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Title: Bernard Gotfryd papers
Date (inclusive): 1940-2008
Collection Number: 2008C24
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
9 manuscript boxes
(3.6 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The Bernard Gotfryd papers reflect Gotfryd's status as both an author of true stories about the Holocaust and a professional
photographer. The papers consist of clippings, correspondence, and numerous photographs and include hundreds of letters of
appreciation from students and teachers of classes that Gotfryd spoke to about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor.
Creator:
Gotfryd, Bernard, 1924-
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2008.
[Identification of item], Bernard Gotfryd papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Bernard Gotfryd was a Holocaust survivor and celebrated staff photographer for
Newsweek for more than three decades until his retirement in the late 1980s.
Bernard Gotfryd was born in 1924, in Radom, Poland, to Jewish parents. During World War II, he worked as an apprentice photographer
at a photo studio in the Radom ghetto. His involvement with the Polish underground led to his imprisonment in a concentration
camp. He spent time in six concentration camps before his liberation from Gusen II in May 1945. Two years later he immigrated
to the United States. After several years of service with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, in 1957 Gotfryd became a photojournalist
for
Newsweek. During his thirty years with the magazine, he took portraits of many of the most influential and important people of the
day--statesmen, politicians, writers, musicians, painters--as well as those of many other, less prominent individuals.
After his retirement, Gotfryd turned to writing and lecturing. His extraordinary wartime reminiscences were published as some
thirty autobiographical short stories under the title
Anton the Dove Fancier. He lectured extensively about the Holocaust, particularly to high school students in the New York City area. Several hundred
letters from grateful listeners, included in his papers, bear witness to the effectiveness of his presentations. Gotfryd died
in 2016.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Bernard Gotfryd papers reflect Gotfryd's status as both an author of true stories about the Holocaust and a professional
photographer. The papers consist of clippings, correspondence, and numerous photographs. The correspondence series includes
hundreds of letters of appreciation from students and teachers of classes that Gotfryd spoke to about his experiences as a
Holocaust survivor. These letters show how moved Gotfryd's audiences were by his talks. The correspondence also contains readers'
reactions to
Anton the Dove Fancier, the compilation of Gotfryd's stories about the Holocaust and his youth in Poland.
The photographs in the collection cover the range of Gotfryd's work for
Newsweek magazine: the prints depict politicians, writers, and artists. In almost all cases, the subjects of the photographs are identified.
A more extensive collection of Bernard Gotfryd's photographs are located at the Library of Congress. See
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010650142/
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World politics -- Pictorial works