Alfred and Elizabeth Mayer family collection. 1896-2012 1937-1946

The Alfred and Elisabeth Mayer Family largely centers on the emigration from Germany of the extended members of this family as well as documentation of Alfred and Elisabeth Mayer and information on the family's genealogy and individual experiences. The collection includes a large quantity of family correspondence; family trees; articles; official, military, and educational documents; some financial and legal documentation and correspondence; and photographs.digitizedAlfred Mayer was born July 12, 1884 in Ober-Olm, Germany, the son of Abraham and Emma (née Kramer) Mayer. He was the eldest of six siblings: Antonie (Toni), Betty, Leopold, Otto, Emilie (Emmi), and Friedrich (Fritz). He served in World War I. -- Elisabeth (also spelled Elisabetha, called Elsa) Mendel was born on August 8, 1895 in Nieder-Wiesen, Germany. She had eight siblings. Her family members were cattle merchants. In 1910 Elisabeth, who had learned English in school, went to the United States as a governess for distant wealthy cousins in Yonkers, New York. After World War I ended, her father recalled her to Germany, where he had arranged for her to marry Alfred Mayer. They married in 1922.Alfred Mayer owned a linen and dry goods business in the small country town of Ober-Olm. Together he and Elisabeth had three children: Margot, Eleanor, and Albert. At some point in the 1930s, the family made the decision to leave Germany for the United States, where some of Elisabeth Mayer's siblings were already living. They traveled on the T.S.S. Veendam, and arrived in New Jersey in 1937. The Mayers opened a resale bakery on Pugsley Avenue in the Unionport area of the Bronx. They ran the bakery until 1960, when they moved to Queens. Alfred Mayer died shortly afterwards; Elisabeth Mayer passed away in 1981.The Mayers struggled to get their family members out of Germany. Otto Mayer and his family immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, and Friedrich Mayer and his family came to Bridgeport, Connecticut. But in spite of their efforts several of Alfred Mayer's siblings did not escape Nazi Germany: Antonie and Leopold Oppenheimer died in Birkenau and Theresienstadt; Betty and Joseph Stern in Auschwitz; Leopold, Nelly, and Paul Mayer in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz; and Emilie and Bruno Michel in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. The children of Leopold and Antonie (née Mayer) Oppenheimer emigrated to New York and Buenos Aires, while the children of Emilie (née Mayer) and Bruno Stern escaped to England via Kindertransport. Joseph and Betty (née Mayer) Stern's son emigrated to Israel.Finding aid available onlineProcesse