificates of naturalization, affidavits of support in order to get a visa and restitution documents. A German labor book, issued in 1936, notes his apprenticeship as a salesman from 1928 to 1931 in Mayen and lists his employment as a driver. The invitation for his wedding is included in the Herta Mayer documents' folder and correspondence with his niece and nephew is included in folder 3.

The collection includes some documents on the Fuchs family, mainly birth and marriage certificates.

Hard to classify documents, namely brochures, are held in the folder 'Other'.