United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Leonard A. Lauder (1933- ) is the chairman emeritus of Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and the son of the company’s co-founders, Joseph and Estée Lauder. He served as a lieutenant in the navy before formally joining Estée Lauder in 1958. He served as president of the company from 1972 to 1995, as chief executive officer from 1982 to 1999, and chairman from 1995-2009.
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The Leonard Lauder collection is arranged as seven series: I. Georg Hirschberg papers, 1890-1948 (bulk 1939-1943), II. Helmrich Heilmann correspondence, 1937-1942, III. Hugo Simoni correspondence, 1944, IV. Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara materials, 1992-1994, V. Printed materials, 1893-1957 (bulk approximately 1920-1942), VI. Photographic materials, approximately 1940, VII. Banknotes, proof of Aryan descent, and stamps, 1922-1949
The Leonard Lauder collection consists of materials documenting anti‐Semitism in Germany in the first half of the 20th century, particularly during the Nazi era, that Lauder acquired from private vendors. The collection includes the Georg Hirschberg papers, Helmrich Heilmann correspondence, Hugo Simon correspondence, Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara materials, printed materials, photographic materials, banknotes, a proof of Aryan descent document, and commemorative stamps. The Georg Hirschberg papers contain professional credentials, military papers, correspondence, announcements, and notices documenting Georg Hirschberg (1866‐1943), his medical training and establishment as a surgeon at the turn of the century, his military service during World War I, and the increasing restrictions placed on Jews and Jewish doctors in Germany during World War II. The Helmrich Heilmann correspondence consists of postcards and letters from Sachsenhausen and Flossenbürg prisoner Heinrich Heilmann (1907‐?) to his parents in Bremen. Heilmann was a German electrician who had been arrested on criminal charges. In the concentration camps, he wore a green triangle badge and acted as capo. In July 1942 he was transferred to Auschwitz, where he proved himself useful to the Nazis, and in 1953 he was convicted in Bremen for murder and manslaughter committed at the Auschwitz subcamp at Golleschau. The Hugo Simoni correspondence consists of postcards Hugo Simoni (1865‐?) sent his son and two women to thank them for packages they send him at Theresienstadt as well as postal certificates documenting the packages that were sent. Simoni had been deported to Theresienstadt from Berlin in March 1944 and survived at the camp until its liberation. The Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara materials include Yukiko Sugihara’s manuscript Visas to a New Life for 6,000 People, which appears to be an early version of her book Visas for Life, a brochure from the Sempo Sugihara Memorial Foundation, and a photocopy of a Reader’s Digest story about Sugihara. Printed materials consist of anti‐Semitic books, booklets, leaflets, magazines, newspapers, postcards, signs, and stickers. Examples of books and booklets include a 1934 coloring book called Juden stellen sich vor and a 1929 book by Dr. Joseph Goebbels. Examples of leaflets include lyrics to the military song “Volk and Gewehr” and an advertisement for a 1932 NSDAP rally. Magazines and newspapers include issues of Die Brennessel, NS Frauenwarte, Simplicissimus, Deutsche Wochenschau, Der Stürmer, and Vor'm Volksgericht. Signs announce where Jews live and where they are not welcome. Stickers include a notice from the Deutschnationaler Arbeiterbund, stickers attached to mail, and some of the “Parole der Woche” notices. Printed materials also include a 1926 booklet listing Jewish soldiers who fought in World War I, a 1946 booklet showing images from the Dachau concentration camp, and a 1957 program for the play Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank. Photographic materials include a loose photo album page captioned “Juden in Ostpolen” with photographs of Jewish men wearing armbands, a loose image of a Jewish woman looking in a shop window in the Warsaw ghetto, and a photo album labeled “SS.” The “SS” album contains a photograph of Hitler and photographs of a Nazi, Hitler Youth, and Bund Deutscher Mädel parade; an SS training camp; street scenes showing roundups, arrests, and beatings; hanging corpses; and mass graves. The collection also includes three German banknotes with anti‐Semitic comments stamped on them, a proof of Aryan descent for Maria Magdalena Margaretha Glaß, and a set of 1949 commemorative stamps documenting the synagogues destroyed in Berlin.
Leonard Lauder collection