Ernest Braun papers
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The collection documents the Holocaust experiences of Ernest (Eliezer) Braun of Vienna, Austria, including his escape from Austria in 1938 to Yugoslavia and Italy, his immigration to the United States in 1944, and his time living at the Fort Ontario refugee camp in Oswego, New York. Included is a small amount of biographical material; a false identification card from Italy; correspondence from his parents Josef and Gisela Braun and his sister Nelly Braun, all of whom perished during the Holocaust; writings; and photographs. Biographical materials include birth certificates, address books, and Italian identification documents. One document is false identification card identifying Ernest as Enrico de Carlo Bianchi. Correspondence includes letters to Ernest from his parents from Vienna and letters from his sister Nelly in Zagreb. Other correspondence includes letters from Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, whom Ernest began corresponding with while living at Fort Ontario regarding distant relatives in Vienna. Writings include essays and lectures authored by Ernest, notes and translations of documents from his work in Italy, and a series of weekly writings based on the Torah he produced as the “Tree of Life” for his synagogue in Portland where he served as rabbi from 1954-1955. Other writings not by Ernest include newspapers clippings, a copy of the 26 July 1945 edition of the Ontario Chronicle newsletter published at Fort Ontario, and two post-war Italian language publications. Photographs consist of pre-war family photographs, depictions of Ernest and friends in Italy during World War II, and post-war family photographs taken in Israel.
The collection is arranged as four series. Series 1. Biographical material, 1929-circa 2005 Series 2. Correspondence, 1940-1980 and undated Series 3. Writings, 1937-1985 and undated Series 4. Photographs, circa 1920s-circa 1990 and undated
Ernest (Eliezer) Braun (born Ernő Braun, 1914-1996) was born in 1914 in Czechoslovakia to Josef (1884-1943) and Gisela (née Perels, 1889-1943) Braun. He had three sisters, Nelly (later Nelly Mozes Braun), Hilde (later Hilde Schwarz), and Hinda. Ernest and his family moved to Vienna, Austria when he was three. After the German annexation of Austria in 1938, Ernest was arrested. After he was released, he fled to Zagreb, Yugoslavia (Zagreb, Croatia) where his sister Nelly and her husband lived. By 1941 he had gone to Spalato, Italy, and then Rome. Using a false identity, Enrico di Carlo Bianchi, he posed as a rabbi and found employment translating Hebrew texts from the Biblioteca Lancisiana, a medical library near the Vatican. In 1944 he immigrated to the United States and lived at Fort Ontario, a refugee camp in Oswego, New York. He married Hertha Dershovitz in 1947 and they moved to Portland, Maine in 1949 with their two children Judy and Jeffrey. Ernest worked in the field of pharmaceutical product development and was granted five patents for his discoveries. They immigrated to Israel in 1970. His parents were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942. They were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943 where they perished. His sister Nelly also perished during the Holocaust.
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