Jenny Kamnitzer papers, 1939-1947

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Summary

Title:
Jenny Kamnitzer papers
Dates:
1939-1947
Creators:
Kamnitzer, Jenny
Abstract:
This collection comprises documents relating to the emigration of a German Jew, Jenny Kamnitzer, from Nazi Germany to Shanghai, China in 1940, and her subsequent emigration to the United States in 1947.
Containers:
Box: Archives Box 5
Extent:
1.0 Folder(s)
Language:
and Materials are in German, English and Chinese.
Preferred citation:

Jenny Kamnitzer papers, 1939-1947, Tauber Holocaust Library - JFCS Holocaust Center, San Francisco, California

Background

Scope and content:

The collection is comprised of documents relating to the wartime experiences of Jenny Kamnitzer, a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany for the relative safety of Shanghai, China, including her stay in Shanghai during the war years, and her successful emigration from Shanghai to San Francisco after World War II.

Biographical / historical:

The collection documents the experience of German and Austrian Jews forced to flee from Germany and Austria during Hitler’s Third Reich. Denied admittance to most countries, thousands of German and Austrian Jews found their way to Shanghai, where visas and passports were not required until the Japanese occupation. After 1941, the occupying Nazi-aligned Japanese ghettoized the Jewish refugees in Shanghai into an area known as the Shanghai Ghetto.

Jenny Kamnitzer was born in Langen, Germany on July 13, 1880. In 1940, when she emigrated to Shanghai, she was living in Hamburg. Papers in the collection indicate that Siegfried Kamnitzer (date of birth July 26, 1908), donor of the papers, left Germany for Shanghai in 1939; it is likely that Mrs. Kamnitzer followed him there. In 1941, while living in Shanghai, Mrs. Kamnitzer began the process of applying for emigration to the United States. She was admitted to the United States in San Francisco, California on March 19, 1947.

Custodial history:

The Jenny Kamnitzer papers were donated to the Holocaust Center of Northern California by Mr. Siegfried Kamnitzer.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Judith Janec
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2011-11-01T16:07-0700

Access and use

Restrictions:

There are no restrictions to access for this collection.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions to use for this collection.

Preferred citation:

Jenny Kamnitzer papers, 1939-1947, Tauber Holocaust Library - JFCS Holocaust Center, San Francisco, California

Location of this collection:
JFCS Holocaust Center
2245 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94115, US
Contact:
(415) 449-3717
HolocaustCenter@jfcs.org
Website