Collection 32: Rosa Ball - correspondence with Ball, Londner, Brojtman and Hermann families, and others, 1939-1953, 1986-1987

MLMSS 7220

sub-fonds

1939-1953, 1986-1987

421599

0.35 metres of textual material (2 boxes)

Rosa Charlotte Brojtman was born on 4 February 1913. Her mother, Laya, later married Rosa's stepfather Adolf Semler. A Jewish refugee, Rosa came to Sydney on the ship 'Aller', arriving on 18 July 1939, to escape German Nazism. She travelled ahead of her first husband, Wilhelm Londner whom she had married on 2 June 1939, shortly before receiving her permit to travel to Australia. She left Germany four days later on 6 June 1939.

Rosa's brother, Bernard Brojtman, had lived in Palestine since 1935 where he died in 1948. His first wife, from whom he later divorced, was known as Princie. Bernard and his second wife, Rahel, had a daughter, Mikaela, who died in 1941.

On 23 June 1939, Rosa's husband Wilhelm Londner was deported to Poland. He died on 11 September 1941. Rosa's efforts to secure permits to Australia for her parents and husband were unsuccessful. It was not until 1940 that Rosa began to use her married name, Londner.
Rosa married her second husband, Martin Ball, in January 1943. They had two children, Harold Edwin, born in 1943 or 1944, and Barbara Joanna, known as Joanna, born in 1946.

Rosa's correspondents include her parents, brother and first husband, and friends including Willy Hermann (Papa Hermann) who migrated to the United States and married a Miss Kant. They had three children, Paula, Julius and Friedel. Other correspondents include Mr and Mrs Magnus, who moved to Utrecht, The Netherlands and received food parcels from Rosa in Australia - Mr Magnus was a former supervisor of Rosa's; Ludwig Segall, a friend of Wilhelm Londner's, living in Manly, Sydney; Rosa's close friend, Ka[e]the Bluth, who migrated to Denmark in 1933 and then to Geneva, Switzerland; Hellmut Kammer, a former admirer from Germany and member of the SS and Wehrmacht, who corresponded with Rosa from 1949 until 1953. They met again in Germany, after World War II, and corresponded briefly until Kammer's death in 1987.

Rosa's parents survived World War II and the Holocaust having been forced to move repeatedly in Hanover. They were finally deported to Theresianstadt some time after September 1944. They arrived in Australia in 1947.

Rosa Charlotte Brojtman Londner Ball died in 2004.

BOX 1

File 1: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Brojtman (later Londner, then Ball) and her parents, Laya and Adolf Semler, Willy Hermann (USA), Magnus family (Holland) and others, 1939.

File 2: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Brojtman (later Londner, then Ball) and her parents, Laya and Adolf Semler, Willy Hermann (USA) and others, 1940.

File 3: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Brojtman (later Londner, then Ball) and her parents, Laya and Adolf Semler, Willy Hermann (USA), Howard L. Schall and others, 1941-1945.

File 4: Letters received by Rosa Charlotte Ball (nee Brojtman) mainly from her parents, Laya and Adolf Semler, and others, 1946-1947.

File 5: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Brojtman (later Londner, then Ball) and Ka[e]the Bluth.

File 6: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Londner (nee Brojtman) and her husband Wilhelm Londner, includes papers of Wilhelm Londner, June 1939- 20 September 1939.

File 7: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Londner (nee Brojtman) and her husband Wilhelm Londner, 10 October 1939-6 April 1940.

File 8: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Londner (nee Brojtman) and her husband Wilhelm Londner, 19 April 1940-May 1941.


BOX 2

File 9: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Brojtman (later Londner, then Ball) and her brother Bernard M. Brojtman, June 1939-February 1940.

File 10: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Brojtman (later Londner, then Ball) and her brother Bernard M. Brojtman, March 1940-March 1944.

File 11: Correspondence between Rosa Charlotte Brojtman (later Londner, then Ball) and her brother Bernard M. Brojtman and/or his wife Rahel, May 1944-September 1949.

File 12: Letters received by Rosa Ball (nee Brojtman) from Hellmut Kammer, 23 November 1948-9 March 1949.

File 13: Letters received by Rosa Ball (nee Brojtman) from Hellmut Kammer, 11 March 1949-21 June 1949.

File 14: Letters received by Rosa Ball (nee Brojtman) from Hellmut Kammer, 4 July 1949-27 November 1949.

File 15: Letters received by Rosa Ball (nee Brojtman) from Hellmut Kammer, 2 December 1949-11 February 1950.

File 16: Letters received by Rosa Ball (nee Brojtman) from Hellmut Kammer, 25 February 1951-11 February 1953.

File 17: Letters received by Rosa Ball (nee Brojtman) from Hellmut Kammer, 7 June 1986-3 March 1987.

Chronological

German, English

In copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder.