Max and Edith Greenwood: family papers

Scope and Content

This collection contains the personal papers of Max and Edith Greenwood, former Jewish refugees from Germany. Max Greenwood was one of the first people who fled Germany in 1933 after his medical licence was withdrawn. The exact circumstances of the emigration of Edith Hanauer and her parents are not known.

Included are Max Greenwood's qualifications and medical thesis, probate, last will, death certificate and papers relating to his restitution claim; correspondence and papers relating to the estates of Alfred Heidenheimer, Max Greenwood and Rosa Hanauer; James Greenwood's school reports and Barmitzvah book; Rosa Hanauer's ID card and last wills; as well as family photographs. Also included are papers relating to research into the history of the Heidenheimer family.

Administrative / Biographical History

Max Greenwood (formerly Gruenbaum, 1900-1964) was born in Nuremberg, Bavaria. He volunteered to enlist in the Bavarian Army in the First World War. Greenwood studied medicine at Munich, Berlin and Heidelberg universities. When his medical licence was withdrawn in July 1933 because he was Jewish he decided to emigrate. He arrived in the UK in October 1933 but had to retrain as a physician. In 1934 he moved to Stourbridge to start work as surgery assistant and took over the surgery in 1938. In 1944 he got married to Edith Elisabeth Hanauer (1913-c2009), also a Jewish refugee who was originally from Frankfurt am Main. She was a sculptor and had several exhibitions in the UK. She later studied photography. They had one son, James Michael (1946-1967). Edith's parents, Berthold (1912-1949) and Rosa Hanauer (1889-1978) also emigrated to England but the exact circumstances of the Hanauer family's emigration are not known. Rosa and her two brothers, Alfred (1888-1949) and Sali Heidenheimer who both lived in America, originally came from Wuerzburg, Bavaria. Alfred Heidenheimer moved to the USA in 1909 and became a successful businessman.

Arrangement

Chronological and by creator

Access Information

Acquisition Information

Donated by Nora de Vigier

Note

2009/48

Related Material

See photo archive for photographs (2009/48)