Strasbourg (France)

Ernest Goodman (born Ernst Gutmann) was a button and accessories salesman who immigrated to the United States in 1936. The collection contains correspondence and official papers belonging to him and his second wife, Carole Goodman née Vad. The collection documents Ernest’s unsuccessful attempts to bring his parents to the United States between 1936-1941 and his and Carole’s applications for restitution for themselves and their parents. A large collection of family photographs, a photo album, and a family tree are also part of the collection.

Documents refer to the Ostwald, Tendlau and Cohen families. One focus is on the life of Alice Witte née Cohn. Of special significance is a letter that Karl Siche wrote to Alice Witte. Together with Alice Witte's former husband Max Witte, Karl Siche was detained in a concentration camp. Here Max Witte passed away. There is also a remarkable letter from Hedwig Ostwald, which she wrote in Theresienstadt in 1944, prior to her deportation to Auschwitz where she died. Her husband Max Ostwald, a lawyer and the head of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (district Westphalia) had already died in 1942 in Theresienstadt from disease.