United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Nina Ebb (formerly Zdenka Goldscheiderová, 1923-2015) was born to Fredo and Emma Goldscheider in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, where her parents owned and operated a wholesale grocery store. Emma, originally from Sudetenland, had grown up helping her widowed mother run a business and became a partner in husband’s business venture. In addition to owning the store, Fredo also served as an officer in the Chamber of Commerce and a lay judge in the district courts. As a child, Nina grew up with a younger brother, Hanus (1928-1944), attended school and took lessons in piano, gymnastics, and several languages. Upon the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Fredo was briefly arrested by the Gestapo, though with the help of friends, Emma secured his bail. Shortly thereafter, the family store was expropriated and Nina’s father was sent to work in the clay mines. At this time, Nina was banned from continuing her education, though she continued to study at home and taught five children. In February 1942, the family was sent to Theresienstadt. Once in Theresienstadt, Nina worked in the Zentralevidenz-Familienkarte (the Central Registry) until her liberation in 1945. Emma meanwhile, headed the Raumwirtschaft - Ubikationskanzlei (Housing Section), first in Hamburger Kaserne barracks for women, and then in the Dresdner barracks for the elderly. Fredo and Hanus also worked in Theresienstadt, but both were deported to Auschwitz in October 1944. Fredo was gassed and Hanus later died in Kaufering, a sub-camp of Dachau. After the war, Nina and Emma returned to Plzeň and were given jobs in their former grocery store, which had been transferred from German to Czech management. Nina later got a job as a secretary with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), until 1946 when she and Emma immigrated to the United States. Nina later married Stanley Ebb and settled in Newton, Massachusetts, where she taught languages. She had two children.
Copyright Holder: Ms. Nina Z. Ebb
box folders 1 14
The Nina Ebb papers are arranged as two series: I. Theresienstadt materials, 1943-1944, II. Memoirs, 1983-1995, III. Prayer book, 1943
The Nina Ebb papers comprises documents concerning Nina and her mother Emma’s internment and employment in the Theresienstadt ghetto between 1942 and 1944. Records regarding Theresienstadt are primarily administrative reports detailing the ghetto’s barracks and food service protocols. Also included is a roster for the ghetto’s soccer team and poetry written by internees. This collection also comprises memoirs written by Nina after World War II. The Nina Zebb papers comprised documents Nina and her mother Emma obtained while working in the Theresienstadt ghetto and memoirs written after World War II. Records from the war-time period include reports and other administrative documents concerning the management of the various barracks, mess halls, and facilities within Theresienstadt. These documents were largely collected by Emma in her capacity as the head of the camp’s housing section. The reports comprehensively document housing situations and statistics for arrivals and deportations of inmates, space allocations, and general conditions of the Hamburger and Dresdner barracks. The history and daily activity of the Hamburger barrack is particularly well documented through an annual report which describes the creation of the ghetto itself, the barrack, and its various functions such as suitcase storage, the “hair dresser” (used for shaving heads), security, and cleaning, among others. Also included are several reports regarding food and mess hall protocols. Topics include meal preparation, food inventories, daily menus, meal ticket distributions, and rationing procedures. A roster and scores for the Theresienstadt futßall liga is also contain here within. In addition to administrative records, this collection also comprised poetry written by ghetto inmates. A thesis titled “Terezín: Recollections of a Survivor,” written by Nina in fulfillment of her Master’s degree in 1983 and a supplemental treatise titled “Terezin, Researches and Perspectives of a Survivor” is also included in this collection. A brief memoir entitled"Escape of B - 1337" written by Egon Ezriel Loebner describing his escape from a death march after the evacuation of Auschwitz is also included here within. The collection further includes a 1943 prayer book, New Year and Day of Atonement, published by the National Jewish Welfare Board for Jewish members of the American Armed Services, inscribed to Nina.
Nina Ebb papers