Munich (Germany)

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Abraham Klausner, including articles written by and about him, research materials for his articles and his memoir, correspondence, and Klausner’s personal and military records. These materials reflect his active involvement with Displaced Persons and the DP Camps in Postwar Germany as well as his sometimes complicated relationships with the Joint Distribution Committee and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). The collection also contains issues of Fun Letstn Hurbn (From the Last Extermination).

The first folder contains photocopies of letters written to Alfred Neumeyer regarding his paper "Bemerkungen zu einer Abaenderung des Edikts vom 10. Juni 1813, die Verhaeltnisse der juedischen Glaubensgenossen im Koenigreiche Bayern betreffend" (Regierungsblatt 1813, Stueck 39, Seite 921). Referat erstattet im Auftrag der größeren und mittleren Israelitischen Kultusgemeinden Bayerns," Augsburg 1914. 33 pp.) (Cf. http://opac.cjh.org:8991/F?func=direct-doc-set&doc_number=000195490 &format=999)

Attached is the carbon copy of a letter from the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem (Max Nathan) to Alfred Neumeyer's son, Alexander Neumeyer from Shavei Zion (1966), who gave copies to the institute, but kept the originalThe second folder contains Alfred Neumeyer's memoirs titled "Erinnerungen". They were written in the Jewish agricultural settlement Avigdor (Argentina) between 1941 and 1944 (typescript, 268+2 pp.) after his emigration from Germany and cover the years 1867 to 1944.

Alfred Neumeyer describes: his childhood in Munich; primary and secondary education; military service; university studies in Berlin and Munich; marriage and domestic life; work as a judge in Munich; Jewish communal activities; establishment of "Verband Bayerischer Israelitischer Gemeinden"; fight against prohibition of ritual slaughter in Bavaria; activities for "Centralverein" and "Reichsvertretung"; forced retirement as judge in 1933; changes in Jewish communal work after 1933; emigration and life in Argentina. (Cf. http://opac.cjh.org:8991/F?func=direct-doc-set&doc_number=000200946 &format=999)

This collection contains diverse materials documenting Jewish life in Bavaria. Included are instructions issued by Staats Ministerium Munich for Jewish teachers (1828); copy of petition to Bavarian government against Augsburg Reform Jewish synod (1871); article about publication of Die jüdischen Friedhöfe in kriegshaber, Buttenwiesen und Binswangen by Louis Lamm (1912); typewritten list of Jews in Bayreuth with Schutzbriefe (letters of protection) listed by community and by date between 1709-1736 (circa 1920); notice (Bekanntmachung) of extra taxes levied on Jews (1936); handwritten history of Jews in Bavaria by Adolf Eckstein (circa 1912), which includes article excerpt about Munich Jewish communities in relation to government ministries, also circa 1912.

This collection contains materials on Christine Roth-Schurtman's family, especially her father Bruno Roth.

Correspondence (originals and transcriptions) of Edgar Jaffe and Else von Richthofen Jaffe, accompanied by an inventory of letters with annotations and comments by Guenther Roth. Also included are photocopies from the diary of the sociologist Hans von Eckardt.

This collection is comprised of papers of the writer Clementine Kraemer. Although it is primarily composed of examples of her writing, including both poetry and prose, it also includes personal documents and correspondence, as well as a detailed biography.

The collection holds official paperwork and publications of Congregation Beth Hillel in Washington Heights. The majority of this congregation had emigrated from Munich, with an additional number of émigrés from Nuremberg. Prominent members of this congregation included the former leading Rabbi of the Munich Main Synagogue, Rabbi Leo Baerwald, as well as businessman and president of the congregation, Hermann Schuelein.

The collection comprises catalogues, advertising, and correspondence of Jewish book dealers and publishers, and clippings on the Jewish book trade and Zionism from German newspapers.

Vital records, education certificates, correspondence, as well as genealogical and other archival materials pertaining to the extended Dannhauser family. Also available are materials pertaining to Fred (Manfred) Roesler.

Various archival materials from archives in Hesse, Nuremberg, Trier, Oldenburg, Regensburg, Maarburg, Mecklenburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, and Luebeck, pertaining mainly to the history of conversion and assimilation of Jews in Germany. The materials were collected by Deborah Hertz for her research on the book “How Jews Became Germans”.

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.

This collection contains the writings and correspondence of Eduard Strauss. Strauss was a chemist and philosopher who taught at the Freies Juedisches Lehrhaus in Frankfurt am Main and later immigrated to New York, where he helped establish a new Lehrhaus.

This collection contains correspondence, personal papers and documents, and photographs documenting Ernest Hofeller's emigration from Germany to the refugee settlement in Sosúa, Dominican Republic, in the 1940s.

This collection contains materials relating to three brothers: Martin (1897-1979), Justin (1898-1993), and Ernst Fleischmann (1899-1993). This collection primarily contains the educational and professional materials of chemist Ernst Fleischmann, but also includes a World War One diary of Justin Fleischmann.

Single issues of various German Jewish periodicals, published primarily from 1922 to 1942. Also included are one Yiddish paper (1927) and one German paper from Israel (1961).

The Gertrude S. Goldhaber Collection, which forms part of the larger Maurice and Gertrude Goldhaber Collection, consists of mainly professional papers of nuclear physicist Dr. Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber. The collection is comprised of professional correspondence, research files, materials related to conferences and lectures, clippings and article reprints, research notes, transparencies, photographs, glass slides, manuscripts and publications, and materials related to various organizations with which Dr. Goldhaber was involved. There are also some personal documents, including correspondence, calendars and diaries, and educational records.

These records detail the history of the displaced person camps in Germany, primarily in the American zone. They include the records of the individual camps as well as political and cultural groups that operated within the camps. The collection primarily consists of administrative records such as reports, correspondence, and lists as well as cultural materials from political, theatrical, and literary groups. There are also a large number of records of court proceedings, centering on accounting for actions taken during the Holocaust as well as the formation of new families in the DP camps.

Correspondence comprises the bulk of the collection, both original materials and transcripts. The rest of the collection contains a significant amount of photographic documentation of the 1918/1919 revolution in Munich, as well as two of Landauer's notebooks.

This collection contains the papers of Hans Froehlich, a lawyer and later social worker. A dominant topic throughout the collection is the experience of persecution and the death of loved ones, and, connected with that, the lifelong struggle for restitution and compensation. At the same time, his professional life as a social worker as well as his personal interests and hobbies are reflected in the correspondence, printed material and personal writing found in the collection.

This collection documents the experience of Hedwig Geng née Berg (1891-1981) as a Jewish woman living in Munich during the Nazi regime and her survival of Theresienstadt. Materials include personal correspondence, official correspondence and directives, ephemera from Theresienstadt, identification papers, poems, notes, clippings, and a few photographs.

This collection mainly consists of documents pertaining to the genealogy research of Josef Hadar, as well as personal documents of his parents Elsa Graetz and Ludwig Hirschbruch.

This collection documents the life of Isaac Zelig Zieman (1920-2007). Born into an Orthodox family in Riga, Zieman managed to escape Latvia in 1941 and spent much of the war in the Soviet Union. In Germany from 1945-1956, he worked with displaced persons and studied psychology, after which he emigrated to the United States. In New York City, he dedicated the remainder of his life to facilitating dialogue between groups with historical enmities. The bulk of the material relates to this work, from the 1970s-2000s, as a lecturer and group therapist focused on peace and understanding between groups such as Germans and Americans, blacks and whites, and Israelis and Palestinians. The collection also includes materials from Zieman's immediate post-war experience in Germany working with displaced persons and as a student in Munich.

This collection contains posters, programs, and newspaper reviews for performances of Jewish theater in cities in Germany, Austria, and Lithuania, including theater produced by and about displaced persons in post-World War II Germany.

The collection consists of clippings from West-German, Swiss, and US newspapers, as well as some correspondence, published materials and ephemera, describing various aspects of Jews in Germany after the Holocaust.

The Lee Sommer Collection primarily consists of photographic material of the Lee Sommer family. In addition it contains a small amount of family correspondence, memorial albums, and articles about Hermann Schuelein.

The Lekisch Family collection documents personal and professional activities of Kurt Lekisch, a medical doctor originally from Mainz, Germany, who was active in his profession as well as academic research until his death in Texas in 1994. The collection also includes a small series on other members of the Lekisch family. The material mainly reflects his work as a doctor in the US but also as a volunteer practitioner in India and as a practitioner in Rhodesia. His active life as a medical researcher and publisher can be seen in his numerous publications; some of which derive from his studies at universities in Germany, Switzerland, and the US. Although the bulk of the documents consist of manuscripts and printed material, the collection also includes correspondence, photos, vital documents, and a range of certificates.

This collection holds the papers of Leo Baerwald, rabbi of the Munich Jewish community from 1918-1940. Included are some of his religious writings, correspondence, and genealogical material. Other subjects of this collection are the Lazarus family, the Munich Jewish community, and Leo Baeck. Documents include manuscripts, letters, clippings, memorial albums, and family trees.

This collection contains a wide array of vital records, documents, correspondence, and clippings, documenting the life of several generations of the Rosenberger family.

The collection contains original and published materials pertaining primarily to the family of Marietta Bach in Munich, Germany and their textile company. Also included are mostly published materials about Jews in Bavaria during the Nazi period and the November pogrom.