Babys Tagebuch 1927-1939

“Babys Tagebuch” (Baby's Diary) started as a commercially available book about baby care [Moro-Drasch, Irene : Babys Tagebuch , Merkblaetter und die Grundzuege der Saeuglingspflege ; Graz 1925]. The book had empty pages to keep schedule of the baby’s development. Gerda Mayer's parents, Arnold and Erna Stein, made good use of it, and did not stop writing entries (with Arnold contributing to 50 pages in his rounded handwriting, and Erna contributing to 27 pages in her more formal hand). When their daughter grew older, the baby diary developed into a regular diary, in which they were addressing their daughter Gerda. They talk about their time together, their activities, but also the political events that affected the family, like anti-Semitism. The Steins kept a diary of their daughter Gerda from her birth in 1927 until her departure to England in 1939. There are also little drawings and scribbles by young Gerti.digitizedGerda Mayer, née Stein, daughter of Erna and Arnold Stein, was born in Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary), former Czechoslovakia, in 1927. She had an older sister, Hannah. In September 1938, they had to leave Karlsbad and move to Prague. Gerda emigrated to England in 1939 on a Kindertransport which was arranged with the help of Trevor Chadwick. She married Adolf Mayer in 1949. She published several books of poetry, and also contributed to many magazines and anthologies.A typed transcript (24 pages) of Erna Stein’s entries to the baby diary may be found in folder 1 of the Arnold and Erna Stein Collection, AR 5085.Gerda Maye