Ohly family correspondence (1941-1947)

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Scope and Content

Correspondence of the Ohly family, 1941-1947. This collection documents in part the experiences of a German Jewish family from Munich. The papers include original correspondence from friends and relatives and material from the Jewish organisations which arranged the details of the transport to Terezin. Includes: correspondence from Karl Traumann in Gurs, 1941, and Anna Ansbacher, Switzerland, 1945; papers and instructions from the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (Jewish Community), Munich and the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (National Organisation of German Jews) and postcards from Terezin to Gertrud Ohly from Lotte Pariser, 1944.

Administrative / Biographical History

Little is known about the family beyond the following details:

Sophie Scharvogel, grandmother of E Ohly, was born on 24 Dec 1859 in Mainz; was transported to Terezin on 1942 and died there, 16 Nov 1942. She was the widow of Professor J J Scharvogel.

Karl Traumann writes from Gurs concentration camp in the French Pyrenees, Feb 1941. He was a patent lawyer from Karlsruhe, first cousin of Gertrud Ohly and nephew of Sophie Scharvogel, born Mannheim c1880, died at Gurs in 1942. He had a brother, Ernst, living in the US at the time.

Lotte Pariser, writes from Terezin in May and June 1944, born on 7 Sep 1885, transported to Terezin on 6 Jun 1942, evacuated to Auschwitz to 28 Oct 1944.

Anna Ansbacher, a friend of Sophie Scharvogel, was one of the lucky few to have been sent to Switzerland in exchange for lorries.

E E Ohly came to Great Britain in 1945 to join his father, who had returned to Britain in 1934. Since he was half Jewish he could no longer work in his profession as a sculptor in Germany. As he was born in Great Britain he was able to escape. E Ohly left Germany in 1934 for school in Switzerland and lived there until 1945. His mother, Gertrud, being half Jewish, survived World War Two and died in Munich on 20 March 1951.