Copyright Holder: Ms. Deborah L. Silver
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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 they moved to Pasadena. Fritz opened the Alhambra Camera shop in Alhambra. In 1944, Walter was drafted into the United States Army. He was killed in the European theatre on 14 April 1945, and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. After the Sterns arrived in the United States, they worked to help Hedi’s father and his second wife Alice immigrate to the United States. While they were unsuccessful, Sally and Alice managed to flee Germany in November 1939 to Orselina, Switzerland where they remained for the duration of the war. Eva Stern married Gerald Silber (Silver), who was also a German Jewish refugee. They had two daughters, Deborah (b. 1961) and Judith (b. 1963). Frederich (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). He married Hedi Eichengrün in 1930/ 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 they moved to Pasadena. Fritz opened the Alhambra Camera shop in Alhambra. In 1944, Walter was drafted into the United States Army. He was killed in the European theatre on 14 April 1945, and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. After the Sterns arrived in the United States, they worked to help Hedi’s father and his second wife Alice immigrate to the United States. While they were unsuccessful, Sally and Alice managed to flee Germany in November 1939 to Orselina, Switzerland where they remained for the duration of the war. Eva Stern married Gerald Silber (Silver), who was also a German Jewish refugee. They had two daughters, Deborah (b. 1961) and Judith (b. 1963).
boxes oversize boxes oversize folders 8 5 6
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
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 Fritz’s first wife Hedwig Neumeyer’s family in Munich and Argentina, his brother Karl and wife Carrie, and Liesel Stern, a relative who perished in the Holocaust. Other correspondence includes pre-war, wartime, and post-war letters received by Fritz and Hedi from friends and family in the United States and abroad, and letters exchanged between the Stern and Gutmann children including letters from Walter after he enlisted. Writings consist of clippings, memoirs, family histories, poems, and articles. Included are typed memoirs by Hedi about her childhood and typed transcripts of oral histories conducted with her about her life and family. Topics include her childhood, her first marriage, the birth of her children, immigration to the United States, her parents’ flight to Switzerland during World War II, and Walter’s death in 1945. Other writings include histories of the Eichengrün and Neumeyer families, a 1914 diary (author unknown, but likely belonging to Fritz), poems by Hedi, Walter’s Bar Mitzvah speech, and a Provisional Constitution for the Jewish Community in Munich that Fritz was involved with. Photographs consist primarily of depictions of Hedwig, Fritz, and their children in Germany and the United States. Included are portraits, candid, and travel photographs of the Eichengrün and Stern families in Germany, including friends, relatives, Hedwig’s first husband Franz Gutmann, and Fritz’s first wife Hedwig Neumeyer. There are numerous photographs of the family after their immigration to the United States, including depictions of Walter in his army uniform.
Eichengrün and Stern families papers