Fritz Grünberg papers

The collection documents the Holocaust-era experiences of Fritz Grünberg, originally of Rheine, Germany, including his involvement with the Jewish Council and the Contact Afdeling (Contact Division) of the Westerbork transit camp. The collection consists of biographical materials, including identification papers, correspondence, and immigration documents; photographs; and material related to Westerbork including prisoner and deportation lists, administrative papers, post-war investigation papers regarding the Contact Afdeling, and a testimonial narrative about the Contact Afdeling and Westerbork. Biographical materials include clippings; a small amount of correspondence; pre-war documents of Fritz’s mother Helene Grünberg; identification papers such as driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and citizen registration documents; immigration papers, and an undated poem in German. Westerbork documents consist of documents related to the post-war investigation of the Contact Afdeling; miscellaneous documents including copies of letters Camp Commandant Albert Gemmeker, details of a lawsuit settled in 1944, memorandum, and blank identification cards; documents related Fritz’s involvement with the Contact Afdeling including identification cards, travel permits, and ration cards; and several lists (some appear to be fragments) relating to prisoners at Westerbork, including deportations and individuals on the Stammliste who were protected from deportation, and individuals listed as "S" cases who held foreign passports or met other special criteria and were often exchanged for German POWs; typed testimony about the Contact Afdeling’s activities in Westerbork, signed by Fritz, Hans Eckmann, Hans Heinz Hanauer, and Walther Heijnemann. Photographs consist of undated photographs of Fritz, likely taken in the 1940s.

The collection is arranged as three series. Series 1. Biographical material, 1922-1979; Series 2. Westerbork documents, 1940-1947; Series 3. Photographs, circa 1940s