O.64.2/WSZ - Hermann Weisz Collection

O.64.2/WSZ - Hermann Weisz Collection
 
 Provenance of the Collection:
 
 Born in 1917, Hermann Weisz was an attorney at law by profession and active in the Eretz Israel Office in Prague. On 30 November 1941, he was deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto where he served as the Deputy Director of the Jüdischen Selbstverwaltung Zentralevidenz until the liberation of the camp. With help from Jüdischen Selbstverwaltung workers, Weisz copied much documentation regarding the activities of the various Jüdischen Selbstverwaltung departments, principally documentation regarding the transports arriving in and leaving from Theresienstadt. 
 
 After the liberation, Weisz immigrated to Paris, and from there to Canada, where he died in 1979.
 
 History of the Collection:
 One of the responsibilities of the Theresienstadt Ghetto Zentralevidenz unit was to maintain an accurate record of the transports arriving in and leaving from Theresienstadt, recording births and deaths and running statistical analyses on this data.
 
 Hermann Weisz took the precaution of preparing a second underground copy of these records. Department workers, who were aware of the purpose of this preparation, participated in the preparation of the copy. When the camp headquarters gave the order to destroy all documentation, the second copy had already been prepared, and the workers kept it hidden until the liberation.
 
 Hermann Weisz transferred the documentation to Paris in 1947, and from there to Canada. Weisz kept the documentation in his possession until his death in 1979; in 1980, Dr. Stephen Barber discovered the documentation and brought it to Israel; the documentation was deposited in the Yad Vashem Archives.
 
 Structure of the Collection:
 
 The Collection has been catalogued as files and divided into 8 sub-collections in the following order:
 
 File Number Sub-File
 
 111-211 A. Lists of the deportees from Bohemia and Moravia to the Theresienstadt Ghetto;
 212-276 B. Lists of the deportees from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Slovakia to the Theresienstadt Ghetto;
 277-332 C. List of the deportees from Theresienstadt to the East;
 333-366 D. Lists of the deportees from various areas to the Theresienstadt Ghetto;
 367-384 E. Lists of the inmates of various camps who were transferred to Theresienstadt by death march, April-May 1945;
 385-406 F. Orders of the Day, reports and statistical data;
 407-408 G. Personal documentation belonging to Hermann Weisz;
 409-422 H. A series of 14 albums and documentation from the various Jüdischen Selbstverwaltung departments
 
 The documentation includes complete lists of the deportees from the Protectorate, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Slovakia to the Theresienstadt Ghetto, as recorded on their arrival in Theresienstadt. There is information regarding the approximately 36,000 inmates who perished in Theresienstadt, along with their dates of death. Additionally, the documentation includes lists of those deported to the East from Theresienstadt, a list of 1,200 children from Bialystok, statistical notes regarding deaths and a list of 12,000 inmates of various camps who were transferred to Theresienstadt in the spring of 1945. In addition to the lists, the Hermann Weisz Collection also includes 14 albums in which there is much documentation, collected in the ghetto regarding the activities of the Jüdischen Selbstverwaltung departments.