Breslauer, Helen

Eva Heilberg was born on May 14, 1891 as the daughter of the renowned lawyer Adolf Heilberg (born 1858) and his wife Rosa, née Frankenstein (born 1866), in Breslau (today Wrocław). Eva had one younger sister, Frieda (born 1894). Eva studied history and sociology in Breslau, Freiburg im Breisgau and Berlin. She got married to Hans Schäffer on December 21, 1913.

Hans Schäffer was born on April 11, 1886 in Breslau. His parents were the factory owner Julius Schäffer and his wife Charlotte Schäfer. Hans had three brothers, Ernst, Moritz Friedrich and Rudolf. Hans studied law and obtained his doctorate in 1908. He and all his brothers were drafted to fight in World War I. Moritz fell in 1917.

Hans and Eva had four daughters: Marianne (born 1914), Renate (born 1917), Ruth (born 1920) and Eleonore Elisabet (born 1928).

Hans became an influential statesman in the 1920s, gaining a lot of respect for his work on reparation payments after World War I. He became state secretary in the Reich's finance ministry. He decided to quit his work for the Weimar government in 1932 in order to become the managing director of the Ullstein publishing house. Hans was forced out of his job at Ullstein when the Nazis came to power. He and his family fled to Jönköping, Sweden where Hans took a job at the Swedish Match Company (STAB). Eva, who had studied economics, history and ethnology, was active in academic circles and in the "International Women’s League for Freedom and Peace."

Hans' brother Ernst (later Ernest Shaffer) moved to Bombay and later became head of the South East Asian Department of the international German broadcasting system, Deutsche Welle. He was married to Vivian (Welda) whose sister Grete perished in the Holocaust. He had one son and one daughter.

Marianne, the eldest daughter of Hans and Eva Schäffer, got married to Henry Breslauer, and the couple moved to New York in the 1930s. She studied sociology and became a social worker. They had three children: Helen, Kenneth and George. Renate, the Schäffer's middle daughter, studied meteorology in Stockholm and is regarded as the first female meteorologist of Sweden. She was very active in international research.

The family members had unusual nicknames for each other. Charlotte was Omelotte, Charlotte's stepmother Hedwig was Hedel, Frieda was Fietz, Eva was called Mums, Hans was called Vu or Fu. Moritz Friedrich was Rizzi, Marianne was Gax or Gaga, Renate was Pitsche. Eleonore and Ruth, whose documents are not included in this collection, were called Lore and Ruthli.