Gertrud and Friedrich Hermann Family Collection

The Gertrud and Friedrich Hermann Family Collection holds some of the couple's personal papers as well as some documents related to other family members and friends.

Prominent among the papers in this collection are the documents relating to the two well-known writers Johannes Urzidil and Fritz von Unruh. The first folder contains a typescript of Johannes Urzidil's essay Goethe und der boehmische Hopfen with a handwritten poem and dedication to Gertrud and Friedrich Hermann from 1951. This text deals with Goethe's interest in the hop plant and its preparation as a vegetable (Hopfengemuese) and cites the relevant text passages in his autobiographical and literary work. Urzidil's handwritten poem is a praise of hop as the basic ingredient of beer, and he addresses Gertrud and Friedrich as Hopfenleute, since they were working in the hop business after their emigration to the U.S. In addition, the first folder contains a postcard by Johannes and Gertrude Urzidil. Gertrud Hermann's correspondence with the German expressionist dramatist, poet, and novelist Fritz von Unruh is located in the following two folders. This correspondence consists of two brief but very cordial letters with compliments by von Unruh and one letter by Hermann, expressing her admiration for one of von Unruh's poems.

The majority of the papers in this collection pertain to Friedrich Hermann's education and career as a lawyer in Germany. Hermann's educational documents consist of reports from schools in Belgium as well as Frankfurt am Main and certificates from the universities of Frankfurt am Main, Munich, and Freiburg im Breisgau, where he studied law. While attending the Goethe-Gymnasium in Frankfurt his education was interrupted by one year of voluntary military service in 1918. The certificates of his relief from school and a declaration of consent by Friedrich's father will be found in the respective folder. Friedrich Hermann's professional documents consist predominantly of certificates, correspondence, as well as some newspaper clippings concerning his professional advancement, his admission to the bar, and his ban from practicing law in 1933. In addition, the collection holds a small amount of educational certificates of Gertrud Hermann, such as reports from the following schools: Viktoriaschule zu Frankfurt am Main, Staedtische Gewerbe- und Haushaltungsschule Frankfurt am Main, and Staedtisches Kindergaertnerinnen-Seminar Frankfurt am Main.

The remaining folders contain documents relating to other family members and friends of Gertrud and Friedrich Hermann. The family documents comprise typed copies of correspondence pertaining to Friedrich's father Hermann Salomon and grandfather Robert Oppenheim. The letters deal with Oppenheimer's participation in military campaigns, Salomon's fundraising for a school project in Belgium, and his activities as a delegate of the Help Committee for Refuges in 1915. Moreover, a book with poems cited and dedicated to Friedrich Hermann by his schoolmates and teachers, as well as a poem for his 60th anniversary written by his brother will be found in the last two folders of this collection.