Martha Bernstein collection

The Martha Bernstein collection includes photocopies of material originally created in the 1940s relating to the wartime experiences of the Bernstein and Heumann families. Included in the collection is correspondence from Therese Heumann, Martha Bernstein's oldest sister, letters between the Bernstein and Blakenstein families, poems written by Benjamin Blankenstein, a fourteen-page diary written by Helene Blumenfeld, and documents issued in Westerbork and Theresienstadt. Martha (Heumann) Bernstein was born in 1902 in Benrath, Germany to a Jewish family. Martha's family and the family of her youngest sister, Helene Blumenfeld, fled Germany and relocated to Soest-Zuid, the Netherlands during the years 1939 and 1940. During the war, Martha, her husband Henry, and their son Rolf went into hiding at Benjamin Blankenstein’s family house. In 1944, Martha, Henry, and Rolf were captured and briefly sent to Westerbork before being transported to Theresienstadt concentration camp. In October of 1944, Henry and Rolf were sent to Auschwitz where they died. Martha remained in Theresienstadt until the camp was liberated in 1945. The surviving members of the Bernstein, Heumann, and Blumenfeld families immigrated to the United States in 1947. Martha died in New York in 1993.