Rudolf Abraham papers

Rudolf Abraham papers 

Rudolf Abraham was born in 1908 in Durboslar, Germany, to Marcus and Bertha Kaufmann Abraham. Marcus owned a successful butcher shop. In 1933, the Nazi regime came to power in Germany. Jewish businesses were boycotted and anti-Jewish legislation was passed to persecute the Jewish populace. Some family members were able to flee the country, but Rudolf was unable to obtain a visa. During the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938, Rudolf was arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. His family was able to get him released in December, on the condition that he leave Germany. Rudolf stayed in Cologne and worked with a travel agency to obtain passage to Shanghai, China. While in Shanghai, he worked as a butcher. Rudolf managed to obtain a visa for the United States, where he arrived in August 1940. He moved to New York to join his cousin, Siegfried Abraham, who had immigrated to the US in 1936. Soon after his arrival, he met and married Meta Goldman. Rudolf, 97, passed away in 2003. 

Rudolf Abraham papers