Weinmann-Fels collection
Extent and Medium
3 folders & 94 photographs
Biographical History
The Weinmann-Felses were a blended family. Eva Weinmann (1892-1942) had two children from her first marriage to Bruno Fels, Ursel (b. 1913) and Klaus. Eva later married Kurt Weinmann, with whom she had a daughter, Ulla (1924-1981). Kurt died in 1934 of a heart condition. Eva was deported to Auschwitz on transport no. 23. She was murdered there on 29 November 1942. Ursel escaped to South Africa with her husband Martin Eisenstein, while Klaus went to the USA. Ulla, who was sponsored by Sir Josiah Wedgwood, came to Britain, where she studied art and worked at the Wedgwood factory. In later life, she became interested in transcendental meditation.
Archival History
Ulla Weinmann’s documents were preserved in the home of her husband Hans-Georg Schröder, where Hans-Georg’s niece found them after his death. Ursel Fels’s materials were in the possession of her daughter (the donor). The collection arrived at the Library in three stages: in March 2019 the donor sent the photographs, diary and copied/transcribed documents in her possession on Ulla; in May 2019, the donor sent the materials on her mother Ursel, and in March 2020, the library received Ulla’s art school certificates, letters from India and postcards to Ursel, as well as the letters from and about Eva Weinmann.
Acquisition
Donated 8.10.2018
Donor: Eva Eisenstein
Scope and Content
Documents belonging to and about three members of the Weinmann-Fels family: Ulla Weinmann, her sister Ursel Fels and their mother Eva Weinmann. The series on Ulla Weinmann contains vital records and identity documents, information on her arrival in Britain (including a letter from Sir Josiah Wedgwood to Ursel promising to act as Ulla’s sponsor), letters she sent while at an ashram in India and photographs.
The Ursel Fels series has documents and photographs on her study of art and design at the Reimann School in Berlin and her subsequent career as a window display designer in Germany and South Africa. The file on Eva Weinmann contains her letters to her daughter Ursel and correspondence dealing with Eva’s fate under the Nazis.
Conditions Governing Access
Open