Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

The Heidecker and Schmitt Family Collection largely documents the emigration experiences of members of the Heidecker, Schmitt, and related families, especially of Ludolf and Ruth (née Schmitt) Heidecker. The failure of some family members in leaving Germany is portrayed in these papers as well. Other subjects include the families' histories, restitution for their losses in the Holocaust, and the postwar interests of Ludolf and Ruth Heidecker, among other subjects. The collection includes extensive correspondence and photographs, material relating to Ludolf Heidecker's role in soccer associations, cookbooks and recipes, family trees, newspaper clippings, official documents, and other personal papers.

This collection documents the work of Heinrich Stahl, chairman of the Jewish community in Berlin from 1933-1942. The collection contains eleven photo albums, most of which feature photographs detailing Jewish institutions such as children's homes and old-age homes, as well as an office of the Jüdische Winterhilfe. In addition, the collection contains correspondence, including from Stahl's time as chairman, clippings, and a few reports.

The collection holds diaries, memoirs, reports, letters and papers pertaining to five generations of the Hellmann-Kirchberger family. A prominent topic is the life of the family in the Lahn area in Rhineland in the 18th and 19th century. Additional topics are the emigration from Nazi Germany and immigration to the United States. Letters and diaries that are included in the collection draw an intense picture of the distinct impacts of historical and social events from the 18th until the beginning of the 21st century.

The Herbert Bloch Collection contains the personal papers of the classicist and medievalist Herbert Bloch, a Harvard professor. Prominent is correspondence between himself and his family, which mentions not only family news and the deaths, deportations, and experiences of family members but also references his own research, writing, and teaching. In addition to family correspondence is correspondence with colleagues and friends, former neighbors, and legal and financial correspondence. Other papers in the collection include poetry, educational certificates and diplomas, material relating to Herbert Bloch's academic career, family trees, obituaries, and photographs.

The collection mainly consists of Herbert Jonas' and his family members' private correspondence and personal documents. There are also some writings, photographs and a collection of newspaper clippings.

The Herbert Strauss Collection documents the life and professional activities of Herbert Strauss, writer, historian, and teacher. The collection includes correspondence, court procedures, documents, lists, manuscripts and lectures, notes, photographs, printed materials, and a small amount of teaching materials. Materials constituting the collection reflect various aspects of Herbert Strauss’ personal life, teaching, research and writings in the fields of German-Jewish history and relations, Anti-Semitism, and assimilation. The collection includes both, personal and professional materials related to Herbert Strauss, with personal being by far the smaller.

Correspondence and other materials on the Gildemeester Hilfskommittee including data gathered from potential immigrants.

The Herta and Carl Mayer Collection holds the assorted papers of Herta Mayer (Fuchs/ Fox) and her husband Carl (Karl) Mayer. Included in the collection are scattered documents of the Fuchs family members, Moric, Alice and Richard Fuchs. The collection primarily consists of Herta Mayer’s official documents and correspondence regarding immigration and restitution attempts after 1945. Photographs and family correspondence can be found as well.

The Herta and Egon Wells Family Collection centers on the emigration of Herta (née Guttmann) and Egon Wells from Vienna to New York by way of Trinidad, with further documentation on their lives prior to and following emigration. Documents relating to the emigration experiences and attempts of other family members are also present. About half the collection consists of personal correspondence, but it additionally includes official documents, immigration and citizenship documentation, educational and professional documents, memorabilia, legal correspondence, a few family photographs, and newspaper clippings.

Collection of letters sent from Hertha Josias from Germany to her daughters Hannelore and Inge in Sweden; letters from Rosalie Selig.

The Hirschberg-Goldmann Family Addenda holds documentation on the lives and emigration of Harry and Leonor Harter, originally of Breslau. It additionally contains research, conducted by their son, into the history and genealogy of the Hirschberg and Goldmann families and their relations, as well as into the fate of his maternal grandparents, Siegfried and Käthe Goldmann. The collection includes material about the Breslau Jewish community, especially about its Storch synagogue and the Cosel cemetery (Legnica Street cemetery). The collection contains many copies of historical documents, extensive correspondence, photographs and a photo album, copies of articles related to the research of the collection, and some family trees.

The Hochheimer Family Collection contains documents and letters relating to the Hochheimer, Heilbronn, Schoenthal, David, Rothenberg, Neuburg, and Kaunitz families, primarily dating from the late 1930s and early 1940s. The majority consists of the correspondence of Alice and Arthur Hochheimer with family members in Germany during World War Two.

This collection consists of the personal papers of the Hochherr family of southwestern Germany. Materials include vital records, photographs, a genealogical chart, a family history, official records of family members’ deportations and deaths in extermination camps, an account of life in Nazi-occupied Holland, and an account of an escape to Switzerland. With the exception of the photographs, the collection consists entirely of photocopies.

The Holocaust Collection consists of various donated materials pertaining to the Holocaust assembled into a single research file. Only a couple items date from the historical time period, most items were created decades after the Holocaust.

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

This collection documents the members of Igersheimer (Iggers) family of Frankfurt, Hamburg, and later Richmond, Virginia, as well as their ancestors and contemporary relatives.

This collection contains personal and official documents pertaining to the family’s immigration to the United States and their situation in Germany as the political climate deteriorated. Included are a large amount of personal letters, supplemented by various other documents from government and military offices, some genealogical and tracing certificates, as well as other various material.

The Institute of Jewish Affairs was a scientific and research organization attached to the World Jewish Congress. The collection consists of brochures, reports, surveys and other research publications. The materials address the plans, goals and activities of the organization as well as containing studies of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, Jewish life in the postwar era in various countries and political events influencing Jewry and anti-Semitism. The collection also includes analyses of international legislation on questions which were influencing the Jewish situation within the spheres of human rights, minorities and migration at the time.

Contains articles and writings by Irene S. Woods regarding her life in Berlin at the beginning of World War II, and in Boston, MA as a refugee. Includes reprinted letters written by Woods' grandmother, Jenny Pelz, to friends and family 1939-1941.

The papers pertain to the experiences of David Gertler, a functionary of the Jewish administration in the Lodz ghetto. Gertler was head of the Sonderabteilung (Special Unit) which performed the function of secret police in the ghetto. He was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. Recorded interview with Gertler by I. Kuperstein. Kuperstein's observations and evaluation of the interview, 1974. Proceedings of the Court of Honor of the Jewish Rehabilitation Commission against Gertler, 1948, including reports of witnesses. Correspondence of Gertler. Summary report of the trial of the former Gestapo leaders in Lodz, Fuchs, and Bradfisch, at which Gertler was a witness.

This collection contains documents pertaining to Israel Cohen's role as author, reporter, Zionist leader, as well as his profound interest in documenting and reporting on the changes in European Jewish life between the wars. The collection is comprised primarily of notes, correspondence, clippings, and manuscripts of books about Zionism and topics in Jewish history, articles and reports on Jewish life in Austria, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Spain, the Balkans, and North Africa, circa 1910-1930s. The manuscripts of works on Jewish history include biographies of Jewish personalities and a report on the Czernowitz Yiddish Language Conference of 1908.

This collection describes the history of the Israel Family of Berlin as well as their firm, the Kaufhaus N. Israel. Material on the N. Israel store includes publications, clippings, photographs, and correspondence concerning restitution for its loss. In addition, this collection also holds family papers, documents pertaining to family history, and family trees.

This collection contains materials about Jack Gerber and Miriam Gerber née Sondheimer. In particular, it includes materials about their emigration to and settlement in the colony of Sosúa in the Dominican Republic.

This collection contains manuscripts, drafts, and articles by Jack Nusan Porter and Rüdiger Lautmann, as well as some neo-Nazi publications used for Porter's research.

Manuscript of a play by Katz, titled In blut un fayer. Correspondence, 1946-1971. Photographs of J. Katz in Poland in the 1930s, of DP camps. Documents from DP Camps. Clippings from DP camp newspapers.

This collection contains materials from the life of James May (1921- ). In particular, it documents via correspondence and clippings his ongoing engagement with his home town of Heilbronn, Germany, starting in the 1960s but particularly in the 1980s. It also includes other correspondence, personal papers, military materials, restitution files, genealogical materials relating to the family of his mother, Thekla Sänger May, and clippings and documents about his professional life as a textile designer.

The collection consists of copies of documents from various archives, including: the National Archives and Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; National Records Center in Suitland, Maryland; archives in Germany, France, Holland, Israel. There are also copies of articles from books and periodicals. Reports on art plunder, during and after World War II, in various countries including Poland, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Scandinavian countries, Portugal. Materials relating to private art collections of Nazi government officials such as that of Hermann Goring. Materials on jewelery and coins, including the Crown of St. Stephen (a national symbol of Hungary) and the crown treasures of the Holy Roman Empire. Reports of the office of the U.S. Chief of Counsel for War Crimes. U.S. Army reports on art treasures. Lists of paintings in private collections in various countries. Shelf list of records of the State Department Consulate on Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives. Report on the Art Looting Investigation Unit. Newspaper articles on stolen art and the role of the S.S. in art thefts.

A videotape (with a typed transcript) of an interview of Jean Strauss Tillis, who immigrated from Ukraine to New York circa 1921.

This collection contains correspondence, brochures, memorandum, pamphlets, fliers, invitations, reports, programs and press releases. The documents in this collection describe issues concerning the Holocaust, Jewish resistance, European labor concerns, the Jewish Labor Movement in America and anti-communism and Soviet Jewry. Included are invitations, programs and general information concerning miscellaneous concerts, conventions, symposia, and summer fellowships. A brochure regarding the Jewish Labor Committee's Child Adoption Program and materials relating to the Women's Division and Workmen's Circle also are found in the collection. In addition the collection contains publications issued by other organizations, including: American Federation of Labor, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Friends of Democracy, National Community Relations Advisory Council, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and the United States Displaced Persons Commission.

This collection is comprised of one folder of telegrams, correspondence, and a resolution, disseminated by the Jewish Public Relations Council in Pittsburgh, PA in response to the “Free Ports” plan, May-June 1944.