Liebermann family correspondence

Hedi Liebermann was born September 29, 1916 in Frydek, Austria, to Adolf Liebermann (b. June 24, 1874 in Rzeszow, Poland) and Bettina Reik Liebermann (b. September 11, 1887 in Frydek, Czechoslovakia). Hedi (whose legal name was Hedwig but was nicknamed Muck or Mungo) had an older brother, Hans, born on March 25, 1913, also in Vienna. Adolf worked in an import/export business. Hedi received an exit visa with the assistance of a non-Jewish boyfriend, and emigrated to Great Britain in July 1938. Hans worked as a lawyer for an Italian insurance company, Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà, in Warsaw. When he learned that his visa would not be renewed, he left for Prague on September 12, 1938, a year before the war began. His parents joined him in Prague on February 4, 1939, after they had fled from Vienna. They lived at 6 Jerusalemska Street II, across from Jubilee Synagogue. On March 9, 1939, Hans emigrated to Great Britain, where he was interned for a while on the Isle of Man as an “enemy alien." In spite of numerous attempts by all family members, Adolf and Bettina were unable to get the papers necessary both to emigrate. On June 29, 1939, Hedi married Basil Thomas, a British playwright. On December 8, 1940, Hans (who had changed his name to John) married Marianne Glattauer, also an Austrian émigrée. Hedi and John were able to keep in touch with their parents via letters and postcards. They also received mail and messages via relatives in neutral territories and the United States. After June 1941, all mail stopped. On December 17, 1941, Adolf and Bettina Liebermann were deported to Theresienstadt. Adolf died in there on August 8, 1942. Bettina was deported to Auschwitz on October 26, 1942, where she perished. John and Marianne (who changed her name to Marian) Liebermann had two children, Barbara Carol, known as Carol (b. 1943) and Frances Jane, known at Frankie (b. 1945). All four Liebermanns immigrated to the United States in 1949. John Liebermann died in August 30, 1982. His widow, Marian Glattauer Liebermann survives. Hedi and Basil Thomas had one daughter, Susan, born in 1942. After Basil's death in 1957, Hedi and Susan moved to the United States. Hedi died February 6, 2013.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Susan Davidson

Susan Davidson donated her family's collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014. Hedi Liebermann Thomas was her mother.