Herbert Freeman Family Collection

This collection mostly contains correspondence to Leo and Johanna Friedmann and their sons Henry and Herbert from extended family members of the Friedmann family from the 1910s-1950s. Although Leo and Johanna had the same last name before they were married, their families were not related. Correspondents from Johanna’s side of the family include Johanna’s parents Hedwig Hurwitz and Leon Friedmann, Leon’s second wife Nancy Marcus Friedmann, Heinrich, Theodor, and Benno Friedmann (brothers of Johanna), Emil Sarsky, Lola Mendl (Theodor Friedmann’s wife), Lotte Scheier (Benno Friedmann’s wife), Herbert Scheier, Dr. E. Hurwitz, Anna Gundersheimer, and others.

Letter writers from Leo’s side of the family include Fanni Schwarzschild (mother of Leo), siblings Selma Friedmann Wolfson, Recha Friedmann, Leopold Friedmann, and Max Friedmann, cousins Moritz and Lisa Loeb-Roeder, and Max’s children Samuel Friedmann and Edith Herman, and other family members. Some of the correspondence also includes letters from friends and colleagues including Avraham Simcha Mapu, Dr. Fraenkel, Johanna Fingernagel, Dr. Gustav Loeffler, Martha Loeffler, Giesela Weinbaum, Ottilie Beck and Mrs. Ernest Metzger.

The correspondence pertains to family matters and daily life, including birthday and anniversary congratulations, employment, health, and finances. Most of the correspondence from the 1930s and 1940s relates to the rise of the Nazis in Germany, internment of family members in concentration camps, World War II, the Kindertransport, and the efforts made by various family members to emigrate out of Germany. Many of the letters contain appeals for obtaining affidavits and visas. Herbert, the creator of the collection, immigrated successfully after being named a carrier of tuberculosis, however family members such as the Wolfsons and Max Friedmann died in the Holocaust. Those that were successful emigrated to the United States and Palestine. The correspondence also describes first hand experiences in Palestine/Israel in the 1940s and 1950s, including discussions on the difficulties of daily life in Palestine and the effects of the War of Independence and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Additionally, the collection holds family trees, writings by Herbert Freeman, and photocopies from the National Archives / Public Health Service records pertaining to the immigration of Heinrich and Herbert Friedmann and Herbert’s diagnosis of tuberculosis.