The materials in the Hasterlik-Hine Collection document the life of an upper-middle-class Viennese family in Nazi-occupied Austria that was deemed Jewish under the Nuremberg laws. The digitized collection consists of roughly 530 handwritten and typed letters, post cards and greeting cards between Giulia Kortischoner and her family and friends during the years 1938 to 1942 and 1944 to 1948.
Giulia Kortischoner was the youngest daughter of the Hasterlik family who at 13 years old was sent to live with an adoptive family in Switzerland for the next eight years before eventually being reunited with her mother and aunt in the United States in 1946. The letters detail her school, social, and personal life as well as those of her friends and family members in countries spanning the globe from Kenya to England and Austria to New York.
