IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 1574
Held at: Wiener Library
Title: Kuhn, Hannele (c 1925): Family papers
Date(s): 1893-1945
Level of description: collection
Extent: 1 file
Name of creator(s): Kuhn | Hannele | c 1925 | Jewish refugee
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
This collection of family papers consists primarily of letters from the Jewish parents, Franz and Hertha Kuhn in Berlin, to their daughter, Hannele or Hannah, who had managed to find refuge in Great Britain, having come out on one of the Kindertransporte in 1939. The letters give a very moving account of the trials and tribulations of a very close-knit, loving family split asunder by the Nazis and ultimately condemned to death.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Hannele Kuhn, 1893-1945, comprise family correspondence and papers. The letters give a very moving account of the experience of a very close-knit, family split by the Nazis and ultimately condemned to death. The correspondence includes Red Cross telegrams between Hannele and her parents and an aunt (Meta) in Treibnitz, who was last heard of towards the end of the war and is thought to have been killed during the Russian advance. The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters from the parents to Hannele and her guardians. The first few deal with a failed attempt to get Hannele out by the Salvation Army. Most of them are dated up to end of 1940, by which time they were smuggled out by a mutual friend.
Amongst the last letters are a couple from the intermediary after the deportation of Hertha and Franz. Perhaps the most poignant is the parents' last letter, dated 22 June 1942, which, having been re-read some 50 years later by Hannele, is thought to be a farewell letter, containing words of advice on how to lead her life. In addition to the above are a few copy birth, marriage and death certificates pertaining to the Kirk family (Hannele's husband, also a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany).
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: German and English
System of arrangement:
Chronological by material type and subject matter.
Conditions governing access:
Open
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Finding aids:
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Deposited by the Family.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.
Date(s) of descriptions: March 2008