Location of records of US Consulate in Stuttgart, 1938-1942

Dear Mr. Hiemeer,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched the Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State (Record Group 84) but were unable to locate consulate records in Stuttgart for that time period. Unfortunately when the consulate closed, the staff probably burned the records for security purposes.

We also searched the Name Index for the State Department Central Files (RG 59) but were unable to locate a card for Charlotte Margarete Eckart or Charlotte Margarete Schwarz.

We hope this information is helpful.

Although the Memorial book "Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 - 1945" prepared by the German Federal Archives says that she was killed in the Bernburg concentration camp on June 8, 1942,  that may be incorrect as she appears to have made it to the United States.  The passenger manifest for the SS Bremen which arrived in the port of New York city on May 20, 1938, has as a passenger Margarete C. Eckart, daughter of Anna Schwarz, born in Augsburg, age 34 (thus year of birth about 1904).  I can't imagine that she arrived in New York in May 1938 and would have returned to Germany  even though the passenger manifest says that she only intended to stay for 60 days.  According to the passenger manifest she was staying with a cousin Fritz Einstein of Fosterdale, NY.

Hello Leo,

In the record group 84 are just papers available after WWII.

By googling Charlottes name I found her very sad story and also the one you (?) wrote about her little daughter. It is good to see that their story is not forgotten in the various projects and that it is still part of the schools in Germany.

Unfortunately her name cannot be found in the NARA Catalog, but maybe it is of interest that there are some letters of other people who tried to get a visa at the same time in Stuttgart. The name of the Consul was Samuel W. Honaker. With searching this name there are some letters listed between him and Senator Harry S. Truman or from a Secretary Messall, for example.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/55029439

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/55029415

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/55029418

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/55029443

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/55029441

Following are documentations or family stories about another jewish families whose waiting numbers were also in the 22.000 and they talk about the process in Stuttgart. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/holocaust-klein/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/holocaust-klein/

https://www.thegreyfolder.com/hope-and-fear

https://hoebers.wordpress.com/tag/immigration-visa/

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/27/magazine/dear-cousin-julius-we-trust-on-our-god-and-on-you.html

http://web.mnstate.edu/shoptaug/juliusstern.htm

https://wildmannbirnbaum.com/manfred-wildmann/wildmanns-in-philipsburg/wildmanns-us-rescinds-visa/

This is about the process in general:

https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/what-did-refugees-need-to-obtain-a-us-visa-in-the-1930s

A description from Consul Samuel Honaker of the Situation in Stuttgart in November 1938.

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English_33.pdf

https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/6996#files-area

Maybe it helps a little.

Sabine

If you think they were trying to immigrate in 1940 or prior, I would recommend looking into the Visa Case Files of the Department of State - RG59, Entry A1-705, NAID 1253492.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1253492

For more, see https://www.archives.gov/files/research/foreign-policy/state-dept/visa-records.pdf and

https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2017/08/01/department-of-state-visa-records-in-the-national-archives/. https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2017/08/01/department-of-state-visa-records-in-the-national-archives/

I can't say with certainty if she'll be in there, but that's where I would look considering there are no extant Consular files nor any reference in the Central Decimal File Name Card Index.