Fonds P14 - The Hella Scholz Papers

5 standard boxes and 1 photographic box

Donated by Professor Robert Stradling to the University of Limerick on 17 April 2003.

This collection contains photographs, correspondence, school records and ephemera accrued by Hella Scholz during her youth and early adulthood. They provide insights into her life in Germany before and during the Second World War, which revolved mainly around school, hobbies, boyfriends and holidays. Wartime administration and the Nazi regime feature faintly in the backdrop: Hella was a member of Hitler Youth and of Bundes Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls), the girls’ wing of the Nazi Party youth movement. However, apart from owning a portrait of Adolph Hitler, there is no indication of Hella being a Nazi sympathiser, she was simply a young middle-class girl growing up during the Nazi regime. Some of the collection highlights include Hella’s correspondence with Günther Junge, a rare enough example of an exchange in which the letters of both parties survive, and an extensive photographic record of Hella’s life. The collection provides intimate glimpses of a life which remained remarkably happy and stable during an extraordinarily dark period of European history. Spanning as it does the rise and fall of National Socialism in twentieth-century Germany and post-war Britain, it forms a rewarding primary source for researchers of this era.

All records have been retained.

No accruals are expected.

The collection has been divided into seven series, primarily to correspond with stages of Hella’s life. Series 1 contains records relating to her immediate family. Series 2 covers her birth, early childhood and school years and includes school exercise books and certificates and records of her hobbies and leisure pursuits. Series 3 relates to her early adulthood and contains records of her professional training, her working life and her emigration to Great Britain. Series 4 contains ephemera from her married years. Series 5 contains her diary and correspondence, which has been arranged into four sub-series by correspondent. Series 6 contains publications and other printed matter in Hella’s possession, mainly pictorial and travel guides to her home town of Berlin. Series 7 forms the photographic component of the collection.

Unrestricted access to most items. Some photograph albums require conservation treatment and are too fragile to be safely handled. These items have been identified in the finding aid. One item (P14/7/1/9) is under an embargo owing to sensitive content.

Standard copyright regulations apply to all items. For photocopying or reproducing material, please consult with the staff.

• Englisch
• Französisch
• Deutsch

Please note that some of the German-language documents are in Sütterlin script, which requires specialist skills to read.

Paper documents and loose photographs in good or reasonable condition; photograph albums in reasonable or fragile condition.

Content warning: some items in this collection contain language which is considered inappropriate today but is reflective of its time, and which some readers may find offensive.

This description follows guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd edition (2000), Irish Guidelines for Archival Description (2009), National Council on Archives: Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names (1997) and EAP Guidance on Data Protection for Archive Services (2018).

The original list of contents was prepared by Limerick undergraduate student Florence Lynch for her Final Year Project in 2004-2005. The work was later revised and expanded by the Glucksman Library’s Modern Language Librarian Claire Bell in 2007-2009. Their work was completed by Anna-Maria Hajba in August 2023.