Martin Feist Collection

Collection

Identifier: AR 6300

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains the letters of Martin Feist, a young orthodox German Jew, to his family over the course of two years, first as a businessman in Paris and then as a German infantryman in France.

The donor, Selma Benjamin writes that the letters "describe an arc of changing attitudes and emotions [...] as he embraces the lifestyle of a young businessman in Paris, then adapts to the life of a German infantryman, imbued by the righteousness of his cause, and finally experiences deep sorrow and disillusionment, tempered only by his abiding faith." The letters are primarily in typescript with some handwritten. A short description by the donor is in the front of folder 1.

Dates

Creation: 1913-1915

Creator

Feist, Martin, 1891-1915 (Person)

Language of Materials

This collection is in German.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

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

Martin Feist was born in 1891 in Frankfurt am Main. He and his two brothers worked in Paris and London for the Beer-Sondheimer company. When the war began in 1914 he returned home to enlist. He was killed in action near Roye, France in January 1915.