Finding Aid for Gertrude Weaver Refugee Correspondence, 1942-1949
General International Standard for Archival Description
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081-1399 U.S.A.
Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by FHL Staff, 2008
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Finding Aid for Gertrude Weaver Refugee Correspondence1942-1949
Gertrude Weaver
Biographical History for: Finding Aid for Gertrude Weaver Refugee Correspondence1942-1949
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTE Gertrude Weaver graduated from Swarthmore College in 1938 with degrees on German and History. She spent her junior year (1936-1937) in Munich, and went on to receive a Masters’ degree in teaching from Columbia University in 1939. She then began teaching German at Chester High School, where she and her students sent relief packages to families in Western Europe struggling to survive in impoverished post-World War II Europe. In addition to her career at Chester High School, Weaver also worked in the Newark School District, at Penn State College, and the Shandong College of Oceanography in China. She took additional classes at the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania. Weaver was killed in a car accident in 1998.
SCOPE AND CONTENT OF THE RECORDS This collection contains Weaver’s correspondence with the recipients of her post WWII aid, as well as records of the logistics (sending receipts, package contents) of the operation. The majority of the correspondence follows the Bergas, a family of German refugees living in Montauban, France. Hans Bergas resisted the Nazis during their rise to power, and for his political activism was imprisoned and later sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Though he was eventually liberated and reunited with his family, he remained an invalid as a result of brutal conditions and torture. Because he was forced to remain in bed, Bergas had ample time to correspond with Weaver and her students, and as a result wrote an extensive account of his resistance to fascism and his experience in Buchenwald, which he sent to Chester High School in segments. Weaver eventually attempted to have Hans Bergas’ memoir published in Readers’ Digest magazine, but it was rejected. For a while, Weaver reportedly used this memoir in the place of textbooks in her classes. Weaver developed strong and lasting relationships with the families to whom she sent aid, often corresponding with them during school vacations and holidays, demonstrating that for her it was more than a class project. She made an effort to find other families in need of aid, taking suggestions from those she was in contact with for other families in need, and either corresponded with them directly or put them in contact with another Americans or groups of Americans interested in relief work. In addition to her Bergas correspondence, this collection also contains lengthy correspondence with the Kluth, Kühn, and Rollinger families. The collection is organized into the following series as received: Gertrude Weaver’s Correspondence and Log of MailingsMemoir and Correspondence from Hans Bergas and his FamilyOther CorrespondenceMiscellaneous
Buchenwald (Concentration camp) -- History.
World War, 1939-1945 -- France -- History.
Germany -- Social conditions -- 1933-1945.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives -- French.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives -- German.
Concentration camp inmates -- Biography.
Weaver, Gertrude, d. 1998.
Kluth, Wilhelm
Vorwerk, Walter
Parish, Hertha
Kuhn, Marianne
Bergas, Hans
Chester High School (Chester, Pa.) -- Students.
series
Ser.1 Gertrude Weaver’s Correspondence and Log of Mailings
Letters from Weaver
Some English, some German. To Kluth family, Bergas family, and Eddie Ginsburg.
Log of mailings to Europe
In original order. Includes contents of packages, dates sent (usually), sending receipts, and cost of products.
Ser.2 Memoir and Correspondence from Hans Bergas and his Family
Letters from the Bergas Family
Letters from the Bergas family, German refugees living in Montauban, France. All are originals, in German or French; some are translated.
Letters from the Bergas family
All originals, not translated.
Correspondence with Bergas family, etc.
Binder includes other correspondence, photographs, clippings. Kept in original binder, in original order. Originals and some translations.
Hans Bergas’ memoir (partial)
Incomplete sections, typed in German and English.
Buchenwald Experience of Hans Bergas Written for Chester High School Students 1914-1946
Creation of Buchenwald Experience of Hans Bergas Written for Chester High School Students 1914-1946
Time of Creation of Buchenwald Experience of Hans Bergas Written for Chester High School Students 1914-1946
Complete memoir, typed in English with corrections written in in pen. Includes hand-drawn map, labeled in English.
Manuscript of Hans Bergas’ memoir
Creation of Manuscript of Hans Bergas’ memoir
Time of Creation of Manuscript of Hans Bergas’ memoir
Hand-written in German.
Enlarged map of Buchenwald
Creation of Enlarged map of Buchenwald
Time of Creation of Enlarged map of Buchenwald
Hand-copied. On large piece of cardboard, labeled in English.
Ser.3 Other Correspondence
Letters from Hertha Parish
Only record of correspondence with this person, two letters. One letter in German, one partially in English, partially in German.
Letters from Kluth Family
Correspondence with Luxemburg families
Binder of correspondence with Kühn and Rollinger families. Kept in original binder, in original order. Originals and some translations
Letters from the Vorwerk family
Two letters. Originals, in German.
Ser.4 Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous papers
Includes copies of French government documents (in French), a letter from Hans Bergas to Genosse Sollman, newspaper clipping about Weaver’s packages, and guidelines for sending packages by the Fellowship of Reconciliation.