Mrs Ben Courts née Ella Mayer: Personal papers

Ella Mayer was born in a village in the Rhine Palatinate in 1908, the daughter of a kosher butcher in a small Jewish community. In 1932 both Ella and her sister were brought to England to stay with an English uncle, who had lived in London since before the First World War. Having already met Ben Courts, on the threat of enforced return to Germany due to the immanent expiry of her visa, they married and she made London her permanent home. For a more detailed biography see 629/3. 

The collection was never formerly accessioned. Item 629/3 arrived in September 2000 from Hugh Courts, Mrs Ben Courts' son, in response to a request for more information about the deposit. 

Mrs Ben Courts née Ella Mayer: Personal papers 

1 folder 

This collection of personal papers, mostly correspondence, of Mrs Ben Courts (née Ella Mayer) sheds some light on the conditions of Jews in Germany in the immediate pre-war years and the processes involved in escaping to England. The bulk of the collection comprises correspondence from friends and family members in Germany about whom very little is known. 

Open 

The artefacts which also form part of the collection were given to Hugh Courts by one of the staff at the Jewish Museum in Warsaw in 1981. Apparently they did not form part of the collections at that museum. They were the personal possessions of the said member of staff. They have been listed and placed in the Wiener Library artefacts series.