Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1938-1945 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 file
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Wilhelm and Getrud Gross were typical middle class Germans living in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). Wilhelm was a Professor of Engineering and Gertrud was the daughter of wealthy industrialists. Her uncle, Karl Gross, had a substantial collection of art works and antiquities, which were confiscated and many of which are probably currently in museums in Eastern Europe. They were of Jewish ethnic origin, but were not religious and they integrated their children totally into German culture.
They had 3 children: Dorothea; an elder brother, Karl; and a younger brother Klaus. Wilhelm was one of 6 siblings. His sister, Emilie, married into the Kuppenheim family.
It appears from the correspondence that Wilhelm was incarcerated in Buchenwald shortly after Kristallnacht and released 5 weeks later on the proviso that he and his family leave Germany immediately. The grandparents fled to Holland in 1939 whence they were later deported and perished in the Holocaust. The three children came to Great Britain.
Repository
Archival history
GB 1556 WL 1183 1938-1945 collection 1 file Gross family
Wilhelm and Getrud Gross were typical middle class Germans living in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). Wilhelm was a Professor of Engineering and Gertrud was the daughter of wealthy industrialists. Her uncle, Karl Gross, had a substantial collection of art works and antiquities, which were confiscated and many of which are probably currently in museums in Eastern Europe. They were of Jewish ethnic origin, but were not religious and they integrated their children totally into German culture.
They had 3 children: Dorothea; an elder brother, Karl; and a younger brother Klaus. Wilhelm was one of 6 siblings. His sister, Emilie, married into the Kuppenheim family.
It appears from the correspondence that Wilhelm was incarcerated in Buchenwald shortly after Kristallnacht and released 5 weeks later on the proviso that he and his family leave Germany immediately. The grandparents fled to Holland in 1939 whence they were later deported and perished in the Holocaust. The three children came to Great Britain.
Sybil Sharpe
Papers of the Gross family, 1938-1945, documenting the experiences of an assimilated German Jewish family, some of whom managed to escape to safety and others who perished in the Holocaust. Comprising original correspondence between members of the family and friends before, during and after World War Two; personal papers such as certificates and photographs.
Chronological by document type
Open
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
German and English
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk
Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
January 2008 Emigration Europe Genocide Germany Gross , Gertrud , fl 1938-1944 Gross , Wilhelm , fl 1938-1944 , Professor of Engineering Holocaust Humanitarian law Jews Migrants Migration Nazism Political doctrines Refugees Religious groups Third Reich Totalitarianism War crimes Western Europe
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Sybil Sharpe
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Papers of the Gross family, 1938-1945, documenting the experiences of an assimilated German Jewish family, some of whom managed to escape to safety and others who perished in the Holocaust. Comprising original correspondence between members of the family and friends before, during and after World War Two; personal papers such as certificates and photographs.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Chronological by document type
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
German and English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English