Mayer, Bierig, and Ehrmann families papers
Extent and Medium
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Creator(s)
- Mayer, Bierig, and Ehrmann families
Biographical History
Hugo Mayer (1864-1942) and his wife Karoline Bierig Mayer (1879-1944) lived in Leimen, Germany, with their three children, Friedel (1909-2003), Gustav (1910-1969), and Kurt (1921-2007). Friedel and Gustav immigrated to the United States in 1937 with Friedel’s husband, Oskar Ehrmann (1893-1940) and settled in Toms River, NJ. Kurt Mayer (1921-2007) emigrated to England in 1939, was interned on the Isle of Man during the war, and immigrated to the United States in 1947. Hugo and Karoline Mayer were deported to Gurs in 1940 and transferred in 1941 to Noé, where Hugo died of illness on New Year’s Day 1942. Karoline was transferred to le Vernet in 1943 and deported in 1944 to Auschwitz where she perished. Karoline Mayer’s stepmother, Karoline Bierig (1878-), was the second wife of Karl Bierig (d. 1936). The Bierigs’ three daughters were Selma (1908-1942), Gertud (1915-1942), and Toni. Toni Bierig immigrated to New York in 1938, and Gertrud Bierig emigrated to England in 1939. Selma remained in Nussloch with Karoline Bierig, and the two were deported to Gurs in 1940 with Hugo and Karoline Mayer. In 1941 the Bierigs were transferred to Recebedou, and in 1942 to Auschwitz where they perished. Gertrud committed suicide in England upon learning her mother and sister had been sent east.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Linda Ziskind
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Linda Ziskind donated the Mayer, Bierig, and Ehrmann families papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 and 2014.
Scope and Content
The Mayer, Bierig, and Ehrmann families papers consist of biographical materials and correspondence documenting the family’s lives in Nazi Germany, emigration to England, deportation to France, and immigration to the United States. Biographical materials include identification papers; birth, registration, marriage, and death certificates; education, training, and employment records; emigration and immigration records; ration books; and a family tree documenting the lives of the Bierig, Ehrmann, and Mayer families in Germany and their departures for England and the United States. They also include printed materials documenting the cultural activities of youth in British enemy alien internment camps. Correspondence includes letters and postcards among family members and friends in Leimen, Nussloch, Gurs, Noé, Manchester, the Isle of Man, Toms River, and Brooklyn. The correspondence describes daily life in Germany, the United States, and England; deportation to France and life in French concentration camps; and efforts to emigrate. Letters also share family recipes as well as news of the deaths of family members and friends. This series also includes postwar correspondence from Kätchen Brandner, who had worked for the Mayer family in Leimen, and Paula Gluck, who was in Noé with the Mayers, providing news about the fates of family members and friends and about postwar life in Germany.
System of Arrangement
The Mayer, Bierig, and Ehrmann families papers are arranged as two series: I. Biographical materials, 1928-2012 (bulk 1928-1969), II. Correspondence, 1934-1960.
People
- Mayer, Bierig, and Ehrmann families
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Jewish refugees--New Jersey.
- Jews--Germany--Nussloch.
- Toms River (N.J.)
- Leimen (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
- Onchan (Isle of Man)
- Nussloch (Germany)
- Jews--Germany--Leimen--(Baden-Württemberg).
- Concentration camp inmates--France--Correspondence.
- Jewish refugees--England.
- Holocaust victims.
Genre
- Document