Joseph and Rosalie Holler papers

The Joseph and Rosalie Holler papers include biographical materials, correspondence, reparation files, photographs, printed materials, and children’s books documenting the Hollers’ lives in Stettin, Germany and their immigration to the United States in 1939. Biographical materials document the lives of Joseph and Rosalie Holler and Rosalie Holler’s mother, Gisela Walker. Records include a World War I military card, birth and marriage certificates, immigration records, and recommendations. Additional items include an appraisal of Gisela Walker’s jewelry and permission to take it with her, her Certificate of Registration upon her arrival in the United Kingdom, and a bound notebook labeled “Poesie,” given to Rosalie Holler in 1916 and containing handwritten and signed poems by her friends dating from 1917‐1925. Correspondence files are comprised of letters and postcards from family members and friends before and during World War II. Pre‐war correspondence includes two postcard photographs of Jakob Walker sent to Gisela Walker during World War I and letters congratulating Joseph and Rosalie Holler on their engagement. Later correspondence contains requests for emigration help and food or clothing packages, expresses concerns about loved ones, and is postmarked from Antwerp, Berlin, Bukaczowce, Chelm, London, Stettin, and Tarnow. Reparation files include correspondence and forms documenting Rosalie Holler’s efforts to obtain reparations and restitution through pension and insurance claims for herself and claims about her father’s trauma‐induced partial blindness. Photographs depict Susan Holler Gelfand, her brother Norbert Holler, their mother Rosalie Holler, and additional family members and friends. Printed materials include a poem titled “Pessach in Polen” published in Aufbau and calls for congregants of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue to consider providing affidavits for European Jews trying to immigrate. The collection includes two books: Alpentragödie: Roman aus dem Engadin by Richard Voss and Die Fahrt ins Glück: Erzählung für junge Mädchen by A. Gaber, inscribed by Herbert Zimet.

The Joseph and Rosalie Holler papers are arranged as six series: I. Biographical materials, 1909-1956, II. Correspondence, 1915-1967, III. Reparations, 1954-1967, IV. Photographs and printed materials, approximately 1922-1945, V. Children’s games, approximately 1939, VI. Books, 1930-1939