Jewish family life pre-war; skiing
Creator(s)
- Gertrude Weyl (Subject)
- Eric Weyl (Camera Operator)
- Elsa (Lieschen) Weyl (Subject)
- Ruth Geall
- Else Weyl (Subject)
- Peter Weyl (Subject)
- Paul T. Weyl (Subject)
Biographical History
Eric Weyl (1898-1968) married Else Fleischer (1904-1957) in 1923 in Reichenbach. They had two children, Klaus Peter and Doris. Eric fought for Germany in the First World War and was decorated. Else's father, Willi Fleischer, was a prominent German Jewish textile mill owner and Eric became the manager of his factory. On Kristallnacht, Eric was arrested and beaten along with other male family members. He was imprisoned for two weeks but released because of his war record. The Weyl family was forced to sell the textile factory to high Nazi officials, Guenter and Gerhard Jordan. Shortly after, they left Germany for Manchester, England where they lived with Eric's brother and reconnected with their children, Peter and Doris. In 1940, Eric was interned in the UK as a German alien, and later departed for the US. He found work as a textile engineer and consulted across the Southern US. Other Weyl and Fleischer family members also survived the Holocaust, either in hiding or outside Nazi Germany.
Klaus Peter Weyl (born May 6, 1924) lived in Reichenbach with his parents, Eric Weyl and Else Fleischer, and his sister, Doris. They were a religious family and regularly attended synagogue. In 1938, shortly after his Bar Mitzvah, Peter went to England to stay with his aunt and uncle; Doris followed on a Kindertransport; Else and her husband Eric arrived later that year. Peter went to Manchester Grammar School and was interned on his 16th birthday in 1940 in the UK as a German alien along with his father. The family eventually emigrated to the US where Peter joined the US Army and served during World War II as a translator in Germany. He later studied nuclear physics at the University of Chicago, gaining a PhD and becoming a Professor of Oceanography at SUNY Stony Brook. He married Muriel Reisman in 1948 and had three children.
Paul Weyl (1903-1976) was a general practitioner in Germany before World War II. When he was no longer able to practice medicine as a Jew around 1933, he moved to the UK with his wife Gretel Bach and two children, where he continued work as a GP.
Gertrude Weyl (1907-2002) married Paul Ross, a German-Jewish doctor. He cared for her father, Bernard, a well-off shop keeper suffering from Parkinson's disease. Gertrude and Paul and their two daughters left in 1940 for Australia.
Elsa Weyl, the mother of Eric, Paul, Gertrude, and another child who died young, lived in Muenchen Gladbach with her husband, Bernard Weyl. She was able to secure a visa to leave Germany and her son Paul begged her to come to England. She refused to leave her husband who was suffering from Parkinson's disease (he died in 1941). Elsa was killed in a concentration camp.
Else Fleischer (1904-1957) married Eric Weyl in 1923 in Reichenbach, Silesia. They had two children, Klaus Peter and Doris. Else's father, Willi Fleischer, was a prominent German Jewish textile mill owner and Eric became the manager of his factory. On Kristallnacht, the Weyl family was forced to sell the textile factory to high Nazi officials, Guenter and Gerhard Jordan. Shortly after, the couple left for Manchester, England where they lived with Eric's brother Paul and reconnected with their children who already left for England. In 1940, the family departed for the US, where they made North Carolina their home.
Scope and Content
Section 1 and 3: Eric Weyl smokes a cigarette while sitting at a table (continuation of shot in RG-60.1740 at 01:01:17). Two women outdoors in a wool coats and hats, snow on the ground, they walk along a sidewalk. The taller woman is Else Weyl, who later walks with her brother-in-law Paul Weyl, the man with spectacles. They make faces at the cameraman. Family members walk on the city street (shops, tram-lines), probably in Monchengladbach, and pose for the camera. In a park, Gertrude and her mother Elsa (Lieschen) Weyl walk down a path. They push Bernard Weyl, Eric's father, in a wheelchair. Eric and Else walk along the dirt path, followed briefly by toddler Peter running. Private garden (perhaps the home of the Bernard in Monchengladbach), he is helped into a chair by a nurse, and visited by two women. Young Peter hands the man a cane. CU, the older man, positioned in a chair. Family members pose for a picture and mill about the lawn. 01:02:39:08 Putting on a pair of skis, snow-covered mountains around modern day Karpacz. Skiing down a small hill. Skiers walk up the hill using their poles and skis, and return down the slope several times. A woman picks up ski poles, probably following an instructor's lead. Ski resort (then called Teichmannbaude, eventually became Hotel Orlenik and later private property). Riding on a small wooden sled. CUs, two women walking. Pan, snow-covered mountains.
Note(s)
Reichenbach in Lower Silesia was considered part of Germany before World War II. It is now in Poland and the town is callled Dzierzonow.
Subjects
- FAMILIES
- CHILDREN (JEWISH)
- WINTER
- MOUNTAINS
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- JEWS
- SNOW
- VACATIONS
Places
- Reichenbach, Germany
- Monchengladbach, Germany
Genre
- Amateur.
- Film