Winter family papers
Extent and Medium
box
1
Creator(s)
- Winter family
Biographical History
Max Winter (1893-1976) was born on 18 September 1893 in Ebreichdorf, Austria to Leopold (b. 1860) and Rosa (née Heisz) Winter. He had two brothers: Richard (b. 1897) and Josef (b. 1901), and one sister, Margaret (b. 1905). He married Anna Federmann after serving in World War I. Anna (1893-1988) was born on 2 May 1893 in Německý Brod, Czechoslovakia (Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic) to Samuel Federmann (1852-1923) and Josephine Spitz (b. 1862). She had three brothers: Karl (b. 1890), Siegfried (b. 1891), and Heinrich (b. 1892), and one sister, Hedwig (b. 1893). Max worked as a banker and Anna was a music teacher. They had two children, Marianne (later Marianne Selinger, b. 1921) and Stephen (b. 1926). In order to improve her English, Marianne became pen pals with Jane Bomberger (later Jane Bomberger Wentzel) in Reading, Pennsylvania through an international pen pal project. They began corresponding in 1935. After the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, the Winter family began to look for ways to emigrate. Marianne asked Jane for help and her father Joseph Bomberger (b. 1897) immediately agreed to sponsor the family. The Winters left Vienna for Prague in the summer of 1938 and they left Europe from Genoa, Italy on the SS Conti di Savoia on 26 January 1939. Upon arrival, they moved to Reading. Max then began trying to help his father emigrate from Austria, but was not successful and Leopold was deported to Theresienstadt on June 28, 1942 and died on July 26, 1942. Max’s brother Josef fled Vienna and survived the Holocaust in Shanghai.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Marianne Selinger
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Stephen Winter
The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Marianne Selinger in 2014 and Stephen Winter in 2015. The collections previously accessioned as 2014.549.1 and 2015.481.1 have been incorporated into this collection.
Scope and Content
The collection documents the experiences of Max and Anna Winter, along with their children Marianne and Stephen, who fled Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938 and immigrated to the United States in 1939 with the assistance of Joseph Bomberger, the father of Marianne’s pen pal Jane Bomberger in Reading, PA. The collection consists of immigration paperwork for the Winter family, including Austrian and Czechoslovakian passports, affidavits, and ship tickets; correspondence between the Winters and Bombergers; a small amount of biographical material related to Marianne; and photographs. Also included is immigration material related to Max’s brother Josef Winter who immigrated to Shanghai, and Max’s unsuccessful attempts to rescue his father Leopold Winter from Austria. Biographical materials consist of identification papers of Marianne including a certificate of nationality, an identification card for a Jewish swimming club, report cards, and a schoolbook. Immigration materials consists of the immigration paperwork for the Winter family, including Austrian and Czechoslovakian passports, affidavits, tickets for their passage to the United States on the SS Conti di Savoia; papers related to Max’s brother Josef Winter who immigrated to Shanghai including his German passport; documentation related to Max’s unsuccessful attempts to help his father Leopold emigrate from Austria in 1941-1942; and affidavits related to Max’s attempts to rescue Emil and Annie Baumsteiger and Anne’s brother Karl and his wife Elsie. Correspondence includes pen pal letters from Marianne in Austria to Jane in Reading, PA, and letters between Max and Jane’s father Joseph regarding the Bomberger’s efforts to help the Winter family immigrate to the United States. Photographs include pre-war photographs of the Winter family in Vienna and Prague, as well as wartime photographs after they immigrated to the United States.
System of Arrangement
The collection is arranged as four series. Series 1. Biographical material of Marianne Winter, 1929-1938 Series 2. Immigration, 1930-1943 Series 3. Correspondence, 1916-1954 Series 4. Photographs, circa 1910-circa 1943
People
- Winter, Marianne.
- Winter, Anna.
- Winter, Leopold.
- Winter, Stephen.
- Bomberger, Jane.
- Bomberger, Joseph.
- Winter family
- Winter, Max.
Subjects
- Refugees, Jewish--Austria--Vienna.
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--China--Shanghai.
- United States--Emigration and immigration.
- Reading (Pa.)
- Jews--Austria--Vienna.
- Vienna (Austria)
Genre
- Document
- Photographs.