Ohringer and Weil families papers
Extent and Medium
box
book enclosure
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1
Creator(s)
- Weil family
- Ohringer family
Biographical History
Sigmund Ohringer (1912-1991) was born in Cottbus, Germany to Jakub (or Jacob, 1888-1948) and Mariem (née Ohrenstein, 1888-1976). Sigmund had three brother and two sisters, Leonard (“Leon” 1910-1974), Josef (b.1911), Joachim (b.1919), Lotte (later Lottie, b. 1921) and Regina (b. 1926). Sigmund and his brothers fled Germany in the late 1930s and immigrated to the United States. Still living in Germany, Jakob, Mariem, Lotte, and Regine were forced from their home and moved to Warsaw, Poland. They left Poland in 1939 and settled in Le Havre, France. In late 1939 Leon, who was already living in the United States, attempted to help his family obtain visas for Cuba while they waited for American visas. He was able to obtain the proper paperwork and in March 1939, Jakob, Mariem, Lotte, and Regine boarded the SS Flandre from Saint Nazaire, France to Havana. They were denied entry and sent back to France where they stayed in Marseilles until 1941 when they received their immigration paperwork. In 1941 they left from Lisbon, Portugal for the United States. Sigmund married Inge Weil in 1952 in Chicago and they had two children, Judith (b. 1954) and Jack (b. 1956).
Inge (born Ingeborg, 1929) Weil was born in Heidelberg, Germany to Arthur (1897-1987) and Ilse (née Hochherr, 1906-1937) Weil. Ilse’s parent Gustav (1872-1941) and Frieda (née Carlebach, 1882-1941) Hochherr were killed during the war. After Ilse’s death in 1937, Arthur married Anneliese (born to Julius and Klara) and they had four children, Sherman, Carole, Eric, and Russ. In 1939 Inge, Arthur, and Anneliese left Germany aboard the MS St. Louis. After being denied entry into Cuba, they disembarked in England where the remained until 1941 when they immigrated to the United States. Inge married Sigmund Ohringer in 1952 in Chicago and they had two children, Judith (b. 1954) and Jack (b. 1956)
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jack Ohringer
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jack Ohringer
Funding Note: The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign.
Jack Ohringer donated the Ohringer and Weil families papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2015.
Scope and Content
The Ohringer and Weil families papers include biographical material, correspondence, subject files, and photographs relating primarily to the wartime experiences of the Ohringer and Weil families. The collection includes identification documents, immigration material, and photographs relating to the Weil family as well as a family tree and letters Julius and Klara Weil wrote from Camp de Gurs. The collection also includes identification documents, immigration material, correspondence, a family tree, and restitution files relating to the Ohringer family. Biographical materials include family trees related to the Ohringer and Weil families including a family book of the Carlebach family, Inge Weil’s grandmother’s side of the family, as well as a military card for Ernst Noher. Biographical materials related to the Weil family include a birth verification, naturalization certificate, immigration ID card, alien registration card, and a copy of the marriage license for Inge Weil as well as a marriage certificate for Arthur and Annaliese Weil. Biographical materials related to the Ohringer family include report cards for Sigmund, birth verifications for Josef and Regina, identification paperwork and a copy of a death certificate for Mariem, and a naturalization certificate and restitution paperwork for Joachim. Leonard Ohringer’s biographical materials include a naturalization certificate, report cards, medical reports, birth verification, school identification, list of belongings, request for visas for his family, and a copy of his death certificate. Biographical materials for Jacob Ohringer include a letter stating he and his family must leave Germany, a list of belongings, immigration documents, identification documents, a vaccination certificate, a naturalization certificate, voter ID card for Chicago, and a certificate of death. The series also includes identification papers and school papers for Lotte Ohringer. Correspondence includes a large amount of letters from Julius and Klara, Annalise’s parents who did not survive, while in Gurs as well as pre-war correspondence from Arthur until 1942, after he arrived in the United States. The series also includes a small amount of correspondence between members of the Ohringer family including Lotte and Marem. Subject files include a poesie album kept by Ilse in 1921 with poems written by various people, a newspaper clipping reporting American troops at the University of Heidelberg, a brochure of the memorial at Gurs, and a booklet titled, Archiv Für Ohrenß, Nasen- und Kehlkopf Heilkunde. This series also includes entries written by Arthur Weil about his experiences while aboard the MS St. Louis as well as a translation. Photographs include pre-war photographs of the Weil family including Alice Hochher (b. 1912), Iles’s sister, and a photographic postcard of Arthur Weil in German army during WWI.
System of Arrangement
The Ohringer and Weil families papers are arranged as four series: Series 1: Biographical material, approximately 1917-1988 and undated Series 2: Correspondence, approximately 1928-1981 Series 3: Subject files, 1921-1963 and undated Series 4: Photographs, approximately 1930s
People
- Weil, Inge.
- Ohringer, Mariem.
- Weil, Klara.
- Ohringer, Leonard.
- Ohringer, Lotte.
- Ohringer, Joachim.
- Ohringer, Sigmund.
- Ohringer family
- Weil, Julius.
- Weil family
- Weil, Arthur.
- Ohringer, Jakob.
Corporate Bodies
- Gurs (Concentration camp)
- St. Louis (Ship)
Subjects
- Marseilles (France)
- United States--Emigration and immigration--History.
- World War, 1939‐1945‐‐Personal narratives.
- Concentration camp inmates--France--Gurs--Correspondence.
- Cottbus (Germany)
- Jewish Refugees--France.
Genre
- Photographs.
- Document
- Correspondence.
- Diaries.