Galewsky family collection

The correspondence in this collection pertains to the Galewski family, in particular Paul Adolf Galewski who was born, 3.5.1866 in Breslau and died 6.8.1941 (it is thought of natural causes) in Dresden and Josef Galewsky (1869-1959) of California. Paul Galewski and his brother Eugen were born and raised in Breslau, now Wroclaw, the sons of Louis Galewski, 1819-1895 and his second wife, Lina Juliusberg, 1834-1889. The family had a liquor business in Breslau called ‘Breslauer Dom’. 

Paul was a successful chemist and worked at the pharmaceutical firm, Bayer, where he produced the product, Cignolin, which his brother, Eugen, discovered for the treatment of psoriasis. Eugen was professor of medicine at Breslau University who also had a very successful skin clinic. It is thought that when he was no longer allowed to practise on account of the Nazi racial laws he committed suicide en route to Locarno, Switzerland in 1935. He is buried in a local authority cemetery as opposd to a Jewish cemetery in Dresden. It is thought that his deputy, who was an ardent Nazi, took over both his professorship and his private practice.

Some members of the wider Galewski family escaped the Nazis to Shanghai, and some went to Manila and eventually to the US. Josef Galewsky came from that branch of the family which had immigrated to California in the 1830s and 1840s. He had become the US Postmaster for Saint Helena, Napa County, California. He also owned and ran a substantial estate, some of the produce of which he regularly sent to his cousins in Dresden. 

In addition, there is a substantial section of the family resident in South America.