Inge Fischer Engel papers
Extent and Medium
boxes
book enclosures
oversize folders
4
6
2
Creator(s)
- Inge Fischer Engel
Biographical History
Inge Engel (1927-2013) was born in Vienna to Ernst Fischer (1881-1944), chief editor of the Kronen Zeitung newspapers, and his wife, Liesl Fischer (nee Neubauer), who worked for the Jüdische Kultus Gemeinde. Inge’s sister Lucy was born in December 1930. The Fischer family left Vienna in 1937, and Inge and Lucy spent two years in England before joining their parents in Trinidad. The family was interned as enemy aliens for just over a year following the outbreak of World War II. Ernst Fischer died in 1944 following surgery, and Inge, Liesl, and Lucy immigrated to the United States in 1945. Inge married Walter Engel (1911-1990), who had immigrated from Vienna in 1938, joined the United States Army, and worked for Voice of America and the United States Foreign Service.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Inge Engel
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Funding Note: The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign.
Gathered by Inge Engel during the time period surrounding WWII and donated by her to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011.
Scope and Content
The Inge Fischer Engel papers consist of biographical materials, a diary and autograph book, photographic materials, and printed materials documenting the Fischer family from Vienna, the two years Inge and her sister spent in England, the family’s emigration to Trinidad, their internment in Trinidad, and their immigration to the United States. The collection also includes photographs documenting Inge’s uncle in Shanghai and the Canidrome where he worked as director, photographs of her husband’s family from Vienna, and student and employment records documenting her brother-inlaw, Otto Engel. Biographical materials include Ernst and Liesl Fischer’s marriage announcement and Otto Fischer’s student and employment records. The diary and autograph book belonged to Inge Fischer. She received the diary from her mother in October 1936 and started writing in it in February 1937. Her entries describe daily life and school in Vienna, outings with her family, the German annexation of Austria, her father being fired from his job, fleeing to England on the advice of a friend, attending boarding school in Folkestone, missing her parents, the other girls at her school, and learning English. In May 1939, the entries switch from German to English and describe Inge’s new life in Trinidad, the St. James Internment Camp, release from internment, her dating life, and her desire to go to America. The autograph book includes entries from Inge’s school friends in both English and German in the form of signatures, notes, poetry, and drawings. Photographic materials include seven photo albums and loose photographs documenting the Fischer family in Vienna, Italy, Brazil, and Trinidad, Inge’s uncle A. Otto Fischer and the Canidrome where he worked as director in Shanghai, and the Engel family in Vienna. Some photograph albums also include postcards, invitations, and programs documenting the Fischers’ life in Trinidad. Printed materials include clippings of published photographs of Liesl and Inge Fischer, a blank chart from the Royal Netherlands Steamship Company, a copy of S.S.C. Magazine from St. Stephen’s College in Folkestone, and a 1930 copy of La Grande Illustrazione d’Italia.
System of Arrangement
The Inge Fischer Engel papers are arranged as four series: I. Biographical materials, 1915-1982, II. Diary and autograph book, 1936-1942, III. Photographic materials, approximately 1900-1947, IV. Printed materials, 1929-1938
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Mrs. Inge Engel
Subjects
- Trinidad.
- Jews--China--Shanghai.
- Jewish refugees--Trinidad and Tobago--Trinidad.
- Cattolica (Italy)
- Jews--Austria--Vienna.
- Jewish refugees--England--Folkestone.
- Folkestone (England)
- Shanghai (China)
- Vienna (Austria)
Genre
- Document
- Diaries.
- Photographs.