William Malsh papers

The William Malsh papers consist of letters his parents sent him from Düsseldorf describing their hopelessness and their efforts to escape Nazi Germany. Coded language in letters from November and December 1938 refers to Paul Malsch’s imprisonment in Dachau, letters from summer 1939 document work William expected to receive from Carl Laemmle, letters from the spring of 1940 reflect his parents' reaction to news of his engagement, and an October 1941 letter reveals their expectation that they would shortly be moving to an unknown location. Additional correspondence with his uncles Ernst and Eugene Malsch document Ernst’s escape to Shanghai and Eugene’s efforts to help the family immigrate. The collection also contains a photograph and brief biographical sketch of William’s parents and a World War I postcard from William’s father to Eugene. William Malsh (1913-1994) was born Wilhelm Malsch in Düsseldorf to Paul (1885-1941?) and Amalie (nee Samuel, 1889-1941?). He changed his name to Malsh after immigrating to the United States in 1937 with the help of his uncle, Eugene Malsch, who had immigrated in 1890. Malsh lived in Corona, Chicago, and Los Angeles, enlisted in the Army in 1942, and commanded a Military Intelligence Interrogation team at the end of the war. His father and uncle, Ernst Malsch (b. 1887), were imprisoned at Dachau and Sachsenhausen respectively after Kristallnacht. His parents perished in the Holocaust, but sources differ as to whether they were sent to Theresienstadt, Łódź, or Auschwitz. Uncle Ernst managed to escape Germany to Shanghai in 1939.