Max and Mathilde Maier family papers

The Max and Mathilde Maier family papers measure 1.5 linear feet, date from 1866‐1998, and include biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, printed materials, and writings documenting Max Maier’s World War I military service and the couple’s education, marriage, and emigration to Rolândia, Brazil. The papers also include a copy of an autobiography by Hans Maier and a copy of Gertrud Mainzer’s description of her time in Bergen‐Belsen. Biographical materials include records documenting the lives of Max and Mathilde Maier as well as Cäcilie, Hans, Heinrich, Hermann, and Margarete Maier, Holocaust survivor Gertrud Mainzer, and family friend Herman E. Simon. Records include birth certificates, student records, military papers, Stammbücher, passports, immunization records, emigration and guardianship papers, immigration and naturalization records, death notices, and funeral speeches. Additional records include certificates documenting Max Maier’s military decoration for bravery and Cäcilie Maier’s award of the War Merit Cross for Help, biographies of Hans Maier, Gertrud Mainzer’s description of her time in hiding in Amsterdam and internment at Westerbork and Bergen‐Belsen, and a booklet documenting a memorial tribute to Hermann E. Simon. Correspondence files include some of Max and Mathilde Maier’s correspondence in Germany and in Brazil and a copy of Hans Maier’s final letter to his children. German correspondence includes letters Mathilde wrote to a friend named Hedwig during high school, a letter to Max from his mother, letters from Max to Mathilde, and letters to Max and Mathilde from friends. These letters describe life in Germany and Max and Mathilde’s emigration plans. Brazilian letters include correspondence with the Maiers, Hermann E. Simon, and Margaret West about the Maiers’ purchase of land in Brazil, Max’s membership in the Frankfurt Bar Association, Hans Maier, Felix Rothschild, Mathilde’s writings, and the care of Max and Mathilde’s parents’ gravestones. Hans Maier’s final letter to his children includes his autobiography. Photographic materials include a small photograph album containing pictures of Frankfurt am Main and loose photographs depicting Max and Mathilde Maier as well as Henry and Margarete Maier, Hanna Maier Barrows, Peter and Ruth Baer, the Maiers’ homes in Frankfurt and Brazil, Max Maier’s military service in World War I, and two watercolor paintings. Printed materials include a 1930s brochure describing the Brazilian lands of the Companhia de Terras Norte do Parana, a 1977 lecture by George L. Mosse, a photocopy of an advertisement for Mathilde Maier’s Die Geschischten des Wunderrabbi von Michelstadt, photocopies of pages from a history of Frankfurt Jews, a photocopy of pamphlet from the Jüdisches Museum in Frankfurt, and newspaper clippings about Max and Mathilde Maier and German immigration to Rolândia. Writings include Mathilde Maier’s dissertation, Max Maier’s essays about German immigration to Brazil, and Margaret West’s article about child welfare workers in the Third Reich.

The Max and Mathilde Maier family papers are arranged as five series: Series I. Biographical materials, 1866-1991, Series II. Correspondence, 1910-1997, Series III. Photographic materials, approximately 1903-1997, Series IV. Printed materials, 1930s-1998, and Series V. Writings, 1921-1993.