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Date(s)
- 1939-1943 (Creation)
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Name of creator
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Scope and content
The collection contains three postcards sent to Ernst and Ruth Greewe during the Second World War. The collection also contains a photo of Simon and Rosa Erdmann, the maternal grandparents of Ursula Josephson.
During the Nazi regime, Ruth Greewe decided to remain in Berlin to care for her parents Simon and Rosa, even though she was in a precarious situation herself as a Jewish woman married to a Christian man.
Simon Erdmann was born in 1880 in Rzeszow, Poland. He later moved to Berlin, Germany with Rosa, who was born on the 13th of March 1890 in Poland. The photograph of them in the collection was taken in Berlin before the couple boarded the ill-fated St. Louis, a German transatlantic liner that was bound for Havana, Cuba. However, when the ship arrived in Cuba the majority of the passengers were not allowed to disembark because of a change in Cuba’s immigration policy. As such the ship had to turn around and head back to Europe.
After they arrived back in Europe the Erdmanns decided to move to Brussels, Belgium. On 8 September 1942 the couple sent their son in law, Ernst, a postcard to inform him that they were going on a sudden journey and that they would write soon. According to the Yad Vashem Database of Shoah Victims, Simon and Rosa were deported from Mechelen, Belgium to Auschwitz that same day. On their arrival they were murdered.
The collection also contains a postcard sent by Maria Asrican nee Gell, a family friend, while she was imprisoned in the Terezin ghetto. Maria was born on 16 June 1875 in Odessa (formerly Russia). According to the Head Archivist at Terezin Memorial, she arrived at the ghetto on 27 August 1942 aboard the i/53 transport from Berlin with the transport number 5537. On 18 December 1942 she was moved from Terezin to Auschwitz- Birkenau and on arrival at the camp she was killed.
The collection also contains a postcard written by Aunt Helene informing Ruth and Ernst that she was unable to visit Simon and Rosa but that she would visit when she is in Germany again. Even though her parents were deported to Auschwitz, Ruth decided to remain in Berlin with her husband and daughter until after the war.