Otto Herskovic memoir and papers
Extent and Medium
folders
5
Creator(s)
- Otto Herskovic
Biographical History
Otto Herskovic (1931-2014) was a native of Antwerp, Belgium. Following the German invasion in May 1940, Herskovic, his parents, and his elder sister Hilde escaped southward through Belgium into France, reaching southern France by late June. Initially the family stayed in various locations in the department of Tarn et Garronne, including Serignac, Varennes, and Toulouse. By late 1940, Otto's parents decided it would be best to send their children to the Chateau des Morelles, a children's home run by the OSE in Brout-Vernet, near Vichy, where Otto and Hilde remained for the better part of a year. Eventually, it was arranged to have both Otto and Hilde emigrate to the United States, and after several unsuccessful attempts to reach Marseilles and board a ship there, they managed to do so, travelling by ship to the Algerian port of Oran, and from there by train to Morocco, where they boarded the Nyassa, a Portuguese ship that took them to Baltimore. Later Otto lived with a foster family in St. Louis, but was eventually reunited with his parents and with other siblings, including his older brother William. When the latter opened a camera store in Los Angeles in 1957, he invited Otto to join him, and he worked in the family-owned Bel-Air Camera in Westwood for much of the rest of his life. Otto Herskovic died in Los Angeles in January 2014.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Atiyeh Nafari
Funding Note: The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign.
Atiyeh Nafari, donated her late husband's diary and documents, with the assistance of Patricia Herskovic, in 2015.
Scope and Content
Diary, handwritten, composed by Otto Herskovic, at the age of 15, immediately following the end of World War II. In it, he recounts his family's experiences during the German invasion of Belgium, his family's flight to southern France, and the experiences of him and his sister while at an O.S.E.-administered children's home, and later, as part of a convoy of children who were sent to the United States via North Africa in July 1942 with the help of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children (USCOM). Included are hand-drawn maps of places referenced in the diary, photographs, news clippings, and identification documents for Herskovic and his mother, Emma Herskovic. Also included are documents relating to Otto Herskovic's service in the U.S. Army (circa 1950-1955). The “Biographical” series of documents includes Herskovic’s birth certificate, a copy of a Red Cross letter he and his sister received from their parents after the liberation of France in late 1944, identification cards from the period that Herskovic served in the U.S. Army, including a driver’s license, his Selective Service registration card, and a letter of reference, as well as a much later document from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in which Herskovic began to write down information about his wartime experiences. The “Photograph” series consists of five photographic prints, including one showing a group of children in France, among which were Otto and Hilde, two prints of passengers on a ship, presumably including Otto, and two photos from camps in France, which may have been the ones where Emile and Emma Herskovic were held. The “Writings” series consists of the original memoir written by Herskovic in English, in 1946, as well as a photocopy of the same and a later typescript version of it. The original diary includes hand-colored maps and drawings of the locations in France that his family fled to, as well as a map depicting the stops on Otto’s journey to the United States, and various news clippings from the era as well.
System of Arrangement
The collection is arranged in three series: I. Biographical, II. Photographs, III. Writings, and in rough chronological order within each series.
People
- Herskovic, Hilde.
- Herskovic, Emma.
- Herskovic, Emile.
- Herskovic, Otto, 1931-2014.
Corporate Bodies
- World Union OSE
- United States Committee for the Care of European Children
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--France.
- Broût-Vernet (France)
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Jewish refugees--United States.
- Jews--Belgium--Antwerp.
- Emigration & immigration--United States.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--France.
- Hidden children (Holocaust)--France.
- France
Genre
- Identification documents.
- Photographs.
- Document
- Personal Narratives.
- Diary.
- Memoirs.