Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Abe Weiss papers

Document | Digitized | Accession Number: 1996.A.0081 | RG Number: RG-10.173

Search this record's additional resources, such as finding aids, documents, or transcripts.

No results match this search term.
Check spelling and try again.

results are loading

0 results found for “keyward

    Abe Weiss papers
    Loading

    Please select from the following options:

    Overview

    Description
    The Abe Weiss papers consist of biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, and restitution papers documenting Abe Weiss from Kołomyja, his relocation to Leipzig, and his immigration to the United States as well as his family members who remained in Kołomyja, Leipzig, Zbąszyń, Kolno, and Białystok and perished in the Holocaust. A photo album includes photographs from his visit to the Berlin Olympics.
    Biographical materials include photocopies of Abe Weiss’ Polish and German birth certificates, wedding announcements for Regina Nachbar and Chaim Dudowicz, Red Star Line and S.S. Gerolstein travel receipts and passenger lists and additional records documenting Weiss’ immigration, Abe Weiss’ marriage certificate, certificates recognizing Abe Weiss for selling war bonds, Rosh Hashanah cards and Nachbar stationery documenting the Nachbar family, and family histories composed by Abe Weiss’s daughter, Barbara Jacobson.
    The correspondence series contains letters and postcards exchanged among Abe Weiss and his relatives following his immigration to the United States while his family remained in Leipzig, Kołomyja, Zbąszyń, Kolno, and Białystok. Correspondence from Kołomyja documents Selig Nachbar, Rachel and Leyb Koch, and Jacob Nachbar in Kołomyja; correspondence from Leipzig documents Salomon, Ethel, and Beata Nachbar, Marcus Birnberg, and Regina and Chaim Dudowicz; and correspondence from Zbąszyń, Kolno, and Białystok further documents Regina and Chaim Dudowicz. The letters and postcards primarily report on anti-Semitic harassment, efforts to emigrate from Germany and Poland, Salomon Nachbar’s and Max Birnberg’s imprisonment in concentration camps, Chaim Dudowicz’s confinement in a refugee camp, and Regina Dudowicz’s efforts to rejoin her husband.
    Loose photographs include images of Weiss and Nachbar family life in Kołomyja and Leipzig, and the photo albums contain photographs of Abe Weiss at the Berlin Olympics and in the United States, with his family and friends in Leipzig, and vacationing elsewhere in Germany.
    The restitution papers primarily consist of correspondence between Abe Weiss and the United Restitution Organization (URO) documenting his attempts to gain restitution for loss of fortune and property, damage to professional development, and insurance payments, especially in relation to his brother, Salomon Nachbar, and the Nachbar clothing factory and for his own emigration costs during the Holocaust.
    Date
    inclusive:  circa 1920-1996
    Collection Creator
    Abe Weiss
    Biography
    Abe Weiss (1912-1995) was born in Kołomyja, Poland (Kolomyia, Ukraine) to tailor Selig Nachbar and his wife, Baile Weiss. He was also called Alfred and Adi, he used his mother’s maiden name rather than his father’s last name, and his siblings used both Weiss and Nachbar. He moved to Leipzig in 1929 to work in his brother Salomon’s clothing factory, and he lived with his brother, sister-in-law Ethel (Etti) and niece Beata. His half-brother, Marcus (Mordechai) Birnberg also moved to Leipzig, as did their sister Regina (Rivka). Abe Weiss immigrated to the United States in December 1938, and lived briefly with relatives Mollie and Ben Yuran in New Brunswick, New Jersey and Nathan and Anna Weiss in the Bronx. In 1939, he married Brooklyn-born Mollie Levin (1917-1989), but despite his marriage to an American citizen, he found it necessary to travel to Cuba and reenter the United States under another emigration quota. He became a naturalized citizen in 1943. He worked as a tailor before attending the Fashion Institute of Technology to learn pattern making. He and his wife later moved to Maspeth, Queens. He sold United States war bonds during World War II and Israel bonds afterwards. A lifelong Zionist, he was honored for his bond-selling by the Maspeth Jewish Center and by a meeting with David ben Gurion during Weiss’s first trip to Israel. Abe’s mother died before the Holocaust, and his father, brothers Marcus, Salomon, and Jacob (Koppel), sisters Regina and Rachel, niece Beata, and nephews were all
    killed in the Holocaust.

    Physical Details

    Genre/Form
    Photographs.
    Extent
    1 box
    1 oversize box
    System of Arrangement
    The Abe Weiss papers are arranged as four series: I. Biographical materials, approximately 1920-1945, 1996, II. Correspondence, 1935-1941, III. Photographic materials, approximately 1930-1940, IV. Restitution papers, 1930-1978

    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

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Barbara Jacobson and Susan Bloom, daughters of Abe Weiss, donated the Abe Weiss papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1996.
    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:
    2023-08-25 15:50:21
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn506480