Adolf Schwersenz family collection 1895 - 1969 Bulk dates: 1937 - 1951

This collection includes personal and official documents of Adolf Schwersenz and his family, including his professional work as a cantor, mainly during his time in Berlin. It contains sheet music used by Adolf Schwersenz, as well as newspaper clippings and letters.Gramophone records - 78 and 33 1/3 rpm - have been removed to the A/V collection.Adolf Schwersenz (who used the name Ralph Svarson in America) was born in Berlin, Germany in 1899 and died in 1959 in the United States. His parents were the tailor Simon Schwersenz and his wife Caecilie, née Aron. After attending Andreas-Realgymnasium (high school) Adolf was trained as a salesman in a textile factory in Berlin. During World War I he was called up for military service and continued working in the same factory after the war. Adolf started his musical training at the university Staatliche Hochschule fuer Musik in Berlin and received singing lessons by Professor Ludwig Mantler. After Adolf finished his studies in 1923, he worked as a tenor and concert singer in Germany and Czechoslovakia. He appeared under the name Adi Patti. 1934 - 1941 he worked as a cantor for the Juedische Gemeinde zu Berlin in various synagogues. The Gestapo forced Adolf to do compulsory labor; 1943-1945 Adolf, his wife Klara Elisabeth, née Gerlach and their daughter Susanne lived in hiding. After the war he assisted in re-establishing the Juedische Gemeinde in Berlin and worked as a cantor and teacher. He immigrated with his family to New York in 1947 where he worked as a cantor, including for the congregation “Habonim” in New York and in Lawrence, Massachusetts.Adolf Schwersenz’s wife Klara Elisabeth Schwersenz, née Gerlach, who changed her name to Claire Svarson after their immigration, was born in Berlin in 1899, the daughter of Hermann Gerlach and Anna née Seibt. From 1915 on, Klara worked as a clerk and later as a manager in various factories, until she was forced to give up her job and do compulsory labor in 1944. Klara converted to Judaism in 1931 when she married Adolf and received the second name Ruth in this context. In 1947 she immigrated to America with her family.Adolf and Klara Schwersenz’s daughter Susanne (then Susan Svarson) was born in Berlin in 1936. In the United States she attended high school and studied at Boston University, Massachusetts.Adolf Schwersenz’ s mother Caecilie was deported to the concentration camp Theresienstadt in 1942. She was killed in the Auschwitz extermination camp.Finding aid available onlineProcesseddigitizedDigital Imag