Holocaust memorials

The collection is comprised of photographs of various provenances related to the lives of Jewish displaced persons (DPs) in the period immediately following the Second World War, from 1945 to 1952. The photographs pertain to DP camps and communities in the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Austria, and Italy, primarily those established by the American and British military, and administered by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and, later, the International Refugee Organization. Diverse aspects of daily life among the DPs are depicted, such as school, work, recreation, and vocational training, including many activities sponsored by Jewish voluntary organizations, especially World ORT and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Also depicted are cultural activities such as theater, children’s performances, Jewish holiday celebrations and parades, and commemorative events honoring those who died in the Holocaust. The photographs capture leaders of the Jewish DP zonal and camp committees, DP police, and Zionist living collectives (kibbutzim), as well as notable military, political, and cultural personalities of the period, such as Lucius D. Clay, Fiorello LaGuardia, David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Gruenbaum, and H. Leivick. The photographs also reflect political and historical developments, including the major congresses of the DP leaderships in Germany, Austria, and Italy; protest demonstrations concerning British policies regulating immigration to Palestine; and events held upon the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

This collection portrays the personal and professional life of the violinist Felix Freilich. It also provides information on his wife and the genealogy of their families. The collection contains correspondence, family trees, photographs, clippings, publications and music scores. Subjects found in this collection include the genealogy of the Freilich and Greenberg families, the professional life of Felix Freilich, and the city of Altenburg, Germany.

This collection contains personal papers and clippings related to Herta Grove née Levi, her parents Moses and Bertha (Betty) Levi, and her brother Walter J. Levy, a noted oil consultant for the U.S. government. Materials include a family tree, a history of the Cohn-Levi family, an oral history interview transcript, records of memorials of Holocaust victim Betty Levi, clippings and biographical information, photographs of Walter J. Levy with government officials, and a plaque.

The following Holocaust memorial sites in Germany are mentioned in this collection:

This collection contains materials on remembrances of the Kindertransport. Materials include correspondence, handwritten notes, memorial programs, the text of a speech by Gerhard Schroeder, membership directories, annual reports, synopses and advertisements for publications and films on the Kindertransport, and materials from a 1999 reunion of individuals who were part of the Kindertransport.

The collection contains the papers of Nachman Blumental (1902-1983), a Polish-Jewish historian, scholar, and philologist, who after surviving the Holocaust in a non-German occupied part of the Soviet Union travelled around Poland collecting documents and materials related to ghettos, camps, sites of mass murder, and Holocaust survivors. These materials include, among others, survivor testimonies, witness accounts, original Nazi administrative documents, songs, poems, jokes, parodies, folklore, and children’s schoolwork written during the war, oftentimes in camps and ghettos, as well as Blumental’s extensive notes on Nazi terminology and distinct terminology used by Jews in camps and ghettos. The collection consists of correspondence, published and unpublished articles by Nachman Blumental and other individuals, newspaper clippings, research notes, Nazi documents, and dictionary and bibliography note cards.