Emanuel and Louise Suessmann papers

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

Emanuel Suessmann (1910-1978) was born Emanuel Süssmann in Leipzig to Mechel (Max) and Scheindel (Charlotte) Süssmann. He was arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen after Kristallnacht and immigrated to the United States via England in 1940. He was drafted by the United States military, trained at Camp Ritchie, and served in World War II in the Military Intelligence Division in Germany. He married Louise (Lisl) Schwarzenberger (1907-2000), born in Maßbach to Bernhard and Meta Schwarzenberger, who had immigrated to the United States in 1939. The couple lived in St. Louis and had one son named Michael. Bernhard and Meta Schwarzenberger were deported from Nuremberg to Theresienstadt in 1942 and killed there in 1943. Scheindel Süssmann was deported from Leipzig to Theresienstadt in 1942 and killed there in 1944. 

Emanuel and Louise Suessmann papers 

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The Emanuel and Louise Suessmann papers contain biographical materials, correspondence, identification papers, and photographs documenting the Suessmanns, their family members in Leipzig and Maßbach, Charlotte Süssmann’s deportation to Theresienstadt, and Emanuel Suessmann’s service in the Military Intelligence Division in Germany during World War II. Biographical materials include birth certificates, certificates of good conduct, a vaccination certificate, a marriage certificate, a registration of address, photocopies of military certificates, an attestation of valued membership in the Jewish community, a citizenship certificate, and a death certificate for Bernhard and Louise Schwarzenberger and Mechel and Emanuel Suessmann. Correspondence includes two letters and eight postcards from Charlotte Süssmann, first in Leipzig and later in Theresienstadt, to Jeannette Ritter in Switzerland in which she describes her concern for her son and her deportation to Theresienstadt. This file also includes a postcard from Ritter to Emanuel Suessmann in St. Louis relaying Charlotte’s news. Identification papers include a passport and identification card for Louise Schwarzenberger and a driver’s license and postal identification card for Emanuel Suessmann. Photographs include a picture of Emanuel Suessmann in uniform at Camp Ritchie in March 1945, three photographs of war damage in Mainz, Bad Munster, and Bad Kreuznach in July 1945, a picture of Max Süssmann’s gravestone, and a Polaroid of a Shabbos lamp. 

The Emanuel and Louise Suessmann papers are arranged as a single series: I. Emanuel and Louise Suessmann papers, 1909-approximately 1990 (bulk 1930-1945)