Walter and Helene Simon: family papers

Identifier
WL1908
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 89250
Level of Description
Collection
Languages
  • German
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

  • Burgar, Alice

Biographical History

Erwin Rockwell (formerly Rachwalsky) left Berlin in 1933 to work as a civil engineer in Copenhagen, Denmark.   In 1936 he came to England as he had managed to get a job with London Transport, starting in January 1937.   Carla Simon joined him from Berlin  and they were married at Hampstead Registry Office on the 30th December 1936.  Their daughter, Alice, was born in London in September 1937.
Erwin's parents, Theodore (Theo) and Frieda Rachwalsky managed to get to the UK from Berlin, where Theo had been a general practitioner, shortly before the outbreak of war.
Carla’s parents, Walter and Helene, Simon remained in Berlin and were deported and killed at the Riga Ghetto in 1943. 

During the early part of the war Erwin and Stefan were interned as enemy aliens. It also appears that Carla was interned at the women’s internment camp, Rushen, on the Isle of Man along with her daughter, Alice, and her mother in law Frieda Rachwalsky.


Acquisition

Alice Burgar

Donated 10.12.2014

Donor: Burgar, Alice

Scope and Content

This collection contains the personal papers and correspondence of members of the extended family of Alice Burgar née Rockwell: mainly correspondence between her mother and father and her paternal grandparents in Berlin, Walter and Helene Simon. Also contained are personal documents of Alice's paternal grandfather and his mother, Clara Simon. In addition there is a folder of correspondence and papers from Alice's uncle, Stefan Helmut Simon, dated immediate post war.

System of Arrangement

Note that series 1908/2 and 1908/3 were bound folders, the contents of which had been numbered. The original order of these files have been retained which sometimes means they are not strictly chronological.

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Places

  • Berlin
This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.