Overview
- Description
- The Berg and Hermanns families papers consist of biographical materials, correspondence, and photographs documenting the Berg family and their escape to Kenya and the Hermanns family and Julius Hermanns’ journey aboard the MS St. Louis, return to Europe, and internment.
The Berg family papers consist primarily of biographical materials, correspondence, and photographs documenting the Berg family from Germany and their escape to Kenya. Biographical materials include birth certificates, a military passbook, a marriage certificate, two family registers, certificates of good conduct, a letter of recommendation, travel papers, permissions, passports, a certified list of belongings Klara Berg took to Kenya, Kenyan certificates of registration, a miniature date book, an autograph book, and German and American identification cards documenting the Berg family and the Pauly family (Gisela
Berg’s husband and his parents). Correspondence consists of letters and postcards among Berg family members, Pauly family members, and Berg relative Ella Schweizer. Berg family correspondence includes letters from Berg family members in Germany to those in Kenya as well as Red Cross inquiries about relatives deported to Theresienstadt and about family friends in Rotterdam. Pauly family correspondence consists of letters to Selma Pauly from family friend Josef Kaussen relating family news. Ella Schweizer postcards contain greetings.
Photographs depict members of the Berg family and their relatives in Germany and Kenya. Printed materials include a clipping showing a map of Allied advances into North Rhine-Westphalia, a pocket calendar gifted to the Berg family from N. Menachemson, a program from a Nairobi Hebrew Congregation prayer service, and a survey map of Berg property in Kenya. Restitution materials include Pauly family correspondence and affidavits about their loss of property, health, and education during the Holocaust.
The Hermanns family papers consist primarily of correspondence documenting Julius Hermanns’ efforts to flee Germany; his voyage aboard the MS St. Louis; his internment in Fresnay-sur-Sarthe, Saint Cyprien, Gurs, and Les Milles; and his relatives’ efforts to discover his fate as well as that of his wife and daughter and of Sol Meyer’s brother, Karl Meyer. Postcards from Karl to Sol describe his wartime life in Köln. The papers also include identification papers for Sol and Henrietta Meyer, clippings about the St. Louis and about Theresienstadt, Karl Meyer’s drawing of his mother, a satirical poem about the difficulties of emigration, and a report about Buchenwald. Photographic materials include photographs of a liberated concentration camp (possibly Buchenwald), Julius Hermanns, and Sol and Henrietta Meyer, and a photo album depicting the Hermanns family in Germany and the Meyers’ immigration voyage to New York in 1938. - Date
-
inclusive:
circa 1880-1957
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jill Berg Pauly
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Kurt and Jill Berg Pauly
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Inge Katzenstein
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Werner and Inge Katzenstein
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Kurt amd Jill Pauly - Collection Creator
- Berg family
Hermanns family - Biography
-
Joseph and Klara (Meyer) Berg lived in the small farming community of Lechenich (Erfstadt), Germany (near Cologne) and had two daughters: Inge (b. 1929) and Gisela (b. 1933). They hid in Cologne after Kristallnacht, and Joseph Berg, his brother, George, and their cousin, Ernest, fled to Holland. The family decided to look for another country of refuge. Their cousin, Rosa (Marx) Berg, had a relative in Kenya, Herman Strauss, who helped secure entry papers to Kenya for the Berg family. Joseph, Ernest, and George were the first to arrive in Kenya and were joined by more than a dozen members of the extended family, including Josef’s parents, Klara and Marcus (Max) Berg, and his mother in law, Bertha Meyer. The Bergs purchased a 375-acre farm in Limuru and an additional 125 acres in Maguga. The family had the status of enemy aliens throughout the war. Joseph, Klara, and their daughters remained in Kenya for eight years, immigrating to the United States in 1947.
Julius Hermanns (1891-1942) was born in Neersen (Willich), Germany, to Michael and Rosalie Hermanns. He owned a linen store with his three siblings: Fritz, Sofia, and Henrietta. His wife Margarete (1899-1944) was born in Gelsenkirchen to Meyer and Paulina Goldbaum. The couple had one daughter, Hilde (1923-1944), born in Mönchengladbach. Julius was imprisoned in Dachau in September 1938, transferred to Buchenwald the following month, and released in April 1939 on the condition that he would leave the country. Henrietta and her husband Sol Meyer, along with another relative, Julius Kaufmann, arranged for a Cuban landing certificate for Julius. He sailed on the St. Louis, was returned to Europe, found temporary refuge in France, was arrested as an enemy alien at the outbreak of war, and was held in internment camps in Fresnay-sur-Sarthe, Saint Cyprien, Gurs, and Les Milles. He was deported via Drancy to Auschwitz in August 1942 and killed. Margarete, Hilde, and Sofia were deported to the Riga ghetto in December 1941. Margarete and Hilde were transferred to Stutthof in October 1944 and killed.
Physical Details
- Genre/Form
- Photographs.
- Extent
-
5 boxes
3 oversize folders
- System of Arrangement
- The Berg and Hermanns family papers are arranged as two series and ten subseries:
Series I. Berg family papers, approximately 1880-1957, Subseries 1: Biographical materials, 1915-1947, Subseries 2: Correspondence, 1913-1957, Subseries 3: Photographs, approximately 1880-1945, Subseries 4: Printed materials, 1941-1950, Subseries 5: Restitution files, 1956
Series II. Hermanns family papers, 1900-1956, Subseries 1: Biographical materials, 1900-1942, Subseries 2: Correspondence, 1908-1956, Subseries 3: Photographs, approximately 1910-1945, Subseries 4: Printed materials, 1938-1939, 1945, Subseries 5: Drawing, poem, and report, approximately 1938-1939
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- For components accessioned as 2000.399 and 2000.400, copyright is licensed to USHMM under agreement. Other material in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Jews--Germany--Lechenich. Jews--Germany--Mönchengladbach. Jews--Germany--Cologne. Jewish refugees--Kenya--Nairobi. Concentration camp inmates--France--Correspondence.
- Geographic Name
- Cologne (Germany) Lechinich (Germany) Nairobi (Kenya) Limuru (Kenya) Fresnay-sur-Sarthe (France) Saint Cyprien (Dordogne, France) Gurs (France) Les Milles (Concentration camp) Germany--Emigration and immigration--History--1933-1945. Kenya--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Inge and Werner Katzenstein and Jill and Kurt Pauly donated the Berg and Hermanns families papers (1989.232.3) to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2011. Accessions previously cataloged as 1989.305, 1989.306, 1995.A.0322, 1998.148.1, 1999.206.1, 2000.398, 2000.399, 2000.400, 2000.573.1, 2003.342, 2004.96, 2005.235.1, 2008.382.1, and 2011.54 have been incorporated into this collection.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Primary Number
- 1989.232.31
- Record last modified:
- 2023-06-07 07:39:39
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn84351
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Also in Berg and Hermanns families collection
The collection includes a cake server, cooking pot, Kenyan statues, silver spoon, steamer trunk, prayer book, biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, and publications relating to the experiences of Clara and Max Berg and their extended family in Germany before their escape to Kenya and their life in Kenya during the Holocaust, and their postwar immigration to the United States and the Hermanns family and Julius Hermanns’ journey aboard the MS St. Louis, return to Europe, and internment in France. An accretion of five WWI medals was received in 2016.
Date: approximately 1880-1957
Prayer book
Object
Siddur inscribed and owned by George Berg in prewar Germany. The front cover and pages are defaced with dung as a result of the vandalization of the Berg home during Kristallnacht 9-10, 1938, in Lechenich, Germany.
Silver vermeil cake server received as a wedding gift by a Jewish woman in prewar Germany
Object
Silver vermeil serving knife received as a wedding gift by Selma Herz upon her marriage to Hugo Pauly, circa 1927, in Eilendorf, near Aachen, Germany. It was a gift from Abraham Hollander, Anne Frank's maternal grandfather, who was a first cousin of Selma's mother, Caroline Menken Herz. The knife may have been a family heirloom that originally belonged to Rosa'a mother. Soon after the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in 1933, the Herz family businesses were boycotted because they were Jewish. In early 1936, Selma and Hugo emigrated to Palestine with their 5 year old son, Kurt. They then emigrated to the United States in December 1938.
Enameled cooking pot with lid used by a German Jewish family forced to emigrate
Object
Cooking pot and lid brought with Gisela Berg and her family to Kenya where they lived after fleeing Cologne, Germany, in May/June 1939. They used this pot when preparing for Passover. The family was warned by neighbors to leave their home in Lechenich prior to the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938. Their homes were vandalized and the family decided to leave Germany. Jill's father Josef, his brother George, and cousin Ernest fled to the Netherlands. They were arrested, but their uncle, Herman Meyer, hired a lawyer and the men were detained but not deported. This gave the family time to find a country where they could emigrate legally. A friend got them permits for British-ruled Kenya and eventually seventeen family members relocated to a cattle ranch near Nairobi. When the war ended in May 1945, the family decided to leave Africa. With the help of two cousins in the US, visas were obtained for the family. Gisela, 14, her sister Inge, 18, her parents Josef and Klara, and other family members arrived in Boston in March 1947.
Kenyan wood bust of an African youth owned by a German Jewish refugee family
Object
Carved wooden bust of an African male in profile, with the hair and stretched earlobes of a Maasai warrior, acquired by Gisela Berg and her family in Kenya where they lived after fleeing Cologne, Germany, in May/June 1939. The family was warned by neighbors to leave their home in Lechenich prior to the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938. Their homes were vandalized and the family decided to leave Germany. Jill's father Josef, his brother George, and cousin Ernest fled to the Netherlands. They were arrested, but their uncle, Herman Meyer, hired a lawyer and the men were detained but not deported. This gave the family time to find a country where they could emigrate legally. A friend got them permits for British-ruled Kenya and eventually seventeen family members relocated to a cattle ranch near Nairobi. When the war ended in May 1945, the family decided to leave Africa. With the help of two cousins in the US, visas were obtained for the family. Gisela, 14, her sister Inge, 18, and her parents Josef and Klara along with other family members, arrived in Boston in March 1947.
Kenyan wood sculpture of two gazelles owned by a German Jewish refugee family
Object
Carved wooded sculpture of an adult gazelle with one young offspring acquired by Gisela Berg and her family in Kenya where they lived after fleeing Cologne, Germany, in May/June 1939. The family was warned by neighbors to leave their home in Lechenich prior to the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938. Their homes were vandalized and the family decided to leave Germany. Jill's father Josef, his brother George, and cousin Ernest fled to the Netherlands. They were arrested, but their uncle, Herman Meyer, hired a lawyer and the men were detained but not deported. This gave the family time to find a country where they could emigrate legally. A family friend got them permits for British-ruled Kenya and eventually seventeen family members relocated to a cattle ranch near Nairobi. When the war ended in May 1945, the family decided to leave Africa. They obtained visas with the help of two cousins in the US. Gisela, 14, her sister Inge, 18, her parents Josef and Klara, and other family members arrived in Boston in March 1947.
Aluminum pitcher used by a German Jewish family forced to emigrate
Object
Aluminum pitcher used by Gisela Berg and her extended family when they fled Cologne, Germany, in May/June 1939. The family was warned by neighbors to leave their home in Lechenich prior to the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938. Their homes were vandalized and the family decided to leave Germany. Jill's father Josef, his brother George, and cousin Ernest fled to the Netherlands. They were arrested, but their uncle, Herman Meyer, hired a lawyer and the men were detained but not deported. This gave the family time to find a country where they could emigrate legally. A family friend got them permits for British-ruled Kenya and eventually seventeen family members relocated to a cattle ranch near Nairobi. When the war ended in May 1945, the family decided to leave Africa. They obtained visas with the help of two cousins in the US. Gisela, 14, her sister Inge, 18, her parents Josef and Klara, and other family members arrived in Boston in March 1947.
Medal with ribbon
Object
Iron Cross medal with the dates 1914-1918 surrounded by a laurel wreath on one side, and the words "R.V. Pforzheim" on the other side. The medals belonged to Hugo Pauly.
Medal with ribbon
Object
Iron Cross medal with the dates 1914-1918 surrounded by a laurel wreath on one side, and the words "R.V. Pforzheim" and the number 85 on the other side. The medals belonged to Hugo Pauly.
Medal with ribbon
Object
Iron Cross medal with the date 1914 and the letter "W" on one side and the initials "FW" and the date of 1813 on the other side. The medals belonged to Hugo Pauly.
Medal with ribbon
Object
Copper colored medal with ribbon. The medal has the word "Merenti" on one side and the date "1866" on the other. The medal depicts crossed swords as well as a lion. The medals belonged to Hugo Pauly.
Medal with ribbon
Object
Iron Cross medal with the date 1914 and the letter "W" on one side and the initials "FW" and the date of 1813 on the other side. The medals belonged to Hugo Pauly.
Silver teaspoon engraved Hilde given to a Jewish girl in prewar Germany
Object
Child's spoon engraved with her name and given to Hilde Hermanns circa 1930, when she was a 7 year old child in Monchengladbach, Germany. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, Hilde and her parents, Julius and Margarete (Grete), lived comfortably in Monchengladbach where her father ran a dry goods store with his siblings. The Nazi regime increasingly persecuted Jews, boycotting and taking away their businesses. Julius was arrested in September 1938 and sent to Dachau, and then Buchenwald concentration camp. He was released in April 1939, with the condition that he leave the country. He left on the MS St Louis, but it was forced to return from Cuba with nearly all passengers. Julius was given refuge in France, but interned after Germany invaded Poland in September and France declared war. Hilde was assigned as forced labor in a factory in July 1940. In December 1941, Hilde, her mother, Grete, and paternal aunt Sophie were deported to the Riga ghetto in German occupied Latvia. Julius was deported to Auschwitz in August 1942, and killed. On October 1, 1944, Hilde, 19, and Margarete, 45, were transferred to Stutthof concentration camp, where they perished. The spoon was preserved by her cousin, Jill Berg, whose family fled Lechenich, Germany, just before Kristallnacht in November 1938, and left for Kenya in May/June 1939.
Burlap covered steamer trunk used by a German Jewish family
Object
Steamer trunk labelled Mombasa used by Max and Clara Davids Berg and their extended family when they fled Cologne, Germany, in May/June 1939. The family was warned by neighbors to leave their home in Lechenich prior to the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938. Their homes were vandalized and the family decided to leave Germany. Max's sons, Josef and George, and cousin Ernest fled to the Netherlands. They were arrested, but their uncle, Herman Meyer, hired a lawyer and the men were detained but not deported. This gave the family time to find a country where they could emigrate legally. A family friend got them permits for British-ruled Kenya and eventually seventeen family members relocated to a cattle ranch near Nairobi during the war. Max died in 1942 and Clara in 1945. When the war ended in May 1945, the family decided to leave Africa. With the help of two cousins in the US, visas were obtained for the family. Josef, his wife Klara Meyer, and daughters, Inge, 18, and Jill, 14, used the trunk to emigrate to the US. Along with other family members, they arrived in Boston in mid-march 1947.
Berg and Hermanns families photographs
Document
Contains photographs documenting the experiences of Clara and Max Berg and their extended family in Germany before their escape to Kenya, and their life in Kenya during the Holocaust.
