- Description
- The collection documents the prewar, wartime, and postwar experiences of Mendel and Frieda Eimer, along with their daughter Hella Eimer (later Helen Berkowitz), originally of Düsseldorf, Germany. Included are identification papers, education records, displaced persons documents, and immigration paperwork.There are also documents and photographs related to Hella's future husband Herman Berkowitz.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1920-1954
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Florence Fruchter
- Collection Creator
- Eimer
- Biography
-
Mendel Eimer (d. 1942) and Frieda Eimer (née Narzisenfeld, b. 1893) lived in Düsseldorf, Germany with their daughter Hella Eimer (later Helen Berkowitz, b. 1930). Mendel had three children from his previous marriage: Louis, Clara, and Bella (Berta). Mendel was injured during Kristallnacht in November 1938, and he and Frieda briefly sent Hella to the Netherlands. After she returned the family was deported to Poland. Bella immigrated to England around that time. After the German and Russian invasion of Poland in September 1939, the family fled to Soviet occupied Poland. They were later deported to work camps in Siberia and Uzbekistan. Mendel died in 1942, but Frieda and Hella survived the work camps. After the war, they returned first to Poland and then Germany. Frieda and Hella both later immigrated to the United States. Hella married Holocaust survivor Herman Berkowitz (b. 1926).
