Restitution -- Germany

Correspondence, personal documents, and photographs in this collection show the life of George Garrington (Grünbaum) from his youth in Berlin, through the war years spent in England, to his later life in the United States. These materials document his relationships with family and friends, as well as his education, immigration, military service, career in engineering, and organizations with which he was involved.

This collection documents the history of the Weiss family with a focus on Gerald Weiss’ parents Jacob and Selma Weiss née Falk and their siblings. Jacob (alternatively Köbes) Weiss (1883-1965) was born the second of nine children to the cattle dealer Albert Weiss and his wife Mathilde Amalie née Michel. As a young man, he lived in Cologne and started a bed linen manufacturing business, S & J Weiss, with his brother Siegmund. As the situation for Jews in Germany worsened in the 1930s, he and Siegmund smuggled money from the business to banks in Holland to aid in the Weiss family’s emigration. Jacob Weiss emigrated with his wife and children in 1939 and settled in New York. This collection contains family trees, family correspondence, translations of family correspondence, vital records, immigration and naturalization records, correspondence and legal documents concerning restitution claims, correspondence and legal documents concerning the estate of Hermann and Carolina Michel née Frank, and correspondence and photographs concerning family gravesites and the restoration of a Jewish cemetery.

About half of this collection covers the genealogy of the Braunthal family in France, Austria, Poland, the Ukraine, and the United States as documented by Gerard Braunthal. The other half is devoted the restitution claims made by Frieda Silbermann (later Frances Selby), one of the Braunthal family members. Materials include genealogical tables, vital documents, correspondence, legal documents, and financial records.

The Gerda Dittmann Collection includes personal and business materials pertaining to the Dittmann and Ottensooser families and consists of correspondence, personal, business, and legal documents, clippings, poetry, and notebooks.

This collection contains an abundance of legal correspondence documenting claims to the Bleichroeder heritage by various members of the family. Included are genealogical documents, testaments, restitution papers, birth and death certificates, juridical protocols, power of attorneys, certificates of inheritance, invoices, and several handwritten notes. A few translations are included, as well as some clippings and personal family documents such as photographs, wedding telegrams, etc.

This collection documents the family history and restitution claims of Gertrude Guckenheimer née Goldschmidt (1916-2003) and her husband Ludwig Guckenheimer (1911-1991). Half of the collection relates to the family histories and family businesses of Gertrude and Ludwig, while the other half documents the restitution claims brought by them and their family members. Included are family trees, birth, marriage, and death certificates, inheritance documents, business contracts, and personal and business correspondence, bank records, official and legal documents concerning restitution claims, and a few photographs. The history of the family businesses Herz Hachenburger Sohn and Max Baer Söhne are well documented in contracts and correspondence.

Materials within this collection include correspondence, photographs, family documents dating back to the 18th century, travel documents and naturalization papers.

This collection contains materials relating to Isfried and Ilse Hahn and their family. It includes official and educational documents relating directly to Isfried and Ilse Hahn, such as property lists, residence permits, military service papers, and immigration and naturalization papers, as well as restitution and financial documents. Among the materials concerning the Hahn's relatives and ancestors are 19th-century commercial documents from the Voehl family of Gedern and Nidda in Oberhessen, Germany, as well as other correspondence, photographs, and genealogical materials relating to the Hahn, Meyer, Levi, and Voehl families.

This collection contains documents and correspondence pertaining to Hans and Käthe Stroh's emigration to Shanghai and the United States, and materials for their restitution claims. There are also numerous family photos spanning the period roughly from 1900 to 1970.

This collection contains the files of the restitution cases handled by the lawyer Hans-Heinz Altmann. It consists primarily of legal correspondence; medical opinions, attestations, insurance records or income statements are frequently enclosed. Although the focus is clearly on the legal bearings of the individual cases, the material also gives insight into the difficulties displacement and emigration inflicted upon the refugees. This becomes especially obvious in regard to the clients’ trouble procuring documentation and affidavits or finding attesters substantiating their restitution.

This collection contains the personal papers of members of the Hecht, Bielefeld, Günther, and Gottschalk families. Materials range widely in time period and content, providing insight into varied experience of these families from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Materials include vital records, emigration records, apprenticeship and journeyman records for a merchant, education records, letters of recommendation, personal correspondence, military records from World War I and World War II, restitution claims, property records, tax and financial records, friendship books (Poesiealben), documents related to religious services during military service, family trees, photographs, a diary about emigration, and a Hebrew primer.

This collection contains a substantial amount of correspondence written by Heinrich and Toni Busse while in hiding in Berlin 1939-1945, as well as manuscript drafts of Heinrich Busse's anti-war writings, some of his personal papers and official documents.

The Herbert Buky Collection documents the personal live of Herbert Buky and to a smaller extent the lives of other members of the Buky family. Included here are materials pertaining to Herbert Buky’s life in pre-war Germany, his immigration and his life in the United States after World War II. The collection consists of correspondence, documents, printed materials, unpublished manuscripts, and photographs.

This collection contains post-World War Two restitution matters primarily sent from the Council of Jews from Germany. It includes meeting minutes as well as internal and external correspondence relating to Council for the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Jews From Germany (later the Council of Jews from Germany), as well as other organizations including the American Federation of Jews from Central Europe, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (Claims Conference), the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO), the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI), and the United Restitution Organization (URO). Some documents have annotations from the German-Jewish attorney Hermann Simon.

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.

This collection contains the personal papers of Hilda Levy and her family. Born in 1905 in Tauberbischofsheim, Germany, Hilda Levy managed her family’s shoe store before immigrating to New York City in 1935. Materials in the collection include correspondence, vital records, inheritance and restitution materials, education records, emigration records, and photographs.

This collection contains the personal papers of Hilde née Friedmann and her immediate family. Born to a cattle dealer in Bavaria in 1901, Hilde fled Germany for Palestine and then the United States, where she worked as a seamstress. Included are official documents, correspondence, restitution materials, and photographs.

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.

Horst Rosenberg (1925-2010) was born in Koblenz, Germany and emigrated to England via a Kindertransport and eventually immigrated to the United States. This collection consists mainly of his personal correspondence, emigration and immigration papers, and restitution materials. Other items include official papers on his parents, Max and Rosel Rosenberg, a few positive and negative photographs, and a handwritten poem.

The collection contains documentation of the lives of Heimann Posener and Jenny née Reinhold in Germany and their emigration from Germany to the United States via England. Included are various identity cards; correspondence pertaining to obtaining American visas and ship tickets; and correspondence pertaining to storing furniture and household goods in Germany and shipping the items to the United States.

The Hugo Fantl Collection provides a brief glimpse into the life of businessman Hugo Fantl as well as a more detailed view of his family's restitution claims. Included are papers of Hugo Fantil such as official, military, professional and financial documents, restitution correspondence and legal papers.

This collection consists primarily of letters from Ilse Glaser Dean to her later husband, Eric Henry Dean between 1952 and 1964. It also contains many photographs of the Deans and their relatives and friends from the 1930s until the 1970s. Additionally it holds correspondence by Wolfgang Schwerin to Ilse and Eric Dean between 1952 and 1988 and a collection of official and personal documents.

This collection contains materials relating to the lives and families of William Niclas (1913, Ratibor, Silesia - 1978, Hampton Bays, NY) and Ilse Niclas née Israelowitz (1910, Koschentin, Silesia - 2006, California).

This collection contains correspondence and various documents pertaining to Ilse M. Eden, her mother Edith Salomon née Muellerheim, and Ilse's great-aunt Alice Salomon.

This collection contains personal papers from the Simson and Ruppel families of Gotha, Germany as well as materials from the restitution claims made by the family members. The bulk of the materials relate to Jack Ruppel and his mother Margarete née Simson. Materials include family trees, personal correspondence, vital records, identification papers, emigration and naturalization records, educational transcripts and grades, military records, newspaper clippings, maps, oral history transcripts, and legal papers related to restitution claims.

This collection documents the post-World War Two life of Jakob Altmaier. It includes personal documents, correspondence, and political campaign materials.

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.

This collection contains a large amount of correspondence and documents of Adolph Bernd's (the father of Janet Isenberg) restitution claims, as well as five family trees documenting the genealogy of the Bernd, Schild, Drucker, Wolff, and Heine families.

The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence sent from Jenny Pelz in Berlin to her children and grandchildren in the United States during the second World War.

The Joan Salomon Family Collection documents the immigration and marriage of Otto and Helina (née Mayer) Long (formerly Lichtwitz). The fate of family members and restitution for loss of property during the Holocaust are other prominent topics. The collection includes official and personal papers, notebooks, cookbooks, correspondence, articles, photographs and drawings.