Bergmann, George Francis Jack (1900-1979): Diaries and personal papers

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Bookmark:http://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb1556-wl616

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Physical Description

Scope and Content

The diaries and personal papers of George Francis Jack Bergmann, dated 1919-1981, notably comprise a set of typescript transcripts of diaries which document in detail Bergmann's experiences in the Foreign Legion and in prison. They also provide a full report on the infamous trial of French officers and guards at Hadjerat M'Guil. In addition there are newsletters, bulletins and correspondence, 1919-1981, which reflect Bergmann's interest in, and membership of, a Jewish student organisation, 'Kartellverband jüdischer Studenten'.

Administrative / Biographical History

Dr. George Bergmann was born the son of a salesman in Lissa (Posen) in 1900. He went to school in Lissa and then studied philosophy, economics and law in the universities of Heidelberg, Breslau and Munich. During this period he became a member of the Kartellverband jüdischer Studenten to which organisation he retained links for the rest of his life.

Gained his doctorate, oeconomiae publicae, at the Univeristy of Munich, 1922; became a lawyer, 1929; began working in the chambers of the lawyers Julius Heilbronner and Dr. Eugen Schmidt, 1930.

In June 1933 he went to France where in September he was struck off the register of lawyers as a consequence of the Nazi racial laws. Unable to obtain a work permit he supported himself through casual work. In 1935 he married F I Hilde Baum from Fulda.

At the outbreak of war he volunteered to serve in the French army. There followed periods of internment in a number of prison camps, service in the Foreign Legion and served in the British Army in North Africa, Italy and Austria, 1943-1947.

In January 1947 he was demobilised to Australia where he owned a delicatessen business, was one time secretary of the World Jewish Congress and having gained British and Australian nationality in 1950, became a permanent officer of the Commonwealth.

Arrangement

The typescript transcriptions of his diaries covering the war years (616/1/1-6) must have been deposited at a date considerably earlier than the rest of the papers and later subsumed into the present document collection. The original order according to chapter has been retained, each chapter being assigned a separate sub-number. The remaining documents have been arranged into the following classes: -/2 Correspondence and personal papers; -/3 Scrap book material: 'The Story of BNA Personnel'; -/4 Scrap book material; -/5 Theatre programmes; -/6.