boxes 5
Bernhard Wiesenfeld papers
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Bernhard Wiesenfeld (1907-1994) was born to Isak (b. 1873) and Pini (b. 1880) Wiesenfeld in Jarosław, Poland. He would later change his name to Bernard Wesson. He had an older sister, Adele, and likely two brothers, Leo (b. 1900) and Marcel (B. 1924). Bernhard grew up in Galicia and possibly Jaroslaw, Poland before moving to Vienna, Austria. He studied to be an inventor and mechanical engineer at the Vienna University of Technology. During his studies, he won a design contest at the Treibacher Chemische Werke A.G., Vienna for a cigarette lighter which was then produced. He worked as an engineer in Vienna until 1938. After the Nazi annexation of Austria, Bernhard began trying to emigrate and in approximately May 1939 he immigrated to England. He was kept in the Kitchener refugee camp in Richborough, Kent from June-August 1939. He immigrated to the United States in 1940, and settled in Queens, New York. Shortly after arriving in the United States, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent time in a sanatorium. Bernhard continued his career as a mechanical engineer designing vanity cases, jewelry, and other objects. Bernard’s sister Adele and her husband Hermann Fass were communists, and immigrated to the Soviet Union. There they were imprisoned in the Gulag for 25 years where she worked as a pediatrician at a children’s camp. She and Bernhard would not see each other again until the 1970s. His parents and his brother Marcell were deported to the Łódź ghetto in Poland on October 19, 1941 where they perished.
The Bernhard Wiesenfeld papers consist of biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, and papers related to the engineering career of Bernhard Wiesenfeld (1907-1994) in Vienna, Austria and his status as a refugee in the Kitchener refugee camp in Richborough, Kent, England where he fled after the Nazi annexation of Austria. Included are photographs and correspondence related to his personal life, travels, and career in Vienna, Austria. There are also numerous letters received while in the Kitchener refugee camp in 1939. The biographical materials include identification papers, school papers, emigration documents, and material relating to his sister Adele Wiesenfeld and her husband Hermann Fass. The correspondence primarily consists of letters Wiesenfeld sent and received while in the Kitchener refugee camp. Letters sent by him describe his life in the camp. Letters received often give news of his friends and family as well as discuss logistics in his planned move to London. Other correspondence in the series includes personal letters written to him from friends and family along with postcards sent from his travels in Austria, Croatia, Turkey, Montenegro, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. There is also correspondence The papers regarding Wiesenfeld’s engineering career include correspondence regarding his employment in Vienna in the 1930s, his patents, and his attempts to find work as an engineer in London in 1939 and in the United States in 1940. There is also patent paperwork, business brochures for companies he was involved with, and a scrapbook of clippings, patents, and other printed material related to his designs. The printed material primarily consists of postcards collected by Wiesenfeld from his travels in Austria, Croatia, Turkey, Montenegro, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. The photographs consist of prints and negatives of Wiesenfeld, his family and friends, and his travels. There are numerous dated and undated photographs from ski and beach trips. The photographs of the Wiesenfeld family include Bernhard’s sister Adele and his mother Pini. Some of the photographs of Adele and her husband are from Santschursk, Russia. All negatives are housed separately from the prints. There are five photograph albums related to the same topics, many with similar or duplicate photographs. The family photograph albums are annotated, and contain pictures of his parents, sister, and relatives. Please ask for assistance in handling the albums as they are in fragile condition.
The Bernhard Wiesenfeld papers are arranged as five series: Series 1: Biographical materials, 1913-circa 2015 (Bulk 1913-1946); Series 2: Correspondence, 1920-1976; Series 3: Engineering career, 1929-1965; Series 4: Printed material, circa 1920s-1939; Series 5: Photographs, 1904-circa 1960s. All series are arranged chronologically by subject.