Rome (Italy)

This collection documents the life of Anneliese Riess and her family. The bulk of the collection contains correspondence that reflects the impact of fascism and anti-Semitic policies on her personal life and on her immediate family.

This collection holds letters exchanged between the Austrian émigré Cecilia Ruberl in Rome and Stefan Taussig in upstate New York, to whom she loaned funds in order to establish a farm. Although most of the correspondence concerns their financial association, letters sent during and after World War II document his aid of her and her family members. In addition to correspondence, the collection holds a few receipts for stock transactions and documentation of a restitution claims decision on behalf of Cecilia Ruberl's family.

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 of posters includes approximately 1,000 rare or unique items pertaining to over 100 displaced persons (DP) camps and centers in Germany, Austria, and Italy, dating primarily from 1946 to 1952. Comprised of approximately 60% handpainted and 40% printed items, it includes posters produced by diverse Jewish groups within individual camps, such as administrative and cultural committees, sports clubs, Zionist and religious groups, and landsmanshaftn; as well as organizations active throughout the camps, including the Jewish central committees in the respective countries, the World ORT Union, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Agency. A small number of items also document activities of the revived Jewish communities in the city centers of Munich and Vienna. Many of the posters use not only language but also color, graphic design, and pictorial and figurative elements to engage their audience with calls to entertainment, lectures, protests, and commemorations.

Folder 1 contains the Questionnaire of the Austrian Heritage Collection at the Leo Baeck Institute and additional biographical documents. Vital documents include birth certificates, residency permits, military documents, and other related documents stemming from the war years in Cernauti / Czernowitz. There are also documents relating to his attempts to emigrate from Romania, an honorary diploma, correspondence relating to emigration and exhibitions, his parents' death certificates and other post-World War II Romanian and American identification documents.

The Eisner Family Collection contains correspondence and other papers of this family from Berlin. Although much of the collection is correspondence, there are also invitations and other material relating to family celebrations, notes, and a will.

The Elizabeth W. Trahan Collection documents the personal and professional life of Elizabeth Welt Trahan, who was active as a scholar and writer and taught for several years at various universities in the U.S. Her autobiographical materials, such as her diary, reflect her personal view on Vienna, Austria during World War II. Other papers include personal documents, correspondence, a diary and other autobiographical manuscripts.

This collection offers an incomplete assortment of Ermanno Loevinson’s diaries, from 1886 to 1920.

This collection primarily chronicles the time Harry J. Marks, later a professor of history, spent as a graduate student in Germany during the early 1930s. It also includes description of earlier travel and some later correspondence in addition to biographical information and genealogical research. The collection consists primarily of the diaries and correspondence of Harry J. Marks but also includes some letters sent to him, budgeting notes, and family trees of the Hirschbach family.

The collection contains biographical notes on Lene Schneider-Kainer; photographs of her and signed photographs of the German author Bernhard Kellermann; and an album with newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and photographs. The album covers the years 1929-1951, and includes clippings pertaining to Schneider-Kainer, her work, and exhibits of her work; magazine articles concerning her trip through Asia with Kellermann, some written by him, illustrated with photographs of her related paintings; and photographs of Kellermann, Schneider-Kainer, and her paintings.

The collection consists predominantly of correspondence between Sigmund A. Cohn and his parents, his letters to various public and private agencies in an unsuccesful attempt to get his parents out of Germany as well as correspondence related to obtain restitution. Included in the collection are genealogical papers, autobiographies of various family members, and documents related to Sigmund A. Cohn's studies and work.