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Felber family correspondence

Document | Digitized | Accession Number: 1998.A.0283

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Overview

Description: The Felber family correspondence consists primarily of letters from Eta Birnbaum in Leipzig to her sister Erna and her children Lilli and Norbert in Belgium and France in 1940 and 1941. These letters describe her loneliness and unease, her worries about her imprisoned husband Markus Felber, and her reactions to plans to send her children to relatives in the United States. Most of the correspondence is original, but some letters are photocopies.
Date: inclusive: 1940-1941
Collection Creator: Felber family
Biography: Lilli Felber Green was born in Leipzig, Germany, in January 1926 to Markus Felber (1895-1942) and Eta (Adelheid) Birnbaum Felber (1900-1943). She had a younger brother named Norbert (1931-1998). Markus was imprisoned in Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Buchenwald before being deported to Auschwitz in 1942 and killed. Eta’s sister Erna convinced Eta to send Lilli and Norbert to live with her in Belgium in 1939. When war broke out in Belgium in May 1940, Erna took Lilly, Norbert, and her own three children to France. Lilli and Norbert left for America aboard the SS Mouzinho on a children’s transport in June 1941 organized by the American Friends Service Committee and the United States Committee for the Care of European Children. They joined relatives Sam and Ida Birnbaum and their four children in Cleveland, OH. Eta Felber was deported to Auschwitz in 1943 and killed.

Physical Details

Language: German
Genre/Form: Correspondence.
Extent: 1 folder
System of Arrangement: The Felber family correspondence is arranged as a single series.

Rights & Restrictions

Conditions on Access: There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
Conditions on Use: Material(s) 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--Leipzig--Correspondence. Jewish refugees--Belgium. Jewish refugees--France. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue.
Geographic Name: Leipzig (Germany) United States--Emigration and immigration--History.

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: Lilli Felber Green donated this collection of letters to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives on March 27, 1998, with the help of her son, Mark.
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Record last modified:: 2023-08-15 17:03:43
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn501935

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