Bing family: papers

This collection comprises four separate deposits of material regarding different members of the same family.<p>The first deposit (867/1) consists of copies of 3 letters written by a woman in a collection centre (<em>Sammlunglager</em>) in Berlin in June 1943. She was subsequently deported to Auschwitz where she almost certainly died. The letters are significant because they offer a rare insight into conditions in such an establishment and document the growing level of despair amongst those who were transported. In the final letter she seems certain of her fate- that theirs will be the last “<em>Polentransport</em>', and that their destination will be Auschwitz; that they will be transported in sealed goods wagons; and that they will not be gassed in transit- which would have been preferable to her (867/1/3).</p><p>With regard to the provenance, the originals were given to the depositor by Thomas-Joachim von Pappritz, son of the addressee.</p><p>The second deposit (867/2) consists of copy papers relating to a another member of the Bing family, Clara Bing, the mother-in-law of Mathilde Bing, the subject of the first deposit. These papers document an offence by Clara not to include the name Sara, signifying her Jewish ethnicity.</p>The third deposit, (867/3) consists of additional documentation including a letter from Fritz Mecklenburg, a family friend, dated 21 September 1945, to Heinz Bing, enclosing his mother's account of the fate of Georg and Mathilde Bing (867/3/1); papers re the marriage of Mathilde's parents (867/3/3); Red Cross Telegrammes between Mathilde and Heinz Bing in London and her parents in Berlin, (1940-1943) (867/3/4). In addition, the following transcript material is on disk and in hard copy: Heinz Bing's internment camp diary, (June- December 1940), (867/3/5; his fiancée's, Lore Meyerheim's, diary, (867/3/6); Lore Meyerheim's correspondence to Heinz Bing, (June-December 1940) (867/3/7).<br /> Open