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Dr. Walter Feuereisen papers 1988.1045
1988.1045  
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Collection Details
 
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  • Conditions Governing Use note
  • Preferred Citation note
  • Conditions Governing Access note
  • General note
  • Biographical/Historical note
  • Scope and Contents note

  • Title: Dr. Walter Feuereisen papers
    Identifier/Call Number: 1988.1045
    Contributing Institution: Tauber Holocaust Library
    Language of Material: German
    Container: Archives Box 01
    Physical Description: 1.0 Folder(s)
    Date: 1940-1943, 1962
    Language of Materials note: Materials are in German. English translations of some items are available.
    Abstract: The collection is comprised of certificates, postcards, and copies of letters belonging to Dr. Walter Feuereisen Chief Medical Officer of the Jewish Kultusgemeinde in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Document dates range from 1940-1943. Also included are mimeographed notices dated 1962, confirming dates and times of deporation of Dr. Feueureisen and his wife Marianne, and another family, the Altensteins. The collection documents the experiences of Dr. Feuereisen, his family and friends during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, their deportation and ultimate fate.
    Creator: Feuereisen, Walter, Dr.

    Conditions Governing Use note

    There are no restrictions to use for this collection.

    Preferred Citation note

    1988.1045 - Dr. Walter Feuereisen papers, Tauber Holocaust Library - JFCS Holocaust Center, San Francisco, California

    Conditions Governing Access note

    There are no restrictions to access to this collection.

    General note

    According to the donor, the letters written by Dr. Feuereisen were left with the janitor of the building in which he lived, along with other letters, and were recovered to Mr. Fenner. The letters in this collection are copies; originals are in the Weiner Collection, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

    Biographical/Historical note

    Dr. Walter Feuereisen was born on May 11, 1902 and died in Auschwitz sometime after his transport there on October 23, 1944. During the years of the Holocaust, Dr. Feuereisen was a physician living in Prague, Czechoslovakia and involved in the Judische Kultugemeinde. His wife Marianne was also a physician.
    Dr. Feuereisen's mother and other family lived in Brno. These family members were deported to Theresienstadt (Terezin) on March 23, 1942. Drs. Feuereisen were considered vital to the community and lived in Prague until their deportation to Theresienstadt on July 8, 1943. All family members were deported to Auschwitz in late October 1944, where they perished.

    Scope and Contents note

    The collection documents the experiences of Dr. Walter Feueresein, a Jewish physician living in Prague, Czechoslovakia during the years of the Holocaust. It comprises postcards, certificates, and letters written during 1941-1943.
    The bulk of the collection lies in three long, descriptive letters written by Dr. Feuereisen to his brother, Erwin Fenner, in which he details the conditions under which Jews lived in occupied Prague. These heartfelt letters describe the hardships endured, and the fear of deportation and uncertainty under which Jews struggled. He describes raids in which his father was captured, ongoing transports on which family and close friends are sent to unknown locations, and the painful separation of family members. The last letter was written on April 7, 1943; Dr. Feuereisen and his wife Marianne were deported in July 1943.
    The collection also includes postcards written by friends to Dr. Feuereisen from the Lodz ghetto and Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp, and several certificates of transit issued to Dr. Feuereisen, allowing him to travel through the city in order to fulfill his work obligations. Two mimeographed copies sent to Erwin Fenner in 1962 from the Council of Jewish Religious Communities in Bohemia and Moravia document the deportation to Theresienstadt and then to Auschwitz of Dr. Feuereisen and his wife, and of family members Viktor, Elizabeth, Anna and Felix Altenstein.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Fenner, Erwin
    Jüdische Kultusgemeinde Prag.
    Mauthausen (Concentration camp).
    Theresienstadt (Concentration camp).
    Brno (Czech Republic) -- History -- 20th century
    Certificates -- Prague
    Correspondence
    Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Lodz
    Jewish ghettos -- Lodz
    Jewish physicians -- Czechoslovakia
    Jews -- Persecutions -- Poland -- Lodz
    Jews, Prague
    Lodz (Poland)
    Postcards -- Lodz
    Prague (Czech Republic) -- Social life