Ruth Fischel correspondence

Identifier
irn85801
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2014.399.1
Dates
1 Jan 1947 - 31 Dec 1949
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folder

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Ruth Wangenheim Fischel was born on June 28, 1898 in Berlin, Germany. She married Siegmund Fischel (born March 26, 1895 in West Prussia) in February 1923. They had three children: Siegbert, Manfred, and Mignon. In 1939, the Fischels sent their children to live with relatives in the Netherlands and, in May 1940, obtained permits to go to Shanghai. Ruth and Siegmund arrived in Shanghai on July 21, 1940. They were able to correspond with their family until late 1941. After the war, they learned that their eldest son Siegbert, had been deported to Auschwitz and had perished. Ruth's mother, Emma Wangenheim, perished in Theresienstadt. Ruth and Siegmund heard that Manfred and Mignon had been deported to Sobibor, but held out hope for their survival until March 1948, when they were informed by the Red Cross their children had been killed in Sobibor. Ruth and Siegmund, who had been able to immigrate to Australia in 1947, were able to leave for the United States, where Ruth had distant relatives. They arrived in San Francisco in March 1949 and in New York in May 1949.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Lee Rubin

Lee Rubin donated the correspondence her grandmother, Hermine Asher Schwartz, received from Ruth Fischel to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014.

Scope and Content

Consists of one folder of correspondence between Ruth Fischel in Melbourne, Australia, and her distant relatives, Hermine Schwartz of Philadelphia, PA, and Annette Asher, of Atlanta, GA. In the letters, dated between 1947-1949, Ruth explained her family's Holocaust experiences, including the death of relatives in the Holocaust, her escape with her husband to Shanghai, life in wartime Shanghai, and receiving confirmation, in 1948, that her children had also been killed in the Holocaust. The letters also detail the Fischels' immigration to the United States in 1949.

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.