How to find your ancestors in Germany 1984

Paper presented at the Fourth National Seminar on Jewish genealogy, Evanston, IL, July 22-25, 1984.

Dwelling house in a sacred space: reused synagogues in Germany.

Contribution to the Congress " Sacred and Secular Buildings," Washington, May 1999, describing a project of the Institute of Architecture at the Technical University of Braunschweig in cooperation with the Center for Jewish Art in Jerusalem, which has been working on a documentation of synagogues, cemetery chapels, and ritual baths in Germany since 1994.

Mathias family preparing to board the ship "Deutschland" to emigrate from Germany to New York Portraits; Family

On January 6, 1938 our family left Nazi Germany and boarded a ship "Deutschland" for New York. This ended our family's life in Germany forever. Rudolph ES Mathias.

In Frankreich interniert - aus Frankreich entwichen 1933-1941

The author describes his escape from Nazi Germany to France together with his mother. He volunteered for the French army (Defense Nationale), but his application was rejected. After the outbreak of the war Schoenfeldt was interned in Antibes and Les Milles. Recollections of life in the internment camps. Lack of basic hygienic conditions. German invasion of France. Escape from the invading German army. Reunion with his mother. Fervent endeavors to leave France for Spain in order to escape another internment. Escape with his 76 year old mother via the Pyrenees. Arrival in Lisbon. Exit visa for America. In 1941 Herbert Schoenfeldt left with his mother for the United States.

Hugo Rothenberg Collection 1919-1944

Photocopies of correspondence between Hugo Rothenberg and Hermann Goering (1919 and 1938-1944) relating to emigration of Jews from Nazi Germany. Report by Helle Rothenberg on situation of Jews in Germany under Nazi regime. Swedish letters + German translation of letters by Thomas Kantzow to Hugo Rothenberg.

1916-17 An der Beresina.

Most photographs with handwritten captions.

Hans Hirschfeld : (1873-1944).

Brochure on occasion of the 1986 exhibition ‘Heilen und Vernichten im Nationalsozialismus’ (Healing and destruction under the Nazis) in Aachen, Germany. It includes a list of Hirschfeld’s publications.

Fritz Hackert Collection. 1984-1988

Clippings about Jews in Germany, Kristallnacht and the Holocaust. Also included are 2 full articles: ‘”Der Tod ist verschlungen in den Sieg”. Todesbilder aus dem Ersten Weltkrieg und der Nachkriegszeit‘ by Bernd Hüppauf (offprint 1984); and ‚Blut‘ by Károly Pap, a short story, told in first person (fact or fiction?) of a Jewish boy’s encounter with anti-Semitism and his Jewish identity, undated typescript, 14 pages.

How do you like America? 1800-1940

The memoirs were written in 2000 in California and contains some of the author's diary entries during the years of the family's emigration and reminiscences of the author's father. Detailed description of family history going back to the early 19th century. The author's grandfather Moses Stern had a rawproduct business in Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia. His father Max Stern took his graduate exam (Abitur) at the Jacobsohn boarding school in 1904 and was sent to a business school in Brussles, Belgium. Work in the family business M. Stern AG. World War One and rise of the family business with branches throughout Germany and offices in New York, London, Milan and Stockholm. Due to political unrest at the end of the war the business administration moved to Essen. Description of the family background of Beate Herzberg, the author's mother. Courtship of his parents and marriage in 1922. Birth of his sister Annelore in 1923. Martin Stern was born in 1924. Description of the family household and domestic life in a well-to-do family the 1920s. Friday visits to the synagogue and celebration of Jewish holidays. Vacations at the North sea and skiinig in the Alps. Martin attended a Jewish elementary school. Rising National Socialism. After Hitler came to power in 1933 the author's father immediately started preparations for the family's emigration, but was persuaded to stay by his family. Life under National Socialism. Martin attended Gymnasium and was one of only two Jewish students in his class. Antisemitic incidents. Private lessons in piano and Hebrew. Bar Mitzvah in 1937. Recollections of performances of the Kulturbund.

Under Swastika and the French flag.

The memoirs were originally written for the Harvard University competition in 1940 and were translated by the author in 2001. Reflections on his childhood in Germany and Austria. His parents were both from Poland. They moved to Vienna in 1921, where his father opened a haberdashery store in the Second district (Leopoldstadt). Otto attended primary school in Czerningasse. Birth of his sister Cecile in 1924. After his failing business endeavors his father decided to move back to Germany, where the family opened a department store in Elbing, East Prussia. Otto attended Gymnasium, where he was one of only two Jewish students in his class. Growing Nazi movement among students. Summer vacations on the Baltic Sea. Private piano lessons. Hitler’s rise in Germany and life under National Socialism. Bar mitzvah in 1933. Anti-Jewish boycotts. His father fled to Vienna in order to escape a rounding up of Jews. The family followed soon after to Austria. Otto attended Gymnasium in the Zirkusgasse and started to work as a tutor. Member of a youth group and hiking tours in the mountains. Recollections of the Anschluss in 1938. Fervent attempts to obtain an exit visa for the United States, where they had a relative in New York. Description of discriminations and frequent attacks on Jewish friends and relatives in the weeks after the Anschluss. Otto was picked up by Nazi stormtroops. He was forced to hold up an anti-Jewish sign and was walked up and down, receiving beatings and spittings in front of a jeering crowd. Detailed account of the atmosphere within the Jewish population. The Gymnasium Zirkusgasse was transferred into a Jewish school. Frequent attacks of Hitler Youths on the students. Preparations for the “Matura” despite the turmoil. In June of 1938 his father was arrested and sent to Dachau concentration camp. After passing the final exams, Otto planned on leaving the country illegally, since he was subject to the Polish quota for the United States with

Dreiundsechzig 1933-2005

Irene Runge wrote 14 books so far. This one was written for the occasion of her 63rd birthday - instead of a speech, it was printed and delivered to 63 of her friends. The book is a memoir, and jumps back and forth in time. It consists mostly of personal memories and anecdotes, but there is also an essay-style to it, with very reflective passages and analyses. It is divided into many chapters, which also resemble diary entries. Irene Runge is a member of the "second generation". She was born in the New York exile, but her parents moved back to Germany after the war, during a climate in the USA, which made it very difficult for sympathisers with the communist party. Her memories give rich insight into the life as an emigrant in New York, but also as re-emigrant in Germany. She writes about the their disappointments with the evolving German Democratic Republic (GDR), Eastern Germany, experiences, which repeated again in 1989/1990, when the reunification with West Germany took place. The year 1989 had practical consequences for her private life--she lost her job at the university, because her past seemed not compatible. She discusses the PDS, the party which evolved from the communist party of Eastern Germany, Berlin after the "Wende" (reunification), and life in Berlin after the reunification. At one point she asks whether the current Turkish-Muslim community in Berlin could be comparable to the living conditions of the Jewish community in the 1930. This is a rare memoir documenting many recent aspects of German-speaking Jewry.

Ich war nie ein Bernhardiner 1933-1983

The memoir was written in New York between 1981 and 1983. Recollections of the Nazi take-over in Germany and their growing awareness of the upcoming danger. Closure of the cabaret of Friedrich Hollaender, where Lotte and her husband were working, due to its "subversive" political views. After the burning of the "Reichstag" (parliament) Lotte and Victor emigrated to France. Life of emigres in Paris. Lotte found work as a foreign language secretary. Victor worked with a film editor. Extradition from France due to their expired carte d'identite. Move to Amsterdam. In 1935 they went to friends in Spain, where Victor had a position as a film editor. They lived in Barcelona until outbreak of civil war. Escape to London via Prague. Exit visas for the United States. Arrival in New York in 1937. Victor was invited by Friedrich Hollaender to Hollywood, where Lotte joined him a few months later. Work as butler and cook in a family. Lotte found only a few engagements in theater and film. Divorce from her husband and remarriage with actor Wolfgang Zilzer (Paul Andor).

The File Marked "Rita". Selections from the Letters of Herbert Mueller and Rita Klein (1939-1945) 1939-1946

Exchange of letters between Herbert Mueller and Rita Klein after Mueller's emigration to England in 1939; Rita Klein's attempt to obtain divorce; suicide attempt by her husband Leo Klein; correspondence through intermediaries after outbreak of World War II; notice of Rita Klein's deportation to Auschwitz; (translation from original German)