Stefan and Frederike Deutsch family papers
Extent and Medium
boxes
2
Creator(s)
- Stefan and Frederike Deutsch family
Biographical History
Stefan Deutsch (1882-1961) and Frederike (Frida) Deutsch (née Hahn, 1885-1963) lived in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland), with their four children: Margot (1910—), Martin (1914--2013), Erwin (1916—2010), and Gerda (approximately 1915—approximately 1942). Stefan and Frederike immigrated to Bolivia in 1939 with their son and daughter-in-law, Erwin and Steffi Deutsch. Margot Deutsch Prinz (1910—) married Kurt Prinz in 1932 and moved to Oppeln for three years, then Dusseldorf for a year, and then Berlin for two years. In Berlin, Kurt Prinz worked as a travel agent with Cunard Whitestar and helped hide a number of German Jews. Upon learning that the Gestapo knew about his illicit activities, Kurt, Margot, and their three-year-old daughter, Mirjam (later Miriam), immigrated to the United States via Antwerp, arriving January 18, 1939. Kurt’s brother, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who had imemigrated to the United States in 1937 with the assistance of Stephen Wise, supplied the family with an affidavit. The Prinzes settled in St. Louis, MO. Martin Deutsch (1914-2013) immigrated to the United States in 1938, and after several years, settled in St. Louis. He met and married Bette Wax, with whom he had two children, Gary and Elaine. Gerda Deutsch Schottlaender (approximately 1915-approximately 1942) married Heinz Schottlaender (1907—approximately 1942) in the summer of 1938. In June 1941, Gerda gave birth to a son, Denny. Despite multiple attempts, the family was unable to emigrate from Germany. They remained in Wessig, a suburb of Breslau, until their deportation east on May 3, 1942, where they presumably perished in Majdanek, Sobibor, Belzec, or Izbica. Erwin Deutsch (1916-2010) and his wife Steffi Deutsch (née Buch, 1919-1998) immigrated to Bolivia in 1939 along with Erwin’s parents, Stefan and Frederike Deutsch, and Steffi’s father, Robert Buch. They immigrated to the United States after the war.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Susan Shear
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Susan Shear donated the Stefan and Frederike Deutsch family papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1997. She added a large collection of family correspondence in 2008, which were formally donated by Margot Deutsch Prinz, Martin Deutsch, Erwin Deutsch, and Susan Prinz Shear.
Scope and Content
The Stefan and Frederike Deutsch family papers contain a detailed account of one family’s emigration attempts from Nazi Germany to refuge abroad. The collection includes citizenship, naturalization, and immigration papers, as well as passports (Reisepass) for Stefan and Frederike Deutsch used during their 1939 emigration from Breslau to Bolivia, and after the war, to the United States. The collection also contains a passport and military deferment papers for Salo Hahn, the father of Frederike Deutsch, from the late 19th century, and a passport (Reisepass) for Robert Buch, the father of Steffi Buch Deutsch, used in 1939 when he immigrated to Bolivia. The vast majority of the collection consists of a chronological set of letters from various members of the Deutsch family in Germany, in Bolivia, and in the United States. Martin Deutsch emigrated to the United States in 1938, with his sister Margot, her husband Kurt, and daughter Mirjam joining him in early 1939. After Kristallnacht, Stefan and Erwin Deutsch were arrested, but released in order to immigrate with their wives (and Steffi Deutsch’s father, Robert Buch) to Bolivia. Prolific correspondence continued between the family in Bolivia, family in the United States, and with Gerda Deutsch Schottlaender, Stefan and Frederike Deutsch’s only remaining child in Germany. All members of the Deutsch family, as well as members of the Schottlaender family, made a concerted effort to obtain visa and immigration paperwork for Gerda, her husband Heinz, and later their infant son, Denny. The correspondence includes detailed accounts of their attempts, as well as the slow recognition that the Schottlaender family had been deported in May 1942 and some post-war correspondence attempting to track their fate. The collection also includes copies of all the documents and correspondence, which were translated by Erwin and Martin Deutsch, and by Margot Deutsch Prinz. The translations were edited and annotated with additional historical content by Susan Prinz Shear, the daughter of Margot and Kurt Prinz.
System of Arrangement
The Stefan and Frederike Deutsch family papers are arranged as three series: I. Biographical materials, 1867-1952 (bulk 1938-1952), II. Photographic materials, copies approximately 1990s; III. Correspondence, 1790-1965 (bulk 1938-1942).
People
- Buch, Robert.
- Schottlaender, Gerda Deutsch.
- Schottlaender, Denny.
- Deutsch, Stefan, 1882-1961.
- Deutsch, Steffi Buch, 1919-1998.
- Deutsch, Martin, 1914-2013.
- Deutsch, Erwin, 1916-2010.
- Schottlaender, Heinz.
- Stefan and Frederike Deutsch family
- Deutsch, Margot Prinz, 1910-
- Deutsch, Frederike Hahn, 1885-1963.
- Shear, Susan Prinz.
- Hahn, Salo.
Subjects
- Bolivia--Emigration and immigration.
- Jewish refugees--United States.
- Jewish refugees--Bolivia.
- Wrocław (Poland)
- World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Germany.
- Bolivia.
- Jews--Poland--Wrocław.
Genre
- Document