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Hugo Schiller papers

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 1065-006

Collection Overview

Correspondence, newspaper clippings, memoirs, and other papers of Hugo Schiller. Materials relate to Schiller's rescue from the Gurs concentration camp by Alice Resch Synnestvedt, a Quaker volunteer from Norway; his time at Aspet, the Quaker children's home; and his eventual escape from France to the United States. Correspondence includes letters from his parents and aunt while he was at Aspet, discussing their life in Gurs and advice for Schiller after his rescue. Also includes an excerpt from a manuscript by Synnestvedt detailing her experience with Gurs and the children she rescued and placed in Aspet.

Dates

  • Creation: 1942-2001

Creator

Language of Material

Materials in English, French, German

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Copyright Notice

The nature of the College of Charleston's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. Special Collections claims only physical ownership of most archival materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Biographical Note

Hugo Schiller was born August 18, 1931, to a Jewish family in Grünsfeld, Germany. In 1938, his father was arrested and sent to Dachau for eight weeks, after which he was released and forced to sell his business. Schiller and his parents were deported to the French concentration camp of Gurs in 1940. After spending about six months in the camp, the Toulouse delegation of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group, offered to take children under the age of 15 to a different camp. With his parents' consent, nine-year-old Schiller was one of 48 children taken to a children's home in Aspet, France. His parents were eventually deported to Auschwitz and killed.

In 1942, Schiller was one of eight children at Aspet chosen to be smuggled out of France. Sent to the United States, Schiller lived with his paternal uncle and his family in Baltimore, Maryland, working in his uncle's upholstery business before being drafted into the Korean War. After completing his service in the army infantry, he obtained his degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. While in Baltimore, he met his wife, Eleanor Cohan, and they married in 1956. In 1967, they moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Extent

0.25 linear feet (8 folders)

Abstract

Correspondence, newspaper clippings, memoirs, and other papers of Hugo Schiller. Materials relate to Schiller's rescue from the Gurs concentration camp in France by Alice Resch Synnestvedt, a Quaker volunteer from Norway; his time at Aspet, the Quaker children's home; and his eventual escape from France to the United States. Correspondence includes letters from his parents and aunt while he was at Aspet, discussing their life in Gurs and advice for Schiller after his rescue.

Collection Arrangement

Materials are described at the folder level.

Acquisitions Information

Materials donated in 2004 by Hugo Schiller.

Related Material

Related materials in College of Charleston Special Collections include a curriculum package and resource guide for South Carolina voices: lessons from the Holocaust (Mss 1070, D804.3 .S34 1992). This documentary includes videotaped interviews with South Carolina Holocaust survivors, including Hugo Schiller.

Processing Information

Processed by Rebecca McClure, January 2011.

Title
Inventory of the Hugo Schiller Papers, 1942-2001
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by: Rebecca McClure; machine-readable finding aid created by: Rebecca McClure
Date
2011
Description rules
Dacs
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
Funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources supported the processing of this collection and encoding of the finding aid.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections
College of Charleston Libraries
66 George Street
Charleston South Carolina 29424
(843) 953-8016
(843) 953-6319 (Fax)