GROSS FAMILY DOCUMENTS, 1938-1945

This collection of family papers documents the experiences of an assimilated German Jewish family some of whom managed to escape to safety and others who perished in the Holocaust. It consists of original correspondence between members of the family and friends before, during and after the war. Also included are personal papers such as certificates and photographs.

December 1993

The following biographical notes were provided by the depositor, the daughter of Dorothea and granddaughter of Wilhelm Gross and Gertrud Gross-Sachs.

Wilhelm and Gertrud Gross were typical middle class Germans living in Breslau. Wilhelm was professor of engineering and Gertrud was the daughter of wealthy industrialists (her uncle, Karl Gross, had a substantial collection of art works and antiquities, which were confiscated and many of which are probably currently in museums in Eastern Europe). They were of Jewish ethnic origin, but were not religious and they integrated their children totally into German culture.

They had 3 children: Dorothea; an elder brother, Karl; and a younger brother Klaus. Wilhelm was one of 6 siblings. His sister, Emilie, married into the Kuppenheim family (see 1183/2/6).

It appears from the correspondence that Wilhelm was incarcerated in Buchenwald shortly after Kristallnacht and released 5 weeks later on the proviso that he and his family leave Germany immediately. The grandparents fled to Holland in 1939 whence they were later deported and perished in the Holocaust. The three children came to Great Britain.