Oral history interviews with Eleanor Ney and Herbert Ney

Ney and Grundmann families papers

Document

The Ney and Grundmann families collection consists of correspondence, documents, autograph books, printed material, audiovisual recordings, and other related materials, documenting the history of the families of Herbert Ney (Neu), originally of Munich, Germany, and his wife, Hannelore (née Grundmann), originally of Essen, Germany, relating to their emigration from Germany due to anti-Semitic persecution, as well as documenting their lives in pre-Holocaust era Germany, and following their immigration to the United States. The Biographical series includes identification, education, immigration and other related documents for Sigmund and Carola Neu, and their family members, including their son Herbert and daughter-in-law Eleanor Ney (Hannelore Grundmann). Genealogical materials for the Neu and Grundmann families are included, as is a file labeled “Sigmund Neu—Military Service,” but which also contains correspondence sent to Neu while he was in the Germany Army during World War I, as well as postcards sent to his family during this period. The Photograph series contains photographs of both Sigmund and Carola Neu’s families, as well as photographs of their own three children—Herbert, Walter, and Eleanor—and photographs of the family of Eleanor Grundmann Ney as well. The photographs are divided by families, family members, and time periods. These include late 19th century and early 20th century photographs of Sigmund Neu and his siblings in Metz and Augsburg; and photographs of the Gutmann family, including many of Carola as a child and young woman, and of her father, Emil Gutmann. Photographs of Sigmund and Carola Neu’s family include numerous pictures of their three children from between 1910 and 1940, as well as later pictures after their immigration to New York. Most of Herbert Neu’s pictures are from his childhood and early adulthood, and later pictures, following his immigration to the United States, are filed under his American name, Herbert Ney. The same is true for photographs of Hannelore Grundmann / Eleanor Ney, in which earlier, childhood photographs are under her German name, and later photographs, including those following her marriage to Herbert, are under her American name. Assorted photographs of members of the Neu, Gutmann, and Grundmann families are filed by family member, or family name, and there are a number of unidentified photographs as well. The Restitution series consists largely of documents filed and received by Herbert Ney, initially representing claims related to the estate of his father, Sigmund, after the latter’s death in 1949, but also including material about his own claims, related largely to his inability to continue his university education in Germany as a result of Nazi policies, as well as later pension claims he filed with the West German government. Other documents include Eleanor Ney’s claims, primarily relating to pension benefits received from the German government following her husband’s death, and newspaper articles about restitution, from German-language newspapers in the U.S. (such as Aufbau). The collection also contains two autograph books kept by Carola Neu as a child, in Germany, between approximately 1892 and 1907, and a video program compiled by the Ney family, consisting of interviews with Herbert and Eleanor Ney.