Eva Hirschel family papers

Identifier
irn552688
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2016.351.1
Dates
1 Jan 1914 - 31 Dec 2006, 1 Jan 1914 - 31 Dec 1975
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

box

oversize folders

1

2

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Hedwig Hirschel (born Hedwig Küchler) was born on 28 May 1902 in Glogau Schlesien, Germany (present-day Głogów, Poland) to Hirsch Leib and Elise (née Loebel) Küchler. She had at least two brothers, Theo (d. 1954) and Salo (1896-1939), and one sister, Felice (later Felice Jakob, 1891-1958). She became a typist in Glogau, and by 1923 had moved to Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland). Her daughter, Eva (1927-2015) was born in Breslau on 31 December 1927. Hedwig married Max Hirschel in 1939. Max Hirschel was born on 16 July 1906 in Kępno, Province of Posen (Present-day Kępno, Poland) to Bernhard and Ernestine (née Lewkowitz) Hirschel. He worked as a butcher and farmer with his father and lived in Breslau by 1922. His son, Horst, was born on 17 December 1930. Horst’s mother, Margarete Schild (b. 1908) also lived in Breslau. From 19 February-23 October 1935 Max was imprisoned in a prison in Breslau and the Lichtenburg concentration camp. He was imprisoned again from 9 November-22 December 1938 in the Buchenwald concentration camp. In May 1940 Hedwig, Max, Eva, and Horst fled Germany to Shanghai, China on the Italian ship the SS Conte Verde. While in Shanghai, Max worked in several butchers shops. Hedwig was sick during much of the war. Eva worked first as a governess for a French family, and then had several jobs in offices and factories. In October 1947 Eva and Hedwig immigrated to the United States on the SS General Gordon and settled in San Francisco, California. Max Left Shanghai in 1948 and went back to Germany. He stayed in the Wildflecken, Föhrenwald, and Camp Grohn displaced persons camps until August 1951 when he immigrated to the United States to Join Hedwig and Eva. Hedwig’s brother, Salo, was sent to the Sachsenshausen concentration camp in 1939 and perished shortly after being released. Her sister Felice was a survivor of the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Estate of Eva Hirschel

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Sabrina and Richard Kahn on behalf of the Estate of Eva Hirschel

Scope and Content

The collection documents the pre-war and Holocaust-era experiences of Hedwig, her daughter Eva, her husband Max, and his son Horst in Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland) until 1940 and Shanghai, China from 1940-1947. Included are identification and employment documents, testimonies, and photographs. Immigration papers primarily document Eva and Hedwig’s immigration to the United States in 1947.

System of Arrangement

The collection is arranged as two series: Series 1: Biographical materials, 1914-2006; Series 2: Photographs, 1915-1956

People

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.