Metadata: Estate of Else Freistadt-Herzka
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 Else Freistadt-Herzla
- Title:
- Estate of Else Freistadt-Herzka
- Title (official language):
- Nachlass Else Freistadt-Herzka
- Creator/accumulator:
- Freistadt Herzka, Else; Herzka, Hans
- Date(s):
- 1883/1997
- Language:
- German
- English
- Extent:
- 2 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The diaries of Else Freistadt-Herzka and their transcriptions comprise a large part of the estate. A great deal of material has also been preserved from Else's activities, for example, papers, published works, and manuscripts. The material of Hans Herzka is sparser. His diaries are extant, but they only begin in 1952. His certificates, letters, and photos are also available. Else and Hans Herzka corresponded extensively with national and international authorities and private individuals during their emigration. The category “Family Chronicles” contains materials that Heinz Stefan Herzka collected about his parents. Among them is also a photo album.
- Archival history:
- The estate of Else and Hans Herzka was handed over to the AfZ in 1997. Beatrice Uehli-Stauffer has already prearranged the holdings and compiled a rough inventory as part of her dissertation.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Else Freistadt Herzka was born in Vienna on 3 June 1899 and died on 24 November 1953 in Zurich. She was the second of six children of Wilhelm and Rosalie Freistadt, née Grünberg, and attended schools in Vienna. From 1920 to 1924, she studied German and French literature, philosophy, and psychology. Later she worked with the child and youth psychologist Charlotte Bühler in the field of youth psychology and women's emancipation and with Alfred Adler, the founder of individual psychology. She also had contacts with personalities from Vienna’s intellectual sphere (including Oskar Ewald, Erwin Wexberg and Viktor Frankl). In 1927/28, she was a lecturer at the adult education centre in Vienna and from 1928 to 1931, a French teacher. In 1931, she married Hans Herzka and in 1935, their son Heinz Stefan Herzka was born, the later founder of the Day Clinic for Child and Youth Psychiatry in Zurich. In 1938, the Herzka family fled to Switzerland and stayed in Amden (SG) from 1938 to 1941. They fought for years against their expulsion from Switzerland and for a British or US entry permit. Else Herzka maintained contacts with Antonia Wolff and C. G. Jung and published articles and book reviews thanks to the support of friends despite her work ban. In 1941, Else Herzka moved to Zurich because of an eye disease. In 1943, the family lived in Geneva after the withdrawal of the Zurich residence permit. On 21 December 1945, their daughter Ines Katrin was born, but died after three months. In 1950, Else Herzka was granted a work permit and permanent asylum. She gave courses on psychological, philosophical, and religious topics and counselled parents facing educational challenges.
Hans Herzka was born in Vienna on 7 November 1899 and died on 26 March 1977 during a visit to Zurich. He was the youngest child of Heinrich Herzka and Rosalie Herzka and attended schools in Vienna. In 1917, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War and became a prisoner of war in 1918. After returning home, he worked as a goldsmith in his father's business. He took courses in economics at the University of Vienna in and at the “Hochschule für Welthandel“ in accounting and auditing. In the 1930s, Herzka worked as a freelance expert for large companies (e.g., Ankerbrotfabrik, G. Roth AG. group, etc.). He also became the head of international business of a jewellery company in Yugoslavia. Together with his wife and his son, he fled Austria in 1938. In Switzerland, he was initially banned from working. In the 1950s, Herzka became an accountant for a food company and in 1963, he emigrated to Israel..
- Access points: persons/families:
- Adler
- Subject terms:
- Personal records
- 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