The articles, written by a variety of authors, were commissioned by Dr Heilbrunn with the intention of publishing a book on the recent history of Franfurt's Jews. The book was never published.
Dr Josef Fadenhecht was a Bulgarian Jewish teacher and lawyer.
Lazarus Horowitz was a Jew lving in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Rosel and Selli Goldstein were sisters and German speaking Jews, originally from Dresden. Before the outbreak of World War Two, they moved to Gorlice, Poland.
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In April 1933, Joyce Weiner was a young free-lance journalist who had recently spent two semesters as Hilfslektorin at the University of Leipzig. She had many friends in Leipzig and was, therefore, aware of the situation in which the Jewish population found itself. In view of this, she agreed to become the Honorary Secretary of the Hospitality Committee organised by the ladies of the B'nai Brith (in association with the main German Refugees Committee). At the committee she met many talented and distinguished refugees from Germany, the vanguard being professional people such as artists, writers, doctors and scientists. Amongst them was Frau Irma Sernau, a well-known fashion editor from Berlin. Because Joyce Weiner was able to render some service to friends of Frau Sernau, that lady desired to make some return. Her sister, Lola Sernau, was, at that time, private secretary to Leon Feuchtwanger, who was, in Sanary with other famous writers. Lola Sernau arranged for interviews with four of these writers, it being understood that these would be published in John O'London's Weekly, then a reputable and highly regarded literary paper of a popular nature. This was in the summer of 1933. Accordingly, Joyce Weiner had four fascinating conversations with, in turn, Feuchtwanger, Thomas and Heinrich Mann and Arnold Zweig. On her return to England, however, she received a letter from Lola Sernau asking her to stay her hand for the reasons stated in the letter and so the interviews were not published. In fact, for safety's sake they were not written. Irma Sernau went to and from Germany during this period, helping friends to emigrate. She managed to get to France just before the outbreak of war. There she took an active part in the resistance, escaping death many times but surviving and having an unexpected reunion with Joyce Weiner in the late 1950s. Lola Sernau had an honoured place among the exiled writers in Ascona, where eventually Irma died and is buried.
Gerechtigkeit ('Justice') was a weekly newspaper, the first issue of which was published in September 1933. It was founded by Irene Harand, an Austrian, who was also co-founder of Weltverband gegen Rassenhass und Menschennot (World League against Racial Hatred and Human Suffering). The paper was published for about 5 years and for part of the time in several European languages. Gerechtigkeit had a simple philosemitic message: anti-semitism was a moral outrage not only against Jews but also against Christian ideals; Nazism was a pagan movement, which, if not halted, would destroy European civilisation.
The Deutsch-Jüdischen Wanderbund was established in Aug 1921 by groups of young Jewish nature lovers in various parts of Germany who felt uncomfortable in the Wandervogel movement on account of growing antisemitism. The liberal Jewish membership felt itself to be both German and Jewish and therefore rejected the Zionism and orthodoxy of other Jewish youth movements. The organisation folded in 1932.
HMT Dunera was a British passenger ship built as a troop transport in the late 1930s. On 10 Jul 1940 The Duneraleft Liverpool with men classed as enemy aliens, who were considered a risk to British security. Although many of the internees had in fact fled Europe to escape Nazi persecution, they were considered to have been German agents, potentially helping to plan the invasion of Britain. Included were 2,036 Jewish refugees from Austria and Germany, 451 German and Italian prisoners of war and others including the survivors of the Arandora Star disaster. They were taken to Australia for internment in the rural towns of Hay, New South Wales and Tatura, Victoria Australia. The ship had a maximum capacity of 1,500 - including crew - however on this voyage there were 2,542 transportees. The resultant condition has been described as 'inhumane', the transportees were also subjected to ill-treatment and theft by the 309 poorly trained British guards on board. On arrival in Sydney, the first Australian on board was medical army officer Alan Frost. He was appalled and his subsequent report led to the court martial of the army officer-in-charge, Lieutenant-Colonel William Scott.
Herbert Goldsmith (formerly Goldschmidt), was one of the internees on the HMT Dunera and subsequently a detainee at 'Camp 8', Hay Internment camp for refugees, New South Wales, Australia.
Erwin Kallir, was the canteen manager at 'Camp 8', Hay Internment camp for refugees, New South Wales, Australia.
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Ferdinand Schwarz was a resident of Frankfurt am Main. He applied to work for a company called J Wolfin in England.
This collection of correspondence consists mostly of letters written by a school teacher, Hellmut Lange from Chemnitz, Saxony, to an English woman, Miss Jessie Nicholson in South London between 1933 and August 1939.
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Possibly these reports were either commissioned by or came about as the result of the activities of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland.
The author of the report was a Jew who was imprisoned for 3 months in both Vienna and Prague without apparent reason until he managed to obtain travel permits to Bohemia and Moravia.
The author is a former Czech civil servant who fled with his wife from Czechoslovakia to England, via Katovice, Poland in 1939.
The League of Old Judeans had been brought together by Louis Sarna, who organised the annual wreath laying at the Cenotaph, which continued until 1928. In that year he was instrumental in founding the Jewish Ex-Servicemens Legion which eleven years later was to become AJEX - The Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. AJEX had its beginnings at a Meeting in London in 1928. One of a series of Meetings held throughout Britain to protest at Arab anti-Jewish riots in Palestine. Louis Sarna was Honorary Secretary until his retirement in 1952.
Gurs was a major internment camp in France, near Oloron-Sainte-Marie and 80 kilometers from the Spanish border. Established in 1939 to absorb Republican refugees from Spain, Gurs served later as a concentration camp for Jews from France and refugees from other countries. While under the administration of Vichy France (1940-1942) most non-Jewish prisoners were released and approximately 2000 Jews were permitted to emigrate. In 1941 Gurs held some 15,000 prisoners. The camp was controlled by the Germans from 1942 to 1944, during which time several thousand inmates were deported to extermination camps in Poland. An unknown number succeeded in escaping and reaching Spain or hiding in Southern France. Gurs was liberated in the summer of 1944.
The Jüdische Volkspartei was founded in August 1919 to represent and promote Jewish national interests in German communities. It therefore set itself apart from the liberal assimilationists of the Central Verein, the parties representing Jewish orthodoxy and the Zionist parties. A large part of its membership and leadership comprised eastern Jews.
Hillel (Gilel) Storch, was a Latvian Jew and Swedish resident, who helped save the lives of thousands of European Jews during the Nazi era. Born in Dvinsk, Latvia, he went to Riga where he was engaged in his father's world-wide business activities. He arrived in Stockholm in 1940 in transit to the USA. He decided to stay in Sweden primarily to keep in closer touch with his relatives who remained in Latvia. Before he arrived in Sweden he was already an active Zionist, having represented the Jewish Agency in Dvinsk and participated in the promotion of the emigration of 3000 Latvian Jews to Palestine. In Sweden he continued to work as a representative of the Jewish Agency (the forerunner to the Jewish government in Palestine). At the same time he represented the World Jewish Congress in Sweden. He was actively involved with promoting Zionist causes including providing assistance for Israel's war of independence. His most significant achievements were the rescue of some 20,000 Jewish and non-Jewish concentration camp inmates and the provision of humanitarian aid to concentration camp inmates.
The Waffen-SS was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS. In contrast to the Wehrmacht, Germany's regular army, the Waffen-SS was an elite combat unit composed of volunteer troops with particularly strong personal commitments to Nazi ideology.
The Bavarian Political Police was created by Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler in 1933. It was independent from the authority of the police headquarters in Munich, allowing the Nazi party to control the police.
The Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany, under the overall administration of the Schutzstaffel (SS).
The Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany, under the overall administration of the Schutzstaffel (SS).
Born 1907; member of the Nazi party, 1925; leader of the Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Studentenbund (NSDStB, National Socialist German Students' League), 1928; Reichsjugendführer (youth leader) in the Nazi party, 1931; head of the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) and given an SA rank of Gruppenführer, 1933; state secretary, 1936; organized the evacuation of 5 million children from cities threatened by Allied bombing, 1940; joined the army and served in France, 1940; Governor of the Reichsgau, Vienna, 1940-1945, responsible for moving Jews from Vienna to concentration camps in Poland; found guilty, 1 Oct 1946, of 'crimes against humanity' for his deportation of the Viennese Jews. He was sentenced and served 20 years as a prisoner in Spandau Prison; released 1966; died 1974.
The Nazis encountered a problem with treating Germans of mixed Jewish parentage, in particular what to do with Mischlinge 1 Grades (with two Jewish grandparents) who had already been serving in the Jugenddienst. Whilst the latter group were now regarded as having an unacceptable level of Jewish blood, many had already served the Third Reich and many more were due to once they reached the right age. The solution was apparently to create an intermediate stage in which Mischlinge 1 Grades were to be put on permanent standby (Bereitstellung) but would never actually be called up for service. The official response to potential complainants was to be a statement to the effect that the demands of war had created a shortfall amongst Jugenddienst leaders, and they were therefore unable to take on more people.
Alfred Wiener was a German Jew, born, 1885; trained as an Arabist; Middle East, 1909-1911; fought in the First World War, winning the Iron Cross 2nd Class; high-ranking official in the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith, CV), 1919; created the Büro Wilhelmstrasse of the CV, which documented Nazi activities and issued anti-Nazi materials; fled to Amsterdam, 1933; founded the Jewish Central Information Office (JCIO, later the Weiner Library), 1933; In 1939 he and the JCIO transferred to London; USA, 1939-1945; returned to London in 1945 to transform the JCIO into a library and centre for the scholarly study of the Nazi era. Died 1964.
Sophie Cahn was a German Jewish refugee. Her father, Emanuel Cahn, died in Theresienstadt concentration camp, 1942. His children emigrated to Canada, USA, UK, and Israel.
Ernst Cohn-Wiener was a Jewish German born in Tilsit (East Prusia), 1882; education: Bromberg (now Bydgoszcz) Gymnasium-Abitur (A levels) 1902; art history, archaeology and philosophy at Berlin and Heidelberg Universities; PhD 1907; left Germany 1933 because of racial persecution; England, 1933; India, 1934; USA, 1939; published numerous works initially on medieval European art and later oriental and Indian art; died, New York, 1941.
For biographical information on Dr Maurice Laserson see Wiener Library Biographical news-cuttings section (G15).
The restitution claim by Marie Rosenberg was rejected by the Entschädigungsamt, Berlin, on the grounds that the last known address of the wholesale livestock business, of which she was part owner, and on which the claim was based, was in the Russian zone of Berlin.
Marie Rosenberg (née Marcus) was born on 19 January 1889. Her husband, Louis, died in 1927. They had two children, Rolf Moritz (later Stanley Sloane) and Ruth. It is assumed that the family is Jewish, though there is no evidence of this. She appears to have left Germany shortly after 15 Dec 1939. The destination is not clear, but subsequent, post-war documentation reveals that she was resident in London and that she remained there until at least 1955 but no later than 1962, during which time she was in New York, living close to her son. The fate of her daughter is not known, beyond the fact that by 1937 she was married to someone by the name of Schmey. The fate of the family after 3 Apr 1962 (the date of the Entschädigungsamt's rejection of her restitution claim) is not known.
Selmar Biener was born into a Jewish family in Magdeburg in 1906. Her brother, David, was born in 1904. The two of them entered into a business partnership in Magdeburg in 1935, an electrical components wholesalers. David had already worked at their parents' firm, also in Magdeburg, but having demonstrated 'an outstanding business sense' it was decided to start out on their own. In 1937 David went to Holland and from there to Palestine. Nothing is known of his fate after this period. Selmar came to London sometime before Oct 1942. The parents remained in Magdeburg. Their fate is not known.
Hedwig, Pauline and Sabina Beck were Czech sisters. Hedwig and Pauline emigrated to France during World War Two. Sabina Bauml (née Beck) was transported to Auschwitz with her son in January 1944.
Frank Henley (formerly Otto Lichtenstein) came to England from Cologne on the Kindertransport, Dec 1938.
The Comité de defense de Juifs (Committee for Jewish Defence, CJD) worked with the national resistance movement and was the largest Jewish defence movement in Belgium during World War Two. The organisation hid Jews, fought as partisans, forged identity papers and food ration tickets, obtained funds and set up escape routes. In the cultural realm, CJD distributed information and propaganda material, established a lending library, and maintained a Jewish press, printing in Yiddish, French and Flemish.
Rudolf Beck owned a removals business in Vienna. His contacts enabled him to ship many of his possessions to the USA during World War Two. Ferdinand Beck is the son of Rudolf.
Ernst Fraenkel was a Jewish Professor of Economics and Social History, who was born in Breslau, Lower Silesia; served as an officer in the German army in the First World War; was a representative of the Silesian provincial Landtag in the 1930s; secretary of the Gesellschaft für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin; emigrated to UK in 1939; returned to Germany in 1947 and became Director of the Institut für Wirtschafts und Sozialgeschichte at University of Frankfurt a. M.; died Frankfurt, 1971.
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Karl Schreiner and his wife Katharina, from Trier, were resisters of the Nazi regime. Karl was a lawyer, he was forced to retire from his post Sep 1935 for being 'politically unreliable' and Katharina was imprisoned in 1942 for 4 months for making inflammatory remarks against the state.
Hans von Dohnanyi was a Jewish 'Mischling', a term used during the Third Reich for a person deemed to have partial Jewish ancestry. He was born in Vienna, Jan 1902 and was a lawyer from 1929-1938. He worked in the Reichsjustizministerium, 1938 and as Reichsgerichtsrat at the Reichsgericht, Leipzig, 1939-1943. Whilst he was head of the political section of the Abwehr des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht he was implicated in the resistance movement and on 5 Apr 1943 was arrested, and is reported to have died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 8 Apr 1945.
Heinrich Richard Albrecht Kraschutski, was commander in the German navy, 1914-1918, becoming a prominent figure in the pacifist movement in Germany after the First World War, and co-editor of the pacifist weekly, Das Andere Deutschland, the publication of which was regarded as particularly pernicious and treacherous by the Reichswehr because of its disclosures of violations of the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. He went to Majorca and together with a small group of other anti-Nazi refugees opened a little workshop of arts and crafts at Palma. When the Franco coup succeeded in Majorca the Royal Navy brought most anti-Nazi exiles to safety but local German Nazis managed to prevent the rescue of Kraschutski, who was forbidden by the Spanish police from embarking. After 1940 any trace of Kraschutski was lost until early 1944 when he was discovered to be in a Spanish jail.
The Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP (AO) was an umbrella organisation of Nazi party groups abroad, founded in 1930 on the initiative of Bruno Fricke, from Paraguay, and Gregor Strasser, who at the time was in charge of the Nazi Party organisation in Germany. In May 1933 Ernst Wilhelm Bohle became its director. The organisation provided Nazi Party members abroad with political and ideological instructional propaganda material; it also organised travel in the Reich and set up sister-city arrangements. Although the AO proclaimed its strict non-intervention in the affairs of host countries, it used its connections for espionage and political pressure.
The Nazi party disseminated information to the regional and area offices such as NSDAP Westfalen-Nord.
Max Landenberger and his wife Frieda owned a house at Burgschmietstrasse 12, Nürnberg, which was mortgaged for RM 40,000. In Nov1938 Max was arrested and sent to Dachau. Frieda was forced to go to the 'Brown House', the Nazi Headquarters, where she was made to sign a contract for the sale of their house to Gauleiter Hölz for the sum of RM 4,000. This they achieved by making her do physical exercises for several hours to break her will to resist. Her husband also signed the contract after his release from Dachau. The 'purchase price' of RM 4,000 was never paid.
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