us-005578-irn599245-irn671691
type: RecordSet
conditions of use: Copyright Holder: Ms. Deborah L. Silver
has beginning date: 1936-01-01
has beginning date: 1872-01-01
has end date: 2005-12-31
has end date: 1956-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had identifier: 3
has or had identifier: 4
has or had identifier: 2
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had subject: 843
has or had subject: 701
has or had subject: 686
has or had subject: 684
has record set type: Item
history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
history: Hedwig (Hedi) Stern (née Eichengrün, later Gutmann, 1898-1983) was born on 29 April 1898 in Munich, Germany to Sally (1867-1948) and Julie (née Heumann, 1874-1936) Eichengrün. She had one brother, Frederick (Fritz, Fred, 1903-1980). Sally owned a textile and fashion company called S. Eichengrün and Company. Sally later married Alice Lissauer (1896-1947) after Julie’s death in 1936. Hedi married Franz Gutmann, a doctor, in February 1921 and they had three children: Elisabeth (Ellie, later Elisabeth Schnitzer, 1922-1996), Marianne (later Marianne Gutmann Lee, 1924-2004?), and Herbert Michael (1929-2015?). Hedwig and Franz divorced in 1929, and she married Fritz Stern in 1930. Frederick (Fritz) Stern (1888-1955) was the son of Carolina (née Ney, 1864-1933) and Isaac Stern (1859-1894). He had one brother, Karl (d. 1934, married to Carry Gerst). Fritz was a doctor and also involved with the Jewish Cultural Community (der Israelischen Kultusgemeinde). He had two children, Walter (1926-1945) and Gertrude (nicknamed Gertie, later known Judith Stern Siegel, 1929-1992), with his first wife Hedwig Neumeyer (1899-1929). Fritz and Hedi’s daughter Eva (later Eva Silver, 1931-2009) was born in 1931. In 1933 Hedi and Fritz planned to immigrate to Palestine. They purchased property there, but ultimately decided that they would rather immigrate to the United States. In 1936 they sent their three oldest children to Switzerland to attend a Jewish school while they prepared to emigrate from Germany. The night before they planned to leave Munich, Fritz had his passport confiscated by two policemen. It was returned to him two days later and they went to Hamburg. They were to leave on 22 November 1936, but prior Fritz was warned by his attorney that if they boarded the ship they would have been arrested. They finally sailed from Hamburg in December aboard the SS Washington, arriving in New York on 8 January 1937. They went to Berkeley, California to where they had friends. Six months later…
identifier: irn671691
is or was included in: us-005578-irn599245
record resource extent: boxes oversize boxes oversize folders 8 5 6
record resource structure: The collection has been arranged as five series. Series 1. Biographical material, 1872-1989 and undated; Series 2. Immigration, 1933-1946; Series 3. Correspondence, 1898-1981 and undated; Series 4. Writings and printed material, 1914-2005 and undated; Series 5. Photographs, 1889-1977 and undated
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Biographical material, immigration paperwork, correspondence, writings, and photographs documenting the pre-war, wartime, and post-war experiences of Fritz and Hedi Stern, including their lives in Munich, Germany, their previous marriages, Fritz’s medical career in Munich, their immigration to the United States in 1936, attempts to help Hedi’s father Sally Eichengrün and his second wife Alice immigrate to the United States from Switzerland, and their son Walter’s death while serving with the United States Army. The papers also include material regarding Fritz and Hedi’s children from previous marriages: Elisabeth, Marianne, Herbert, Walter, and Gertrude, their daughter Eva, and their relatives in the Eichengrün and Stern families. Biographical material includes family papers related to various members of the Eichengrün and Stern families, identification papers, children’s artwork, Fritz’s professional career as a doctor, Hedi’s divorce from Franz Gutmann in 1929, the death of Fritz’s first wife Hedwig Neumeyer, an appraisal of the Stern’s household possessions shortly after arriving in California, Walter’s United States Army service, and restitution claims. Immigration material consists of paperwork regarding the Sterns’s planned immigration to Palestine, their immigration to the United States in 1936, and the transfer of German assets after their move. There is also significant paperwork of Fritz and Hedwig’s unsuccessful efforts to assist her father and his second wife immigrate to the United States after they fled Germany to Orselina, Switzerland. Letters from the Eichengrün family primarily consist of letters from Hedi’s father and mother, and her brother Fritz. Letters received after 1936 also include correspondence with Sally’s second wife Alice. The bulk of the wartime and post-war correspondence regards their life in Switzerland, Sally’s health, and their efforts to immigrate to the United States. Stern family correspondence includes wartime letters from Fri…
title: Eichengrün and Stern families papers