The Archives of the Kaplan Family

Collection

Scope and content:: The collection holds the archives of the Kaplan-Stromer family from the 1920s to 2005, including professional photography from Viipuri and Helsinki and several photographs of Finnish Jews with names written behind the photos. The photographs in the archives (files 2 and 3) contain portraits, pictures of Viipuri (including the cultural Jewish club Ahdus and the sports association Kadur) of Scheine Kaplan from the 1920s and 1930s, and portraits and pictures of various firms owned by Bertil Kaplan. They also contain (file 4) private photos of the family and their friends from the 1940s until the 1990s, as well as family photographs from Finland and Israel from the 1950s until the 2000s (files 5 and 6) of the daughter Pia Kaplan-Aharon. In addition, there are photos of Finnish Jews with names behind the photos (file 7) taken by the professional photographer Sara Stromer, the mother of Scheine Kaplan. The originals of these photos are kept in the Finnish Museum of Photography in Helsinki. Besides photographs, the archives hold biographical material (file 1) of the family: certificates, model drawings and advertisements, and a war claim application by Sara Stromer concerning the possessions lost in Viipuri during the Second World War.

Archival history:: The archives of the Kaplan and Stromer family were donated by the parties' estate in 2010 as part of the initiative to collect private archives of Jewish individuals in the National Archives of Finland. The initiative was funded by the Leo and Regina Wainstein foundation. The Kaplan archives were organized in the National Archives in Helsinki.

Administrative/biographical history:: Swedish-born businessman Bertil (Berl) Israel Kaplan (1915–1992) worked in the clothing business. His wife Scheine Stromer (1913–1999) was born in Viipuri and was evacuated during the Second World War to Helsinki where the couple wed in 1946. The family owned a clothing factory and a shop in Helsinki. Their daughter Pia Kaplan-Aharon (1956–2005) worked as a travel guide in Israel until her death. Photographer Sara Stromer (1884–1974) was the mother of Scheine Kaplan: until the outbreak of the war she worked as a photographer in Viipuri, and was evacuated to Helsinki in 1940.

Access points: persons/families:: Bertil (Berl) Israel Kaplan; Kaplan-Stromer family; Pia Kaplan-Aharon; Sara Stromer; Scheine Kaplan

Subject terms:: Jewish community; Personal records; Photographs; Plunder; Sports; Sports--Sports clubs; Trade and commerce; World War II