Portfolio cover

Edith Hahn-Beer papers

Document

The collection documents the Holocaust-era experiences of Edith Hahn-Beer, originally of Vienna, Austria, including forced-labor in Osterburg and Aschersleben, Germany, living in Munich and Brandenburg an der Havel under the false-identity of Margarete Denner, and marriage to German Nazi officer Werner Vetter. The bulk of the collection consists of wartime correspondence between Edith and her fiancé Joseph Rosenfeld, along with family correspondence, biographical materials, and photographs. Correspondence primarily consists of letters and postcards exchanged between Edith and her then fiancé Joseph Rosenfeld (Pepi). Other correspondents include her mother Klothilde Hahn and sisters Maria Hahn and Johanna Hahn, and her first husband Werner Vetter. Also included are wartime letters written by Edith when living in Munich and Brandenburg an der Havel under the false-identity of Margarete Denner (Grete). There is a small amount of postwar correspondence. Biographical material includes report cards, identification documents, clippings, and papers related to Edith’s forced-labor in Osterburg and Aschersleben. Identification documents include her German passport (Reisepass) and German identity card (Kennkarte). Wartime material includes forced-labor payroll envelopes from Osterburg and Aschersleben, cardboard carton samples from Aschersleben, and a copy of her daughter Angelika’s birth certificate, 1944. Postwar material includes clippings related to the publication of her book “Ich will leben!” Photographs include prewar family photographs, including depictions of Edith’s parents Leopold and Klothilde Hahn, along with images of Joseph Rosenfeld, and Werner Vetter. Also included are depictions of forced-laborers at a farm in Osterburg, 1941.