Collection Guide
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Helene Jacob papers, circa 1910-1996.
BANC MSS 2012/146 oversize folder 1; BANC MSS 2012/146 box 1; BANC MSS 2012/146 carton 1; BANC MSS 2012/146 carton 2; ...
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Collection Overview
Title:
Helene Jacob papers, circa 1910-1996Creator/Contributor:
Jacob, Helene, 1908-1996, creatorAbstract:
The collection includes immigration, citizenship, and identity documents from Austria, Poland, Germany, and the United States
for Helene Jacob, her first husband, Mark Gutter, and other members of the Gutter and Kohn family. These documents date from
the late 1910s through the early 1940s and show Helene's and Mark's movements in Poland and Austria before the rise of Hitler
as well as after the Nazi invasion of Poland and Austria in 1938, when the couple became stateless. The collection includes
a Nazi-issued Fremdenpass (passport for a foreigner or stateless person) dating to July 1939 for both Mark and Helene. The
collection also includes materials documenting Helene Jacob's, Mark Gutter's, and Julius Jacob's pensions from the Austrian
and German governments as well as Holocaust compensation and restitution. In addition, there are correspondence and other
papers documenting Helene's life in Petaluma with Mark Gutter and Julius Jacob. Among these are notebooks of expenses (1945-1958)
that document labor and supply costs for the family chicken ranch as well as personal contributions to local Jewish organizations
and international Jewish relief funds. Photographs in the collection consist mainly of snapshots and portraits of Mark and
Helene as well as unidentified Kohn and possibly Gutter family members, vacation snapshots from California and Nevada, and
Mark Gutter's World War II army portraits and snapshots.
Date:
1910 (issued)Subject:
n-us-ca -- e-au--- -- e-pl---Jacob, Helene -- 1908-1996 -- Archives
Gutter, Mark -- 1896-1957
Jacob, Julius -- d. 1982
Poultry Growers Cooperative of Petaluma.
Jews -- Austria -- Vienna
World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Austria -- Vienna
World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Poland
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Jews -- Claims
Jews -- California -- Petaluma
Jewish women -- California -- Petaluma
Jewish farmers -- California -- Petaluma
Jews -- Europe, Eastern -- Migrations
Chicken industry -- California -- Petaluma
Petaluma (Calif.) -- Emigration and immigration
Note:
COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.
Helene Jacob papers, BANC MSS 2012/146, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Gift; Deborah Yager 2012.
Helene Jacob (1908-1996) was born Helene Kohn in Vienna, Austria. She met her first husband, Mark Gutter (1896-1957), who
was born Mojzezs Gutter in Sambor, Poland, in Vienna. With their marriage, Helene lost her Austrian citizenship and became
a citizen of Poland. In 1938, many Polish Jews who had resided outside of Poland for more than five years, including Helene
and Mark, were stripped of their Polish citizenship and became stateless. After some struggle, Helene and Mark managed to
emigrate to the United States in the summer of 1939 to join her brother, Fritz Kohn (later Fred Kent), in Sonoma County, California.
Mark and Helene started a chicken ranch in Petaluma and attempted, with Fred Kent's assistance, to helpother members of the
Kohn and Gutter families escape from Nazi-occupied Europe. In 1943, Helene found work as a bookkeeper with the Poultry Growers
Cooperative of Petaluma and became active in the local Jewish community. She also worked for the Poultry Producers' Association.
After Mark Gutter's death in 1957, Helene moved to San Rafael and married Julius Jacob, a German-Jewish refugee.
In German, English, and Polish.
Type:
Citizenship papers.Immigration records.
Letters.
Photographs.
Physical Description:
2 cartons, 1 box, 1 oversize folder (2.9 linear feet)
Language:
English
German
pol
Identifier:
BANC MSS 2012/146 oversize folder 1
BANC MSS 2012/146 box 1
BANC MSS 2012/146 carton 1
BANC MSS 2012/146 carton 2
BANC MSS 2012/146
BANC MSS 2012/146
Origin:
CaliforniaCopyright Note:
COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.