Simon family collection

Identifier
irn107284
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2015.204.1
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folders

oversize box

4

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Lore Deutsch was born Lore Simon on February 16, 1929 in Karlsruhe, Germany, to physician Julius Simon (1886-1953) and Gerda Simon (née Bundheim, 1906-1996). Julius’ parents were Leopold and Auguste Simon. Gerda’s parents were Elias (August 29, 1868-1942) and Martha Bundheim (November 6, 1876-1942), and she had two brothers, Erich (b. 1903) and Paul. Julius and Gerda met at a seaside resort, married in 1928, and had Lore in 1929. The Simon family immigrated to the United States in January 1939. Gerda’s brother Paul immigrated to South Africa with his wife and two children in the 1930s. Gerda’s parents and Margrieta (Griet) Bundheim van der Wijk (b. 1894) were deported on October 16, 1942 from Westerbork to Auschwitz and killed. Erich Bundheim (b. 1903) was deported on July 16, 1942 from Westerbork to Ravensbrück, but it is unclear where he perished.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Lore Simon Deutsch

Lore Deutsch donated the Simon family papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2015.

Scope and Content

The Simon family papers include correspondence, passports, photographic materials, and a War Bond documenting Julius, Gerda, and Lore Simon from Karlsruhe and their immigration to the United States in 1939. Correspondence includes a 1941 letter and six 1942 Red Cross forms from the Bundheim family in Assen, Germany to the Simon family in New York as well as 1946 Red Cross letter tracing the fates of Elias, Griet, Martha, and Erich Bundheim. A 1933 German passport documents Julius and Lore Simon, and a 1938 passport marked with a red “J” documents Gerda Simon. Photographs depict Lore with her parents, her aunts Jenny Gotschalk and Rosa Benjamin, her paternal uncle Sali Simon, her cousins Lutz and Ruth Benjamin and Margot Bundheim, grandfather Elias Bundheim, and other family and friends at home, in Karlsruhe, and on vacation. The collection also includes a $25 U.S. War Bond Julius and Gerda purchased for Lore and a newspaper clipping showing a photograph of the couple buying the bond from Henry Morgenthau, Jr.

System of Arrangement

The Simon family papers are arranged as a single series.

People

Subjects

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.