Gertrud Oppenheimer collection

Collection of documents, manuscript, photographs and prayer book relating to Leo and Gertrud Oppenheimer and their families, who were deported in October 1940 from western Germany to Camp de Gurs in southwest France in 1940. Gertrude worked there as a nurse and had access to members of her family. In May 1941 Leo Oppenheimer was transferred to Camp Les Milles, close to Marseille, Gertrude and Leo received permits to move to a transit camp in Marseille. In January 1942 Leo was transferred to a forced labor camp in Augagne, and in July he came to Marseille directly to a hospital. In August 1942 the mass deportations started. Gertrude and Leo went into hiding with the help of JDC; later they were smuggled into Spain and promptly arrested. Finally in April 1943 they received their US visas and on June 8, 1943 they boarded the Portuguese ship "Serpa Pinto" and arrived in Philadelphia after two weeks and proceeded to New York to be reunited with Leo's brothers.