John Peters (Pinkus) Family Papers 1827-2005 Bulk dates: 1938-1990s

Family documents; correspondence; photographs; textile samples; books; brochures; documents pertaining to restitution ; This collection contains correspondence, family keepsakes, legal records and other papers of the John Peters family, descended from the Pinkus family of Upper Silesia. ; The largest portion of the collection is made up of family and personal correspondence. The restitution material is also primarily composed of correspondence, but of a more bureaucratic and legal nature. The rest of the collection is a mix of artifacts and documents passed down or collected by various family members. Other papers have been assembled during the course of genealogical research in the manner of an artificial collection. The scope of the collection is a document of complex family relationships, the displacement of war, and the lives of emigrants in post-war Europe. ; The following individuals are mentioned in this collection: ; Bauer, Helene (née Bürgel); Ehrlich, Paul, 1854-1915; Fränkel, Ernestine (née Polke), 1802-1879; Fränkel, Samuel, 1802-1881; Hauptmann, Gerhart, 1862-1946; Peters, Howard John Roy (Hans Joseph Pinkus); Peters, Marianne Deborah (née Pollak), 1921-1983; Pinkus, Augustine (née Fränkel), 1838-1919; Pinkus, Felix, 1868-1947; Pinkus, Hans Hubert, 1891-1977; Pinkus, Joseph, 1829-1909; Pinkus, Lili (née Elisabeth von Fischel); Pinkus, Lolle (née Charlotte Aschinger); Pinkus, Max, 1857-1934; Schottlaender, Erwin (Roberto); Schottlaender, Richard (Ricky); Vietinghoff, Elfriede von (née Mathilde Anne Elfriede Hess), 1892-1933. ; The S. Fränkel factory was founded 1845 by Samuel Fränkel and grew into one of the world’s largest producers of fine linens. Management of the firm fell to Samuel Fränkel ‘s son-in-law Joseph Pinkus, and the company remained owned and operated by the Fränkel and Pinkus families until the Aryanization policies of the Nazi government forced them out. ; Prior to this, many members of the family were prominent in the cultural and political life of Neustadt and the surrounding area. Most notable was Max Pinkus (son of Joseph), patron of the arts, philanthropist, and friend of the author and Nobel laureate Gerhart Hauptmann. Max collected a unique library of Silesian literature and local history during his lifetime—most of which was confiscated and scattered during WWII—and provided the inspiration for several of Hauptmann’s fictional characters. Another noteworthy family member was Max’s brother-in-law, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine. ; Hans Hubert Pinkus (son of Max) was the last Pinkus director of the firm, 1926 to 1938. A veteran of the First World War, Hans Hubert was twice married and the father of three by the time he was forced off the board of S. Fränkel. His first marriage, to widowed baroness Elfriede von Vietinghoff-Scheel, produced son John (born Hans Joseph Pinkus) and ended in an amicable divorce. With second wife Elisabeth (Lili) Schottlaender, he had twin daughters: Johanna Hedwig (Jonnie) and Freda Marie (Freddie) Pinkus, born 1927. The family immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1939; Freddie, however, remained in Germany and died in 1940. In the years following World War II, Hans Hubert made ultimately unsuccessful attempts to rebuild the family business elsewhere. With the help of his former secretary, Helene Bauer, he filed a number of restitution claims for damages related to the loss of the company. His genealogical research may have been connected to these prolonged legal struggle. After a second divorce, Hans Hubert married late in life his third wife Charlotte (called Lolle), who survived his death in 1977. ; Hans Hubert’s son John (Howard John Roy Peters ) was born in Neustadt in 1922. He was quite young when his parents divorced. As a teenager, he attended boarding school abroad when the family decided to emigrate, and he joined them in the UK. John joined the British Army shortly thereafter and in the early 1940s officially changed his name to Howard John Roy Peters. He was soon married Marianne Pollak; they eventually had three children together, but the eldest died in childhood. After his army service, John worked in the international textile trade (seemingly unrelated to his father’s ventures). He traveled often and spent some years living in Egypt. By the 1960s the family settled in Switzerland. Marianne, who was also known by the nickname Toni (sometimes spelled Tony), worked as a travel guide for tourists. She died in 1983. In the following years, John was active in the British Residents' Association of Switzerland as a regional chairperson. Much of his correspondence with his adult children and extended family is dated from this later period, the mid-1980s through 1990s. ; Processed ; digitized