Max Freilich papers
Collection Overview
Images, correspondence, and newspaper clippings of Max Freilich, a German Kindertransport refugee interned in England and Canada. The Kindertransport was a rescue mission to send Jewish children out of continental Europe in 1938 and 1939, prior to the outbreak of war. Materials relate to the Freilich family's persecution in Nazi Germany, Freilich's rescue by the Kindertransport, subsequent internment in English and Canadian internment camps, and service in the Canadian army. The collection also includes images of Freilich and family members, and a videocassette of a short television interview with Freilich and American liberator Paul Bridges, recorded in 1998.
Dates
- Creation: 1925-2005
Creator
- Freilich, Max, 1924- (Person)
Language of Material
Materials in English and 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
Max Freilich was born in February 1924 in Altenburg, Germany, where he lived until his departure for England on August 8, 1939, with the Kindertransport. In 1940, Freilich was arrested as part of an English policy to detain all German males aged 16 and older living within the British Isles. Freilich was sent to internment camps in Liverpool and on the Isle of Man in Great Britain, then to Canadian internment camps in New Brunswick and Sherbrooke, Quebec. He was released in September 1942 and began learning the trade of tool and die making, as well as English, which had not been necessary among the German speakers in the camps.
In 1944, Freilich joined the Canadian army and volunteered for overseas duty in England, Holland, and Germany as a German interpreter. During this time, he learned of his parents' deaths at Auschwitz and Dachau. In August 1945, Freilich traveled to Nuremberg where he obtained tickets to two sessions of the war crime trials. In 1950, Freilich was reunited with his brother and sister in London, England.
Extent
0.25 linear feet (4 folders, 1 videocassette)
Abstract
Images, correspondence, and newspaper clippings of Max Freilich, a German Kindertransport refugee interned in England and Canada. Materials relate to the Freilich family's persecution in Nazi Germany, Freilich's rescue by the Kindertransport, subsequent internment in English and Canadian internment camps, and service in the Canadian army. The collection also includes images of Freilich and family members.
Collection Arrangement
Materials are described at the folder level.
Acquisitions Information
Materials donated in 2004 by Max Freilich.
Processing Information
Processed by Rebecca McClure, February 2011.
Genre / Form
- Black-and-white negatives
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Digital images
- Photocopies
- Photographs
- Videocassettes
Geographic
Topical
- Germans -- Canada -- Evacuation and relocation, 1939-1943
- Germans -- Great Britain -- Evacuation and relocation, 1940-1945
- Holocaust survivors -- Germany
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
- Kindertransports (Rescue operations) -- Great Britain
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps -- Canada
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps -- Great Britain
- Title
- Inventory of the Max Freilich Papers, 1925-2005
- 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
Special Collections
College of Charleston Libraries
66 George Street
Charleston South Carolina 29424
(843) 953-8016
(843) 953-6319 (Fax)