Ludwig Bieder: correspondence and papers

Ludwig Bieder: correspondence and papers 

Ludwig Bieder: correspondence and papers 

2 Boxes 

This collection documents the lives of members of an Austrian Jewish family whose destinies were forever changed by the rise of Nazism. The papers date from immediately after the Anschluss until the 1950s, by which time the surviving members had settled in their newly adopted countries. The largest group of letters date from 1938-1939, after Ludwig Bieder left Austria for Switzerland and before he departed for New Zealand. The principal subjects are his desperate attempts to extricate his parents from Vienna to a safe haven; his efforts to obtain a visa for himself; and his love affair with Alice Lafitteau, widow of the Swedish ambassador to Vienna.

In addition there is correspondence from a friend, Otto Gmeiner, who was instrumental in the survival of Ludwig Bieder's parents in Belgium during the war. An English transcription of these letters can be found at 1618/5/5.

A diary survives from Abraham Bieder, father of Ludwig, who wrote it for his son, during the time when no post could leave occupied Belgium, 1618/5/3.

The contents of the individual folders reflect the original order.