us-005578-irn36402
type: RecordSet
has beginning date: 1910-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had subject: 73
has or had subject: 843
has or had subject: 1980
has record set type: Item
history: Ruth Schwarzhaupt is the youngest daughter of Albert and Hella (nee Rheinhold) Schwarzhaupt. Albert was born in Regensburg and Hella in Kleineibstadt. Ruth was born on May 10, 1931 in Munich, but her family moved to Konstanz about three years later. Albert, who may have had his own business for a time, sold electric bulbs, a job which required a great deal of travel. Hella was religiously observant, but he was more relaxed. Ruth had two older sisters, Rosi, later Rose (born on February 5, 1922) and Hanni, later Anne (born on September 30, 1924), as well as an older brother, Max (born on October 29, 1927). Following the Nazi takeover in 1933, life for the Schwarzhaupts changed in many ways. In 1935, Rose and Anne were sent to the United States where they lived, in Washington Heights, with an Orthodox family, whom they did not previously know. In Germany, Max attended a Jewish school in Nuremberg until he had to return to Konstanz after Nazis attacked the students with tree branches. Ruth recalls that the family's mailbox was defaced with antisemitic graffiti, and in the late thirties Ruth was no longer permitted to attend school. In November 1938, Ruth's father, Albert left on a business trip and, upon his return, spotted the synagogue burning and ran inside. On his way out, with one or several Torah scrolls in his arms, he was arrested and temporarily incarcerated. Afterwards, he and Hella decided to find a safe haven for their two youngest children. They were able to send Ruth and Max to Switzerland under the auspices of the"Schweizer Hilfswerk für Emigrantenkinde", an organization founded by Swiss Jewish women. Max and Ruth, wearing nametags around their necks, left Germany with a group of other Jewish children on February 16, 1939. They arrived in Lucerne. Ruth was supposed to live with a couple who had children of their own. They left chocolate on her pillow on her arrival, but Ruth, who was only seven year old, cried so hard that at 10 o'clock that night, the f…
history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
identifier: irn36402
record resource extent: folder 1
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Consists of correspondence regarding the Holocaust experiences of the family of Albert and Hella Reinhold Schwarzhaupt. Consists of pre-war postcards, the 1921 marriage certificate of Albert and Hella, and the birth certificate of their fourth child, Ruth Schwarzhaupt. In 1935, Albert and Hella managed to secure passage to the United States for their two oldest children, Rosi and Hanni. In February 1939, the two youngest children, Max and Ruth, sponsored by a Swiss Jewish Relief Agency, entered Switzerland, where they remained during the war, joining their siblings in the United States after the war. Albert and Hella were deported to the Gurs concentration camp, and then, as Albert was suffering from diabetes, were transferred to the Récébédou hospital camp, where Albert perished on April 17, 1941. Hella was deported, first to Drancy, and then to Auschwitz, where she perished. The bulk of the collection consists of letters sent from Hella and Albert in Gurs and Récébédou to Max and Ruth in Switzerland.
title: Schwarzhaupt family collection