Günther Schwerin

Günther Schwerin was born in Breslau (now Wroclav, Poland) in 1910, to Ernst Schwerin and Stefanie Schwerin née Ehrlich. He was a grandson of Nobel Laureate Paul Ehrlich. Günther Schwerin studied in Maidenhead, Berkshire County, England in 1927 and immigrated to the United States the following decade. After attending New York University School of Law 1942 - 1945, Schwerin was employed in London, England by the United States War Department as a Bombing Research Analyst. Günther Schwerin had a career in a New York City law firm and served as the executor of the estate of his maternal grandmother, Hedwig Pinkus Ehrlich. Schwerin devoted his life to recovery of restitution from the governments of Poland and Germany for his family’s lost property.

Hans Wolfgang Schwerin was born in Breslau in 1906 to Ernst Schwerin and Stefanie Schwerin née Ehrlich. He earned a law degree from Universität Breslau in 1937 and immigrated to the United States in the following decade with his parents and younger sibling, Günther. Schwerin’s vocation was writing; throughout his life, Hans Schwerin maintained relationships with literary figures and wrote poetry and works for live theatre. In 1939, a volume of his poetry, Irdische Heimat, was published under the pen name Wolfgang H. Syland. A theatre work, Vorstellung in drei Akten, was published in 1982.

Stefanie Schwerin was born in Berlin in 1884 to Nobel Laureate Paul Ehrlich and Hedwig Ehrlich née Pinkus. She married industrialist Ernst Schwerin in 1904, settled in Breslau and had two children: Hans and Günther. Stefanie Schwerin left Breslau with her family in 1937 and resided in Switzerland and California before residing permanently in New York City in 1941. Stefanie Schwerin died in 1966.

Ernst Schwerin was born in Breslau in 1869 to Adolf Schwerin and Fanny Schwerin née Rinkel. Schwerin was an industrialist, the owner of J.Schwerin & Söhne, a large hemp and flax processing mill in Breslau (now Wroclav, Poland), and held the post of Kommerzienrat of Germany. In 1937, Ernst Schwerin fled to Switzerland from Germany with his wife Stefanie and adult children Günther and Hans. In the following year, the National Socialist government seized Schwerin’s estate and forced him to liquidate the factory. After immigrating to California in 1939, Ernst Schwerin eventually settled in New York City in 1941 and worked briefly for the United States War Department as a consultant. Ernst Schwerin died in New York City in 1946.

From the guide to the Günther Schwerin Collection, 1903-1999, bulk 1938-1961, (Leo Baeck Institute)