- Description
- Consists of Red Cross messages exchanged between Ellen Markiewicz, in London, and her mother, Lotte Markiewicz, in Berlin, between September 1940 and September 1941. The notes, which are necessarily brief, discuss welfare and were the only means of contact between Lotte and her daughter, who went to England as part of a Kindertransport. Lotte survived the war in hiding. Also includes a typed testimony, 1 page, in German, written by "Willi," a foreman in the factory where Lotte Markiewicz worked during the war, in 1961.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1940-1941
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ellen Gerber
- Collection Creator
- Ellen Gerber
- Biography
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Ellen Gerber (born Ellen Markiewicz) was born on August 18, 1926 in Berlin, Germany. Her father Max was a businessman, and her mother Lotte Goldstein was a homemaker. Ellen's older brother Lothar was born on September 9, 1924. Their parents divorced when Ellen was a baby. Ellen's aunt and uncle were doctors and had a non-Jewish patient who was actively working to bring Jewish children to Great Britain. He arranged for Ellen and Lothar to join a Kindertransport. They children traveled to England on April 18, 1939 on an American ship. After their arrival, Ellen and Lothar attended separate schools, and Lothar later was sent to Australia. In 1943 Ellen began a nursing career. She first worked in a convalescent home and later became a registered children's nurse. In 1951 she immigrated to the United States. Her father Max perished in concentration camp, and her mothre Lotte survived the war hiding in Berlin with several families.
