Fred Freuthal papers
Extent and Medium
folders
4
Creator(s)
- Fred Freuthal
Biographical History
Fred Freuthal was born in 1932 to Paul (b. Hamburg, 1901-1996) and Grete (née Weiss, b. Vienna, 1908-1998). Paul and Grete married on December 30, 1928. Fred, an only child, was born in Berlin, where the family lived for a year before moving to Konigsburg, then Vienna. In the spring of 1939, Fred was chosen to go to the United States under the supervision of two Americans, Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, as part of a group later known as the "50 children." Paul and Grete were able to immigrate to the United States a few months later aboard the Statendam, which left port on September 3, 1939. They were sponsored by Carrie and Joe Ehrenwald of Brooklyn, NY, and a friend of Paul's, Leonard Kaupf. They lived briefly in New York before moving to Pittsburgh. Paul sold aluminum pots, while Grete worked as a seamstress. After several years, they opened a restaurant and deli. Fred became a microbiologist and hematologist. Both Paul and Grete's mothers--Hilda Freuthal and Malvina Weiss--did not survive, despite Paul’s and Grete’s attempted to assist with Malvina's emigration. Paul also lost a sister and brother-in-law, Trudi and Rudi Kamm, who were murdered in Sobibor.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Fred Freuthal
Fred Freuthal donated this collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2015.
Scope and Content
The Fred Freuthal papers include correspondence, personal narratives, and photocopies of clippings and photographs documenting Fred Freuthal’s immigration to the United States as one of a group of children selected by Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus ("the 50 children") in the spring of 1939, his parents’ immigration in the fall of 1939, and their efforts to help his grandmother immigrate in 1941. Correspondence includes letters and a postcard Fred Freuthal wrote to his parents in Vienna from France and the United States just before and after his immigration and a letter from a caregiver assuring his parents that he was doing well. The collection also includes photocopies of JDC correspondence documenting Grete Freuthal’s efforts to bring her mother to the United States. Brief personal narratives entitled "Paul and Grete Freuthal's Flight from Austria" and "The Freuthal Story" describe the immigration of Fred's parents, Paul and Grete, to the United States in September 1939. Photocopies of family photographs depict Fred Freuthal, his parents, and his grandmother in Austria and Fred at Camp Brith Shalom near Philadelphia. Photocopies of clippings depict the arrival of Fred’s and his parents’ ships in New York in the spring and fall of 1939.
System of Arrangement
The Fred Freuthal papers are arranged as four folders.
People
- Freuthal, Fred.
- Freuthal, Grete.
- Freuthal, Paul.
Subjects
- Vienna (Austria)--Emigration and immigration.
- Emigration and immigration--Germany--1930-1940.
- Refugee children--United States.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Austria--Personal narratives, Jewish.
Genre
- Document