Switzerland

The Records of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites (1859-1878) documents the life cycle of the Board of Delegates, a Jewish civil rights organization located in New York City. The Board served in a two-fold function: acting as a central organization for American Jews and working on behalf of Jews abroad. To the latter end, the Delegates collaborated with the Committee of Deputies of British Jews and the French Alliance Israélite Universelle to provide for the relief and aid, civil, and religious rights of Jews throughout the Americas, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, particularly Romania, Ottoman Palestine including Jerusalem, and Morocco.

In the U.S., the Delegates were partially responsible for the appointment of the first Jewish Military Chaplain and surveyed member synagogues concerning the history and size of their congregation, the first organization to systematically record this type of information in the States. The Delegates merged with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) in 1878 and dissolved in 1925. Correspondents include Adolph Crémieux, Sir Moses Montefiore, Benjamin Franklin Peixotto, Isaacs S. Myer, the Rev. Dr. Arnold Fischel, and Maj. General Benjamin Butler. Documents include correspondence, minutes, committee reports, memorials, announcements, surveys, some printed material including clippings, and a 1932 Rabbinical thesis on the Delegates by Allan Tarshish.

Documents pertaining to Dr. Bruno Lambert’s medical career and his service in the armed forces during WW II.

This collection mainly consists of letters and postcards from Christian Morgenstern to Ephraim and Fega Frisch, née Lifschitz. Some clippings and poems are also included.

This collection mostly consists of newspaper clippings, articles and other documentation on Jews in Europe and in Palestine, as well as on Zionism and Jewish history. In addition, a small amount of biographical information on Conrad Cohn is present.

The Douglas Morris Collection consists of oral history interviews conducted by Douglas Morris in the mid-1970s. The interviewees were Swiss and German Jews who survived World War II and were living in Germany or Switzerland at the time of the interview. The collection includes audio cassette tapes as well as associated materials such as transcripts, translations, narrative summaries, notes, index cards, and printed research materials. The German interviews formed the basis of Morris’s undergraduate honors thesis at Wesleyan University, and the collection includes drafts and other materials related to this thesis.

The collection consists primarily of newspaper clippings and other published materials regarding various Jewish communities, topics, and personalities, all compiled by Eric Davidson. Also included is the correspondence to and from Davidson that helped to acquire these materials.

The collection holds original translations and clippings of Russian and Yiddish literature into German by Fega Frisch. Also included are some personal documents, such as education records and ID papers.

The Ferdinand and Emmy Lichter Family collection holds documents and personal as well as official correspondence of family members, friends, acquaintances, and public and private institutions. Prominent topics include refuge and refugee relief for the Lichters and the communication between family members describing their health, environment etc. in various refugee camps. The collection comprises vital documents, official certificates, emigration papers, correspondence, postcards, and some notes.

Writings (all photocopies) by Richard Frank and his sister, Hedwig Ems, as well as by Reinhard Frank.

This collection contains genealogical materials and correspondence related to the Gerstle, Reichenberger, and other families.

Correspondence, personal documents, family tree, IDs, documents relating to emigration, school documents, US Army papers, vocational documents (Photocopies)

The papers consist of correspondence and reports of Cecelia Razovsky (married name: Davidson), noted social worker specializing in immigration and resettlement of refugees. The collection includes information about her work with the National Council of Jewish Women in the 1920s, and with the National Refugee Service (and predecessor organizations) in the 1930s. Information is included about her work as a Resettlement Supervisor in the post-World War II Displaced Persons camps in Europe, and as a field worker in the southwestern U.S. for the United Service for New Americans in 1950. The collection contains reports and correspondence from her trips to South America, primarily Brazil, to explore possibilities of refugee settlement in 1937 and 1946; as a representative for United HIAS Service to aid in settling Egyptian and Hungarian refugees in 1957-1958; and as a pleasure trip and evaluation of the changes in the Jewish community of the country in 1963. Also included in the collection are many of Razovsky's articles, plays, and pamphlets.

This collection contains official documents and official and personal correspondence illustrating the dentistry student Herbert Mansbach's time as a refugee in Switzerland and his attempts to emigrate.

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.

The Jewish Press Agencies Collection consists of press reports that document the events of 1933-1935 in Nazi Germany, with a focus on the persecution of German Jews. The bulk of the material derives from reports of the Jewish Central Information Office, although Inpress and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency are also represented. Almost the entirety of the collection consists of reports, but there are also photocopies of various documents, timelines and a few publications.

This collection contains archival and genealogical materials, as well as clippings, about Jews in Switzerland.

Manuscripts by Leopold Friedberg.

The Lotte Strauss Collection documents Lotte and Herbert Strauss’ efforts to leave Germany, their experience in Switzerland and the fate of Lotte Strauss’ family during World War II. The collection includes clippings, eye-witness accounts, personal and official correspondence, vital, and immigration documents, lists, photographs, audio-visual materials, reports, and manuscripts.

This collection holds the papers of rabbi Ludwig Philippson and other Philippson family members. Noteworthy items in this collection include handwritten manuscripts by Ludwig Philippson, correspondence between various family members, and diaries kept by Henriette and Moritz Philippson; the latter describes experiences as a medical student in Jena. In addition, the collection also holds manuscripts by the geographer Alfred Philippson that describe in depth family members as well as his experiences as a student, lecturer, and professor. Other items include detailed family trees, official papers, poems, notes, clippings, wills, and photographs.

The collection pertains to the life of Luise Antonie Lenel, known as Toni, and members of her extended family. It includes documents and photographs of her youth in Germany, correspondence and personal items from her time as a student in Europe, and extensive correspondence with her mother and siblings once she emigrated to the United States. Personal documents include an Ahnenpass, a required document of ancestry under the Nazi regime.

This collection holds the papers of the author Margarete Susman, with a focus on the significant events of her life and her relationships with others. In addition to drafts of her memoirs the collection contains extensive correspondence with Gertrud Kantorowicz, Georg Simmel and Karl Wolfskehl. Other items include newspaper clippings, among them many obituaries, other correspondence, a few photographs and other papers.

Vilma Cohn-Leven was one of 1,200 Jewish inmates of the concentration camp in Theresienstadt, who were liberated and put on a transport to Switzerland in February of 1945.

This collection contains the papers of Morris "Moe" Berg, who was a professional baseball player, linguist, lawyer, and international spy during WWII. Berg's papers are in the form of correspondence, contracts, telegrams, newspaper and magazine clippings.

This collection consists of photographs and negatives of World ORT conferences and congresses, various individuals connected with ORT, and ORT vocational programs and activities, including in Displaced Person’s camps, in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Cuba, and North and South America.

Abraham Charasch Collection documents Abraham Charasch’s involvement with various Jewish political parties and Jewish student organizations in the Russian Empire and abroad prior to the October Revolution of 1917. Most materials collected here deal with the Union of Eastern Jewish Student Organizations in Western Europe and Zionist Socialist Worker’s Party. Included here is correspondence, by-laws, reports, resolutions, minutes of meetings, declarations, circular letters, lists of delegates to student conferences, memoranda, manuscripts, bibliographies, and applications sent to the Swiss Central Committee for the Return of Political Immigrants.

This collection holds the correspondence and papers of the professor Paul Proskauer, his brother Henry (Hans) Proskauer, and to a lesser extent, his parents. Although personal correspondence comprises the bulk of the collection, an additional focus is his and his brother's professional reviews and articles. Further materials include official documents, photo and postcard albums, programs, a diary and newspaper and magazine clippings.

The Peter Bloch Collections includes mostly personal materials pertaining to various members of the Bloch family. Included in the collection are correspondence, documents, printed materials, and writings.

The Peter Lipman-Wulf Collection documents the life and professional activities of Peter Lipman-Wulf, a sculptor and a teacher; it includes correspondence, writings and interviews, printed materials, personal, professional, and financial documents, and drawings. The bulk of the collection consists of both, personal and professional correspondence and biographical and professional writings with other types of materials constituting a far smaller portion of the collection.

The Philipp Loewenfeld Collection mainly consists of legal documents and correspondence with Loewenfeld's colleagues.

Ruth Sapin Hurwitz was a social worker, teacher, writer, lecturer and proponent of Jewish Cultural heritage and ideas. The Ruth Sapin Hurwitz Photograph Album contains black and white photographs taken by Hurwitz during her time as a student at Wellesley College (1906-1910). The album includes undated handwritten captions and provides a look into women’s college life during the early part of the 20th century. Images capture campus activities such as studying, theatre performances, and social events. Also included are images from Hurwitz trips to Europe and across the United States.