Book

Wellisch and Auerbach families papers

Document

Biographical materials primarily document Ignatz and Rosine Auerbach and Kurt and Frieda Wellisch. Auerbach records include Rosine’s birth certificate and a transport list, Łódź ghetto records, and AJDC records documenting Rosine’s and Ignatz’s deportation from Vienna to Łódź. Wellisch records include records documenting Frieda’s education and employment, a copy of her Third Reich passport, a confirmation of her birth, a copy of Kurt’s and Frieda’s marriage certificate, and a copy of a photograph of the couple aboard the Rex en route to New York. This series also includes a 1925 letter from Ingnatz’ American cousin Louis Auerbach Mand and a 1940 identification card for Kurt’s father Sam. Some of the records in this series are photocopies. The correspondence series primarily consists of a collection of Auerbach-Wellisch correspondence maintained by Kurt Wellisch in a binder. These letters, exchanged between Ignatz and Rosine Auerbach in Vienna and Kurt and Frieda Wellisch in Zurich, New York, and Miami as well as with Sam Wellisch in Zurich and Miami document the family’s efforts to bring Ignatz and Rosine to the United States. Some of Kurt and Frieda’s letters to her parents are also addressed to Kurt’s mother, Laura, who lived in Vienna and then Budapest before immigrating to the United States. There are occasional additions to letters by other relatives including Sam’s sisters Hedy and Gisi Wellisch and Frieda’s uncle Sandor Loewy. Sandor was actively involved with, and possibly part owner of, the hat factory owned by Ignatz at 28 Neubaugasse that was appropriated by the Nazis. Hedy, Gisi, and Sandor were able to immigrate to the United States. These folders also include a few official documents such as visa denials. Most of the letters are originals, but three are photocopies. The Auerbach-Wellisch correspondence is followed by eleven private letters from Rosine Auerbach to Frieda Wellisch that Frieda separated and labeled “Privat von meinem geliebten Mutter” (private from my beloved mother). Jail correspondence and receipts pre-date the Auerbach-Wellisch correspondence and document the arrest of Kurt Wellisch following the German annexation of Austria. Kurt was an attorney in Vienna and was swept up in the purge of Jewish professionals. He was incarcerated in various Viennese jails from May 4th through June 14, 1938, but he was able to correspond with Frieda. Occasionally other family members added comments and well wishes to Frieda’s postcards. These folders also contain receipts from money she brought him so that he could buy supplies while in jail. Mela Nettl (Melanie Hausman, 1908-1943) was a relative of Sam Wellisch’s, perhaps his niece. She wrote to Kurt, Frieda, Heinz, and Sam Wellisch from Vienna and Amsterdam. Her letters are often humorous in style, provide a picture of life as a Jewish émigré in Amsterdam, list various cultural events she attended, document her marriage to Paul Hausman, and ask questions about life in America, but they also lament her status. Her November 14, 1941 letter appears to reference Regine and Ignatz’s deportation from Vienna. She was sent to the Herzogenbusch concentration camp in Vught in March 1943. The last piece of correspondence is a September 20, 1943 postcard she wrote from Vught to Sam. She was transferred to Westerbork transit camp the same day, deported to Auschwitz the following day, and killed. This folder also includes one letter from Kurt Wellisch to Mela from aboard the Rex while he was on his way to the United States. Family correspondence includes prewar and wartime correspondence from aunts Amalie and Berta Auerbach and aunt and uncle Rosa and Josef (Weiss?) in Vienna and postwar correspondence from Nina Heller in Montevideo, Uruguay and from aunt Henny (Giovanna Traubner?) in Gorizia, Italy. Photocopies of pages from Kurt’s 1938 law diary (day planner) document the dates of his meetings with the Gestapo, his incarceration and transfer to various Viennese jails, his release six weeks later, and his flight from Vienna through various places in Italy until his arrival in Zurich. Photographs include depictions of the Auerbach and Lowy hat factory and showroom at Neubaugasse 28, Vienna before the war; a wedding portrait of Kurt and Frieda; Ignatz and Rosine on their 30th anniversary; Heinz Wellisch and his girlfriend Jetty Sontag; and relative Mela Nettl Hausman.

Book

Object