Gertrude Weaver Refugee Correspondence

This collection contains Weaver’s correspondence with the recipients of her post WWII aid, as well as records of the logistics (sending receipts, package contents) of the operation. The majority of the correspondence follows the Bergas, a family of German refugees living in Montauban, France. Hans Bergas resisted the Nazis during their rise to power, and for his political activism was imprisoned and later sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Though he was eventually liberated and reunited with his family, he remained an invalid as a result of brutal conditions and torture. Because he was bedridden, Bergas had ample time to correspond with Weaver and her students. He wrote an extensive account of his resistance to fascism and his experience in Buchenwald which he sent to Chester High School in segments. Weaver eventually attempted to have Hans Bergas’ memoir published in Readers’ Digest Magazine, but it was rejected. For a while, Weaver reportedly used this memoir in the place of textbooks in her classes.

Weaver developed strong and lasting relationships with the families to whom she sent aid, often corresponding with them during school vacations and holidays, demonstrating that for her it was more than a class project. She made an effort to find other families in need of aid, taking suggestions from those she was in contact with for other families in need, and either corresponded with them directly or put them in contact with another Americans or groups of Americans interested in relief work. In addition to her Bergas correspondence, this collection contains lengthy correspondence with the Kluth, Kühn, and Rollinger families.

The collection is organized into the following series as received: