Netherlands -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 1933-1945

This collection contains correspondence between a German-Jewish woman in the Netherlands, Sefi Hirsch Kronheimer, to Clara Binswanger, an American friend in New York. The letters reflect her story as she and her husband flee Hitler and settle in Holland. Subsequent post-war letters reflect the efforts of concerned family members to determine the fate of Sefi Hirsch Kronheimer and other family members.

Emigration 1864-1952: This collection - encompassing about 90 years - contains papers about the situation and persecution of Jews in Eastern European countries (Russia, Poland, Roumania, Bulgaria, Lithuania). Papers describe the activities of various relief organizations. There are more than 170 papers (ca.900 pages), about half of them written in German, about 30 each in French or English, over 20 in Yiddish and some in Polish. A printed appeal of the Reichsausschuss fuer Russisch-Juedische Fluechtlingshilfe, Berlin (1929) carries among others the signatures of Leo Baeck and ALbert Einstein. (VI, 16).

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.

The collection contains materials related to several members of the Kronstein/Neumann/Mueller families; both original documents as well as additional biographical information and excerpts from Gerda Lerner's book "A Death of One's Own". The bulk consists of correspondence, mainly written from Ilona Kronstein's exile in Nice to her daughter Gerda in the United States. In one letter, Ilona Kronstein describes a brief stay in the Gurs camp. Most of the correspondence has been summarized by John and Eva Englander, the summaries are included in the folders.

The bulk of the materials in this collection concern Arthur Bial's education and professional career as a physician in Germany, his emigration to the Netherlands in the 1930s and internment in the Westerbork camp. There is also a diary-memoir written by his son who also survived internment in Westerbork.

This collection documents the life of the painter Hans Jacoby, who immigrated to the United States via Holland and Shanghai. Documents include family papers, personal writings, correspondence, brochures, official and other administrative documents, newspaper clippings, photographs and autographs.

Joseph Bornstein was one of the most accomplished journalists of Weimar Germany. His criticism of the political and social conditions in Germany in general, and of the practices of German justices in particular, made him a strong opponent of the right wing and populist parties long before the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933. Immediately after takeover, Joseph Bornstein left Germany and settled in France where he worked for various German exile newspapers. After the war broke out, he left France and managed to emigrate to the United States where he worked for the Office of War Information. After the Second World War he became a literary agent and writer of non-fiction books. The material in the Joseph Bornstein collection contains material from the post-war period of his life until his death in 1952. It consists of manuscripts, research notes, and professional and personal correspondence. An important part of this collection is material related to Joseph Roth that contains some of his notes, his poems, and correspondence with some of his friends and publishing houses.

Joseph Roth was one of the most prominent Austrian writers of the first half of the 20th century. Particularly his novels and newspaper essays gained him the respect of contemporary critics. Joseph Roth's papers at the Leo Baeck Institute Archives consist of handwritten and typewritten manuscripts of novels, novellas, short stories, and essays, including mostly complete manuscripts of his works Die Hundert Tage (The Ballad of the Hundred Days), Büste des Kaisers (The Bust of the Emperor), and his 'Trozki' novel Der stumme Prophet (The Silent Prophet). Joseph Roth's journalistic work is also well represented. There are a few personal items and over one hundred photographs of Joseph Roth and his wife Friederike. The Joseph Roth collection also contains correspondence with family and publishers, clippings about Joseph Roth, and reviews of his work. The addenda mostly consist of invitations to conferences and exhibitions, and scholarly articles on Joseph Roth's work and life.

The collection contains various personal documents and correspondence to Frieda and Julius Oppenheimer in New York from family members in Germany and Holland during the years 1940-1941.

The collection contains documentation of the life of Moritz Schweizer, particularly his persecution during World War II. Included in the collection is a diary excerpt listing concentration camp victims he buried after his liberation; correspondence; documents pertaining to his emigration from Germany to Amsterdam; documents pertaining to his internment in Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen; information kept by Schweizer on children in the orphanage at Bergen-Belsen; and letters of sympathy to his wife after his death.