Overview
- Description
- The German Jewish Aid Committee collection documents the committee’s efforts to help Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany obtain English visas. The collection primarily includes the correspondence of committee representative Fritz Goldschmidt with refugees from Frankfurt am Main, Essen, Cologne, the Kitchener Camp for Refugees, and other locations. The collection comprises letters, postcards, and supporting documentation revealing the bureaucratic difficulties of receiving visas; efforts to obtain supporting funds from banks, organizations, and private business owners; and the stories of the applicants. Some letters refer to the children of the applicants and document transfer of guarantees, confirmation of foster families, and the transfer of children to England. The collection also includes a German Jewish Aid Committee pamphlet describing how the committee supported young men coming to Great Britain under a trainee program.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1938-1939
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection. The acquisition of this collection was made possible by the Crown Family.
- Collection Creator
- German Jewish Aid Committee
- Biography
-
The German Jewish Aid Committee was founded as the Jewish Refugees Committee in 1933 by the Jewish Banker Otto Schiff under the aegis of the Central British Fund for the Relief of German Jewry. Its purpose was to assist Jews to escape from Nazi Germany to England. At first, the organization took upon itself the costs of arranging for the admission of refugees to England and their maintenance, training, and employment. After the Kristallnacht, the number of immigrants was more than the organization could support and it almost collapsed. Since there was no assistance on the part of the English government, the representatives of the organization were forced to find businessmen, donors and families who could undertake the support of the refugees.
Physical Details
- Genre/Form
- Correspondence.
- Extent
-
2 boxes
- System of Arrangement
- The German Jewish Aid Committee collection is arranged alphabetically.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- The Museum has made reasonable efforts but is not able to determine the copyright status of some or all of the material(s) in this collection, or identify and/or locate the potential copyright owner(s). The Museum therefore places no restrictions on use of this material, but it cannot provide any information to the user about the status of the copyright(s). The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018. The acquisition of this collection was made possible by the Crown Family.
- Funding Note
- The acquisition of this collection was made possible by the Crown Family.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-08-25 08:08:44
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn634191
Additional Resources
Download & Licensing
- Copyright Undetermined
- Terms of Use
- This record is not digitized and cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Not Available for Research: Out for Digitization
- Plan a Research Visit
-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
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