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Archives du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge collection, 1939-1961, comprises files, reports and correspondence on the following subject areas: Jews (various dossiers); relief and questions of principle; camps; appeals; emigration; High Commissioner for Refugees; Jewish organisations; deportations; projects; investigations; case files; visits to camps and ghettos; special mission in Iraq.

Papers concerning Bernhard Baer, 1984, comprise biographical notes regarding his experiences through World War One and its aftermath, his escape from Nazi persecution to England and his career thereafter. Notes are divided into two parts: the first covering the years 1905-1948 and the second 1949-1983.

Papers of Ruth Balint, 1938-1944, comprising correspondence from her family, dealing in the main with family matters but also organisational arrangements for emigration from Nazi Germany and a number of poems by Ruth's father.

Papers of the Beck family, including papers relating to their preparations for departure, including forms and correspondence regarding possessions of Beck family; draft inventories of possessions; correspondence of the Rudolf Beck removal company on the shipment of possessions to USA, [1939-1940]. Personal papers of Ferdinand Beck including school reports, references, doctors' certificates; and correspondence on naturalization, 1928-1965. Post war correspondence on property in Austria, mostly between a lawyer and Beck family members, 1949-1952.

Papers of Bern Brent and Otto Bernstein, comprise a typescript translation by Bern Brent of his father's experiences in the late 19th century of growing up in Elberfeld and Kassel prior to moving to Berlin including descriptions of life growing up in late 19th century Elbersfeld and Kassel (-/1); life in turn of the century Germany and during the First World War (-/2) and his experiences as an inmate of Theresienstadt (-/3). Bern Brent, the depositor, provides us with an account of his experiences on the ship, the 'Dunera', bringing refugees from Europe to Australia where he made his home (-/4).

Private and official correspondence of Julius Bloch, 1937-1955.

Personal correspondence of Otto Bondy, German Jewish immigrant to Great Britain and civil engineer, and that of his wife, Ursula Meyer, 1927-1941.

Papers of the Central-Verein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens, 1903-1938, relate to the central organisation including the constitution and notably comprise management and committee minutes, reports and plans regarding the organisation's aims and objectives and finance records; files on the activities of the state and regional level sub-groups; files concerning women's organisations, youth organisations, members and officers, publication and propaganda, activities of other Jewish organisations, Zionism, emigration to Palestine, training for Jewish youth, Anti-Semitism, political, economic and legal situation for Jews in Germany, CV's relationship to religion and religious organisations, and the attitudes of writers and politicians to Jews.

Correspondence of the Council for German Jewry, 1934-1939, notably comprises material relating to dismissals of Jewish staff at Göttingen University (608/1) and Austrian Jewish refugees from the Burgenland, 1937-1938; various synagogue congregations in Germany, 1938-1939 (608/2); the emergency relief organisation for German scientists abroad (Notgemeinschaft deutscher Wissenschaftler im Ausland), 1936-1939 (608/3) and a report by the Jewish Agency for Palestine regarding emigration, 1933-1934 (608/4).

Mrs Ben Courts personal papers, 1938-1946, comprise correspondence mostly from friends and family members in Germany to Mrs Ben Courts 1938-1946, (629/1), much of this material is immediately pre war and relates to requests by unidentifiable individuals for sponsorship to settle in England; Central Office for Refugees Domestic Bureau printed material including terms and conditions and registration information, 1939 (629/2) and biographical notes on Mrs Ben Courts by her son Hugh Courts, [1938-1946] (629/3).

Papers documenting the activities of organisations in Great Britain, involved in providing relief for Czech and Czech Jewish refugees during the Nazi era, 1943, comprising appeal by Czechoslovak Relief Action for donations to a fund to supply provisions to internees in Terezin, Oct 1943; pamphlet entitled 'Proposals for principles for the repatriation of deported Jews' published by the Relief Committee of Jews from Czechoslovakia, Oct 1943; transcript of speeches in aid of a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Czechoslovakia's independence by the Anglo-Palestine club and the National Council of Jews from Czechoslovakia, Nov 1943; report of a speech made by the president of the Czechoslovak Government in exile, regarding the restitution of illegally obtained property during the Nazi occupation, Oct 1943 and Ing. A. Frischer's report of a speech made by Frantiska Nemce, minister of economic renewal, Oct 1943.

Manuscript report, 1939, describing the experiences of a former Czech civil servant and his wife as they escape from Prague via Katovice to England. The report offers a valuable insight into the difficulties encountered by Czech émigrés in the immediate aftermath of the German occupation in 1939.

Correspondence and papers relating to relief work for Jews in post war Czechoslovakia, 1939-1947, including a memo from the Council of Jewish Communities in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia regarding the status of Jews in Czechoslovakia [1947]; a report on the situation of Jews in Czechoslovakia by the Jewish chaplain for the Czech forces, England, 24 May 1945 and official guarantee forms for entry into Great Britain, [1939]. Papers from the following organisations: American Joint Distribution Committee; Association of Rabbis and Scholars in Eastern Europe; British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia; Central Board of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia and Silesia; Central British Fund for Jewish Relief and Rehabilitation; Chizuk Hadass Committee; Council of Jewish Committees in Bohemia and Moravia and Silesia; Emergency Council for Help for the Children of Czechoslovakia; Jewish Agency for Palestine; Jewish Telegraph Agency; Relief Committee of Jews from Czechoslovakia; Union of Jewish Communities in Slovakia in Bratislava and World Union of Jewish Students.

Correspondence between the Far Eastern Jewish Central Information Bureau (DALJEWCIB) and individuals and other Jewish organisations detailing the experiences of German and Austrian Jewish émigrés in the Far East, 1938-1939. The personal accounts contain descriptions of the outward-bound voyage and of the climate and conditions in the host country, along with details on obtaining work and accommodation. Note that many of the letters are copies or extracts from originals. Some newsletters and newspapers are also included.

Papers of German Confessional Church, 1939-1957, relate to racial origins and aryanism within the German Confessional Church and comprise copies of correspondence including a letter from the temporary directorate of the German Evangelical Church to its regional administrations asking that clergymen submit proof of their Aryan origin, 1939; letter to the temporary directorate of the German Evangelical Church from Alberz and Böhm regarding emigration of those who are non-aryan or related to non-aryans from the German Confessional Church, 1939, and a letter from Alfred Wiener to Pastor Niemoeller, 1957.

Reichsvertretung der jüdischen Landesverbände and Preussische Landesverband jüdischer Gemeinde, representative organisations of German Jews, 1926-1933: Constitutions and draft constitutions; minutes of meetings; correspondence.

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.

Letters from friends and family to Siegfried Grossbard, 1922-1962, on topics including the Richborough Internment Camp and the German Jewish Aid Committee; reference to Lingfield Internment camp and of experiences as an internee in Australia; brother-in-law, Erwin's account of survival of the occupation in France; conditions in Germany during the immediate postwar era, from ex-internee, Roger Freeman; claims for restitution relating to the Aryanisation of the Grossbard family business; and letters from Otto Morawetz to Grossbard regarding family and friends and life in the USA.

Papers of Hamburg-Amerika linie, 1939, comprise of a notice from the Breslau office of the Hamburg Amerika Linie, travel company, regarding sailings and prices for illegal emigration to Palestine.

Papers of Eleanor Hess, 1872-1990s, document the life of a German Jewish refugee to Great Britain, and, in part, the lives of family members. The papers include emigration and citizenship papers of her grandfather Emil, c1870s; certificates and First World War army records of Julius, her father and correspondence from Eleanor and her brother, Herbert, in Brazil, to their mother, c1950s. The collection includes 2 boxes of family photographs. In addition there is an unpublished memoir of Eleanor, which describes the life of a Jewish girl in Nazi Germany and the experience of emigration to a foreign land.

Papers of Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland (Jewish Aid in Germany) comprising correspondence regarding emigration to Palestine, Shanghai and Kenya, 1936-1939, notably including a critical report by the French based Jewish Colonisation Association to the directors of HICEM, 1937 and a report on the activities of the Hilfsverein, 1936.

Diaries of Wilhelm Hollitscher, a Jewish refugee in England, 13 Jun 1939-16 Oct 1943. Hollitscher begins his diaries by remembering his last days in Vienna, but soon turns to a discussion of the political news of the day. In this case a secret meeting between Hitler and Mussolini. Hollitscher is furious about Hitler's treachery, abandoning South Tyrol as a gift to Mussolini. From this time on Hollitscher chronicles the political, and later, military developments and the diaries become a history of the period seen through the eyes of a Jewish emigrant living in England. The tense months leading up to the war, the declaration of war and the war itself are described. Likewise is the landing of Rudolf Hess; the bombing of English towns and later of German ones; Stalingrad; and even events in the Pacific and China.

Comments on the political situation are regularly interspersed with notes on family and friends, most of whom, seem to have escaped Austria. Letters written and received and the more mundane events of daily life at Petts Wood are recorded faithfully.

Hollitzer is very conscious of the fate of the Jews in Germany, Austria and Poland and he notes any news he receives. On the fourth anniversary of his arrival in England he is grateful for four years of a 'blessed old age' and for the fact that his children and grandchildren are safe and healthy. In 1943 he mentions heart troubles, difficulties in sleeping and cramps. The diaries close rather abruptly on 6 October 1943.

Microfilms of the papers of the Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad, 1943-1960, including sub-committees; papers on liaising with Central British Fund for Relief and Rehabilitation of German Jewry; Jewish Relief Unit in the field; co-operation with other organisations including American Joint Distribution Committee, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration; reports on life for Jews in post-war Germany; reports on conditions in numerous displaced persons' camps including Bergen Belsen; papers regarding restitution; papers regarding anti-Semitism in post-war Germany and papers regarding emigration including to Palestine, USA and UK.

Correspondence and papers of the head office of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, Wien (IKW) (Jewish Cultural Community, Vienna), 1939-1942, including correspondence and statements from the housing and emigration departments of the IKW, which provide biographical details of Jews who have suffered persecution under the Nazis and have subsequently fallen on hard times; copies of letters sent from the head office of the IKW to various municipal authorities and the police regarding treatment of individual Jews; report (author unknown) entitled 'Zwölf Fragen über die Auswanderung aus Wien, 1 Januar bis 30 April 1940', in which many aspects of the Jewish emigration from Vienna are discussed; an original Jewish tram pass issued to Berta Brand and 2 pieces of 'Jude' badges (housed in the Wiener Library 'Special Collections').

Correspondence and papers of the Leeds office of the Jewish Refugee Committee, 1938-1939, comprising letters from local businesses regarding the recruitment of trainees/ refugees and letters from family members and guardians.

Microfilms of papers relating to Jews in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, 1939-1944, comprising papers of Gerda Mayer papers, notably correspondence and Red Cross telegrammes with her parents in Prague, 1939-1940 and an extract from her father's diary. Papers of Dr Erich Springer comprising note books containing the medical case notes of Terezin inmates treated by Dr Springer and others whilst an inmate and surgeon in Terezin (Theresienstadt). Correspondence and papers of the Chief Medical Officer of the Jewish Kultusgemeinde (Jewish community), Prague, Dr Walter Feuereisen including official paperwork reflecting Feuereisen's role, personal correspondence from family and friends in Terezin and Lodz and an undated curriculum vitae.

Papers of Erich Kaiser, 1939-1986, comprising original correspondence notably between Erich and sister Ilse, 1939-1940; examples of Erich Kaiser's journalism, 1939 onwards; miscellaneous papers including a letter from Erich's father to relatives in New York, 1941 and correspondence with the Wiener Library Endowment Appeal to Ilse Kaiser regarding an entry in the Wiener Library Memorial book for Erich Kaiser, 1986.

Papers of Siegfried Kessler, a Czech Jewish exile in London, 1939-1944, chiefly correspondence between organisations and individuals, shedding light on the conditions for Czech Jews in Czechoslovakia in the early years of the Second World War and the processes involved in Jewish emigration from Czechoslovakia.

Personal papers of Charlotte Lewin and her father, Louis Lewin, 1861-1950, including papers of Louis Lewin comprising school leaving, marriage and death certificates, testimonials and other papers; and personal papers of Charlotte Lewin including various certificates and testimonials, correspondence and other papers.

Correspondence between Werner Loewy in Bombay and Cawnpore, India, and later California to Wolfgang Loewy and other family members in Shanghai, 1939-1950.

Correspondence of Heinz Werner Löwenstein, documenting his experiences as a German Jew who emigrated to South Africa in 1935, and the experiences of his parents who remained in Berlin, and who disappeared after having been transported to Riga, Jan 1942. 643/1-4 consists of correspondence between Heinz Werner Löwenstein and his parents, 1935-1940. The letters provide an interesting account of the difficulties encountered by a young immigrant trying to make his way in South Africa as well as of the life led by Jewish people in pre-war Berlin. The letters make hardly any reference to the political situation and the real hardships and dangers of the parents' lives are hidden. 643/5 comprises correspondence from Heinz Werner Löwenstein while he was a sergeant in the South African Army to his friends, Hans and Milly Hirsch, 1941-1943. There is an uninterrupted flow of letters describing life in the army in North Africa until June 1942. In October, the correspondence resumes with a post card from an Italian POW camp. This is followed by more frequent letters after his repatriation in April 1943. The letters not only give a very vivid picture of life in the army and in the POW camp, they are also testimony to the close friendship between Löwenstein and Hans Hirsch, who had known each other in Germany since before their emigration.

Personal papers of Walter Manes, 1918-1999, includes correspondence with parents; official documentation; papers relating to his time in Shanghai; correspondence regarding emigration to USA and photographs.

The collection consists of paperwork generated by the British and American immigration authorities and documentation brought from Germany by the Marx family members, 1939-1941.

Papers of Franz Mendelsohn, 1915-1936, primarily comprising copies of correspondence of a German Jew in London (Mendelsohn), with his wife and friends still in Germany around the time of his arrival in Great Britain, June 1934. Later correspondence (1936) shows evidence of his arrival in Cape Town, South Africa. There is additional evidence which suggests that Mendelsohn must have returned to Germany at some point as his departure with his wife and son is recorded in the 13 Aug 1940 issue of the Deutscher Reichsanzeiger und Preussischer Staatsanzeiger, Nr. 188.

Papers of the Morris family, 1901-1905, comprise letters between Frieda Morris' grandmother and father in Poland and her brother and uncle in London. The collection includes translations.

Papers of the Neumann family, 1941-1948, comprise correspondence between Lisel Neumann and friends including mention of Lutz's internment and eventual release, 1941; unidentified post-war correspondence, 1947-1948; eyewitness account of former Theresienstadt inmate, 1946 and a letter from Elsie Rinteln, a non-Jewish woman married to a Jew describing how they tried to emigrate and how her husband was arrested several times and transported to camp Vernet, 1948.

Correspondence and family documents of Hermann Perl, 1873-1939, including correspondence from friends in Breslau and Berlin regarding arrangements for emigration and a copy of a marriage certificate, Danzig, 1873.

Papers of the Pottlitzer family, 1894-1968, including birth, marriage and death certificates; Deutsches Reich Kennkarte (identity card) for Margot Strauss (1194/7); reference from a former employer, where Margot worked as an editor/journalist, 10 Mar 1933 (1194/3); copy of a manuscript letter from Max Pottlitzer to the Polizeiamt, Schöneberg, Berlin, in which he registers the transfer of money and property to his mother, [as required by the recently enacted law relating to the registering of Jewish property], 22 Sep 1938 (1194/4).

Papers relating to Joachim Prinz, 1936-1937, including text of a speech by former members of Joachim Prinz's congregation, prior to Prinz's departure to the US, [1937]; newspaper cuttings including an article entitled 'Unsere jüdische Kultursituation' by Prinz from the Israelitisches Familienblatt, 7 Oct 1936 and an article written in honour of Prinz shortly prior to his departure to the US, 11 Jun 1937.

Papers on conditions for Jews under the Nazis in the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, 1939, comprising a report arranged under the following headings: general situation; situation of Jews and Jewish emigration, explaining the procedure of application for exit permits, 20 Aug 1939, and digest of newspaper reports relating to the conditions for Jews in Bohemia and Moravia in 1939.

Microfilm copies of papers of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland, 1939, including constitution and drafts; minutes of meetings; circulars and information sheets regarding emigration; accounts; correspondence and file on the Jewish community in Munich.

Correspondence between the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland and the Council of German Jewry, 1936-1940, including on the constitution and finances of the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland and correspondence regarding possibility of emigration of Jews to Kenya and the Richborough Camp (Kitchener camp for refugees), Kent.

Records of the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland (Reich Agency for Jews in Germany), 1933-1938. The papers include committee minutes, reports, memoranda, circulars and correspondence detailing all aspects of the organisation's activities. Also included within 602/8 is a file of transcribed correspondence regarding Gross-Breesen, a non-zionist training camp set up by the Reichsvertretung to prepare young people for life abroad.

Copies of correspondence from the parents of Mrs Val Robatti (née Waltraut Sandberg), 1930s, including a copy signed permission for Waltraut and her sister, Ingeborg, to travel to Great Britain on the Kindertransport.

Papers of Ferdinand Schwarz documenting, in part, the process of emigration from Germany to England in 1939, comprising correspondence from Ferdinand Schwarz and his father, Max Schwarz to Ella Courts on emigration procedures from Germany to England; copy of a letter from the Jüdische Beratungsstelle für Wirtschaftshilfe to Schwarz confirming that the latter will receive a permit from the German Jewish Aid Committee; application form from the German Jewish Aid Committee for persons desiring to leave Germany on political, racial or religious grounds and a stamp coupon.

Correspondence of Elise Steiner and other family papers, 1938-1940. The collection documents the day to day activities, hopes and aspirations of a Jewish family in Vienna on subjects including gratitude that at least one child was able to escape and moreover to continue with her education; efforts to find a place on the Kindertransport for Leo Steiner; news of the fate of other family members who had managed to emigrate to various countries and the takeover of the family business. Despite the increasing difficulties of life in Vienna exemplified by the occasional suicide of friends and the growing fear of being out on the streets, there is a sense that life has to go on. Mention is made of the celebration of Jewish festivals and of training for new occupations. Whilst the prospect of emigration recedes, the family continues to make preparations for a future departure by selling off possessions and studying English.

There are descriptive summaries of all the letters (in German). Other papers comprise a typescript copy of the family tree, a copy of typescript notes on Steiner family history and a copy of a photograph.

Typescript letter from [Lotte] to Isa, 4 Nov 1951, describing her life since 1940, including failed attempts to flee Europe for San Domingo and later USA, 1940; transportation to Theresienstadt concentration camp, Nov 1941, where she remained until Aug 1945, working as a nurse; return to Prague after the war and emigration to Canada, 1947.

The papers of Siegfried Weiner, early 20th century, comprise a biographical account, written by his daughter; she describes life in Regensburg, Bavaria, the family's the difficulties following their emigration to Palestine, the war of independence and then their return to Regensburg.

Correspondence relating to the establishment of a guarantor for Gertrude Wellisch, an Austrian Jewish refugee, including letters between various agencies and the prospective guarantor, 1939.

Papers of Youth Aliyah workers, comprise typescript reports on the experiences of children who managed to escape Nazi occupied Europe and arrived in Palestine, 1944. The names of the children are represented as initials.