Babette B. Buch Collection 1939-1982 Bulk: 1942-1966

Abstract

The Babette B. Buch Collection documents the life, philosophies, and literary career of the writer Babette B. Buch. Included in this collection are numerous unpublished manuscripts, some personal correspondence, and a small amount of clippings and photographs.

Norbert Neumann/Fredric Buch, June 2005

The Babette B. Buch Collection documents the life, philosophies, and literary career of the writer Babette B. Buch. Included in this collection are numerous unpublished manuscripts, some personal correspondence, and a small amount of clippings and photographs.

Babette (Bertel) Buch was born in 1890, a descendant of the Schwarzschild family of Frankfurt. In 1910 she received a teaching diploma and taught English; she also worked as her father's office manager in his leather business. Shortly after World War I she married Sally Buch and they had two children: Friedrich (later Fredric) and Susanne (later Suzanne). In 1927 she and her husband divorced. After 1933, she wrote letters on behalf of friends and family to Jews in America, Australia and South Africa to ask for affidavits. Her son Friedrich was briefly arrested in November 1938, and Babette Buch suffered her first stroke. Shortly afterwards, Friedrich Buch was able to immigrate to England with assistance from the British Refugee Committee and brought his mother and sister to London. The family lived in England for a year before leaving for the United States. They arrived in New York City in 1940, when she suffered a second stroke shortly after their arrival. The family settled in the Hamilton Heights area of Manhattan, eventually moving north to Washington Heights. It was not until after her immigration to the United States that Babette Buch began to concentrate on her writing. Eventually some of her poetry was published by the German-language periodical Aufbau. In spite of her experiences, Babette Buch longed to return to Germany, which she did in 1961. She resided in Bad Homburg, a suburb of Frankfurt, where she stayed until she became ill and moved to an old-age home in Friedberg. She continued to develop her writing while living in Germany, and in 1963 her book November Geschichten; November Tales was published. She died at the age of 95.

A copy of Babette Buch's "November Geschichten" is available in the LBI library (PT 2603 U16 N6)

Babette Buch's memoir 'Schau eines Judenschicksals im Jahrhundert' has been removed to the Memoir Collection (ME 1591)