Bing family: papers

This collection comprises four separate deposits of material regarding different members of the same family.

The first deposit (867/1) consists of copies of 3 letters written by a woman in a collection centre (Sammlunglager) in Berlin in June 1943. She was subsequently deported to Auschwitz where she almost certainly died. The letters are significant because they offer a rare insight into conditions in such an establishment and document the growing level of despair amongst those who were transported. In the final letter she seems certain of her fate- that theirs will be the last “Polentransport', and that their destination will be Auschwitz; that they will be transported in sealed goods wagons; and that they will not be gassed in transit- which would have been preferable to her (867/1/3).

With regard to the provenance, the originals were given to the depositor by Thomas-Joachim von Pappritz, son of the addressee.

The second deposit (867/2) consists of copy papers relating to a another member of the Bing family, Clara Bing, the mother-in-law of Mathilde Bing, the subject of the first deposit. These papers document an offence by Clara not to include the name Sara, signifying her Jewish ethnicity.

The third deposit, (867/3) consists of additional documentation including a letter from Fritz Mecklenburg, a family friend, dated 21 September 1945, to Heinz Bing, enclosing his mother's account of the fate of Georg and Mathilde Bing (867/3/1); papers re the marriage of Mathilde's parents (867/3/3); Red Cross Telegrammes between Mathilde and Heinz Bing in London and her parents in Berlin, (1940-1943) (867/3/4). In addition, the following transcript material is on disk and in hard copy: Heinz Bing's internment camp diary, (June- December 1940), (867/3/5; his fiancée's, Lore Meyerheim's, diary, (867/3/6); Lore Meyerheim's correspondence to Heinz Bing, (June-December 1940) (867/3/7).