Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Paula Balkin correspondence

Document | Accession Number: 1995.A.0812

The Paula Balkin correspondence dates from 1939-1941 and 1946-1948 and measure 0.5 linear feet. It documents the lives of a Jewish family in Leipzig during and after World War II. The correspondence consists of letters and postcards between Balkin (nee Grünbaum) and her relatives (the Schmulewitz, Grünbaum, Koppold, and Ribetsky families) and family friends (the Mitdank and Wagner families). The correspondence traces Balkin’s time with her sister and cousins in England, where she had arrived via a Kindertransport, and her move to Detroit; her parents’ journey from Leipzig to Budapest and then Salonika; her uncle’s deportation to Sachsenhausen; and her grandmother’s and aunts’ deportation to Riga.

Date
inclusive:  1939-1948
Language
German
English
Extent
1 box

About This Document

Document Creator
Paula R. Balkin
Biography
Paula Balkin was born Paula Grünbaum in 1924 to Abraham (Otto) and Gertrude (Trude) Grünbaum (nee Schmulewitz). On June 15, 1939, she was part of a Kindertransport to London, England. Her cousin Vera had already arrived in England, her sister Edith joined her in July, and her cousins Harold, Siegmar, and Zilla Koppold followed shortly thereafter. In 1947 Balkin immigrated to the United States, and in 2002 she published a book about her experiences, Strong Family Ties: A Story in Letters.
System of Arrangement
The collection is arranged as a single series: Series 1: Correspondence, 1939-1948
Reference
The Library at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also holds Paula Balkin’s 2002 book Strong Family Ties: A Story in Letters, which includes English translations of most of the letters in this collection. An oral history interview with Balkin dated November 29, 1996, which forms part of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute Visual History Archive, can be accessed via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Library. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also holds the Vera Nussenbaum papers, donated by Balkin’s cousin Vera Nussenbaum, containing additional correspondence complementing the Paula Balkin correspondence.

Keywords and Subjects

Administrative History

Legal Status
Permanent Collection
Provenance
Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Paula R. Balkin
Funding Note
The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Rights and Restrictions

Conditions on Access
No restrictions on access
 
Record last modified: 2020-09-25 12:09:56
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn500874