Siegfried Halbreich papers
Extent and Medium
boxes
oversize folders
10
6
Creator(s)
- Siegfried Halbreich
Biographical History
Siegfried Halbreich (1909-2008) was born in Dziedzice, in the Upper Silesia region of Poland. After his graduation from high school, he served briefly in the Polish Army from 1930-1932, before attending the University of Krakow to become a pharmacist. He practiced pharmacy in Katowice, Poland from 1935-1939 before the outbreak of World War II. At the outbreak of war, Halbreich was drafted back into the Polish Army and fought for thirteen days until Poland surrendered and his battalion was dissolved. Following his brief period in the army, Halbreich returned home to Katowice. After two weeks, a transport for Jewish men was being arranged by the Germans, and so he escaped by train through Germany and Austria, before being stopped at the border in Yugoslavia, where a German spy in the Yugoslavian army arrested Halbreich and turned him over to the Gestapo. From that point until the end of World War II, Halbreich was imprisoned in concentrations camps; first at Sachsenhausen, and then later Gross-Rosen, Buna/Monowitz in Auschwitz, and Dora-Nordhausen where he was eventually liberated in 1945. Upon release, Halbreich worked with the American War Crimes Department as an interpreter in preparation for the Nuremberg Trials. He also gave testimony to the Polish War Crimes Commission and testified against Adolf Eichmann in 1960. Halbreich immigrated to the United States in 1946, settling first in Cleveland, Ohio, and later in Beverly Hills, California, where he ran a picture framing business. Halbreich spent much of his later years educating on the Holocaust, giving many lectures to schools around the country. In Los Angeles, he was active in the “1939 Club,” where he served as President from 1976 to 1977, and he was also active in the Martyr’s Memorial and Museum of the Holocaust in Los Angeles, as well as the local branch of the Anti-Defamation League.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
The Siegfried Halbreich papers are a result of several donations to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Siegfried Halbreich. These donations over a span of time from 1993 to 2005. Each collection was given a separate accession number at the time of donation: 1995.A.0178, 1996.A.0541, 1997.A.0202, 2000.65, and 2005.144. These collections have since been unified and can be located under 1995.A.0178.
Scope and Content
The Siegfried Halbreich papers contain primarily the subject files of Siegfried Halbreich, a concentration camp survivor who spent much of his later life lecturing and educating about the Holocaust. Included in his papers are thank you letters, various subject files which include his manuscript memoir, invitations to lectures, and correspondence with various organizations. Also included are several publications and articles regarding the Holocaust. The Siegfried Halbreich papers contain the desk files of Siegfried Halbreich. The “Correspondence related to speaking engagements” series contains a variety of letters related primarily to Halbreich’s speaking engagements at schools, universities, temples, churches, and various civic organizations, mostly around the greater Los Angeles area, from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s. Included is correspondence from event organizers thanking Halbreich for his lectures, letters of appreciation from those who attended, including a large amount of correspondence from school children, and fliers, newsletters, newspaper clippings, and other printed material related to Halbreich’s appearances. Also included is correspondence related to his activities working with the Martyr’s Memorial and Museum of the Holocaust in Los Angeles, California. The “Subject files” series contains correspondence, transcripts, texts, brochures, newsletters, clippings, and other materials collected by Halbreich over the years, including materials related to the organizations that Halbreich participated in or supported. Other items in this include articles regarding specific topics, speeches Halbreich had given, and a copy of the manuscript for his memoir, “Before-During-After.” The “Publications” series contains carious books and articles concerning the Holocaust as well.
System of Arrangement
The Siegfried Halbreich papers are arranged as three series: •Series 1: Thank you letters, 1976-2004 •Series 2: Subject files, 1942-2004 •Series 3: Publications, 1945-2000
People
- Halbreich, Siegfried.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German.
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation--Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia)
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation.
- Silesia (Poland : Voivodeship)
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Germany.
- War crime trials.
- Holocaust survivors.
Genre
- Photographs.
- Newspapers.
- Document
- Articles.
- Correspondence.