IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 765
Held at: Wiener Library
Title: Storch, Gilel (Hillel): relief of Jews in World War Two
Date(s): 1976-1981
Level of description: collection
Extent: 3 folders
Name of creator(s): Storch | Gilel (Hillel) | fl 1940-1982 | Latvian businessman
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Hillel (Gilel) Storch, was a Latvian Jew and Swedish resident, who helped save the lives of thousands of European Jews during the Nazi era. Born in Dvinsk, Latvia, he went to Riga where he was engaged in his father's world-wide business activities. He arrived in Stockholm in 1940 in transit to the USA. He decided to stay in Sweden primarily to keep in closer touch with his relatives who remained in Latvia. Before he arrived in Sweden he was already an active Zionist, having represented the Jewish Agency in Dvinsk and participated in the promotion of the emigration of 3000 Latvian Jews to Palestine. In Sweden he continued to work as a representative of the Jewish Agency (the forerunner to the Jewish government in Palestine). At the same time he represented the World Jewish Congress in Sweden. He was actively involved with promoting Zionist causes including providing assistance for Israel's war of independence. His most significant achievements were the rescue of some 20,000 Jewish and non-Jewish concentration camp inmates and the provision of humanitarian aid to concentration camp inmates.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Hillel (Gilel) Storch including copies of correspondence and enclosures between Storch and Gerald Fleming relating to relief and rescue of European Jewry towards the end of the Nazi era, 1976-1981; copies of correspondence and enclosures between Storch and Monty Penkower relate to Penkower's research for his book The Jews were Expendable, University of Illinois Press, 1983, on the diplomatic efforts to rescue and provide relief for Europe's Jews during the Holocaust, 26 Sep 1978-13 Jul 1979, the enclosures include the correspondence and other papers of, amongst others, Felix Kersten, Himmler's masseur; Count Folke Bernadotte, vice president of the Swedish Red Cross; Gerhart M. Riegner, World Jewish Congress, Sweden and Walter Schellenberg, Swedish diplomat. Copy of an article in Judisk Krönika, No. 1, 1981 on Storch's humanitarian achievements during the Nazi era.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: German, Swedish and English. Journal article on Storch is in Swedish with an English translation.
System of arrangement:
The material is divided into the following 3 folders: copies of correspondence and enclosures between Storch and Gerald Fleming, 765/1; copies of correspondence and enclosures between Storch and Monty Pekower, 765/2; copy of a journal article and translation, 765/3. The original order within the correspondence folders has largely been retained.
Conditions governing access:
Open
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Finding aids:
Detailed description on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
This collection comprises two separate deposits both made by Hillel (Gilel) Storch, in 1981 and Sep 1982.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: Mar 2008