Finding Aid for the Alfred and Annalee Roegtten collection 2020.013.h.r
Tiana Taliep
Oskar Schindler Archives
8/31/2020
Contributing Institution:
Oskar Schindler Archives
Title: Alfred and Annalee Roegtten collection
source:
Roettgen, Anneliese, 1923-
Identifier/Call Number: 2020.013.h.r
Physical Description:
0.09 Linear Feet
Date (bulk): 1945-1980
Condition Description: Good
Abstract: The Alfred and Annalee Roegtten collection contains documents, correspondence, printed material, and photographs. The content
is both original and reproduction. The bulk dates of this collection is 1941-1945. The collection documents Alfred and Annalee's
life during Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
Physical Location: This collection is small and it is sharing a box with another collection.
Language of Material:
English
.
Scope and Contents
The Alfred and Annalee Roegtten collection date from 1940 to 2000s, the bulk dates from 1941-1945. This collection documents
their lives in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. The collection is arranged into four series, which include documents, correspondence,
writings, and photographs.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research use.
Conditions Governing Use
There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the
responsibility of the research to obtain all permissions.
Preferred Citation
[Item title/description; Box number; folder number] Alfred and Annalee Roegtten collection (2020.013.h.r), Oskar Schindler
Archive, Chapman University, CA.
Biographical / Historical
Alfred Roettgen was born on March 13, 1916, in Essen, Germany, into a mixed family. His mother was gentile, and his father
was Jewish. The family was not very religious, but Alfred did have a Bar Mitzvah. In 1933, the family received antisemitism
in their community and moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands. He worked for the Committee of Jewish Refugees as a runner delivering
letters. In 1942, he married his wife, Annalee.
Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands in 1940; Alfred had to wear the yellow Jewish star since he had Jewish grandparents
on his father's side. He worked for the Jewish Council for Amsterdam, handing immigration for Jews of Foreign Nationality.
This position allowed him to move freely during the occupation, and it spared him and his wife many times from being deported.
However, his wife was sent to Westerbork transit camp in September 1944. During her imprisonment, he successfully changed
in identification to a full gentile by providing false documentation of a gentile father
In 1947, Alfred and Annalee emigrated to Brooklyn, New York, but shortly moved to Los Angeles, California. He worked as a
sausage maker in a packing house for two years and then opened his own small German sausage factory. When he retired, he and
Annalee moved to Palm Springs.
Annalee Priester/Anneliese Priester was born in Berlin, Germany, on January 7, 1923. She was 9-years old when her family
moved to Amsterdam. Annalee was 18-years old when Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands. In 1942, two weeks after her brother
was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp, she married her husband, Alfred Roegtten. She worked with him at the Jewish Council
for Amsterdam as a telephone operator. A year later, she was separated from her husband and sent to Westerbork transit camp.
Her husband had documentation that he was a full gentile, and this prolonged Annalee from being deported. Unfortunately, her
parents were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. On April 12, 1945, the Canadian forces liberated Westerbork
transit camp, and Annalee reunited with her husband. In 1947, they emigrated to the United States and settled in California.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Holocaust victims
Jewish women in the Holocaust
Holocaust survivors -- History -- 20th Century
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Jewish councils--Europe, Western--History--20th century
Westerbork (Concentration camp)
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Netherlands
Roettgen, Alfred, 1916-2007
Roettgen, Anneliese, 1923-
Roettgen, Anneliese, 1923-
Documents
Scope and Contents
This series contains documents from Alfred and Annalee Roettgen, in addition to Annalee's brother Israel Priester. The documents
are original and reproductions, dating from the 1940s. The documents include identification, registration form to go abroad,
occupation card, registration for naturalization. Of particular interest are Alfred Roettgen's certified passports of Nazi-occupied
Netherlands and Ecuador. This series is arranged alphabetically.
box 1, folder 1
Israel Priester documents
box 1, folder 2
Alfred Roettgen documents
box 1, folder 3
Alfred Roettgen documents
box 1, folder 4
Alfred Roettgen documents
box 1, folder 5
Anneliese Priester Roettgen documents
Correspondence
Scope and Contents
The Correspondence series contains handwritten and typed letters. The majority of these letters are dated from 1940 to 1945
and are both professional and personal correspondence. There is a handwritten letter from the Rabbinat der Jüdishchen Gemeinder
Zu Duisburg Synaoggen, confirming Alfred Roettgen's Bar Mitzvah on March 24, 1929. The series contains six letters from the
Joodshe Raad Voor Amsterdam, dated 1942 to 1943. Most of these letters are confirming Alfred Roettgen's employment for the
Joodshe Raad Voor Amsterdam. Of particular interest are eight letters from the Dutch Red Cross, dated from 1942 to 1944. Alfred
Roettgen writes most of these letters to his family members outside of the Netherlands, including Brazil, Britain, and the
United States. The Correspondence series is arranged chronologically.
box 1, folder 6
Rabbinat der Synagogen-Gemeinde Essen
1937
box 1, folder 7
Jewish Council for Amsterdam
1942-1943
box 1, folder 8
The Dutch Red Cross
1942-1944
box 1, folder 9
Handwritten correspondence
1943-1944
box 1, folder 10
Typed correspondence
1943-1987
Writings
Scope and Contents
The Writings series contains various written material forms, including newsletters, newspaper clippings, and articles are
dating from 1995 to 2005. They are written in English, Dutch, and German. Additionally, this series encompasses programs from
the Gruppe Bühne Lager Westerbork. The Gruppe Bühne Lager Westerbork was a theater company between 1942 and 1944 of cabaret
artists imprisoned in Westerbork transit camp. There are two reproduction programs from April 1944 and June 1944, written
in Dutch with illustrations. The highlight of this collection is a personal narrative written by Annalee Roettgen on December
16, 1995, titled "Happiness, War, Fears, Tears,----USA." This series in arranged chronologically.
box 1, folder 11
Gruppe Bühne Lager Westerbork Programs
1944
box 1, folder 13
"Happiness, War, Fear,---USA"
1995
box 1, folder 14
Newspaper Clippings
2000-2005
Photographs
Scope and Contents
The photographs in this series are both original and reproductions. There are two bulk dates, from 1940 to 1945 and the 1990s.
The photographs from the 1940s were professionally taken, and it appears the people were staged for the picture. Alfred Roettgen
and other individuals are positioned in an office space working with a telephone switchboard. This might have been taken when
Roettegen worked for the Joodshe Raad Voor Amsterdam. The photographs taken in the 1990s are Holocaust monuments and memorials,
including Mauthausen Memorial and the Alte Synagogue in Essen, Germany. This series is arranged chronologically.
