Edith Hamberg Tarcov papers

Edith Hamberg (later Edith Hamberg Tarcov, 1919-1990) was born on 23 October 1919 in Hannover, Germany to Sally (1887-1942?) and Minna (née Braunsberg, 1889-1943?) Hamberg. She had one sister, Margot (later Margot Ward, b.1924). Her father was a World War I veteran. Prior to her emigration from Germany, Edith was an active Zionist and worked at Jewish orphanages in Hannover and Kassel. She emigrated from Germany in 1939, first to England, and then to the United States in 1940, sponsored by her American relative Milton Mayer. She settled in Chicago. Her sister Margot went on a kindertransport to England the same year. She married a German refugee and remained there. Edith was introduced to Oscar Tarcov (d. 1963) by the writer Saul Bellow, and they married in 1942. Edith and Milton unsuccessfully tried to help her parents emigrate and lost all contact with them by late 1941. Sally and Minna were deported to Riga, Latvia on 15 December 1941. Sally was deported to the Salaspils concentration camp where he likely perished in 1942. Minna perished in 1943 or 1944, likely in Riga or the Stutthof concentration camp. Edith and Oscar both had successful careers as writers. They had two children, Nathan and Miriam. Copyright Holder: Mr. Nathan Tarcov The collection documents the Holocaust-era experiences of Edith Hamberg (Tarcov), originally of Hannover, Germany, including her immigration to the United States, correspondence with her parents Minna and Sally Hamberg who remained in Hannover until their deportation to Riga in December 1941, restitution paperwork, photographs, and an unpublished novel manuscript based on her life. Biographical materials include family trees, immigration documents, restitution papers, Edith’s German passport, and a family book. The immigration documents include copies of the affidavits by her relative Milton Mayer who sponsored her, a refugee handbook from England, and a naturalization certificate. The correspondence includes wartime and post-war letters from friends and relatives. There are also letters from her parents, Minna and Sally Hamberg, written to Edith prior to their deportation to Riga, Latvia in late 1941. Included with these letters are donor-provided transcriptions and translations. Also included is a letter from Gertrud Michelsohn who lived in Hannover with her parents and was also deported to Riga. She describes the conditions there, including the death of Edith’s father, and the rest of her Holocaust experiences until liberation. Writings consist of a copy of a story by Edith entitled An Open Window that appeared in The Antioch Review in 1947 and a copy of her unpublished manuscript The Voice in the Void. The manuscript was written around 1943 or 1944 and is a fictional account of Edith’s life in Hannover and her immigration to the United States. The manuscript is incomplete, and includes typed and handwritten pages. The photographs include a pre-war image of Minna and Sally Hamberg, Edith with her sister Margot, a family-owned store, and Edith at a Jewish orphanage in Kassel, Germany where she worked prior to her emigration from Germany in 1939.