Walther Rothschild Collection

The series contains typescripts of Walther Rothschild. The bulk of the collection are drafts of an unpublished novel titled De Profundis. Rothschild shared the manuscript with family and friends, but never published it. De Profundis tells the story of the Herford family after Hitler's rise to power. The three male generations of the Herford’s featured predominantly in the novel exemplify the German-Jewish middle-class experience in the 1930s and 1940s. Included are also materials pertaining to the manuscript, like a table of contents and annotated copies of novel. The series also contains “Doch draussen stümt es” (But Outside There is a Storm) a typed journal of Walther’s life after his move to California during the war. It also includes Rothchild’s recollections of his life in Europe in the lead up to the war and his emigration out of Germany. Lastly, the series includes “Wiedersehen mit Europa” (Reunion with Europe), a travel report written by Rothschild about his visit to Europe in 1956. The travel report describes the changes that occurred in Germany since the war and ask s the question whether Germany could once again become an authoritarian state. The report also gives a detailed account of Rothschild’s return to Frankfurt, which seemed so foreign to him after the war.