Manfred Hillmann papers
- Date
-
1927-1996
(inclusive)
- Genre/Form
-
Letters.
Photographs.
- Extent
-
5 folders
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Theodore A. Feintuch
Contains photographs of the Hillmann family before the war and of Fred [Manfred Hillmann (donor's cousin)] after the war in Germany, and with US soldiers he worked with. Includes letters written by Herman Hillmann, his brother Josef (in Berlin), his sister Blima (in Stanslawow), their mother Perl, and other relatives to Kiva and Dora Feintuch, Harry and Mina Roxenberg, in New York between 1927-1941, and post-war correspondence relating to Fred Hillmann and his documents during his stay in Germany.
-
Record last modified: 2018-08-24 12:12:54
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn46998
Also in Fred Hillman family collection
The collection consists of a portfolio of sketch reproductions, Le Struthof Natzwiller, correspondence, documents, and photographs relating to the experiences of Manfred Hillmann (later Fred Hillman) and his family in Germany and Poland before and during the Holocaust, and of Manfred as a prisoner in Buchenwald and several other concentration camps during the Holocaust and then as a resident of Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany after the war.
Date: 1927-1946
46999
Publication
Envelope for a set of reproductions of fifteen sketches created by Henry Gayot, a prisoner of Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp, depicting scenes of prisoner abuse and daily camp life. The portfolio was engraved and published after the war and includes an 8 page booklet. Gayot, a member of the resistance in German occupied France, was arrested by the Germans and sent to Natzweiler-Struthof in 1943. The main camp was evacuated in September 1944 because of the advance of Allied Forces. The prisoner were sent to concentration camps in Germany. Gayot was sent to Dachau and liberated during a forced march or by US troops in April 1945. The portfolio of prints was acquired by Manfred Hillmann, who had been a prisoner at Natzweiler-Struthof from March 12-December 1942. Manfred, age 17, was deported from Chemnitz, Germany, with his father Hermann to Poland in October 1938. Manfred was permitted in June 1939 to return to Chemnitz to sell the family possessions while his mother Klara, and brother Max, 12, and Rolf, 9, prepared to leave for Poland. Around the time his family departed, Manfred was arrested by the Gestapo. After Germany invaded Poland in September 1, he was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp. His family kept in contact with him until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Manfred was sent to Natzwiller in March 1942, before the camp opened, probably as slave labor for its construction. At the end of the year, he was sent to Auschwitz III (Monowitz). The complex was evacuated in January 1945, and Fred was marched to Gross Rosen, then transported to Buchenwald in February. He was liberated by the US 6th Armored Division. Fluent in English, German, and Polish, Fred was soon working for US occupation forces. He learned that his parents and brothers had been deported from Stanislavov to Belzec killing center in April 1942. An American soldier, Larry Koch, contacted Fred's uncle in the US and on May 11, 1946, Manfred left for New York.
