Ernest R. Stiefel papers
Extent and Medium
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Creator(s)
- Ernest R. Stiefel
Biographical History
Ernest R. Stiefel (1921-2010) was born Ernst Stiefel in Frankfurt to Arthur (1879-1942) and Frieda Stiefel (1889-1942). His brother Siegfried immigrated to the United States in October 1938, and Ernest followed in July 1940, via Siberia, Manchuria, Korea, and Japan, and settled in Seattle. He served in the US Army and Air Force from 1943 to 1946, working as an intelligence officer in Europe, before returning to Seattle to work as an accountant and business advisor. His maternal grandmother, Amalie Strauss (1862-1949), left Germany for Montevideo in February 1941. His parents were deported east, towards Lublin, in May 1942 and killed.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Ernest R. Stiefel donated the Ernest R. Stiefel papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1996. The accessions formerly cataloged as 1996.A.0320, 1996.A.0335, 1996.A.0436 have been incorporated into this collection.
Scope and Content
The Ernest R. Stiefel papers include photocopies of emigration and expropriation documents, Jüdische Kultusvereinigung and Jüdischer Kulturbund documents, and personal narratives describing the Nazi persecution of the Stiefel family from Frankfurt am Main; German and international barriers to German emigration; and the confiscation of money, property, and possessions of family members who emigrated from Germany and of those who stayed behind. Emigration and expropriation documents consist of photocopies of original materials documenting the processes the Nazis used to confiscate money and property Ernest and Siegfried Stiefel and Amalie Strauss as they prepared to emigrate from Germany and from Arthur and Frieda Stiefel who remained behind. Records include correspondence and forms from offices such as the Jüdische Gemeinde Frankfurt, Amtsgericht Frankfurt, Zollfahndungsstelle, Finanzamt Frankfurt, Oberfinanzpräsident Kassel, Oberbürgmeister, American Consulate Stuttgart, Hilfsverein, and Auswärtiges Amt as well as Ernest’s passport, a family tree, affidavits of support, and travel papers. Jüdische Kultusvereinigung and Jüdischer Kulturbund documents consist of photocopies of notices informing Jewish residents of new rules, flyers for cultural programs such as concerts, and Ernest Stiefel’s Kulturbund membership card. Personal narratives include of three narratives by Stiefel recounting his family’s persecution under Nazi Germany: one drawing from his parents letters from Germany to America in 1940 and 1941, one describing his grandmother’s emigration from Germany to Montevideo, and one describing his own immigration to the United States. These narratives describe the major events in his family’s lives and his parents’ unsuccessful efforts to immigrate to the United States and fears about deportation, and they painstakingly detail the bureaucratic obstacles he, his brother, and his grandmother had to overcome in order to emigrate and the multiple ways the Nazi government confiscated his family’s money, property, and possessions.
System of Arrangement
The Ernest R. Stiefel papers are arranged as three series: I. Emigration and expropriation documents, approximately 1938-1996, II. Jüdische Kultusvereinigung and Jüdischer Kulturbund documents, approximately 1939-1996, III. Personal narratives, 1988, 1996
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Ernest R. Stiefel
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors--Washington (State)--Seattle--Personal narratives.
- Jewish property--Germany--Frankfurt am Main.
- Germany--Emigration and immigration--History--1933-1945.
- United States--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.
- Jewish refugees--Uruguay--Montevideo.
- Jewish refugees--Washington (State)--Seattle.
- Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
- Montevideo (Uruguay)
- Jews--Germany--Frankfurt am Main.
Genre
- Document