Ilse Sobel collection

The papers in this collection document the fate of a middle class German Jewish family from Hanover. Max Ostermann and Charlotte née Horwitz had two daughters, Ilse born 1920, and Hannelore, born 1922. Both the girls managed to flee to Great Britain before the outbbreak of World War II. Ilse settled in Glasgow where she married Bernhard Sobel, a Polish Jewish refugee. Hannelore settled in London. The parents, Max and Charlotte, perished in Auschwitz and Terezin respectvely. 

In addition, Ilse had a cousin, Werner Ostermann, who evidently escaped the Holocaust and joined the British army serving in Egypt and British Mandate Palestine. The collection includes a letter to Ilse from Werner's parents and other relatives, who had emigrated to Palestine. 

Kurt Horwitz, brother of Charlotte Ostermann, had at some point become resident in Switzerland, although he lost other family members in the Holocaust. Much of the original correspondence in this collection emanates from him and was sent to Ilse after the war.

Donated 27.2.2018

Donor: Alan Alexander