Ruth B. Mandel papers

Ruth B. Mandel was born in Vienna in 1938 to Mechel Blumenstock (b. 1902-1975) and Lea Blumenstock (nee Schmelzer, 1914-2005). Mechel was imprisoned in Dachau during Kristallnacht, and Lea managed to secure his release by obtaining a visa for him to emigrate to Shanghai. In the meantime, Lea's brother, Gabriel Schmelzer, who was living in New York, arranged for the family to receive Cuban visas and purchased three tickets for them on the MS St. Louis. After the ship was turned away from Cuba, the Blumenstocks sought refuge in England. The Blumenstocks stayed in England until immigrating to the United States in 1947. The Ruth B. Mandel papers consist of biographical materials and photographs documenting the Blumenstock family from Vienna, their effort to immigrate to the United States via Cuba aboard the MS St. Louis, and their refuge in England during the war, and their immigration to the United States in 1947. Biographical materials include certificates, correspondence, certificates, identification papers, travel documents, and military papers documenting the Blumenstock family’s efforts to immigrate to the United States via Cuba, their refuge in England, Mechel Blumenstock’s service with the British Army, and their immigration to the United States in 1947. Photographs depict Lea and Mechel Blumenstock and Ruth Mandel as a baby with her grandmother Jeneta Schmelzer in Austria, aboard the MS St. Louis, and with her parents in Spalding, England.