Archive of Ingeborg Herlitz

The four volumes that make up the personal archive of Ingeborg Herlitz contain various documents related to her work at Lärbro military hospital in Gotland, where Herlitz served as a health counselor to former prisoners of concentration camps suffering from tuberculosis. Herlitz maintained correspondence with a notable number of Jewish survivors whom she cared for during her service at Lärbro Hospital, hailing from such countries as Germany, Greece, Poland, and Italy. The letters in the volumes contain information on her patients’ whereabouts following their departure from Lärbro, providing information on their post-war resettlements and subsequent migrations.

Furthermore, the volumes contain memos of Herlitz’s reflections and experiences during her stay at Lärbro, including commentary on the patients’ living conditions, their diffuse backgrounds, and the process of their recuperation and eventual recovery. Her patients included many Jewish children and youths under the age of 18 whose health conditions prevented them from receiving care and accommodation from the Jewish Community of Stockholm. Herlitz’s memoirs also include select retellings of individual patients’ stories on how they ended up in Lärbro, which the author found most memorable and tragic. Memos of other staff members, offering commentaries on Herlitz’s work at the hospital and the patients themselves.

The collection also includes a collection of bureaucratic documents related to Herlitz’s work in Lärbro, including her original application for the position of counselor at the hospital, requests for equipment and supplies for Lärbro hospital, as well as reports from state institutions regarding the status of her former patients, which Herlitz had presumably requested.

The collection is thematically structured in four volumes (boxes).