Max Wachtel and Herbert Wolf family collection

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• irn40038
• English
• boxes 2
• Updated 7 months ago

Collection of letters, documents, and photographs relating to Max and Erna Wachtel from Erfurt, Germany; their daughter Ursula Wachtel (donor's mother); and her brother Hans Wachtel, who served in the US Army and wrote letters to his parents while during the war. Also includes a passport and other documents relating to Herbert Wolf (donor's father), from Freiburg, Germany.

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• irn40039
• English
• 1914-1918
• a: Height: 2.375 inches (6.033 cm) | Width: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) b: Height: 11.375 inches (28.893 cm) | Width: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm)
• Updated 7 months ago

Iron Cross awarded to Max Wachtel for service in the German Army during World War I, 1914-1918. After four years of increasingly antisemitic Nazi rule, Max’s shoe factory in Erfurt, Germany, was confiscated in 1937 because he was Jewish. Max was able to get immigration visas for the United States, with the sponsorship of relatives in Ohio. On May 14, 1938, Max, his wife Erna, and children, Ursula and Hans, sailed from Hamburg to the US on the President Roosevelt. They arrived on May 21 and settled in Cincinnati.

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• irn40040
• English
• overall: Height: 4.125 inches (10.478 cm) | Width: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm)
• Updated 7 months ago

Military patch that may have belonged to Hans Wachtel, who served in the United States Army from 1942-1945. It resembles a standard army rank patch for a Master Sergeant that has been trimmed. Hans and his family had left Nazi Germany in 1937 after the shoe factory owned by his father, Max, in Erfurt, Germany, was confiscated because he was Jewish. Max was able to get immigration visas for the US and on May 14, 1938, 16 year old Hans, his parents, and his sister sailed from Hamburg on the President Roosevelt. Hans volunteered for the U.S. Army on May 14, 1941. He was trained to interrogate ...

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• irn40041
• English
• overall: Height: 3.875 inches (9.843 cm) | Width: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm)
• Updated 7 months ago

US Army Technician, 5th grade patch that may have belonged to Hans Wachtel, who served in the United States Army from 1942-1945. Hans and his family had left Nazi Germany in 1937 after the shoe factory owned by his father, Max, in Erfurt, Germany, was confiscated because he was Jewish. Max was able to get immigration visas for the US and on May 14, 1938, 16 year old Hans, his parents, and his sister sailed from Hamburg on the President Roosevelt. Hans volunteered for the U.S. Army on May 14, 1941. He was trained to interrogate German POWs and to go undercover behind enemy lines. On June 18,...