United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Max Schloss (1907-1988) was born January 1, 1907 in Hofheim in Unterfranken, Germany. His wife, Johanna Schloss (née Sterzelbach, 1916-2003), was born June 19, 1916 in Weiden, Germany. Max worked in the iron and diamond business, moved to Paris, and Johanna followed in 1935. Their daughter Henriette (later Henrietta Barkey, 1937-2016) was born in Paris in 1937. When Germany invaded France in 1940, Johanna and Henriette moved south and lived in Pau and other places. Max joined the French Foreign Legion and after his discharge in 1941 rejoined his family in the south of France. Throughout that time, a business associate in Sweden supported the Schloss family financially. Max’s sister Martha Light and her husband Sally (Lichtenstetter) Light had immigrated to the United States in 1938 and helped secure visas for the family to emigrate from Marseilles. That route was closed when America entered the war in December 1941. The family instead managed to receive visas to travel from Lisbon to Cuba and sailed to Havana in January 1942 aboard the SS Nyassa. Sally and Martha Light helped them secure visas to come to America in September. The Schloss family took a Pan American flight to Florida in November 1942, settled in New York, and became naturalized American citizens in 1948.
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The Schloss family papers are arranged as a single series.
The Schloss family papers consist of French, Cuban, and American immigration and travel records documenting the Schloss family’s escape from Nazi-occupied France and photographs documenting Henriette Schloss as a baby and toddler in France. French records include certificates and a letter documenting Max’s service in the French Foreign Legion and safe conduct documents for Max and Johanna (Jeanne) Schloss. Cuban records include immigration, travel, and registration documents as well as certificates acknowledging donations the Schloss family made to the French organization “France Libre” in Havana. American records include immigration documents from the American Consulate in Marseilles, the States Department, and the American Embassy in Havana; travel documents; Selective Service cards; and naturalization certificates for Max and Johanna Schloss. Photographs depict Henriette Schloss as a little girl in France.
Schloss family papers