Hannele Kuhn: family papers

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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. The correspondence includes Red Cross telegrams between Hannele and her parents and an step-grandmother (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. (She wasn't Jewish but had married into the family). In one of the last telegrams from Hannele's father to the Levy sisters, Hannele's guardians in Britain, he announces the deportation of his wife (according to the Berlin Memorial Book to Jews to deported by the Nazis, she perished in Riga). He also mentions how terrified he was about the future. In fact he was deported a few weeks later to Auschwitz, where he perished. The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters from the parents to Hannele and her guardians, which provide a lot more detail. 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)