Ruth Ucko: personal papers

Identifier
WL1651
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 71054
Dates
1 Jan 1896 - 31 Jan 1995
Level of Description
Collection
Languages
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Biographical History

Readers need to book  a reading room terminal to access this digital content

Ruth Krzesny was born to the unmarried Frieda Wolzendorff née Krzesny on 19.2.1914 in Breslau. She was put up for adoption by Frieda's father and Frieda on 11.6.1918. The adoptive parents, Siegfried and Martha Ucko (nee Roloff), had answered an advertisement for a Jewish child to be adopted in 1918. An authenticated copy of a Notarial adoption contract dated (11 Feb 1918), 5 July 1938, (1651/1/15) states that the signatories include the adoptive parents, Frieda Krzesny and father, Salomon. The identity of the real father is unknown. Ruth's adoptive mother died in 1921 and Ruth spent some years in a boarding school in Switzerland. She worked for her adoptive father in his shoe store for several years after leaving school in 1928. Her adoptive father died in 1933 before she was 21 and she was looked after by a guardian. From 1932 to 1938 she worked for a state run lottery as a clerk. In 1939 she immigrated to England, where she gained employment as a child minder, a nurse and later was employed in the fashion industry. This is well documented amongst her papers.

It is also evident from these papers that she maintained close contact with her real mother, Frieda, who had taken the name Wolzendorff after a short-lived marriage in 1926. In fact, while Frieda was incarcerated in Lichtenburg concentration from 1937 to 1939 in so-called 'protective custody', she made Ruth her Power of Attorney. After her release she assisted Frieda in immigrating to England. Ruth married Edward Thomas Shellard in 1947 and they moved to Hove in the 1950s. Ruth died in 2002 in Brighton.

Acquisition

Ruth Shellard (geb. Ucko) papers- 3 boxes

Donor: Anna Crook

Scope and Content

Readers need to book  a reading room terminal to access this digital content

This collection comprises the personal papers and correspondence of Ruth Ucko, a German Jewish immigrant to Great Britain. The bulk of Ruth's correspondence comes from her birth mother, Frieda Wolzendorff née Krzesny, mostly after she settled in Sao Paolo, Brazil. In addition there are other letters from the Krzesny family who had also escaped to either South or North America.

System of Arrangement

The papers are arranged chronologically into documents (1651/1-) and personal papers and correspondence (1651/2-); documents of other family members (1651/3-5); ephemera (1651/6-); photographs (1651/7-)

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Readers need to book a reading room terminal to access this digital content

Related Units of Description

  • The collection arrived with a set of objects: 1) two badges of Sportbund „Schild‟ des Reichsbundes jüdischer Frontsoldaten and of Schwimm Verein Breslau. 2) Glas Plate Negatives. These objects have been registered and stored separately.

People

Subjects

Places

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.