Herz-Aschaffenburg Family Collection 1811-1987 bulk: 1935-1950

The Herz-Aschaffenburg Family Collection holds the personal and professional papers of members of the Herz and Aschaffenburg families, as well as related families. Most prominent among the individuals featured here are John (Hans) Herz and Gustav Aschaffenburg. In addition to the papers of family members, this collection holds material on genealogy and the family history. Included in this collection are family correspondence along with a smaller amount of professional correspondence, professional and official papers, family trees and related correspondence, published and unpublished writings, World War I diaries, and a few clippings.Helga Aschaffenburg, 1987.John Herz, 1988, 1993The Herz and Aschaffenburg families became interrelated through the marriages of two sets of siblings from Cologne. The merchant Hugo Herz was born in Cologne on March 26, 1864 and married Clara Aschaffenburg, born April 1, 1875. Hugo Herz’ brother, the judge Karl (sometimes spelled Carl) Herz, was born July 4, 1868 and married Elise Elfriede Aschaffenburg, the sister of Clara Aschaffenburg; Elise was born August 29, 1882.John (born Hans) Hermann Herz was born in 1908 in Düsseldorf, the eldest son of Karl Herz and Elise Elfriede Aschaffenburg. In 1931 he received his doctorate in law from the University in Cologne. From 1939-1941 he taught at Princeton University at the Institute for Advanced Study and at Trinity College in Hartford before eventually moving on to Howard University in 1941. During World War II he worked for the Office of Strategic Services. From 1945-1948 he worked for the State Department, including assisting at the Nuremberg Trials. From 1952-1979 he taught at City University of New York as well as holding positions of visiting professor at several other universities. He died in 2005.Gustav Aschaffenburg was born in 1866 in Zweibrücken. He became a well-known doctor of psychiatry who taught at the University of Cologne and helped to found the field of modern forensic psychiatry in Germany. He married Maja Nebel and they had four children: Hans, Gertrud, Helga and Eva Aschaffenburg. Much of his work in psychiatry focused on criminal psychology, including the concept of the born criminal. In 1904 he received his position at the University of Cologne, and also became director of the Lindenberg Clinic and co-director of the Institute for Criminology, in addition to producing numerous writings in the field. During World War I he served as a psychiatric expert and was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class for his work. In 1934 he was dismissed from his position due to his Jewish heritage. In 1939 he immigrated to the United States via Switzerland, where his wife was recovering from sickness after having traveled to Italy to assist her daughter in the dissolution of her boardinghouse in Italy due to the recent anti-Semitic laws there. Once in the United States, Gustav Aschaffenburg taught criminal psychology at such institutions as the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and John Hopkins University. He died in 1944.John (Hans) Herz, "Vom Ueberleben" (1984).See also Thekla Aschaffenburg's memoirs (ME 772)Photographs removed to Photograph CollectiondigitizedAmberg, Georg; Aschaffenburg family; Aschaffenburg, Eva; Aschaffenburg, Gustav; Aschaffenburg, Helga; Aschaffenburg, Karl; Austria; Belgium; Berlin; Cologne; Diaries; Emigration and immigration; 1933-1945; Family trees; Feibes family; Heidelberg; Herz family; Herz, John; Lenart, Karl; Levi, Karl; Military service; World War, 1914 - 1918; National socialism; Nebel family; Nebelaus family; Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals 1945-1946; Simon, Isidor; Spalek, John; Vienn