IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 1277
Held at: Wiener Library
Title: Hollitscher, Wilhelm (b 1873): Diaries
Date(s): 1939-1943
Level of description: collection
Extent: 16 files
Name of creator(s): Hollitscher | Wilhelm | b 1873
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Wilhelm Hollitscher arrived in England on March 31 1939 at the age of 66 from Vienna. Apparently a life-long diarist, he recommenced writing his diaries on 13 June 1939. After his arrival in England Hollitscher stayed at Salford, soon after moving to Petts Wood, Kent, where he lived throughout the duration of the diaries, except for a period of 10 weeks internment [25 June- 1 September 1940].
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Diaries of Wilhelm Hollitscher, a Jewish refugee in England, 13 Jun 1939-16 Oct 1943. Hollitscher begins his diaries by remembering his last days in Vienna, but soon turns to a discussion of the political news of the day. In this case a secret meeting between Hitler and Mussolini. Hollitscher is furious about Hitler's treachery, abandoning South Tyrol as a gift to Mussolini. From this time on Hollitscher chronicles the political, and later, military developments and the diaries become a history of the period seen through the eyes of a Jewish emigrant living in England. The tense months leading up to the war, the declaration of war and the war itself are described. Likewise is the landing of Rudolf Hess; the bombing of English towns and later of German ones; Stalingrad; and even events in the Pacific and China.
Comments on the political situation are regularly interspersed with notes on family and friends, most of whom, seem to have escaped Austria. Letters written and received and the more mundane events of daily life at Petts Wood are recorded faithfully.
Hollitzer is very conscious of the fate of the Jews in Germany, Austria and Poland and he notes any news he receives. On the fourth anniversary of his arrival in England he is grateful for four years of a 'blessed old age' and for the fact that his children and grandchildren are safe and healthy. In 1943 he mentions heart troubles, difficulties in sleeping and cramps. The diaries close rather abruptly on 6 October 1943.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: German
System of arrangement:
Chronological
Conditions governing access:
Open
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Finding aids:
Descriptions of this archive exist on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Hollitscher family
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.
Date(s) of descriptions: February 2008