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Gomori and Katz Families Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 25984

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of two series. Series I pertains to the family of Peter Gomori; Series II pertains to the family of Jannette Katz-Gomori.

The materials in this collection document the lives of their families before, during, and after World War II and the Holocaust. Series I (Box 1) includes materials relating to Peter Gomori’s maternal family of his mother, Charlotte née Nadas Gomori; they are mostly family photographs, but the series also includes a handwritten will, travel documents, and inventories of wedding presents and furniture purchases.

Series II (Box 2) includes materials relating to the parental families of Jannette Katz-Gomori’s (Anne née Wolff and Rudolf Katz) and to the related family of Charlotte née Wolff and Werner Gunzberger. The items include family photographs, a family album, travel documents, handwritten letters, and typewritten letters.

Dates

  • 1840s-1990
  • Majority of material found within 1940s-1960s

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is in German, English, Hungarian, Dutch, and Hebrew.

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection.

Biographical Note

Peter Gomori’s mother, Charlotte “Lotte” née Nadas Gomori, was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1908; her parents were Flora née Friedmann Nadas and Bertalan Nadas, a lawyer. (Flora was one of Friedrich and Hermine Friedmann’s seven children. Four other children in that family – Wilhelm, Otto, Franziska, and Sophie – are also represented in this collection, along with their families. Otto and his family escaped to Colombia during World War II, while Sophie and her family escaped to Palestine.) In addition to their daughter Lotte, Flora and Bertalan had an older son, Frigyas “Fritz” Nadas, born in 1905; he died in a Hungarian slave labor camp in 1944. During the War, Lotte worked for Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat in Budapest who saved thousands of Jews in German-occupied Hungary by issuing protective passports. Through her employment with Wallenberg in Budapest’s American Embassy, Lotte received a visa from her supervisor and was neither detained nor interned during the War, although she did live in hiding alongside her parents at a friend’s house. Lotte also tried to secure a Schutz-Pass (a protective passport issued to Hungarian Jews) for her parents and for her future husband, Imre Gomori, who was detained and about to be sent to Auschwitz before Wallenberg rescued him. Imre was born in 1911 in Budapest and worked as a watchmaker. He married Lotte Nadas in 1951 and obtained a divorce from her shortly thereafter, in Hungary. Lotte moved to the United States in 1951, while Imre moved there in 1958. Their son Peter was born in 1953. Lotte and Imre Gomori both died in New York City – Imre in 1978, Lotte in 1990.

Jannette Katz-Gomori’s mother, Anne “Annie” née Wolff Katz, was born in 1920, in Rees, Germany. Her parents were Alma née Frank Wolff and Isidor Wolff. Annie and her mother were imprisoned in Dusseldorf for a week and were released on the condition that they both leave Germany. Annie’s mother left for Holland, while Annie left for the United Kingdom. Annie secured a visa from the British government in 1939; she worked as a domestic and also trained as a nurse. She then moved to the United States either in 1946 or 1947 and worked at the Foundling Hospital. Annie’s first cousin, Charlotte née Wolff Gunzberger, married Werner Gunzberger in New York City, after World War II ended. Werner, who was born and raised in Landau, Germany, came to the United States around 1937 without his immediate family. His parents, Siegfried and Karoline Gunzberger, and his sister, Irmgard Gunzberger, sought refuge in Zutphen, Holland during the War, but they were deported to Westerbork and subsequently killed. Annie’s sister, Margarete “Grete” née Wolff Schwartz, married Gustav Schwartz, and they fled Rotterdam for Switzerland.

Jannette Katz-Gomori’s father, Rudolf “Rudy” Katz, was born in 1918 in Dahn, Germany and came to the United States with his brother Eric in 1937, and they both settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey; their mother, Marianne née Simon Katz, was deported to Gurs from Drancy and later sent to Auschwitz, where she was killed. Annie and Rudy met in New York City’s Washington Heights in 1948 and married that same year. Rudy Katz and Annie Katz died in 1997 and in 2016, respectively.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

Abstract

This collection documents the parental families of Peter Gomori – primarily pertaining to his mother, Charlotte née Nadas Gomori – and of Jannette Katz- Gomori – pertaining to her parents, Anne née Wolff Katz and Rudolf Katz; documents are from before, during, and after World War II and the Holocaust. The collection consists mostly of family photographs and includes one family album; two death certificates; travel documents; handwritten and typewritten correspondences; a handwritten will; inventories of wedding presents and furniture purchases; and a prayer book.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Family of Peter Gomori, 1840s-1990
  • Series II: Family of Jannette Katz-Gomori, 1900s-1946

Separated Materials

This collection originally included a book in Dutch, entitled Joodse Bewoners in de Schilderswijk Zutphen (English translation: Jewish residents in the Zutphen community), commemorating Jewish families that had lived in Zutphen before they were deported. The book includes biographical information about the Gunzberger family, represented in this collection, and is now in LBI’s library.

Processing Information

This collection has been processed for the first and so far, only time; there are no previous inventories or finding aids describing the collection. The materials arrived in two boxes with no discernible original order and were thus rearranged into series.

Title
Guide to the Papers of the Gomori and Katz Families Collection
Author
Processed by Matthew Hauptman
Date
2022
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

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