Fred Weiss collection

Contains photographs, letters, and documents related to the wartime and postwar experiences of Wilhelm (William) and Regina Rusinek Weiss. Includes photographs showing Regina Rusinek in Volary, Czechoslovakia, soon after the liberation by the US Army in May 1945; later photographs depicting William and Regina in the Feldafing DP camp, in the Berlin Zoo and with their newborn son, Samuel, born 1946; documents related to the imprisonment of Regina in Grunberg forced labor camp and on a forced march to Volary; documents related to their immigration and sailing on the SS Gen. Heinzelman; and a letter from a former neighbor who wanted to purchase the building which belonged to the Rusinek family. Regina Rusinek Weiss (1924-2011) was born in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland on May 13, 1924. Wilhelm William Weiss (1923-2016) was born on October 27, 1923. William was imprisoned in the Lvov ghetto, Janowska camp, Auschwitz concentration camp, Flossenburg concentration camp, and Dachau concentration camp, where he was registered as a Pole under a last name Kolasa. Both, Regina and Wilhelm Weiss’ parents and siblings perished during the Holocaust. Their son, Samuel, was born in 1946. In August 1949 the Weiss family immigrated to the United States and settled in Detroit, MI. Their two younger sons, Frederick and Michael, were born in American.