Raymond Berr Collection

Papers relating to Miss Winnifred Child, governess, and the family of Raymond Berr, French-Jewish. In shared box. Photographs (N.d./1946); Handwritten letters addressed to Miss Child (N.d./1946); Official correspondence (1940).

Raymond Berr, French Jewish, was born in 1888. Right out of the school, he became professor of geology at the Ecole des Mines de Saint-Etienne. He served in the First World War and afterwards became CEO of Kuhlmann and in 1933, Managing Director and Executive Vice President. In 1940 he was no longer allowed his position at the company and for a few months in 1942, he was arrested but later released. Arrested again on March 8, 1944 with his wife and daughter he left with the convoy from Drancy No. 70, March 27, 1944 to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. He was later killed in Auschwitz, as was his wife. Their daughter Helene was killed in Bergen Belsen in 1945. Helene Berr's diary from 1942 until her death is published and describes the family's experiences during the war.

Winnifred Child was the family's governess and returned to England in 1940.

Items in the collection may be consulted for the purpose of private study and personal research, within the controlled environment and restrictions of The Keep's Reading Rooms.

An online catalogue is available on The Keep's website .

Note created by J Samuelson, June 2011. Edited by Joanna Baines, September 2011.

COPIES FOR PRIVATE STUDY: Subject to copyright, conditions imposed by owners and protecting the documents, digital copies can be made.

PUBLICATION: A reader wishing to publish material in the collection should contact the Head of Special Collections, in writing. The reader is responsible for obtaining permission to publish from the copyright owner.

Donated to the University of Sussex by Fausta Shelton in June 2001.