Dr. George Mandl papers

George Mandl was born on September 12, 1908, in Miskolc, Hungary, to Lajos and Sidonie Mandl. He had one sister, Anna Nora Mandl. He was one of only a few Jewish students educated at the Frater Gyorgy Catholic Gymnazium in Miskolc, where he graduated in 1926. In the fall of 1926, he entered the University of Vienna Medical School. He graduated in November 1932, During 1933-1934, he completed clinical work in Vienna and applied for and passed exams in Italy required for a foreign doctor to be licensed as a physician. In 1935, he established a dental practice in Parma, Italy, where he was quite successful. He was briefly married to Franceska (Franciska) Lempert Mandl (of Vienna), but the couple divorced. Dr. Mandl remained in Parma until February 1939. He had been granted a permit to enter Cuba, crossed the border at Bardonecchia, Italy and entered France at Modane. Following his arrival in France, he traveled through Paris en route to Bordeaux. On March 14, 1939, he sailed from Bordeaux and arrived in Cuba on March 31, 1939. He remained in Cuba until February 1941, when he was able to emigrate to the United States. He was sponsored by Leo Ferber (originally from Miskolc) and his son, John Ferber, who operated a successful leather business in Pittsburgh, PA. Mandl held an internship at the Meriden, Connecticut, hospital and a residency at Lutheran Hospital and Cleveland, Ohio. The War Manpower Commission transferred him to Bethel, Connecticut, where he established a traditional family medical practice. Mandl married Ann (Dressler) Mandl while in Meriden. He had one son, Alan, and a daughter, Leslie. Dr. Mandl passed away in 1977. Lajos Mandl died during the World War II period, but the date, place and cause of death are unknown. Sidonie Mandl survived the Holocaust in hiding in Budapest, with her daughter Anna Mandl and her two grandchildren. Joszef, Anna's husband, was conscripted into forced labor in Budapest in Fall 1944 and perished in February 1945 in Koszeg, near the Austro-Hungarian border. This collection relates to a dentist and physician who, due to property laws in Hungary and increased anti-Semitism in Vienna, pursued his profession in Italy. After the passage of Italian racial laws in 1938, he left a successful practice in Italy and, in 1941, gained entry to the United States, where he reestablished himself as a traditional family doctor in Bethel, Connecticut. The collection includes documents from various aspects of Dr. George Mandl’s career between 1908-1977, including family records from Miskolc, educational records from Miskolc and the University of Vienna Medical School; records of clinical work; civic and professional records from Milan and Parma; the purchase of a dental practice in Parma in 1936 and related leases in 1936-1937; records regarding possible places of emigration; records of crossing the border into France, stopping in Paris, and departing Europe from Bordeaux; arrival and registration in Cuba; records of departure from Havana and arrival in New York; paperwork related to internships, residency, and admission as a physician in the United States; correspondence with the War Manpower Commission; and naturalization papers. The vast majority of the collection relates to his medical work, and demonstrates the vast amount of bureaucratic paperwork needed to maintain a medical career in various countries, especially in the wartime United States. Most of the paperwork relates to life in Parma and in the United States; very little of the collection relates to his life and work in Cuba 1939-1941. The collection includes a handwritten poem by Dr. Mandl written in 1939, reflecting on the pain experienced from being forced to leave his home in Italy, anger over forced exile, and recognition of the need to establish a homeland wherever he could find safety. The photographs include family photographs, and photographs taken in Vienna, Parma, various places in Italy, and Havana, as well as photographic negatives of some of the official documents in the collection. The photographs depict Dr. Mandl with fellow medical students, colleagues, and friends. The materials related to Dr. Mandl’s education in Vienna include his Meldungsbuch [Class registration book], certificates related to the completion of his courses, and copies of his diplomas. The documents related to life in Italy include employment references, documents related to the establishment of the practice, letters from patients, copies of documents gathered in anticipation of potential emigration, and his 1938 appointment book. The documents related to emigration to Cuba are documents largely gathered for emigration in general—good citizenship certificates, an entry visa for Bolivia, documents from the Ferber family attesting to their ability to support Dr. Mandl if necessary, and the handwritten poem mentioned above. Records from Cuba also include forms of entry registration, support for Dr. Mandl being permitted to enter Canada, evidence of addresses in Havana, and the handling of his $500 deposit at the time of his departure from Havana to New York City on the Chilean vessel Copiapo. The documents related to life in the United States relate to Dr. Mandl’s establishment as a physician. They include extensive letters of reference, documents related to internships, medical examinations, language testing, and, later in the war, Selective Service and the War Manpower Commission records related to their physician relocation program. This folder also includes his naturalization papers, 1957 passport, and newspaper clippings published after his 1977 death.