World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives

Contains correspondence of World War I draftee, Samuel Bernstein, relating to his military training and personal matters. Also contains two letters from his brother, Charles Bernstein, and two letters-in Yiddish--letters to his father.

The Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity, active between 1904 and 1970 with a predominantly Jewish membership, was established in New York City and eventually opened at least 48 chapters on college campuses across the U.S. and one in Canada. The bulk of the records in this collection were generated, received and collected by the national fraternity officers between 1912 and the late 1950s. Topics represented include black-Jewish relations, military service in WWI and WWII, educational, housing and occupational discrimination, and WWII refugee aid. Materials consist of correspondence, reports, minutes, clippings, serial publications, photographs, pins, financial records, floor plans, manuals, and directories.

Typewritten diary by Sigwart Cahnmann, describing a trip with his military unit of the Bavarian army in 1917, travelling primarily by train through Rumania. He details the villages that he passed through, commenting on their residents, their behaviors, looks, and ethnicities, as well as local events and food.

The collection contains the papers of Shalom Schwarzbard (1886-1938), the Russian-born French Jewish watchmaker, revolutionary, writer and activist for Jewish self-defense. In May 1926 in Paris, Schwarzbard assassinated the exiled Ukrainian nationalist leader Simon Petlyura, whom he held responsible for the pogroms against the Jews in the Ukraine in 1918-1921. His trial in October 1927, at which he was acquitted, drew worldwide attention. The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts of Shalom Schwarzbard's autobiographical writings, personal documents, clippings, and printed ephemera, as well as poems by Schwarzbard's wife Anna and others. Materials in this collection mostly relate to Shalom Schwarzbard's writings, his speaking engagements following his acquittal, and his efforts in the 1930s to organize Jewish war veterans and war victims of the First World War.