The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects

Browse Items (30 total)

  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/kurt-ackermann-passport.jpg

    Kurt Ackermann's passport contains stamps from the various ports of passage on his year and a half long journey out of Austria and to the United States.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/ackermann-jewish-certificate.jpeg

    This birth certificate for Kurt Ackermann was produced in 1938 by the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wein or the Jewish Community of Vienna. First organized as an official Jewish community organization in the mid-19th century, in 1938 the IKG was tasked with managing emmigration and deportation of Vienese Jews.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/certificate-to-practice-us-medicine.jpeg

    It took several years for Kurt Ackermann to transfer his medical credentials and become certified to continue his career as a doctor in the United States.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f02_002.pdf

    A two-page letter from Jewish American B. J. Lee to A. H. Frenke, confirming to Frenke that the Wolff family will receive passage from Lisbon, Portugal to New York City, New York on May 2, 1941.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f05_010.pdf

    Declaration of change of residence for Eugénie Baer Hirsch, a French Jewish woman. She was married to Jacques Hirsch and the mother of Denise Hirsch Wolff (1909-2000). She immigrated to the United States and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where her daughter had moved during World War II.
  • MssA_L668_F06_001c.jpg

    World War II era French passport for Jacques Wolff (1903-1977), a Jewish man. He was married to Denise Wolff (1909-2000). His uncle Sol Levy arranged for their family's immigration to Louisville, Kentucky, to escape German occupation and the Holocaust. The passport shows that in 1941, the family traveled to Spain and Portugal before taking a ship to New York City. Blank visa pages were not scanned.
  • MssA_L668_F06_002g.jpg

    World War II era French passport and additional documents such as a Remitter's receipt and a ticket owned by Denise Hirsch Wolff (1909-2000), a French Jewish woman. She was married to Jacques Wolff (1903-1977). The passport includes photographs of their young children, Francis Wolff (1931- ) and Hubert Wolff (1938- ). Blank visa pages were not scanned.

    Denise's uncle Sol Levy arranged for her family's immigration to Louisville, Kentucky, to escape German occupation and the Holocaust. The passport shows that in 1941, the family traveled in Spain and Portugal before boarding a ship to New York City.
  • MssA_L668_F06_003d.jpg

    French passport for Eugénie Baer Hirsch (1880-1967), a French Jewish woman. She was married to Jacques Hirsch and the mother of Denise Hirsch Wolff (1909-2000). She immigrated to the United States and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where her daughter had moved during World War II. Blank visa pages were not scanned.
  • MssA_L668_F06_004b.jpg

    World War II era French passport, identity card, war ration booklet, and bread rationing card in possession of Henrietta Levy Cerf (1866-1946), a French Jewish woman. Her brother Sol Levy arranged for her and other family members' immigration to the United States to escape German occupation and the Holocaust. Blank visa pages were not scanned.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f07_004.pdf

    Letter, written in French, to Albert Wolff (1906-1989) mentioning embarkment to New York.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f07_005.pdf

    Letter in French written to married couple Albert Wolff (1906-1989) and Jean Wolff (1913-1986) from Albert's brother Jacques Wolff (1903-1977), about arranging immigration visas.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f07_006.pdf

    Postcard written in French to Jacques Wolff (1903-1977) that mentions a United States courier.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f08_001.pdf

    Seven-page speech by Denise Wolff (1909-2000) detailing life and agony in Nazi occupied France during World War II, her family's immigration to the United States and Louisville, Kentucky, in 1941, and news of the Holocaust.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f08_002.pdf

    Newspaper of the Louisville, Kentucky, Jewish Community Center and National Council of Jewish Women's Club 60. The publication includes an article beginning on page 3 that details the youth, immigration, and subsequent settling of Jewish Frenchman Jacques Wolff (1903-1977) in the United States. Includes his service in the French army, and his personal losses to the German army and the Holocaust, after which he was able to work in wholesale business in Louisville, Kentucky. Jacques was the husband of Denise Wolff, one of the founders of Club 60.

    Pages 6-8 are missing from the original version in the Filson's collection.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f08_003.pdf

    Autobiography written in English by Denise Wolff (1909-2000), a Jewish French American that immigrated to the United States during World War II. She describes her youth in France, hardship during German occupation during World War II, and immigration to the United States via Spain and Portugal, and activities she took part in at the Temple in Louisville, Kentucky.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssa_l668_f08_004.pdf

    Autobiography sharing the story of "Great-grandma Wolff" by Denise Wolff (1909-2000). She recounts living through multiple Germanic and German occupations in the 19th and 20th centuries, immigration to the United States, and her subsequent life as a Jewish American in Louisville, Kentucky.
  • MssA_C472_F123_001b.jpg

    French language pamphlet on transportation options for refugees leaving France during World War II. Includes a map of France.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssbd_j59_f0005_001.pdf

    Letter from the Louisville Conference of Jewish Organizations in Kentucky to President Franklin D. Roosevelt requesting that he support the Free Ports proposal to provide asylum for refugees fleeing "totalitarian persecution." The Conference sent a similar advocacy letter to the Kentucky Senator Alben William Barkley.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssbd_j59_f0005_002.pdf

    A copy of a letter written by Chairman Charles W. Morris (1892-1961) to the leadership of the Louisville Conference of Jewish Organizations informing them of the American Jewish Conference's request that their organization contact their government representatives and President Roosevelt to advocate for the creation of Free Ports to enable European Jewish refugees to seek asylum in the United States. The letter includes a ballot for the local organization to vote on their stance on the Free Port plan. A handwritten note on the back of the formal typed letter is addressed to Morris provides Dr. Rauch's view of the plan.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/mssbd_j59_f0005_003.pdf

    Letter drafted by Charles Strull (1883-1964) to Louisville Conference of Jewish Organizations Chairman Charles W. Morris (1892-1961) for Morris to edit and send to the Executive Committee of the Conference requesting its support of the Free Port plan to support Jewish asylum seekers coming to the United States. Strull hopes adopting the plan would sway neutral Iberian countries in particular to assist Jews seeking asylum.
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