Sonja Speyer Echt papers

Identifier
irn646496
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2019.260.1
Dates
1 Jan 1927 - 31 Dec 2014
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

box

oversize folder

1

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Sonja Speyer Echt (born Sofie Speyer or Speier, 1926-) was born on 20 August 1926 in Guxhagen, Germany to Emanuel and Betty Speyer. Emanuel (1884-1941?) was born in Guxhagen in 1884 to Salomon and Regine Speyer. Betty (née Neumann, 1894-) was born in 1894 in Burgpreppach, Germany to Wolf and Sofie (née Friedmann) Neumann. Sonja had one sister, Rita (later Rita Güthermann, b. 1923), and one brother, Siegfried (b. 1930). The family kept a kosher household. Emanuel was a World War I veteran and he and Betty married in 1920 in Kassel, Germany. He ran his own business and Betty did his bookkeeping. Fearing for her safety after receiving beatings from both the students and teachers at her school in Guxhagen in 1937, Sonja’s parents sent her to Kassel. Her mother’s brother Solomon lived there and helped place her in a Jewish orphanage. He arranged for her to go on a Kindertransport and in February 1938 she boarded the SS Manhattan for the United States. After arriving in New York, she was placed in Columbus, Ohio as a foster child. Sonja’s father was arrested during Kristallnacht in November 1938 and briefly imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp until 15 December 1938. Her parents and siblings were deported from Guxhagen to the Riga ghetto on 6 December 1941. Emanuel, Betty, and Siegfried likely perished in the ghetto or at Auschwitz. Sonja’s sister Rita survived the Holocaust and immigrated to the United States in 1946 aboard the SS Marine Perch.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Irving Birkner

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2019 by Irving Birkner.

Scope and Content

The collection documents the pre-war, wartime, and post-war experiences of Sonja Speyer Echt, originally of Guxhagen, Germany, including her childhood in Guxhagen, immigration to the United States in February 1938 on a Kindertransport, and her efforts to receive restitution from Germany. Included is her German passport, a copy of her birth certificate, a wartime postcard from her family in Guxhagen, genealogy notes, One Thousand Children reunion materials, restitution claims, and photographs. The photographs include depictions of Sonja, her sister Rita, Berta, and family tombstones.

System of Arrangement

The collection is arranged as a single series.

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Copyright Holder: Mr. Irving Birkner

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.