Emil Oettinger papers
Extent and Medium
box
oversize boxes
oversize folder
1
2
1
Creator(s)
- Emil Oettinger
Biographical History
Emil Oettinger (April 28, 1901-February 25, 1966) was born in Krumbach, Germany to Salomon (Sally, 1850-1908) and Dolce Ullmann Oettinger (1862-1934). He had three siblings (Karl, Ricka, and Lilli Oettinger) and several half-siblings from his father’s first marriage. He lived in Hamburg and married Käthe Cohn Oettinger (January 3, 1897-December 25, 1974) in July 1938. Käthe was born in in Lüneburg to John Cohn (1867-1911) and Ernestine Becker Cohn (1870-1936) and had a brother named Martin. Emil had found contact information for people with his last name in New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Boston, and began writing them in July 1938 for help emigrating. Bertha Oettinger of Washington, DC, discovered that she was a distant cousin of Emil’s, and with the help of her brother, James E. Rosenthal, and her daughter and son-in-law, Dorothy and Allen DeFord, she was able to provide the necessary affidavit for Emil and Käthe. Emil also investigated leaving for England, India, and Trinidad and Tobago. The couple sailed from Hamburg aboard the SS President Harding in April 1939 and arrived in New York in May.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
Irma Chorvinsky donated the Emil Oettinger papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 as power-of-attorney for the Oettinger family estate.
Scope and Content
The Emil Oettinger papers consist primarily of correspondence and photographs documenting the family of Emil Oettinger from Hamburg, Germany, and his plans to emigrate with his wife Käthe in 1939. The collection also includes biographical materials documenting their parents as well as emigration and immigration files including some of the records they needed to prepare in order to emigrate. Biographical material include announcements and poems documenting the wedding of Martin and Bertel Cohn and of Emil and Käthe Oettinger; notices, memory cards, and a mourning album documenting the deaths of John and Ernestine Cohn and Dolce Oettinger; attestations documenting Käthe’s employment history; and a certificate documenting Emil Oettinger’s relinquishment of his driver’s license according to the Nuremberg laws. Correspondence files document Emil and Käthe’s efforts to find support for the emigration from Germany, particularly from Americans named “Oettinger” who might be relatives. These records also include correspondence with the American Consulate in Hamburg and the German Jewish Aid Committee in London. Emigration and immigration files include some of the correspondence, forms, and notices Emil and Käthe prepared while seeking to emigrate to India, Trinidad and Tobago, or the United States. Photographic materials include three photograph albums and many loose photographs depicting Emil and Käthe Oettinger, the Oettinger and Cohn families, and friends, in prewar Germany. Most of the photographs date from the 19th century, World War I, and the interwar years.
System of Arrangement
The Emil Oettinger papers are arranged as four series: Series 1: Biographical material, 1911-1938 Series 2: Correspondence, 1938-1940 Series 3: Emigration and immigration files, 1936-1939 Series 4: Photographic material, approximately 1900-1963
People
- Oettinger, Käthe, 1897-1974.
- Oettinger, Emil, 1901-1966.
Subjects
- United States--Emigration and immigration--20th century.
- Hamburg (Germany)
- World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Germany.
- Jewish refugees.
- Jews--Germany--Hamburg.
Genre
- Document
- Correspondence.
- Photographs.