Gross Breesen (Brandenburg, Germany)

This collection contains materials relating to the Auswanderungslehrgut Gross-Breesen, a Silesian training farm created in 1936 by the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland to provide young Jews agricultural skills in order to ease their emigration from Germany. The materials include a complete set of the Rundbriefe (newsletters) via which former students stayed in touch and documented their life experiences after leaving Gross-Breesen. The collection also includes a handful of additional letters that appear to have been circulated among the same group, as well as some original documents from Gross-Breesen, clippings, reunion materials, and a three-volume compilation of material that includes, among other things, typed copies of the newsletters.

The collection contains papers including vital documents, membership cards, awards, medals, diaries, memoirs, diaries, manuscripts, legal papers, correspondence, business records, wills, genealogies and family histories regarding the Pinkus family, notable textile manufacturers in Neustadt (now Prudnik, Poland) in Upper Silesia, and their personal and business affairs. The family was also highly regarded for its support of civic and cultural affairs in the area, and corresponded with several notable cultural figures.