Finding aid for the Erna Reich papers 6091
Reich (Erna) papersEmily Hodgkins
USC Libraries Special Collections
2015 September
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Language of Material:
German
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Erna Reich papers
creator:
Marcuse, Sascha
Identifier/Call Number: 6091
Physical Description:
0.42 Linear Feet
1 box
Date (inclusive): 1885-1956
Date (bulk): bulk
Abstract: Papers of Erna (Sascha) Marcuse, nee Reich (1905-1967). They consist predominantly of her correspondence with a boyfriend,
Emil Kuehne, during the early 1920s, but also include other miscellaneous personal effects from her years in Los Angeles.
Erna Reich was a native Berliner who resided there throughout her early life until her marriage in 1928 to Ludwig Marcuse.
In 1933, the couple moved to France; in 1939 they relocated to Los Angeles where Marcuse took up a teaching position at the
University of Southern California.
Erna Reich, known later as Sascha Marcuse, was born in Berlin on 1905 August 27. However, throughout the 1920s she made regular
trips to a Polish town named Polajewo, perhaps to visit family. From about 1920-1925, she kept up a regular correspondence
with her boyfriend, Emil Kuehne Jr. Kuehne, who worked at the N. Israel Department Store in Berlin (likely the location at
Alexanderplatz), was somewhat well-to-do. Their letters often discuss personal subjects, as well as places to meet next. In
late 1924, however, a mutual friend introduced Erna to Ludwig Marcuse, and soon she had broken ties with Emil to be with him.
By 1928, she and Marcuse were married, and from then on she went by "Sascha," making Erna her middle name. Because Marcuse
was Jewish, the two moved to France not long afterward, living there from 1933 until 1939. In 1939, the couple moved to Los
Angeles, California, where Marcuse eventually took up a position as a professor of German and philosophy at the University
of Southern California. While they were fortunate enough to be able to relocate when they did, their lives were still marked
with some tragedy: the couple narrowly survived a 1940 car crash in Los Angeles that left Ludwig near death in the hospital
and Erna with severe poison ivy and shock. After years of life in her adopted home of California, Erna died of cancer while
still residing in Los Angeles on 1967 February 20, at the relatively young age of 62. Marcuse survived her, eventually making
his way back to Germany. While very little is known of Erna Reich's life outside of these elementary facts, this collection
of her correspondence and other effects provides a window into her life, as well as the world of early 1920s Berlin. [Some
of this information was gathered through the Ludwig Marcuse Papers, Collection no. 0209, USC Special Collections.]
The Erna Reich papers are predominantly composed of her correspondence with her boyfriend, Emil Kuehne, from 1920-1925. These
letters are personal in subject and frequent in number, with the occasional telegram interspersed among them when Emil was
waiting for a reply impatiently. The letters often mention meeting points and other such locations throughout Berlin, giving
them an interesting historical relevance in terms of the cityscape of Berlin in the 1920s. There is a small amount of other
correspondence with assorted people as well as some of Erna's personal notes and effects from both early on and the later
years in Los Angeles. The other three items (the Perpetual Calendar, the issue of Atlantis magazine, and the screenplay) were
found with the Erna Reich materials, but it is unclear how or why they may be related to her.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Erna Reich papers, Collection no. 6091, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of
Southern California
Ludwig Marcuse Papers, Collection no. 0209, Feuchtwanger Memorial Library, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Correspondence
Marcuse, Sascha
Marcuse, Sascha -- Archives
Box 1, Folder 1
The Hasty Perpetual Mental Calendar 1885
Full frontispiece: "The Hasty Perpetual Mental Calendar, for practical use every day. A simple, easy method which will enable
any one to dispense with a printed calendar for all time to come. Also furnishing a mental calendar for every year of the
Christian era. Valuable in detecting or correcting errors in days, dates of months and years." Handwritten note on page 5,
small notes throughout.
Box 1, Folder 2
Box 1, Folder 3
Box 1, Folder 4
Box 1, Folder 5
Atlantis [magazine] 1934 April
Volume VI, Issue 4. Includes the following articles/photo spreads: "Die Waika-Riffe, ein Nordisches Vogelschutzgebiet" von
Herbert Ecke, "Rueno" von Henry Koehn, "Vorposten der Schiffahrt" von Gustav von Estorff, "Venedig" von Joerg Glen, "Eva,"
"Buddhistische Kloester" von Dr. Martin Huerlimann, "Kloster Reichenau" von Emma Kottmann, "Das Kloster" von Ricarda Huch,
"Kloster Beuron" von Prof. Rudolf Grossmann, "Gold und Liebe" von Oskar von Hochreuth, "Die Schoenheit," "Die Gotischen Altaere
der Jakobikirche in Hamburg" von Reinhold Mueller, "Das Kloster des Heiligen Sava" von Heinz Grunert, "Bismarck," and "Ein
Bismarckbrief als Leitartikel" von Dr. Hans Traub.
Box 1, Folder 6
[Screenplay for Film 46: "Philine," renamed "Komoedianten 1941"] ca. 1941