Jacobson and David families papers
Extent and Medium
folders
8
Creator(s)
- David family
- Jacobson family
Biographical History
Moritz and Berta Jacobson lived in Liepāja, Latvia and had five children: Arthur, Jacob, Issie, Necha (Nanny), and Paula. Nanny remained in Liepāja with her husband, Meyer David, but her siblings all left Latvia for South Africa before World War I: Issie to Durban; Arthur to Pretoria; Jacob to Johannesburg; and Paula to the small Transvaal town of Carolina. Paula married Israel Sandler from Lithuania, and in 1937 their daughter Milly married Jack Bennie whose family was also from Lithuania.
Meyer David (1882-1960) was a banker and lived in Liepāja, Latvia with his wife, Necha (Nanny) Jacobson David (1882-1956). The couple is believed to have been exiled to Siberia (Kazachinskoye, Krasnoyarsk province) in the weeks before the German attack on the USSR in 1941, to have escaped in April 1947, and to have been sent back to Siberia in October 1950. Nanny died in Kazachinskoye in 1956. Meyer visited family members in Minsk and Tallinn before settling in Nemenčinė, where he died in 1960. Most of his relatives were killed in the Holocaust.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Isme Bennie
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.
Isme Bennie donated the Jacobson and David families papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014.
Scope and Content
The Jacobson and David families papers consist of correspondence, photographs, and journals of poetry documenting the Jacobson and David families of Liepāja, Latvia; Paula Jacobson Sandler’s youth in Liepāja; Meyer and Nanny David’s exile to Siberia; and Meyer David’s last years in Minsk, Tallinn, and Nemenčinė. Several of the letters and poetry are translated into English. T Correspondence is primarily addressed to Paula Sandler and her daughter Milly Bennie in South Africa from Meyer and Nanny David in Europe. The correspondence documents the Davids’ refuge in Riga during World War I, pre-World War II Europe, the Davids’ postwar life in Saldus, their second Siberian exile in Kazachinskoye (Krasnoyarsk province), Nanny’s death, and Meyer’s visits to relatives in Minsk and Tallinn before settling in Nemenčinė. Two poetry books document Paula Jacobson Sandler’s youth in Latvia. Also included are photographs depicting Meyer and Nanny David and Moritz Jacobson.
System of Arrangement
The Jacobson and David families papers are arranged as a single series.
Subjects
- Krasnoi︠a︡rskiĭ kraĭ (Russia)
- Exiles--Russia (Federation)--Siberia--Correspondence.
- Nemenčinė (Lithuania)
- Jews--South Africa--Carolina.
- Tallinn (Estonia)
- Liepāja (Latvia)
- Jews--Latvia--Liepāja.
- Jews--Latvia--History--20th century.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Latvia.
- Minsk (Belarus)
Genre
- Personal narratives.
- Photographs.
- Document