The Herbert Strauss Collection documents the life and professional activities of Herbert Strauss, writer, historian, and teacher. The collection includes correspondence, court procedures, documents, lists, manuscripts and lectures, notes, photographs, printed materials, and a small amount of teaching materials. Materials constituting the collection reflect various aspects of Herbert Strauss personal life, teaching, research and writings in the fields of German-Jewish history and relations, Anti-Semitism, and assimilation. The collection includes mainly professional materials related to Herbert Strauss and only a few personal items

Herbert Strauss, historian, academician, and teacher was born on June 1, 1918 in Würzburg, Germany. He was the son of a machine-tool salesman, Benno Strauss and Magdalena Strauss, née Hinterneder. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic, but the family followed his fathers religious affiliation. After his initial education, Herbert Strauss got enrolled at Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin in 1938. There he studied German history and theology. Between 1940 and 1942 he served as an auxiliary rabbi at the Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin

In 1942 his studies at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums came to an end when the school was closed down by German authorities. He went underground later that year and was in hiding until June 1943, when he and his future wife, Lotte, née Schloss escaped to neighboring Switzerland. Upon reaching Switzerland, Herbert Strauss was interned in refugee camps before being released. In late 1943 Herbert Strauss begun his studies at the Berne University, concentrating on European History. He received his doctoral degree in 1946. Later that year he and his wife emigrated to the United States

In 1948 Dr. Strauss begun his life-long association with the City College at the City University of New York, where he eventually became a full Professor at the Department of History. In New York, Herbert Strauss was very active in German-Jewish communal affairs and Jewish communal services. He was a member of a number of charitable and communal Jewish organizations, most notably the American Federation of Jews from Central Europe, of which he was an Executive Director. He was also the founding directory of the Research Foundation for Jewish Immigration. In 1980, Herbert Strauss helped to found, and became the Director of the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung at the Technische Universität, Berlin. The Center was dedicated to the study of Anti-Semitism, research on the German-Jewish émigrés, and the intellectual migrants during the Nazi period

Dr. Strauss was a prolific writer and wrote on a variety of topics such as acculturation and assimilation, ethnicity, German-Jewish relations and history, and immigration. Additionally, he was a regular contributor to a number of professional journals and magazines, where he published his articles and reviews. He was also an editor, translator, and a member of academic panels. Herbert Strauss died in the United States on March 11, 2005

Finding aid available online

Photographs removed to Photograph Collection

Professions and occupations; historians ; Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden

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