Maier family papers

Maier family papers 

Maier family papers 

folders 3 

The Maier family papers contain identification documents, passports, correspondence, and photographs relating to the Maier family’s experience aboard the MS St. Louis. Two photographs show Bertha Ackerman, Freya Maier, and Ludwig Maier boarding the MS St. Louis, and Sonja Maier attending a child’s birthday party aboard the ship. Also included is a donation registry list detailing donations collected for the funeral expenses of Mortiz Weiler who died while aboard the MS St. Louis. The registry records the name, room number and amount donated to the donation fund by passengers on the MS St. Louis. The Maier family papers include German passports, stamped with a red letter “J” belonging to Freya Frieda Sara Maier and Ludwig Israel Maier. Freya’s passport also includes an entry for and photograph of their daughter Sonja Maier. The papers also include Cuban immigration cards written in Spanish for David Maier, Pauline Maier, and Sonja Maier, dated May 27, 1939. Correspondence telegrams, receipts for telegrams, note relating to a meeting being held aboard the MS St Louis regarding the storage of gold, note relating to the passengers’ need for provisions. Also included is a letter written in German on the MS St. Louis by Freya Maier and addressed to her parents, June 10, 1939. The two black and white photographs within the collection show Berta Ackerman, Ludwig Maier, and Freya Maier boarding the MS St. Louis and Sonja Maier attending a children’s birthday party aboard the MS St. Louis, 1939. A donation registry records donations collected for the funeral expenses of Mortiz Weiler (1876-1939) who died aboard the MS St. Louis on its way to Cuba. Any surplus donations were to be transferred to a fund for Jewish soldier war victims in Berlin, Germany. The list records the name, room number, and amount donated by passengers on the MS St. Louis. There are two other donation lists with the names of passengers, their room numbers, and amounts donated, which may or may not be related to the funeral expenses collected. 

The Maier family papers are arranged in three series. Series 1: Identification documents, 1939 Series 2: Correspondence, 1939 Series 3: Photographs, 1939 and Donation Registry List, undated