Consists of one folder of correspondence between Ruth Fischel in Melbourne, Australia, and her distant relatives, Hermine Schwartz of Philadelphia, PA, and Annette Asher, of Atlanta, GA. In the letters, dated between 1947-1949, Ruth explained her family's Holocaust experiences, including the death of relatives in the Holocaust, her escape with her husband to Shanghai, life in wartime Shanghai, and receiving confirmation, in 1948, that her children had also been killed in the Holocaust. The letters also detail the Fischels' immigration to the United States in 1949.
Ruth Wangenheim Fischel was born on June 28, 1898 in Berlin, Germany. She married Siegmund Fischel (born March 26, 1895 in West Prussia) in February 1923. They had three children: Siegbert, Manfred, and Mignon. In 1939, the Fischels sent their children to live with relatives in the Netherlands and, in May 1940, obtained permits to go to Shanghai. Ruth and Siegmund arrived in Shanghai on July 21, 1940. They were able to correspond with their family until late 1941. After the war, they learned that their eldest son Siegbert, had been deported to Auschwitz and had perished. Ruth's mother, Emma Wangenheim, perished in Theresienstadt. Ruth and Siegmund heard that Manfred and Mignon had been deported to Sobibor, but held out hope for their survival until March 1948, when they were informed by the Red Cross their children had been killed in Sobibor. Ruth and Siegmund, who had been able to immigrate to Australia in 1947, were able to leave for the United States, where Ruth had distant relatives. They arrived in San Francisco in March 1949 and in New York in May 1949.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
folder 1
Ruth Fischel correspondence