Fanny Auerbach papers

Fanny Auerbach papers 

Fanny Auerbach and her husband John, were German Jews living in Cologne, Germany. As John attended dental school, Fanny worked at the Abram Frank Haus, a Jewish orphanage. During that time, Fanny looked after Malchen Belcher, a young girl whose leg was amputated when she was 11. Malchen and her sister Selma were being raised by only their father, and Fanny helped in looking after them. In 1935, upon John’s completion of dental school, the couple left Germany for Palestine, and later immigrated to the United States, where they lived in Berkeley, California. While living in the United States, Fanny stayed in contact with Malchen, who was shipped to the Warsaw ghetto with her father and sister in 1941. Fanny received several letters from Malchen, until they abruptly stopped in the winter of 1941. Fanny presumes Malchen’s family died of starvation in the Warsaw ghetto. Malchen was 19 years old. 

Fanny Auerbach papers