Alice Samson collection

Consists of original and digital documents and photographs related to the life of Suse Lore Alice Samson (later known as Alice Samson), originally of Edesheim, Germany. Includes Alice's written testimony, copies of documents and photographs, and correspondence regarding her attempts to find out the fates of her family and restitution for lost property. Includes correspondence with the International Tracing Service, the Red Cross, and various attorneys, the latter including both personal compensation claims and the class-action suit against the French national railway, the SNCF. Alice Samson (1926-2010) was born in Edesheim, Germany, the daughter of Karl Samson (1875-1940) and Anna (nee Beissinger) Samson (1890-1942?), and had two stepsisters (Gertrud, and Else, 1910-1942?) and one brother (Kurt, 1925-1941?). In 1939, after Alice and her family had been taken from their home by the Gestapo and sent to a collection point in Karlsruhe, Alice was smuggled to France, where she lived in the care of the Quakers at the La Guette children's home in France. Her parents and stepsisters were sent first to Drancy and then to Gurs, where her father died in December 1940. Alice was able to visit her mother and stepsister in March 1941. In 1941, Alice emigrated to the United States as part of a transport of children sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. Her mother and stepsister Else, however, were deported to Auschwitz in August 1942, where they were subsequently killed. Her brother, Kurt, was deported to Minsk, where he was presumed to have been killed.