Collection 17: Heidemann family - Letters received, 1938-1943, 1948-1952

MLMSS 6679

sub-fonds

1938-1943, 1948-1952

Textual Records, Nonmusical Sound Recordings

402048

Microfilm : CY 3984, frames 1-513 (MLMSS 6679/1-6).

0.15 metres of textual material (1 box) - manuscript and typescript

Sally Bernstein (1868-ca 1944) and Rosa Bernstein, nee Petzal (1864-1942), and their three children Meta (1895-1966), Fritz (1900-ca 1944) and Erich (1905-2003) were a German Jewish family living in Berlin during the 1920s and 1930s.
Sally, a schoolteacher and headmaster, and Rosa, had run a Jewish orphanage for boys in their large home in Schwerin. They moved to Berlin after their retirement. Sally and Rosa were orthodox jews, their children were liberal.
With the rise of National Socialism and growing Anti Semitism, the family made plans to leave Germany. In September 1938, Meta, her husband Adolf (Dolf) Heidemann and their two children, Egon (1921-1971) and Gisela (b. 1925), having secured permits and visas, left Germany and travelled to Australia. They arrived on 10 November, stateless refugees.
Dolf, who had been a successful businessman in Germany, learnt farming in Australia, helped by Meta. They settled in Seven Hills and eventually established the Heidemann Hatikvah Hatchery.
In 1939 Erich and his fiancee Annelie Ehrlich, secure permits and leave for the USA.
The letters in this collection begin with the departure of Meta and her family for Australia. Sally and Rosa, Fritz and Lotte, and Erich until his own departure, all make contributions to letters written to the Heidemann family in Sydney. The letters contain routine family news as well as details about the worsening situation in Germany, the departure of family and friends seeking safe haven outside Germany, comments about the Heidemann family's life in Sydney, and the constant struggle to secure permits for the remainder of the family to leave Germany.
With Erich and Annelie's arrival in the USA their own correspondence with the Heidemanns begins. By about 1940 the Heidemanns are no longer able to receive mail from enemy countries and so must rely on Erich and Annelie to convey news from the family in Berlin.
The letters convey an increasing sense of the difficulties involved in obtaining permits for Jewish refugees to travel to Australia, and to the United States; and a sense of the networking and reliance on family and friends already in Australia to secure permits, visas and financial support. There is a great reliance also on the Department of the Interior, and Jewish societies and organisations in Australia.
Great hope is placed in Australia as a safe destination. The Heidemanns are constantly asked, then begged, to do everything possible to secure travel permits to Australia, seen as the place of a longed for family reunion which never eventuates. On 3 July 1939, Lotte writes that the family in Berlin have received interim permits to travel to Australia. As late as 1943 however, they are still in Berlin. Their waiting number has not been called. It becomes obvious their number will not be called unless they can secure funding from Australia or the United States.
Rosa, having already suffered two strokes, died at home in Berlin on 14 March 1942. At the beginning of 1944 Fritz and Lotte at least, are still living in Berlin. The Heidemanns receive this news from Erich and Annelie, via the Red Cross. Sally Bernstein died in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp at an unknown date. The fate of Fritz and Lotte, also deported, remains unknown.

Folder 01
1938
(Microfilm: CY 3984, frames 1-139)

Folder 02
1939
(Microfilm: CY 3984, frames 140-345)

Folder 03
1940
(Microfilm: CY 3984, frames 346-406)

Folder 04
1941
(Microfilm: CY 3984, frames 407-435)

Folder 05
1942
(Microfilm: CY 3984, frames 436-469)

Folder 06
1943, 1948-1952
(Microfilm: CY 3984, frames 470-513)

Chronological

German, English

Copyright restrictions may apply:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder

The manuscript letters were copied onto preservation microfilm, July 1999.
An Oral History interview with Giselle Cohen is held at MLOH 321