Metadata: Estate of Nanny and Erich Fischhof
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- Archives of Contemporary History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich
- Postal address:
- Hirschengraben 62, CH-8092 Zurich
- Phone number:
- +41 44 632 40 03
- Web address:
- https://www.afz.ethz.ch/
- Email:
- afz@history.gess.ethz.ch
- Reference number:
- NL Fischhof
- Title:
- Estate of Nanny and Erich Fischhof
- Title (official language):
- Nachlass Nanny und Erich Fischhof
- Creator/accumulator:
- Fischhof, Nanny; Fischhof, Erich
- Date(s):
- 1924/1997
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- 0.1 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains biographical material on Erich Fischhof’s parents as well as on Fischhof himself, with reports on his flight to Switzerland and his internment. It also contains biographical material on Nanny Fischhof, including her correspondence with the immigration authorities. In addition, the establishment of the Nanny-and-Erich-Fischhof Prize in 1992 is documented.
- Archival history:
- In 1997, the AfZ successively received the estates of Erich and Nanny Fischhof.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Nanny Fischhof was born in Zurich on 25 May 1901 and died on 5 August 1997 in Zurich. She was the daughter of Hermann Barth, one of the founders of the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft IRG (Orthodox community that left the Israelitische Cultusgemeinde in the 1920s). In 1921, she married in Lucerne (divorced in 1942). In 1936, she earned a diploma at the School for Social Work in Lucerne and became a social worker for the Jewish community. In 1944, she married the opera singer and refugee Erich Fischhof in Bern. Nanny Fischhof did not regain her Swiss citizenship, which had been revoked as a result of her marriage, until her husband's subsequent naturalisation. In 1971, she moved to Zurich.
Erich Fischhof was born in Vienna on September 3, 1913 and died on March 16, 1988. After attending the Bundesrealschule in Vienna in 1931/1932, he began a commercial apprenticeship. Fischhof was employed in various companies and from 1937 he simultaneously attended the opera department at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium. He was a member of the Jewish Community of Vienna. In June 1938, he fled to Switzerland. In 1941, during his internment in Swiss labour camps, he met his future wife Nanny, née Barth, who was active in the “Verband Schweizerischer Jüdischer Fürsorgen/Flüchtlingshilfen“ (VSJF). In 1945, Fischhof was employed at the Stadttheater Bern as a singer. In 1950, he became a citizen of Switzerland. In 1971, he moved to Zurich where he was temporarily employed at the main library of the ETH Zurich.
In 1992, Nanny Fischhof established the Nanny-and-Erich-Fischhof Prize for personalities or institutions who have rendered outstanding services in the fight against racism and anti-Semitism in Switzerland.
- Access points: locations:
- Switzerland
- Subject terms:
- Personal records
- Refugees
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://onlinearchives.ethz.ch/
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2019