| Admin History | Bernard Steinitz, third son of Dr Gustav Steinitz, was born in Bielitz in 1888. Then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bielitz is now in Poland. Steinitz attended a local school and went on to the University of Vienna. He graduated with a D.Phil. in 1912.
Dr Steinitz became a teacher of History and Philosophy at a Viennese High School but, on the outbreak of war in 1914, joined the army and served on the Eastern front. In 1915 he was captured by the Russians in Galicia and spent the next five years in Prisoner of War camps in Russia.
When the war ended Dr Steinitz returned to teaching in Vienna. However, following Anschluss in 1938, Dr Steinitz was placed on the school's retired list. The family were defined as non-Aryan, and Dr Steinitz's religious and political convictions were hostile to the Nazi party. Consequently, the family moved to Switzerland in 1939 and from there to Britain.
During the war years, and for a short time after, Dr Steinitz taught at Repton School, Derbyshire while contributing articles to The Times, The Times Educational Supplement and the German service of the B.B.C. These years saw the dispersal of his family and the death, at Auschwitz in 1942, of his eldest brother Heinrich, a prominent Social Democrat lawyer in Vienna.
After the war Dr Steinitz lectured in German prisoner of war camps. His interest in social history and philanthropy led to the publication in 1950 of 'Helden der Menschlichkeit', a study of social philosophy through the lives of great philanthropists. This was followed in 1956 by his biography of Dr Albert Shweitzer for the Austrian UNESCO commission. Dr Steinitz died in 1959.
Irene Steinitz was a talented pianist and taught for a number of years at Howell's School, Denbigh, retiring through ill health in 1958. |
| Custodial History | The collection was acquired by The University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections in September 1974. |
| Description | The personal and family papers of Bernard and Irene Steinitz give an exceptionally good insight into a life that would, in another context, have been comparatively untroubled. The collection consists primarily of correspondence in German between Dr and Mrs Steinitz and a wide range of friends, family and associates. Dr Steinitz' interests, writings and beliefs are very well documented in his diaries, which are complete from the 1890s, and correspondence, which begins during the First World War. There is also a section of drafts and typescripts for Dr Steinitz' publications. |
| FindingAids | Copyright in all finding aids belongs to The University of Nottingham.
In the Reading Room, King's Meadow Campus: Typescript Catalogue, 79 pp
At the National Register of Archives, The National Archives, Kew: Typescript Catalogue, 79 pp
Online:
Catalogue available through the website of Manuscripts and Special Collections, Manuscripts Online Catalogue.
Access to the old typescript catalogue was also made available online during the national Access to Archives (A2A) project in 2000-2004. This catalogue is now available through Discovery, hosted by The National Archives (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk). The version on our own Manuscripts Online Catalogue will be more up to date. |