Margaret Klein Goetz family correspondence

Identifier
irn502038
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1999.A.0091
Dates
1 Jan 1940 - 31 Dec 1944
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folders

7

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Margaret Klein Goetz (1909-2010) was born in Heidelberg to Heinrich Klein (1876-approximately 1944), a hops and tobacco merchant, and Melanie Sondheimer Klein (1883-approximately 1942). She studied chemistry in Berlin and immigrated to America in 1936, where she stayed with relatives in Buffalo before finding work near Detroit. Her parents and her sister Hilde (1914-approximately 1942) were deported from Heidelberg to the concentration camp at Gurs in October 1940. Heinrich Klein was then transferred to Les Milles, Rivesaltes, Nexon, Masseube, back to Gurs, Noé, and le Vernet. Melanie and Hilde Klein are believed to have been transported to Auschwitz in September 1942 and Heinrich Klein in June 1944. Goetz’s other sister, Lotte Malz (1915- ), had emigrated to Palestine in 1935. Goetz eventually moved to Los Angeles and married Richard Goetz (1884-1974), whom she had met in Detroit.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Margaret Klein Goetz donated the Margaret Klein Goetz family correspondence to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1999.

Scope and Content

The Margaret Klein Goetz family correspondence consists primarily of letters, telegrams, and postcards to Margaret Klein from her parents and sister in Heidelberg and then Gurs, Les Milles, Nexon, and Masseube. The correspondence documents the family’s efforts to immigrate to the United States, money and parcels received by the family members in the camps through Quaker and Swiss relief agencies and an uncle in Switzerland, daily camp life, and news of family members and friends. Additional letters and postcards are addressed from Heinrich Klein in Masseube, Gurs, Noé, and le Vernet to Dr. H. Zernik, who continued to provide aid.

System of Arrangement

The Margaret Klein Goetz family correspondence is arranged as a single series: I. Margaret Klein Goetz family correspondence, 1940-1944

Subjects

Genre

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.