Else and Willy Heymann: personal correspondence

This collection consists of correpondence from Grete and James Pick, who emigrated to China, to their friends Willy and Else Heymann, who had emigrated to New Zealand. The letters provide details of the procedures for refugees arriving in Shanghai, impressions of Chinese culture, James Pick's professional life in Tientsin, and Pick's return to Germany after the Second World War.

Also included are a copy letter to Willy Heymann by a general who he cared for in World War I, the wedding ode for Else and Willy Heymann's wedding, Else Heymann's memoirs of her visit to Constantinople between 1917-1919, photograph of Else Heymann, Klaus Heymann's memoirs concerning his mother and his time serving with the Royal New Zealand Air Forces, and correspondence with a family friend.

Willy Heymann, a dental surgeon, his wife Else and their son Klaus left Germany for New Zealand in March 1937. Klaus Heymann served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force for two years in the Second World War. His mother died in New Zealand in 1944.

Else's friend Grete and her husband James Pick, a medical consultant, together with Grete's elderly mother emigrated to Tientsin in China from Berlin via Amsterdam in 1938. In 1947, the Pick family decided to return to Germany. They moved to Frankfurt where James Pick resumed medical practice.

Chronological and by subject

See Wiener Library access conditions at: http://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/usinglibrary/usingthelibrary.aspx

Donated by Klaus Heymann.

2006/12 and 2006/47

Includes a summary of the contents of the letters in English.

See also: Klaus Heymann's biography and thoughts on his father (Unpub. Mem 4247), 'Some afterthoughts on the Heymanns : Willy, Else, Klaus' by Klaus Heymann (Unpub. Mem 4234), 'Autobiographical notes 1929 - 1937' by Klaus Heymann(Unpub. Mem 4226), '[Account of childhood under the Nazis 1933-1937]' by Klaus Heymann (Unpub. Mem 4223); Photo Archive 2006/12