Guide to the Maurice Enright Papers, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Collection Overview | |
| Creator: | Enright, Maurice, 1905-1977 |
| Title: | Maurice Enright Papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1921-1978 |
| Size: | 2.25 linear feet |
| Abstract: | Maurice Enright was active in Jewish communal affairs, especially those affiliated with the Poale Agudath Israel. After the close of World War II, he traveled to Europe three times between 1946 and 1948 as a representative of the Vaad Hatzala and Rescue Children organizations. These post-war activities are the major focus of this collection, which consists of correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, and newspaper clippings. |
| Language: | The papers are in English, French, German, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Hungarian. |
| Call No: | 1993.020 |
About This Guide
Processed by archives staff members.
Finding aid encoded on January 28, 2008
Encoding is in English.
Biographical Sketch
Maurice (Moshe) Enright was born in Bratislava in 1905. He worked in the family business of supplying bristles and animal hair for brushes and upholstery. In 1931(?) he moved to Tel Aviv, where he opened an import/export business. He married Sylvia Jacobson of Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1936. He moved to New Jersey where he headed an animal hair and bristle firm.
Enright was active in Jewish communal affairs, especially those affiliated with the Poale Agudath Israel. In 1946, he was on the Presidium of the Council of Beth Jacob schools. After the close of World War II, he traveled to Europe three times between 1946 and 1948 as a representative of the Vaad Hatzala and Rescue Children organizations. He was instrumental in the purchase of a site in Hennonville, France, on behalf of Vaad Hatzala. These post-war activities are the major focus of this collection. The Enrights adopted Judy, a child orphaned during the war.
Maurice Enright tried to mediate in the Yossele Schumacher kidnapping case of 1962.
Maurice Enright died on November 8, 1977.
Scope and Contents
The Maurice Enright Papers are really an addition to the Vaad Hatzala and Rescue Children, Inc. Collections, and should be used in conjunction with them. Most of the material in the collection relates to Enright's trips to Europe on behalf of Vaad Hatzala and Rescue Children in 1946-1948. Topics covered include the purchase of a home for children in Hennonville, France in 1947, and subsequent disputes over who was responsible for maintaining the home; lack of coordination between Mrs. Recha Sternbuch and Rescue Children regarding sending children to Rescue Children facilities; and various aspects of Vaad Hatzala work in France. Principal correspondents in Europe are Yehiel Granatstein, who worked closely with Enright; Leon Kitayeff of the Hannonville home; Rabbi Yoel Leybel of the Yeshiva Aix-les-Baines; Leo Rothschild of the Comité Central Israelite in Brussels; and Isaac Sternbuch in Montreux. Switzerland. Noteworthy reports on Vaad Hatzala/Rescue Children activities include one on the transport of 61 people from Prague to Paris (3/7/1946, German, 4 pages), one on the children in Barbizon (3/11/1946, Hebrew, 2 pages), and one to the Vaad Hatzala Finance Committee on Hennonville (4/8/1946).
The correspondence in Series I from 1934-1936 is mainly with individuals in Israel regarding land purchases. The post-war correspondence not related to Vaad Hatzala and Rescue Children is mainly about business matters in Israel. Some is with Poale Agudath Israel officials in Israel, particularly Benjamin Mintz. The papers also contain a 54 page manuscript (undated) in Hungarian by an unknown individual from Dunaszerdahely on his experiences during the Holocaust.
Series II, Scrapbooks, consists of photographs of Rescue Children, Inc. facilities and activities in France, and were probably compiled for public relations and fundraising activities. Series III, Photographs, are arranged in several categories. Unfortunately, most of the photographs are not properly identified, and it was not always possible to ascertain when they were taken or even what country they were taken in. The photographs are in the following groups. Hennonville photos, 1946-1947; French photos, 1946-1948; European photos, 1945-1950; Israeli photos, 1940s; Rabbis and Jewish personalities, 1940s-1950s; Concentration Camps, 1945; European or Israeli photos, 1940s-1950s. The French photographs are mainly of Vaad Hatzala activities and Rescue Children homes in France. Some of them or the Hennonville photos include Rabbis Isaac Herzog, Samuel Jacob Rubinstein, Elie Munk, Wolf Gold, and Chizkiyahu Yosef Mishkovsky. The photos in the Europe category are mainly from Central and Eastern Europe, e.g. "Ten girls from Slovakia who were in Auschwitz from 1942-1945, Bratislava, April 16, 1946", or "Kibbutz Ohel Surah in Lodz". A few of the photographs in this group were taken in Switzerland. The photographs of the rabbis include Hakham Tsuriel, Rabbis Welvele Soloveichik, Motel Slonim, Eliezer Silver, Akiva Sofer, Ben-Zion Jadler, Isser Zalman Meltzer, Meir Karelitz, Benjamin Mintz, Samson Raphael Weiss, Isaac Herzog, Raphael Katzenellenbogen, and Herbert S. Goldstein. There are also photographs from 1946 of individual refugees attached to receipts which list the person's name, fate, and place of birth, and a statement that this person had received the sum of 475 francs. These are arranged in alphabetical order. A film entitled "Judy in Paris" is in the collection as well. Judy was adopted by the Enrights.
The remainder of the collection consists of newspaper clippings dealing with Rescue Children and Vaad Hatzala activities. Assorted issues of Ba-Sha'ar, a Poale Agudath Israel newspaper published in Paris, are in this collection. One folder of clippings relates to Enright's intervention in the Yossele Schumacher case.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into four series:
Index Terms
This collection has been indexed under the following terms:
Persons:Related Material
Provenance
Acquisition Information
The Yeshiva University Archives received the collection as a gift from Judith Enright Reifer in 1992.
Conditions Governing Access and Use
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is available to researchers deemed to be qualified by the Archivist.
Conditions Governing Use
Restrictions may apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of materials in this collection. Please contact the Curator of Special Collections for information regarding Yeshiva University's reproduction policies and fees.
Alternative Form Available
This collection is available on microfilm. Users may be requested to view microfilm instead of handling original materials.
Preferred Citation
A suggested form for citing the collection is as follows: Item description, date, Yeshiva University Archives, Maurice Enright Papers, Box #, Folder #.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Series I: Correspondence, 1921-1968 | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence, 1921-1946 | |||||||||
| 2 | Correspondence, 1947 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Correspondence, 1948 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Correspondence, 1949-1968 | ||||||||||
| (bulk 1949-1950) | |||||||||||
| 5 | Correspondence, 1940s(?) | ||||||||||
Series II: Scrapbooks, 1946-1947 | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Scrapbooks - Hennonville, 1946-1946 (?) | |||||||||
| 7 | Scrapbooks, 1946-1946 (?) | ||||||||||
Series III: Photographs, 1945(?) - 195-(?) | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Hennonville, 1946-1947(?) | |||||||||
| 9 | Hennonville, 1946-1947(?) | ||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Hennonville, 1946-1947(?) | |||||||||
| 2 | French photographs, 1946-1948(?) | ||||||||||
| 3 | French photographs, 1946-1948(?) | ||||||||||
| 4 | French photographs, 1946-1948(?) | ||||||||||
| 5 | French photographs, 1946-1948(?) | ||||||||||
| 6 | French photographs, 1946-1948(?) | ||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
| 3 | 1 | French photographs, 1946-1948(?) | |||||||||
| 2 | French photographs, 1946-1948(?) | ||||||||||
| 3 | French photographs, 1946-1948(?) | ||||||||||
| 4 | European photographs, 1945-1950(?) | ||||||||||
| 5 | European photographs, 1945-1950(?) | ||||||||||
| 6 | Israeli photographs, 1940s | ||||||||||
| 7 | Israeli photographs, 1940s-1950s | ||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
| 4 | 1 | Israeli photographs, 1940s-1950s | |||||||||
| 2 | Rabbis and Jewish personalities, 1940s-1950s | ||||||||||
| 3 | Concentration camps, 1945(?) | ||||||||||
| 4 | European or Israeli photographs, 1940s-1950s | ||||||||||
| 5 | European or Israeli photographs, 1940s-1950s | ||||||||||
| 6 | Film: Judy in Paris, April 7, 1947 | ||||||||||
| (original and DVD version) | |||||||||||
| 7 | Photographs of individual refugees in Paris, A-I, 1946 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Photographs of individual refugees in Paris, J-R, 1946 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Photographs of individual refugees in Paris, S-Z, 1946 | ||||||||||
Series IV: Newspaper Clippings, 1947, 1962, 1978 | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
| 5 | 1 | Ba-Sha'ar (Paris), 1947-1949 | |||||||||
| 2 | Newspaper clippings, 1946-1978 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Newspaper clippings on Yossele Schumacher, 1962 | ||||||||||