Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1635

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.25 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English, German, and Dutch; Flemish

Preferred Citation:

Eva and Georg Schiffer family material, 1934-2011, Ms. Coll. 1635, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1934-2011 (inclusive) and 1934-1939 (bulk)

Creator:

Schiffer, Eva, 1925-, Schiffer, Georg, and Schiffer, Ludwig

Form:

Black-and-white photographs, Booklets, and Photographs

Abstract:

Eva and Georg Schiffer, with their parents, lived in Vienna, Austria before World War II and escaped the Nazis in 1939 by finding refuge in the Netherlands and then immigrating to the United States through a voyage from Southampton, England. Their family material contains Eva and Georg Schiffer's school notebooks, photographs, and ID cards, dating from 1934 to 2011.

Eva Schiffer was born on February 7, 1925 in Vienna, Austria to Ludwig and Olga Schiffer. Her brother Georg was born in 1929. Before the war, Schiffer attended the Gymnasium at Rahlgasse 4, now called AHS Rahlgasse. When the Nazis invaded Austria on March 12, 1938, she and her brother fled to Groningen in the Netherlands to family friends. In the Netherlands, Eva learned Dutch and attended school there in the fall of 1938. After their relocation, Eva's father was deported to the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps for several months. Once the family reunited, they traveled through Southampton, England to New York City where they arrived on September 13, 1939. The family stayed for four weeks in NYC before settling in Cambridge, MA after her father applied to Harvard's law school. There, Eva attended Cambridge High and Latin School. In 1946, Eva graduated from the Massachusetts State College with a degree in animal husbandry. In 1947 and 1962, she received a Master's and Ph.D. from Harvard-Radcliffe in comparative literature. Throughout her career, Eva taught at the Ohio State University, the University of Colorado in Boulder, the University of Freiburg, and at the UMass Amherst campus. In addition to teaching at various academic institutions, Schiffer authored and edited around 3 volumes of work, and published an autobiography titled Sketches in 1994. Eva Schiffer died on November 10, 2010 in Amherst, MA.

Eva's brother Georg Schiffer was born on August 24, 1929 in Vienna, Austria. Upon arrival in the Netherlands, Georg attended a Montessori school in the city. Months later, he received a full scholarship to a boarding school headed by a Mr. Perkins in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, allowing him to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. A few months after his parents' and sister's arrival in the United States, Georg joined them in Cambridge, MA and attended the Browne and Nichols School and then the Phillips Andover Academy. In 1950, Georg graduated from Harvard University and then went on to study at the Harvard Law School. According to his obituary, Georg practiced copyright law, and was the attorney and then the general counsel for Motown until 1975. He "was lead attorney for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in New York city… a personal manager for singer-songwriters Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson… represented Dee Dee Bridgewater, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye" (Chapman Funerals & Creations). Georg Schiffer died on December 23, 2002 in Martha's Vineyard.

Ludwig Schiffer was born on August 10, 1896 in Głogówek, Poland, though he grew up in Vienna, Austria. He had a brother, who did not survive the Holocaust, and a sister, who survived by working in England. Before the war, in Vienna, Ludwig worked as defense attorney. Two months after the Nazis invaded Austria in March 1938, they arrested Ludwig, along with thousands of Jewish Austrians, and deported him to the Dachau concentration camp on May 31, 1938 as a "protective custody prisoner." He was imprisoned in Dachau until September 23, 1938. On September 24, 1938, the Nazis transferred Ludwig to the Buchenwald concentration camp where he stayed until October 22, 1938, when they transferred him to various prisons. In an interview in 1940 with the The Harvard Crimson about his experience in the concentration camps Ludwig stated, "'The prisoners in concentration camps are worse than slaves. Their treatment is terrible . . indescribable. People are beaton, [sic] flogged to death. [An] average of two men died of harsh treatment every day in the camps I was in. I was fortunate to escape without harm except for over exposure to the rains and cold.'" According to that article and Eva Schiffer's autobiography, the Austrian authorities had her father imprisoned in the Vienna jail during the night of Kristallnacht, but Olga, Ludwig's wife, was able to secure his release soon after, then traveling to Groningen to reunite with their children. In the Netherlands, the family obtained American visas, traveled from Rotterdam to Southampton and then to New York City, arriving on September 13, 1939. Since the American legal system was not compatible with the Austrian, Ludwig could not practice law and therefore applied to Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1942. After his graduation, Ludwig and Olga moved to New York where he worked for a law firm for four years before establishing his own firm, where he practiced civil-law and helped refugees apply for medical licenses. Ludwig Schiffer died on February 4, 1961 in New York City.

Works consulted:

Schiffer, Eva. Sketches. 1995, https://digipres.cjh.org:443/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE8433663. Accessed 11 February 2025.

"Prominent Austrian Lawyer, Refugee, Now in Law School." The Harvard Crimson, 5 March 1940, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1940/3/5/prominent-austrian-lawyer-refugee-now-in/. Accessed 10 February 2025.

"George Schiffer." Chapman Funerals & Creations, https://www.chapmanfuneral.com/obituaries/George-Schiffer?obId=20699290. Accessed 10 February 2025.

Documents with names from SCHIEFERDECKER, Josef, 1.1.6.7 Office Cards Dachau, 10746056 (Ludwig SCHIFFER), ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives

Personal file of SCHIFFER, LUDWIG, born on 9-Aug-1896, 1.1.5 Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 7033706 (LUDWIG SCHIFFER), ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives

The Eva and Georg Schiffer family material contains Eva and Georg Schiffer's school notebooks, black and white photographs, ID cards for Eva and Ludwig Schiffer, and programs for Eva Schiffer's memorial service. The collection dates from 1934-2011 and contains material in German and Dutch, as well as English. In their workbooks, or Arbeitsbücher, Eva and Georg practiced writing the alphabet, learning numbers with accompanying drawings, and key German words. The practice books also include drawings of holidays, such as Christmas, and many drawings of animals. The photographs in the collection depict school children in class and dancing.

The documents in this collection are only a small portion of material generated by the Schiffer family and do not convey their life experiences in their entirety. A related collection at the Leo Baeck Institute, that is 1.5 linear feet, might give a researcher a fuller view of the Schiffer family's life in the 1930s.

The Eva and Georg Schiffer family material is arranged into four series: I. Arbeitsbücher (Workbooks), II. Identification documentation, III. Photographs, and IV. Programs.