GB 1556 WL 1040 - Lasker-Wallfisch, Anita: personal correspondence

Identity area

Reference code

GB 1556 WL 1040

Title

Lasker-Wallfisch, Anita: personal correspondence

Date(s)

  • 1939-1945 (Creation)

Level of description

Extent and medium

4 files

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Anita Lasker was born into a professional Jewish family, one of three sisters (Marianne and Renate). Her father was a lawyer; her mother a fine violinist. They suffered discrimination from 1933 but as their father had fought at the front in the First World War, gaining an Iron Cross, the family felt some degree of immunity. Marianne, the eldest sister, fled to England in 1941. In April 1942, Anita's parents were taken away and are believed to have died at Isbica, near Lublin, in Poland. Having been initially arrested in Breslau for aiding the escape of French forced labourers, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was later able to survive Auschwitz by playing the cello in the Auschwitz prisoners' orchestra. Towards the end of the war the sisters were transferred to Bergen Belsen where they remained for up to a year after liberation. During this time Anita was a witness at the Lüneburg trial where camp guards and Kapos were tried for their war crimes.

Repository

Archival history

GB 1556 WL 1040 1939-1945 Collection level 4 files Wallfisch , Anita , Lasker- , b 1925 , musician x Lasker-Wallfisch

Anita Lasker was born into a professional Jewish family, one of three sisters (Marianne and Renate). Her father was a lawyer; her mother a fine violinist. They suffered discrimination from 1933 but as their father had fought at the front in the First World War, gaining an Iron Cross, the family felt some degree of immunity. Marianne, the eldest sister, fled to England in 1941. In April 1942, Anita's parents were taken away and are believed to have died at Isbica, near Lublin, in Poland. Having been initially arrested in Breslau for aiding the escape of French forced labourers, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was later able to survive Auschwitz by playing the cello in the Auschwitz prisoners' orchestra. Towards the end of the war the sisters were transferred to Bergen Belsen where they remained for up to a year after liberation. During this time Anita was a witness at the Lüneburg trial where camp guards and Kapos were tried for their war crimes.

Lasker-Wallfisch family

Personal correspondence of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch with family members, documenting in part the experiences of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and her sisters in Bergen Belsen concentration camp and in England, 1945, and the experiences of their parents prior to transportation to their deaths, close to the Lublin Ghetto, 1942.

Arranged chronologically by correspondent.

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.

Imperial War Museum, London

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 Wars (events) Antisemitism Bergen Belsen concentration camp x Belsen Concentration camps Eastern Europe England Europe Genocide Germany Holocaust Humanitarian law Jews Migrants Nazism Poland Political doctrines Racial discrimination Refugees Religious groups Third Reich Totalitarianism UK Wallfisch , Anita , Lasker- , b 1925 , musician x Lasker-Wallfisch War crimes Western Europe World wars (events) World War Two (1939-1945) London

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Lasker-Wallfisch family

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Personal correspondence of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch with family members, documenting in part the experiences of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and her sisters in Bergen Belsen concentration camp and in England, 1945, and the experiences of their parents prior to transportation to their deaths, close to the Lublin Ghetto, 1942.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Arranged chronologically by correspondent.

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

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Wiener Library

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

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area