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Bernhard Kolb Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 360 / MF 1021

Scope and Content Note

The Bernhard Kolb Collection is comprised of papers collected by Bernhard Kolb that document the experiences of himself and his community during the Holocaust as well as the National Socialists' attempts to vilify the Jews via their newspaper, Der Stürmer. Among the papers of this collection are personal papers, records from Theresienstadt, and correspondence and documents from the offices of Der Stürmer.

Personal information about Bernhard Kolb and the Kolb family is included in Series I: Personal. There is a family history of the Kolb family, as well as a detailed account of Bernhard Kolb's life, including his immigration to the United States. The series also contains correspondence with the Leo Baeck Institute concerning the donation of the collection.

Correspondence with several archives and individuals in Germany and the United States concerning the history of the Jews in Nuremberg is included in Series II: Jewish Communities. This series also holds a letter of protection for the community of Schnaittach and by-laws of the Jewish community of Sugenheim.

Series III: Theresienstadt contains material from the Jewish "self-administration" of Theresienstadt, including transport and deportation lists, lists of births, deaths, and organization memberships, proclamations, directives, and daily orders of the Council of Elders.

Series IV: Hans and Kaethe Bruck holds personal documents and correspondence related to Hans and Kaethe Bruck, which Herbert Kolb found in the offices of Der Stürmer after the war. He was not able to determine the fate of the couple. Included are certificates, transcripts and other official documents for both Hans and Kaethe Bruck, as well as correspondence with friends and relatives in the United States, who tried to secure affidavits and visas for them.

The records of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer are contained in Series V, including denunciations and letters to the editor, Julius Streicher. Much of this correspondence is intensely anti-Semitic. There are also a few documents related to Streicher's activities promoting naturopathy and opposing vaccination. In addition, there are military propaganda photos of Jews before and during World War II in Western Poland, including destroyed synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in Kattowitz and Lublin. Bernhard Kolb's son Herbert had returned to Nuremberg after the war and collected these papers.

Dates

  • Creation: 1778-1977
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1929-1944

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is primarily in German.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

Collection has been digitized. Please follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

Collection has been microfilmed (MF 1021).

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note

Born in Sugenheim on September 22, 1881, Bernhard Kolb was business manager of the Jewish community of Nuremberg. He was deported with his family to Theresienstadt in 1943, returned to Nuremberg in 1945, emigrated to the United States in 1947, and died in Vineland, New Jersey on October 16, 1971.

Extent

1 Linear Feet

Abstract

This collection holds the papers of Bernhard Kolb, the business manager of the Jewish Community of Nuremberg. Among the material here are personal papers with some information on the Kolb family as well as a small amount of papers of Hans and Käte Bruck and some material on Jewish communities, especially that of Nuremberg. However, the collection is largely comprised of records from Theresienstadt and the offices of Der Stürmer, the Nazi newspaper. The collection includes official records such as lists, reports and announcements; correspondence; unpublished manuscripts; notes; and some photographs and drawings.

Other Finding Aid

An earlier paper finding aid, with an item-level inventory in German, is available for this collection.

Microfilm

Collection is available on 2 reels of microfilm (MF 1021).

  1. Reel 1: 1/1-2/4
  2. Reel 2: 2/5-2/14

Related Material

A manuscript by Bernhard Kolb is also available in the LBI Archives: Die Juden in Nuernberg: Tausendjaehrige Geschichte einer Judengemeinde von ihren Anfaengen bis zum Einmarsch der amerikanischen Truppen am 20. April 1945 [MS 592].

Separated Material

An oversized photocopy of a Letter of Protection (Schutzbrief) from Series I has been removed to OSP 1 in the Photograph collection.

Processing Information

This collection was first processed in 1976 by Ilse Turnheim; an older paper finding aid lists every item in the collection and provided the biographical note and collection-level scope and content note.

In September 2009 the collection was re-processed in preparation for an EAD finding aid and eventual microfilming. The arrangement of the series and folders were largely kept the same as in the previous finding aid, with the exception of one folder of addenda, listed on the last page of the abovementioned earlier finding aid. This folder, which holds Stürmer correspondence, was placed at the end of Series V, Subseries 1: Correspondence. Series descriptions were also added.

Empty acidic folders at the end of the collection, which derived from the Stürmer offices, were deaccessioned from the collection during re-processing and removed from the collection.

Title
Guide to the Papers of Bernhard Kolb (1882-1971) 1778-1977 (bulk: 1929-1944) AR 360 / MF 1021
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Ilse Turnheim and Dianne Ritchey
Date
© 2009
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Edition statement
This version was derived from BernhardKolb.xml

Revision Statements

  • September 2010: Links to digital objects added in Container List.
  • 2010-09-29 : encoding of linking to digital objects from finding aid was changed from <extref> to <dao> through dao_conv.xsl

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States