Women and Children Standing in Lines

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Girls Learning in a Classroom

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Elderly Middle Eastern Man Observing a Torah Scroll

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Elderly Middle Eastern Man Observing a Torah Scroll

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[Memoiren] : [1887-1933].

Childhood and education in Munich; assimilated bourgeois Jewish family; father was a lawyer and titular professor; writer Ludwig Thoma assistant of his father; vacations in Marienbad; military service; university studies in Munich with Lujo Brentano; apprenticeship as lawyer; political interest and joining of SPD; contacts with later Bavarian president Kurt Eisner; as soldier in World War I; diplomatic mission in Tirol during last days of World War I; refused to take part in Bavarian revolution of November 1918, but close contacts with Eisner government; exact account of two Bavarian soviet republics in 1919 and their protagonists (Gustav Landauer, Erich Muehsam, Eugen Levine); Bavarian politics and justice 1919-1933; description of Paul Nikolaus Cossmann and his reactionary journal "Sueddeutsche Monatshefte"; advocate of Eisner's secretary Felix Fechenbach in political trial against accusations by Cossmann; expulsion of East European Jews by Bavarian government 1923; Hitler coup attempt 1923; election campaign March 1933; Nazi takeover of power in Bavaria; dismissal as lawyer; decision to emigrate.

Selma's saga [1916-1948]

The memoirs were written in 1982 in Sydney, Australia and include excerpts of letters from various relatives during the years 1938-1941. Early childhood recollections of World War One. The family was living in the 6th district of Vienna. Description of domestic life with maids, laundresses and a French governess. Death of her mother in 1918. Trip with her stepmother Ida Plohn to Prague. Recollections of a stay in the countryside at their maid's family, where Selma and her older sister Martha awaited the birth of their younger sister Trude. Memories of Christmas celebrations. Summer vacations in the mountains. Description of the extended family. Inflation and economic depression in the 1920s. Strict upbringing by her stepmother. Children recreation trip to Grado, Italy in 1925. Selma was accepted at the "Bundeserziehungsanstalt" for gifted students. Only few fellow Jewish students. Religious education with beloved rabbi Diamant. Recovery from tonsilitis in a senatorium in Aflenz, Austria. Celebration of Jewish holidays and visits at the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. Transfer to Realschule. Due to a sudden onset of various illnesses Selma was unable to continue school and had put an end to her father's dream of an university education for her. Difficult to find a position in the depression times of the early 1930s. Only few working options for a Jewish woman. Position as a secretary in a Jewish firm. Outings in the Vienna Woods. Membership in the Zionist group Betar.

A Patchwork of memories 1911-1997

Memoir describes her life in Germany, her decision to leave Germany after the death of her parents, and to work in the United States in 1934. Detailed description of every day life in Germany (after World War I) and in the United States, and later of various travels all over the world. Also mentions her German-Jewish ancestors on her maternal side (great-great-grandparents: Moritz and Fanny Hertz, great-grandmother: Helene Hertz nee Orthenberger), who had a textile business.

Chinese Street

A frieze-like composition depicting storefronts with mixed English and Chinese language signs, as well as activities of shopkeepers and shoppers.

To the Mothers of the Twelve Thousand.

The size of the work and the printed title suggests, that this is a poster. It bears the emblem R.J.F., for the sponsoring organization, Reichsbund Juedischer Frontsoldaten or National Organization of the Jewish Front-line Soldiers. The mothers of "The twelve thousand" refers to the Jewish soldiers killed during World War I, when reminding Germans of the patriotism and sacrifices of German Jews, seemed important in view of the discrimination they were confronted with at the time, in 1935.

1933-1953 German Jewish Children's Aid

The records of the GJCA relate to the entire range of activities involved in receiving and placing refugee children from 1933 through the 1950s. The later materials are records of the European Jewish Children's Aid. Activities included: maintaining the reception center in New Jersey; transportation arrangements; placement in homes; issuing affidavits and passports; granting scholarships; naturalization of children; setting of GJCA policy. By-laws, minutes, reports, correspondence and certificate of incorporation. Correspondence of executive officers, mainly Cecilia Razovsky, 1930s. Correspondence between William Haber and Lotte Marcuse, 1939-40. File of Dr. Solomon Lowenstein. Minutes of meetings of the Finance Committee. Field reports, inter-office memoranda, financial and statistical reports. Correspondence with organizations and governmental agencies: Society of Friends (Quakers) in Vienna; Israelitische Kultusgemeinde of Vienna; Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland; Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies; Department of Justice; New York State Department of Social Welfare; U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; American Friends Service Committee; American Jewish Congress; B'nai Brith; National Council of Jewish Women. Correspondence with individuals: Max S. Perlman, William Rosenwald, Paul Felix Warburg. In addition to the general administrative records, there are thousands of case files.

Lucien Wolf and David Mowshowitch papers, [ca. 1869-1959]

Correspondence, reports, minutes, manuscripts, and clippings relating to the activities of Wolf, Mowshowitch, and the Joint Foreign Committee, as well as to the political situation of Jews in various countries and to the Paris Peace Conference. Papers of Lucien Wolf include his diary, lectures on English-German relations and English-Russian relations; bibliography of Wolf's works on Jewish themes; clippings of Wolf's articles; congratulations on his seventieth birthday; article on his last interview with Chamberlain; and correspondence with parents, 1869-1882, A. Abrahams, 1914-1925, Chief Rabbi Dr. J.H. Hertz, 1892-1923, Clara Melchior, 1913-1929, Jacob Schiff, 1910, Maxim Vinawer, 1917, Mark Wischnitzer, 1926-1928, Lord Robert Cecil, 1916-1919, Lord Rothschild, 1906, Cyrus Adler, Count J. Bernstorff, Szymon Ashkenazy, Solomon Dingol, Louis Marshall, Claude G. Montefiore, Sir Edward Sassoon, Jacob Schiff, Lord William Selborne, Nakhum Sokolow, Oscar Straus, Chaim Weizmann, the American Jewish Congress, 1916-1923, Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden, 1913, and Jewish Historical Society of England.

Louis Marshall papers undated, 1905-1933

Chiefly material relating to activities against restrictive immigration legislation; also some items referring to decisions of the United States Supreme Court and naturalization of immigrants. Correspondence with members of the American Jewish Committee, primarily Herbert Friedenwald, Fulton Brylawski, and Max James Kohler. Contains also printed extracts of Congressional hearings and Congressional record.