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MS Ger 204

Fischer, Ruth, 1895-. Papers: Guide.

Houghton Library, Harvard College Library

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Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138

© 2002 The President and Fellows of Harvard College

Descriptive Summary

Repository: Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
Location: b
Call No.: MS Ger 204
Creator: Fischer, Ruth, 1895-.
Title: Papers,
Date(s): 1925-1961 (inclusive) 1940-1961 (bulk).
Quantity: 167 boxes and 1 v. (84 linear ft.)
Abstract: Papers of German politician and Communist Party leader Ruth Fischer.

Processed by:

Elizabeth Falsey.

Acquisition Information:

*44M-201F.
Purchased from Ruth Fischer; received: 1944.
*47M-404.
Presented by Ruth Fischer; received: 1945.
*49M-294.
Presented by Ruth Fischer, care of The Harvard University Press; received: 1950.
*64M-79.
Presented by Harvard University Press; received: 1964.
*65M-158.
Transferred from Widener Library; received: 1966.
*81M-37.
Bequest of Ruth Fischer; received: 1961.

Historical Note

Fischer (1895-1961) (full name Elfriede Eisler Pleuchot) was a German politician, who by 1924 was in the top leadership of the Communist Party. Since 1919 she had been a member of the German Communist Party (KPD) but, together with Arkadi Maslow, was ousted from the leadership in 1925 and detained by Stalin until 1926. They went to Paris from 1933 to 1940, and fled after the German occupation to the U.S.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

Scope and Content

Papers document Fischers' activities after 1940. The writings of Franz Jung as well as Fischer's own works describe her role and the development of the KPD since 1919. There is also correspondence belonging to Maslow, written while he was living in exile in Paris and Lisbon, 1933-1940. Major correspondents represented in the collection include Sidney B. Fay (81 letters), Hans Jaeger (51 letters), Franz Jung (164 letters), Karl Korsch (59 letters), Clyde Kluckhohn (70 letters), Heinz Langerhaus (165 letters), and Ernst Torgler (50 letters). Other large amounts of correspondence with Harvard librarians, Harvard University Press, and papers such as drafts of seminar speeches and minutes of meetings from the Russian Research Center, which reflect her relationship with, and support from Harvard for a research project on world communism. Also business correspondence with publishers; letters to Fischer from her associates, such as Heinrich Hellmann; official correspondence with the U.S. Department of State and with various German Volkhochschule about her lecturing in the 1950s.
Research and writings of Fischer contain outlines, notes and drafts of books and articles on the history of German communism, its relationship with the Russian state party, and other subjects. Related material includes lecture notes from 1960-1961 seminar in Paris on the Russian communist party, and source files (divided into biographical, geographical, and subjectsections) with notes, clippings, and printed items. Business papers contain contracts with publishers, travel records, bank statements, medical records, etc. Papers belonging to Fischer's colleagues include writings, speeches and interviews with Maslow; letters of her associates, Hellmann, William Petersen, and Adolph Weingarten; and writings of Sidney Fay, Karl Korsch and others.

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