Rita Sands papers

The papers consist mostly of letters written to Rita Dienstag (later Rita Sands), alias "Renee" while in hiding, by her parents from hiding places and internment camps in France. One of the letters was tossed by Rita's mother, Gusta Zwikel Dienstag, from a cattle car en route to Auschwitz in 1942. Rita Dienstag (later Rita Sands) lived with her family in Vienna, Austria, before World War II. In 1938 her family fled to Belgium where they lived for two years. They then moved to France where they were placed in Argelès-sur-Mer and Rivesaltes internment camps. Rita's parents, Jacob and Gusta Dienstag, were transported to Auschwitz where they perished. Rita survived by hiding in various locations in France. After the war, she met and married Max Sands, a fellow Holocaust survivor, and they immigrated to the United States in 1952.