Ullman family papers

Identifier
irn559298
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2017.654.1
  • 2021.147
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Dutch
  • German
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

boxes

oversize boxes

oversize folders

folder

3

17

3

1

3 negatives,

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Frank Ullman (born Frans Leopold Ullmann, 1913-2009) was born in Cologne, Germany to Salomon Ullmann (“Saly,” d. 1956) and Annemarie Ullmann-Loeb (“Aennie,” née Loeb). He had one brother Fritz. Frank moved from Germany to Utrecht, Netherlands in 1932 and worked for the Dutch department store De Beijenkorf. He married Emily Konijn in 1936. In 1939 they moved to Amsterdam, and shortly after their first son, Leopold (“Leo”) was born. Emily Ullman (“Lotje,” née Konijn, 1913-1990) was born in Amsterdam to Bertha Konijn-Prins (1880-1963) and Salomon Konijn. She had three siblings, Abraham, Margaret (later Margaret Warendorf Konijn, 1904-1968), and Juliemarthe (later Juliemarthe Jacobs-Konijn). Her father co-owned a diamond cutting business with his brother Soesman Konijn. After the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, several of Frank and Emily’s relatives were able to immigrate to the United States, including Emily’s sister Juliemarthe and her husband Joost Jacobs, and Frank’s uncle Herbert Loeb and his wife Nellie and their two sons. In 1941 Frank lost his job at De Beijenkorf. In 1942 Jews in German-occupied Amsterdam began to get deported to concentration camps, and Frank and Emily decided to go into hiding. Through Piet Hoogenboom, a family friend, they obtained false identification papers for themselves, Frank’s parents, his grandmother Sibille Jumpertz-Loeb (“Oma Munchen-Mum,” d. 1943?), and Emily’s mother. Through Emily’s sorority (Arktos) sister Aleida Schot and the Dutch Reformed Church, they arranged for Leo to be placed with Hendrik and Jannigje Schimmel in an Amsterdam suburb by 1943. Facing an increasingly dangerous situation, the Schimmels helped get Leo to an orphanage in Amsterdam in March 1945. Frank, Emily, and Emily’s cousin Abraham Konijn hid with the Peyster family in their attic for the duration of the war. After liberation, Emily and Frank were reunited with Leo, and they remained in Amsterdam. Their second son, Hank (born Hendrik Jan Ullmann, “Henk”) was born in 1946. Jeannette Kalker (later Jeanette Ringold, b. 1939), the daughter of Emily’s cousin Abraham’s sister Martha Frederika Konijn, moved in with the Ullmans after the war. Jeannette was also a hidden child and her parents perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In December 1947 the Ullmans immigrated to the United States via the MS Westerdam. They settled in Port Washington where Emily’s sister Juliemarthe and mother Bertha lived. Leo graduated from Harvard College and Columbia University, and also served in the United States Marine Corps. He then went on to have a career in law and real estate. He is active with the Holocaust & Genocide Studies program at Stockton University.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Leo S. Ullman

The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Leo S. Ullman in 2017.

Scope and Content

The collection documents the Holocaust-era experiences of Frank, Emily, and Leo Ullman who survived the Holocaust in hiding in and around Amsterdam. The collection included pre-war, wartime, and post-war biographical material, correspondence, photographs, writings, and publications regarding the Ullman (previously Ullmann), Loeb, and Konijn families in the Netherlands. Biographical material includes genealogical papers; identification papers of Frank, Emily, and Leo Ullman; documents regarding Frank’s career with De Beijenkorf; material related to other members of the Ullman and Konijn families; and a small amount of immigration papers. The correspondence series consists of four subseries. Emily’s correspondence includes pre-war letters from Frank, her sorority sisters, and other relatives and friends. Frank’s correspondence includes pre-war letters from Emily, relatives, and friends. Correspondence addressed to Emily and Frank is primarily comprised of letters sent to them by family members, including letters from their parents and grandparents in hiding in Utrecht and elsewhere during the Holocaust. Also included are letters from the Schimmel family who hid Leo during the war. Other family correspondence consists of pre-war and post-war family letters exchanged by relatives. Photographs consist of photograph and photograph albums subseries. Both primarily consist of pre-war photographs of the Ullman, Konijn, and Loeb families with depictions of family life, weddings, and vacations in Europe and the United States. Wartime photographs include photographs of Leo in hiding with the Schimmel family. There are also post-war photographs of the Ullmans after they immigrated to the United States. Writings and publications include Allied Expeditionary Forces broadsides; a cookbook Bertha Konijn-Prins began in 1917 but also included recipes added later presumably by Emily; clippings; a booklet about a rug factory owned by Maurits Prins in Dinxperlo, Nertherlands (also included some family history); a personal narrative manuscript by Emily Ullman; and a copy of a presentation by Leo Ullman about his family’s story. Also included are wartime era poems by Emily and Frank to each other, a poem by Abraham Konijn for the Peyster family, and a poem by Rie Peyster to Frank and Emily on the one year anniversary of the Ullmans hiding with the Peyster family. The audio-visual material consists of a copy on VHS cassette of a televised program with Frank, Emily, and Leo discussing their Holocaust experiences.

System of Arrangement

The collection is arranged as five series. Series 1. Biographical material, 1908-2002; Series 2. Correspondence, 1927-1957 and undated; Series 3. Photographs, circa 1880-2001 and undated; Series 4. Writings and publications, 1917-2016; Series 5. Audio visual materials, 1998

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Copyright Holder: Leo S. Ullman

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.