Documents of Pastor Adolf Kurtz, 12 Apostles Church, Berlin, German (c 1917-48)

Title	Documents of Pastor Adolf Kurtz, 12 Apostles Church, Berlin
Nationality	German
Period	c 1917-48

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There are: 3 Berlin certificates for Kurtz's theological degrees, 1917/20/22; his ordination certificate, 1920; his marriage certificate, 1927; 4 notifications from the German police authorities, dated between 1939-42, two on Gestapo notepaper; his Zonal Travel Permit for Occupied Germany with photo, 1947; his Berlin zoo pass with photo, 1948.

There is also a four-page typed potted biography of his life (born 1891) up to his death in 1975; a letter from a friend to Kurtz's wife after his death, concerning requests for biographical information for potential publication, dated 1989; his wife's birth certificate, dated 1936 for her birth in 1908; various baptismal and confirmation certificates for his wife; a certificate (dated May 1945) describing his wife as a Jewess, giving the dates of birth of both their children in Berlin and explaining that her Jewish identity card had been lost in the course of the war - this would have been a vital document in case she was picked up by the police. All these documents are in German, but the latter document has pencil annotations in Russian.

Pastor Kurtz's historical importance was that he was one of the main organisers of the Kindertransport for Jewish children emigrating to the UK shortly before the outbreak of WW2. He was also part of the resistance movement in Germany, as an active pastor of an evangelical Confessing church, that part of the Protestant denomination which took a stand against the Nazis on behalf of Jewry. Pastor and Mrs Kurtz came to live in England after the war.

The condition of the papers is overall excellent; however, most of the documents have fold marks and creases and show ageing and yellowing, which is normal with woodpulp paper. Eva Kurtz's last identity document is torn almost in half.

These documents came my way some seven years ago, having been found abandoned in a skip.

If you want to comment on this item—re quality, age, etc—please email me.

[Ephemera : Documents : German : 20th Century]

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