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Frankfurt: Thursday 5 June 2025

The reading rooms of the German National Library in Frankfurt am Main will open at 13:00 on Thursday, 5 June due to a staff assembly. The exhibitions of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 will be open from 9:00 to 21:30.

More on Kurt S. Maier

Biography

Kurt S. Maier 1942 in New York Photo: private

  • 4 May 1930: Born in Kippenheim (Baden)
  • From 1936: Attends elementary school in Kippenheim, from 1938 onwards the first Jewish school in Freiburg i. Br.
  • From August 1938: The Maiers prepare to emigrate to the USA
  • 22 October 1940: Deportation of the Maiers to the camp at Gurs in Southern France
  • Spring 1941: Release from the Gurs camp, as the Maiers’ visa documents for the USA have been issued
  • 8 May 1941: The Maiers are given their visa documents at the American consulate in Marseilles; they depart shortly thereafter to Casablanca by ship
  • 7 June 1941: The family is interned for several weeks at the Sidi el-Ajachi camp, approx. 80 km south-west of Casablanca
  • 26 July 1941: Departure from Casablanca to New York on board the S.S. Nyassa
  • 9 August 1941: Arrival in New York
  • From Autumn 1941: Attends a public school, then a high school in New York Various jobs to supplement the family income, followed by employment with the US postal service t
  • 1947: Receives American citizenship
  • 1952-1954: Serves in the US Army
  • 1957-1961: Studies German Literature and History in New York, then at the FU Berlin from 1963-1964
  • 1967: Marries Margery Teal
  • 1969 Awarded his doctorate
  • Early 1970s: Teaches German Language and Literature at various colleges
  • 1975-1978: Librarian at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
  • Since 1978: Librarian in the German History and Literature department at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  • 1989: Kurt Maier speaks about his experiences in Nazi Germany at a German school for the first time as a eyewitness
  • 2010: Kurt S. Maier receives the Order of Merit from the state of Baden-Württemberg for his work as a eyewitness
  • 2011: Publication of his autobiography “Unerwünscht. Kindheits- und Jugenderinnerungen eines jüdischen Kippenheimers” (“Unwelcome. A Jewish Kippenheim native’s memories of childhood and adolescence”, 2nd edition 2018)
  • 2019: Kurt Maier receives the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his work as a eyewitness
  • July 2021: Kurt S. Maier is interviewed in Washington, D.C. for Dimensions in Testimony

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