Kann family papers
Extent and Medium
box
1
Creator(s)
- Elizabeth Kann
Biographical History
Elizabeth Gerson Kann (born 1905) was the American-born wife of Johan Kann, a banker from The Hague, Netherlands. The two had met when Johan Kann was on a business trip to the United States, and after their wedding in October 1926, they returned to the Netherlands. Following the invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, Mrs. Kann was able to return to the United States with her three children (Jean Adrienne, Donald Josef, and Barbara Leonora) in January 1941, settling in New York, with the understanding that her husband would follow. Johan Kann, however, was captured by the German authorities when he sought to escape the Netherlands by boat, and was subsequently imprisoned and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he died shortly after arrival in August 1942. Mr. Kann’s father, J.H. (Jacobus Henricus) Kann, a Dutch banker and prominent supporter of Zionist organizations in the Netherlands, was deported with his wife, first to Bergen-Belsen, and then to Theresienstadt, where they died toward the end of the war.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jean Kann Sonder
Gift of Mrs. Jean Kann Sonder and Mrs. Elise Kann Jaeger, February 2012.
Scope and Content
Correspondence, manuscripts, book cover, news clipping, primarily related to the efforts of Elizabeth Kann to determine the whereabouts of her husband, Johan Kann, following the German invasion and occupation of the Netherlands in 1940. Also contains a memoir by Kann's daughter, Jean Kann Sonder, written in 2007, and other family memoirs, as well as information about Johan Kann's father, Jacobus Kann, a prominent Dutch Zionist in the early 20th century. The Kann family papers contains correspondence, manuscripts, a book cover, and news clippings, primarily related to the efforts of Elizabeth Kann to determine the whereabouts of her husband, Johan Kann, following the German invasion and occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, and her own escape from that country in 1941. Most of the correspondence consists of letters sent to Elizabeth Kann from diplomats, aid organizations, and members of her husband’s extended family, both trying to determine the fate of Johan Kann during the war, as well as sharing information and stories after the war about what they had learned about Kann’s fate. This collection also contains a memoir by Kann's daughter, Jean Kann Sonder, written in 2007, and other family memoirs, as well as information about Johan Kann's father, J.H. (Jacobus Henricus) Kann, a prominent Dutch Zionist in the early 20th century. Included is an unpublished English translation by Jean Kann Sonder and Elise Kann Jaeger of J.H. Kann’s 1908 book, “Erets Israel: Het Joodsche Land.”
System of Arrangement
The collection is divided in two series, “Speeches and Writings” and “Correspondence,” both of which are arranged alphabetically by author/correspondent.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Mrs. Jean Sonder
People
- Kann, J. H. (Jacobus Henricus), 1872-
- Kann, Johan.
- Kann, Elizabeth Gerson.
- Elizabeth Kann
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Netherlands--Hague.
- World War, 1939-1945--Military occupations--German--Netherlands.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Netherlands--Personal narratives.
Genre
- Correspondence.
- Newspaper clippings.
- Document
- Personal narratives.