What good is collecting all of these stories and artifacts if we're the only people who can see them? That's what this website is about, that's why I give presentations for schools and organizations of all kinds, and that's why we share pieces of our collection with Holocaust museums across the country. In particular, we recently donated a collection of correspondence to the United States Holocaust Museum and Memorial. The collection primarily consists of letters sent by Marion Renzer, who was sent to England from Berlin, Germany on a Kindertransport in December 1938, to her sister Ruth Renzer at the "Ahava" children's home at Kiryat Bialik, Haifa in Palestine. Other correspondents include their maternal uncle Willy Bock, maternal grandfather Jakob Bock, and various other friends and relatives. Also included are photographs depicting Ruth in Palestine and Israel.
The collection has now been digitized and is available for viewing by the general public.
Marion Renzer (later Miriam Spielman) was born on November 8, 1923 in Berlin, Germany. She had one sister, Ruth Renzer (b. 1922). Marion’s mother, Frida Renzer (b. 1895, née Bock), was divorced, and in 1936 she was checked into Wittenau - Staatsanatorium mental health hospital. She was in several different institutions in the following years, and Marion and her sister Ruth were placed in a children’s home in Berlin. In December 1938 Marion was sent to London, England on a Kindertransport. Her maternal uncle Willy Bock was also in London at this time. Her sister Ruth immigrated from Berlin to Palestine by January 1939. The sisters corresponded throughout the war, and Marion later moved to Israel. The sisters never learned the fate of their mother Frida during the Holocaust.
It's letters like these, and other artifacts, that add individual names, faces, and stories to our recollections of history—enabling us to remember and honor them for generations to come.