Herlinger family papers

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

Ivek (Ivo) Herlinger was born in 1902 in Zagreb, Croatia. He worked as a representative for Remington Office Machines. While working there, he met and later married Elsa Spitzer, who worked for the company as a legal secretary. The couple gave birth to their daughter, Lea, in 1938. In 1941, as axis powers invaded Yugoslavia and the independent state of Croatia was formed, the Herlinger family was told to report to a labor camp. Instead, they fled Zagreb and split up, with Lea being sent to Ivo’s sister, Zlata and Elsa staying with friends. Ivo posed as a train conductor, traveled to Trieste, Italy, and then paid a man to bring his family to join him. From there, the family stayed in Castel Guiliano, Italy for 18 months living in an attic above a store with 21 other people. When they were warned that Germans were approaching, the family fled to Rome. Elsa, Lea, and Zlata lived in a convent, while Ivo, and his brothers Arthur and Otto, lived in a monastery. Ivo and Elsa eventually moved to an apartment under false identities: Giovani and Lena Fabiani. After liberation, the family lived as stateless refugees in Italy, until they were granted visas to immigrate to the United States. With assistance from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the Herlingers traveled aboard the"General Harry Taylor" arrived in New York, and eventually settled in Chicago. 

Herlinger family papers 

folders 11 

The Herlinger family papers consist primarily of identification documents for Ivo and Elsa Herlinger, who lived as refugees from the Nazis in Italy during World War II, and later immigrated to the United States. The majority of the documents are items such as identification cards, passports, a birth certificate, and a marriage certificate. Other items of identification include verification of employment for Ivo, and his declaration of intent to the United States. The Herlinger family papers consist primarily of identification documents for Ivo and Elsa Herlinger, who lived as refugees from the Nazis in Italy during World War II, and later immigrated to the United States. The majority of the documents are items such as identification cards, passports, a birth certificates, and a marriage certificate. Other items of identification include records needed for immigration to the United States, such as a verification of employment for Ivo, and his declaration of intent. The naturalization papers of both Elsa and Ivo are in this collection. Also included are photographs of the Herlinger family, some correspondence regarding taxes to a cemetery in Zagreb, and identification papers for a Xene West, whose relation could not be identified. 

The Herlinger family papers are arranged as a single series.