Overview
- Description
- Papers of Otto and Irene Papernik, including birth certificates, travel documents, immigration forms, and an unpublished memoir of Otto Papernik, describing his experiences after the annexation of Austria by Germany, his escape to Luxembourg, and after 1940, to southern France, and eventually the Dominican Republic. Collection also contains documents related to Papernik's mother, Karoline, including travel documents and her death certificate, showing that she died at Gurs in 1940.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1924-1970
bulk: 1930-1951
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Peter Papernik
- Collection Creator
- Otto Papernik
- Biography
-
Otto Papernik, born in Vienna in 1907, was a cabinet maker by profession, and following the annexation of Austria by Germany, he planned to emigrate, and left for Luxembourg in the summer of 1938. After settling there, he sought to bring his family, but only his brother and mother managed to arrive after his brother's release from Buchenwald in early 1939. Following the invasion of Luxembourg in May 1940, Papernik escaped on a convoy headed to southern France and then Spain, but once inside Spain, it was turned back to France, and the passengers were interned in Bayonne. During this period, a group of Americans visited the camp, on behalf of the organization seeking to bring Jewish refugees to the Dominican Republic. Papernik was selected for this group, as was a woman he had met on the convoy, who by then had become his fiancee, Irene Koppel. The two travelled together to Marseille, and eventually onward to Spain, Portugal, and the United States, arriving in the Dominican Republic in May 1941, where they were married in August 1941, and settled in Sosua. Otto's brother, Julius, who had migrated to Belgium in 1940, was captured by the Germans and interned in Gurs, in France, as was his mother, Karoline Papernik, who subsequently died at Gurs in August 1940. When Julius was released, he eventually made his way to Sosua as well, rejoining his brother, and the two worked together in carpentry and cabinet making in the settlement. In 1951, Otto and Irene Papernik and their family immigrated to the United States, settling in New York.
Physical Details
- Genre/Form
- Personal narratives.
- Extent
-
11 folders
- System of Arrangement
- The collection is divided into two series: Writings and Documents. Writings contains a photocopy of the typescript memoir of Otto Papernik, which is undated, but approximately from the 1970s or later. The documents are arranged by individual, and then by type of document, the latter listed in alphabetic order.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Copyright in the unpublished memoir of Otto Papernik remains with the Papernik family, from whom permission must be sought to publish excerpts. Other material 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.
- Copyright Holder
- Peter Papernik
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Jews--Dominican Republic--Sosúa. Land settlement--Dominican Republic--Sosúa. Agricultural colonies--Dominican Republic--Sosúa. Jewish refugees--Dominican Republic--Sosúa. Jews--Persecutions--Austria--Vienna. World War, 1939-1945--Luxembourg.
- Personal Name
- Papernik, Irene. Papernik, Karoline.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Papernik, Peter. Gift, 2013.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-02-24 13:40:50
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn60497
Additional Resources
Download & Licensing
- See Rights and Restrictions
- Terms of Use
- This record is digitized but cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Available for Research
- Plan a Research Visit
-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
Bowie, MD