Fritz Solmitz (1893-1933) was an early and outspoken leader in the opposition to Nazism, an editor of a Social Democratic newspaper in Lübeck and a member of the City council. Because of his active opposition to the Nazis, and probably because he was a Jew, he died of mistreatment in a German prison shortly after Hitler came to power. Karoline Somitz (1893-1966) was, like her husband, active in civic affairs. Much of the collection contains letters and photographs, some translated from German.