Guide to the Bericht über Dachau, 1939
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Cite as: Bericht über Dachau, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine
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Walter Moritz Solmitz, the son of Otto and Sophie (Sanders) Solmitz, was born into a Jewish merchant family in Braunschweig, Germany, on January 19, 1905. In Hamburg, he studied under Aby Warburg and Ernst Cassirer; he also pursued studies in Heidelberg and Berlin, then served a lengthy tenure as a research assistant in the Kulturwissneschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg. As a Jew living in Munich, he was interned at Dachau Concentration Camp in 1938 before being released for expatriation to England. He earned an A.M. from Harvard in 1949 before becoming an instructor and assistant professor in German (1946-1956) and then in philosophy (1956-1962) at Bowdoin College. Solmitz married Elly (Reis), with whom he had a son, David O. Solmitz. After a lengthy illness, Solmitz died in 1962
Autobiographical report of the author's internment at and release from Dachau Concentration Camp, November 10, 1938, until December 21, 1938.
- Dachau (Concentration camp).
- Biographies. -- lcgft.
- Personal narratives. -- lcgft.
- Solmitz, Walter, 1905-1962.
- Holocaust survivors -- Germany -- Dachau -- Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Germany -- Dachau -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jews -- Persecutions -- Germany -- Munich.
Gift; Elly Solmitz.
Part of the Miscellaneous Manuscript collection in the Bowdoin College Special Collections & Archives.
Typescript (with holograph corrections), dated "London, 23. Februar 1939" on leaf 1 and "London, den 10. März 1939" on leaf 67.
Written anonymously to protect acquaintences who remained in Germany.
Published in: Bericht von einem schwierigen Leben : Walter Solmitz (1905 bis 1962) / Joist Grolle. Berlin : Reimer, 1994 (Hamburger Beiträge zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Bd. 13, p. 88-126)