Hugo Schiller papers
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
- Schiller, Hugo, 1931- (Person)
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.
Processing Information
Processed by Rebecca McClure, January 2011.
Subject
- Synnestvedt, Alice Resch, 1908- (Person)
- Gurs (Concentration camp) (Organization)
- American Friends Service Committee (Organization)
Genre / Form
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Facsimiles (reproductions)
- Memoirs
- Photocopies
- School yearbooks
Geographic
Topical
- 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
Special Collections
College of Charleston Libraries
66 George Street
Charleston South Carolina 29424
(843) 953-8016
(843) 953-6319 (Fax)