Greta and Fred Burg papers

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

Manfred Burg (Fred, 1922-2014) was born in Vienna, Austria to Leo (b. 1889) and Franni (b. 1891) Burg. He had one brother, Paul. Fred fled to England on a Kindertransport after the German annexation of Vienna in 1938. By 1940 Fred had immigrated to Sosúa, Dominican Republic. His father was deported from Vienna by 1940 to Lwów, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine). His parents and brother perished during the Holocaust. He married Greta Neumann while in Sosúa, and they immigrated to the United States in 1948. Greta Burg (née Neumann, 1928-1993) was born in Vienna, Austria to Hildegard (née Steiner, 1897-1982) and Jechiel David Neumann (1896-1964). She had one sister, Erica (b. 1931). Jechiel was a World War I veteran. In 1934, after Jechiel lost his job due to anti-Semitism, the family moved to Milan, Italy. After the German annexation of Vienna in 1938, the family decided they needed to emigrate from Europe. They went to Switzerland in October 1938 shortly before their visas were to expire. Jeichel then went to France and joined the French Foreign Legion. In 1941 Greta and her mother and sister emigrated from Milan to the Dominican Republic where they were reunited with her father in Sosúa. Greta met and married Fred while in Sosúa, and they immigrated to the United States in 1948. 

Greta and Fred Burg papers 

folders 6 

The collection documents the experiences of Manfred (Fred) and Greta (née Neumann) Burg, both originally from Vienna, Austria, who separately fled Europe to Sosúa, Dominican Republic during World War II. The collection includes letters to Fred in England and Sosúa from his family in Vienna and Lwów, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine); two immigration documents regarding Fred’s attempts to bring his mother and brother to Sosúa; Greta’s birth certificate and naturalization certificate; and photographs of the Burg and Neumann families, including depictions of family life in the Dominican Republic. 

The collection is arranged as a single series. Folder 1. Burg, Fred: Correspondence, 1938-1939; Folder 2. Burg, Fred: Correspondence, 1940-1945 and undated; Folder 3. Burg, Fred: Immigration correspondence, 1941; Folder 4. Burg, Greta: Birth certificate and naturalization certificate, 1928, 1954; Folder 5. Photographs: Burg family, 1909-1946; Folder 6. Photographs, Neumann family, circa 1920, 1941-circa 1960