Greta Fischer papers

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

Greta Fischer (1910-1988) was born in Budišov (Bautch) to Leopold and Ida Fischer. She survived the war in London while her parents perished in Theresienstadt. In June 1945, she went to Germany as a member of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration's Team 182 to work at the International Displaced Person’s Children's Center established at Kloster-Indersdorf. During the summer of 1946, the D.P. children’s center was relocated to Prien am Chiemsee and Gstadt am Chiemsee and the cloister was converted to a home for Jewish refugee children from Eastern Europe. Fischer followed the D.P. Center and became director of the International Children’s Center Hotel Kronprinz Prien. In 1948 she escorted a group of children to Toronto, Canada, worked in Montreal as a social worker, and moved to Israel in 1965. 

Greta Fischer papers 

boxes oversize box 2 1 

The Greta Fischer papers consist of biographical materials, concentration camp materials, photographs, printed materials, reports, memoranda, speeches, and souvenirs documenting Fischer’s work with UNRRA at the D.P. children’s centers at Kloster Indersdorf, Prien am Chiemsee, and Gstadt am Chiemsee. Biographical materials include records documenting Fischer’s work for UNRRA and a D.P. identification card for an infant named Rolf‐Igor Raudsep. Concentration camp materials include a hand‐drawn map of concentration camps in Europe and a hard labor ration card from an unidentified camp. Photographs materials include photographs of Fischer, UNRRA staff members, and displaced children at the children’s centers at Kloster Indersdorf, Prien, and Gstadt. This series also includes identification photographs of many of the children from Kloster Indersdorf; a Prien photograph album showing children, staff members, and the Hotel Kronprinz; a hand‐made photograph album presented to Greta by the employees of the children’s center at Gstadt; and two photographs of human remains believed to be at Buchenwald. Printed materials include a Czech children’s songbook called Perekond Oktav, issue 333 of London Calling, and a 1948 pamphlet titled The Story of UNRRA. Reports, memoranda, and speeches include records describing displaced children and their care at Kloster Inderdorf in the 1940s, partial lists of the children, sociological and psychological reports about displaced children and Holocaust survivors dating from 1952 to 1974, and Fischer’s memories in the 1980s of the children and UNRRA’s work with them. Souvenirs from the children’s centers include cards to Fischer from employees and residents of the children’s centers, a guest book from Kloster Indersdorf, and a scrapbook/songbook entitled “We are the children of Kampfenwand.” 

The Greta Fischer papers are arranged as six series: I. Biographical materials, approximately 1940-1988, II. Concentration camp materials, approximately 1945, III. Photographic materials, approximately 1939-1941, IV. Printed materials, approximately 1939-1989, V. Reports, memoranda, and speeches, 1945-1987, VI. Souvenirs from the children's centers, 1945-1947