Ernst and Johanna Weihs collection
Extent and Medium
folder
1
Creator(s)
- Johanna Weihs
- Ernst Weihs
Biographical History
Ernst Weihs (1908-1995) was born on November 8, 1908 in Vienna, Austria to Hugo Weiss (d. 1937) and Sidonie Gans. He had one sister. His father served in World War I and his parents divorced after the end of the war. Hugo remarried to a Lutheran woman, and subsequently converted to Lutheranism. Ernst converted as well. Prior to the start of World War II, Ernst worked as a gardener in Vienna. He met Johanna Bergmann while working at a Swedish home for the elderly and they got engaged. In October 1942 he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. He and Johanna unofficially married after he was deported. He was transferred to Auschwitz in October 1944 and then to Dachau and finally the Dachau subcamp of Kaufering. He was sent on a death march from Kaufering in April 1945 when he was liberated by the United States Army. Ernst and Johanna officially married after the war and their daughter was born in 1947. The family immigrated to the United States in 1951.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ernst and Johanna Wells
The papers were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Ernst and Johanna Weihs in 1988.
Scope and Content
The collection documents the Holocaust-era experiences of Ernst and Johanna Weihs, both originally of Vienna, Austria. Included are identification documents of Ernst and Johanna, certificates of Ernst and Johanna certifying that they were prisoners of Auschwitz and eligible for benefits in Vienna, and an identification document certifying that Ernst was a prisoner at Dachau.
System of Arrangement
The collection is arranged as a single series.
People
- Weihs, Johanna.
- Johanna Weihs
- Ernst Weihs
- Weihs, Ernst, 1908-
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Jews--Austria--Vienna.
- Dachau (Germany : Refugee camp)
- Vienna (Austria)
- Holocaust survivors--Austria.
Genre
- Document
- Identification cards.
- Certificates.