United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Erwin Bensdorf (1928-2009) was born in Mannheim to Johanna (nee Ohnhaus, 1897-1986) and Paul Bensdorf (1891-1968). He was sent on a Kindertransport to the United Kingdom in July 1939. He lived at Barham House in Claydon (near Ipswich), at a boys’ home in High Newcombe run by Protestant priest Mr. Bolton, at a boys’ home on Linton Road in Oxford, and then in private dwellings. He was befriended by Max Haybrook, a school teacher and aid worker for German and Austrian child refugees. Bensdorf immigrated to the United States in January 1945 via Liverpool and Halifax. His parents had escaped from Mannheim to France, were interned at Gurs, escaped to Casablanca, and immigrated to the United States in 1942.
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The Erwin Bensdorf papers are arranged as two series: I. Manuscripts, 1938-1941, II. Photographs, approximately 1910s-1941 (bulk 1938-1941)
The Erwin Bensdorf papers consist of manuscripts and photographs documenting German and Austrian child refugees including Bensdorf who escaped to England on Kindertransports and benefited from appeals for aid such as former Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin’s and from the assistance and friendship of English people such as Max Haybrook. The manuscripts were written by Max Haybrook and document his work with child refugees supported by the Lord Baldwin Fund. They describe the arrival of the refugee children in England, the conditions of their housing, and their pastimes. One includes handwritten messages of thanks from some of the children. The photographs include a photo album compiled by Max Haybrook and portraits of Max Haybrook, Stanley Baldwin, and Bensdorf’s mother’s family. The photo album includes snapshots documenting Haybrook’s work with Jewish refugee children at St. Felix School, Dovercourt, Westcliff, Barham House, Linton Road in Oxford, and Wallingford. The album includes at least one photograph of Erwin Bensdorf.
Erwin Bensdorf papers