Rebecca Gratz to Benjamin Gratz - February 27, 1825

Rebecca announces to her friend Maria the engagement of her brother Ben to Maria Gist, expressing her skepticism regarding intermarriage. She also updates her on the health and travels of various family members and friends.

Writing to her niece Miriam, Rebecca discusses the importance of access to prayers in English and gives updates about the families of Miriam's siblings.

Kurt Kupferberg was born September 1907 in Berlin, Germany to an observant, middle-class family from Galicia. After World War I, their citizenship was changed to Polish, resulting in their being part of the mass deportation to Zbąszyń, Poland, in 1938. A Nazi policeman had warned them to leave. Kurt describes his return to Germany in 1939, as well as his deportation and experiences in Sachsenhausen in 1939, Dachau in 1940, and Buchenwald in 1941. He details the selections of Dr. Mengele and medical experiments performed on him in Buchenwald, describing his suffering from typhus following an injection of the microorganism under his skin. As Allied Forces approached Buchenwald, non-Jewish political prisoners sheltered Jews from the S.S. He was liberated by General Patton’s unit July 11, 1945. He married a survivor in Berlin in 1946 and emigrated with his wife and baby to the United States in 1947. Also see testimony of his wife, Hardy W. Kupferberg.

Writing to her sister-in-law Ann, Rebecca expresses excitement that Ann's and her niece Miriam's families will finally meet. She also comments on Lizzie Lee's involvement in politics, particularly in John C. Frémont's presidential campaign.

Rebecca writes to her sister-in-law Maria, outlining the Orphan Asylum's preparations for the impending Cholera outbreak in Philadelphia and gives updates on family and friends.