Arthur Lehmann Correspondence
Scope and Content Note
This collection primarily consists of Arthur Lehmann's letters to Fanny Geck. Most were written while he was in the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter (1944-1945) and in Niagara Falls, NY (1946-1947). The letters concern their families (Lehmann's children were in Italy and Germany), political events, Lehmann's writing, and life in camp and, later, in Niagara Falls. Some letters have clippings, poems, or other writings attached to them. A photograph of Lehmann is attached to a 1945 letter.
The Other Correspondence folder contains two 1941 letters from Fanny Geck to the National Council of Jewish Women (New York Section, Service for the Foreign Born) concerning Arthur and Richard Lehmann; a 1945 letter from Paula Wolff to Fanny Geck about Arthur Lehmann; and a 1947 letter from Lehmann to a Mrs. St. Clair.
The Various folder contains two February 1945 issues of the Ontario Chronicle, a newspaper published by the residents of the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter. It also includes two short stories and a poem by Arthur Lehmann.
Dates
- Creation: 1926-1947
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1944-1947
Creator
- Geck, Fanny, 1879-1977 (Person)
Language of Materials
This collection is primarily in German, with some English.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
Biographical Note<extptr actuate="onload" altrender="Arthur Lehmann (1877-1948)" href="http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1338132" linktype="simple" show="embed" title="Arthur Lehmann (1945)"/>
The architect and author Abraham Arthur Lehmann (1877-1948) was born in Moenchen-Gladbach, Germany. He married Anna Franziska Machold (died 1932), and together they had three children, Ruth Karl (1910-1989), Lisa Stuckmann (1913-1993), and Richard Lehmann (1915-2011). For most of his career, Lehmann was an independent architect in Mannheim. He also wrote theater reviews for the Mannheim paper Volksstimme and other newspapers in south-western Germany.
In August 1939, Lehmann happened to be visiting his son Richard, who had left Germany for Milan, Italy in 1938. When the war started, Lehmann decided to stay in Italy. From 1941 to 1944, both Richard and Arthur were interned at a camp in Ferramonti, Italy. After liberation, Arthur Lehmann was part of a group of 1,000 non-Italian refugees who were granted refuge at Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter near Oswego, NY. In 1946, he settled in Niagara Falls, NY, where he died on February 3, 1948.
Fanny Geck was the daughter of Isidor Baer, cantor and teacher of the Jewish community of Offenburg, Germany and the widow of Oskar Geck, a socialist member of the German Reichstag and the editor of a socialist paper in Mannheim. Geck and Lehmann were already friends in Mannheim in the 1920s.
Extent
0.25 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection primarily consists of Arthur Lehmann's letters to Fanny Geck, written while he was in the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter (1944-1945) and in Niagara Falls, NY (1946-1947). It also contains a small amount of other correspondence, and some of Arthur Lehmann's writings.
Arrangement
Arthur Lehmann's letters to Fanny Geck are arranged chronologically. Other documents were separated and are also arranged chronologically.
Subject
- Lehmann, Abraham Arthur, 1877-1948 (Person)
- Geck, Fanny, 1879-1977 (Person)
- Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter (Organization)
- Title
- Guide to the Arthur Lehmann (1877-1948) Correspondence Undated, 1926-1947, bulk 1944-1947 AR 25381
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Kevin Schlottmann
- Date
- © 2011
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
Revision Statements
- July 25, 2013 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
