Browse Items (31 total)
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From Vienna to Louisville, 1938-1940
Six-page narrative of Trude Ackermann Breiner as told to Carolyn Moyse and Virginia Wilson. The story covers the Ackermann and Pokorny families's experiences in Vienna, Austria, during World War II and their efforts to navigate the immigration process to the United States. -
New Zionist Organization of America letter to Tom Wallace, May 4, 1945
The first page of this document is a letter dated May 4, 1945, from Col. Morris J. Mendelsohn to Louisville Times editor Tom Wallace. Mendelsohn expresses his support for "a Jewish Palestine" "as the only common-sense answer to the unequalled tragedy of the Jewish people." He describes the American government and civilian support for a Jewish Palestine and asks Wallace to read and sign the Declaration he enclosed with the letter. The following three pages are a copy of the Declaration, which is directed to the United States government and calls for Palestine to "be proclaimed as a Jewish State." Throughout, the Declaration connects an end to antisemitism with a rise in "lasting peace" across the globe. It also points out that Jewish delegations have been absent from United Nations conferences and seeks greater Jewish inclusion in international affairs. The signature line is blank. The last page of this document is a letter dated May 8, 1945, from Tom Wallace's secretary to Mendelsohn indicating that his letter has been received and will be given to Wallace when he returns to the office. -
Photographs of ballet dancers Helen Starr and Dale Brennan, May 1995
Louisville Ballet dancers Helen Starr and Dale Brennan performing for press photographs. The pair portrayed a couple in Domy Reiter-Soffer's Holocaust remembrance ballet entitled A Time to Remember. The performance premiered at the Kentucky Center for the Arts in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 25, 1995. -
A Time to Remember review, May 1995
Clipping of William Mootz's review of A Time to Remember performance pasted in the Louisville Ballet scrapbook for 1994-1995. -
A Time to Remember press release, 1995
A two-page press release for an artistic performance of Domy Reiter-Soffer's A Time to Remember at the Kentucky Center for the Arts in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 25, 1995. The Holocaust Remembrance event featured the Louisville Ballet, Louisville Orchestra, and children's and men's choirs. -
Julius Friedman article in Accent, 1995
Article titled "Graphic Ideas" on the front page of the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences Accent newsletter. The article features artist Julius Friedman and contains a photograph of the poster he designed for the Holocaust remembrance performance A Time to Remember. -
A Time to Remember invitation, February 3, 1995
An invitation to the artistic performance of Domy Reiter-Soffer's A Time to Remember at the Kentucky Center for the Arts in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 25, 1995. The Holocaust Remembrance event featured the Louisville Ballet, Louisville Orchestra, and children's and men's choirs. -
Voices of the Shoah invitation postcard, 1995
Invitation to the "Voices of the Shoah" Holocaust remembrance event held on April 26, 1995, at the Jewish Community Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The invitation includes the agenda for the evening. -
Voices of the Shoah script, April 16, 1993
22-page script written for the 1993 Yom HaShoah commemoration program on the Holocaust titled "Voices of the Shoah" and held in Louisville, Kentucky. The program included a timeline of events, the experiences of survivors with connections to Louisville, Kentucky, and performing arts works. -
Draft letter from Charles Strull to Charles W. Morris, June 2, 1944
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. -
Letter from Charles W. Morris to Executive Committee of the Louisville Conference of Jewish Organizations, June 3, 1944
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. -
Letter from Chairman of the Louisville Conference of Jewish Organizations to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, June 22, 1944
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. -
Letter from the Rosenshiels to Isaac W. Bernheim, November 11, 1939
The Rosenshiels write a two-page letter to Louisville Jewish businessman and philanthropist Isaac W. Bernheim (1848-1945) from London, England. They detail their efforts to leave Nazi Germany after "having gone through all the horrors of the nefarious Concentration camp at Dachau." They note that the treatment they have received from English authorities is warm while they wait to be able to emigrate to the United States. He describes the desperation that led his wife to ask for money from Bernheim for their immigration. Other items in Bernheim's papers show that he also funded other Jewish refugees escape from Europe in the lead up to and during World War II. -
Letter from Isaac W. Bernheim to A. B. Cowen, September 15, 1941
A letter from retired Louisville distiller and philanthropist Isaac W. Bernheim (1848-1945) to A. B. Cowen reflecting on the state of Judaism and Jewish life in the United States in relation to World War II and broader changes. He stresses elements of Reform Judaism and argues against the undercurrents of Zionism, referring to Judaism as "a universal religion which knows no land or people or race." -
Letter from Isaac W. Bernheim to R. C. Tway, December 6, 1940
A two-page letter written by retired Louisville distiller and philanthropist Isaac W. Bernheim (1848-1945) to Mr. R. C. Tway provides an example of one Jewish German American's views of World War II. He argues that the United States "must enter the war in self-dense on the side of England, and do so quickly." He addresses his American sons' service in World War I for the sake of democracy and anger at the aid given to Germany afterward. He states that "in return we got this undefensible system of thievery and slavery which the world now faces and must continue to face until Hitler, Mussolini, and all their German slaves and associates are destroyed." -
Great-grandma Wolff, 1979
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. -
Autobiography by Denise Wolff, circa 1960s-1990s
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. -
The Voice of Club 60, November 1965
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. -
Speech by Denise Wolff, March 26, 1945
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. -
Letter to Monsieur Lux from Georges Wolff, June 4, 1945
Letter, written in French, to Monsieur Lux sent by Georges Wolff (1917- ) mentioning Jean-Paul Wolff (1915- ) and German occupation.