Summary Information
Toni Sender Papers
1934-1964
U.S. Mss BA; Micro 510
6.0 c.f. (15 archives boxes) and 3 reels of microfilm (35 mm)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers, 1934-1964, of Toni Sender, a United States labor activist who was the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions' delegate to the United Nations. Included is correspondence; diaries; and reports, memos, and speeches relating to her work as director of European labor research for the Office of Strategic Services, 1941-1944; senior economist for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, 1944-1946; and consultant to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, 1946-1956. The collection contains information on displaced persons, forced labor, economic affairs in Austria and Czechoslovakia particularly, and German labor personalities. Significant correspondents include Herbert Morrison, Herta Gotthelf, Paul Löbe, Fritz Heine, Wilhelm Sander, Julius Braunthal, and William Green. Also present are minutes of the International League for the Rights of Man, drafts of Sender's Autobiography of a German Rebel describing her experiences as a German citizen and Reichstag member before Hitler's rise, and other biographical material.
English, German, French, and Spanish
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0000ba ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Toni Sender, the daughter of Morris and Marie Dreyfuss Sender, was born in Biebrich, Germany on November 29, 1868. She received her public education in Germany and later did graduate work in economics at the University of Berlin, and after coming to the United States, at the New School for Social Research and the American University.
Up to 1933, Toni Sender played an influential role in socialist politics in Germany. Miss Sender, a member of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, was a member of the Reichstag from 1920 to 1933, where she served on the Committees on Foreign Relations, Foreign Trade, and Economics. It was during this period that she met a number of Germany's leading Social Democrats, including Paul Löbe, president of the Reichstag from 1920 to 1932, Herta Gotthelf, Fritz Heine, and Wilhelm Sander Miss Sender was elected again to the Reichstag in March 1933, after the Nazis had assumed power, but was prevented from taking her seat. She immediately fled to Czechoslovakia and then to Belgium, where she worked as editor of foreign affairs for Volksgazet, a daily labor newspaper in Antwerp.
Toni Sender arrived in the United States in December 1935, and for the next two years worked for the American Labor Education Service in New York City. During this period she gave numerous speeches and wrote many articles warning the Americans of the threat posed by Nazi Germany. She also began work on her autobiography, which was published in 1939 as The Autobiography of a German Rebel.
Between 1938 and 1946, Miss Sender held two very important positions. She served as director of European labor research for the Office of Strategic Services from 1941 to 1944. After she left the O.S.S., she became senior economist with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, 1944-1946, and was in charge of planning relief efforts for Eastern Europe and displaced persons. During this time she also served as foreign correspondent for Le Populaire in Paris and Le Peuple in Brussels.
In 1946, the American Federation of Labor acquired status as a consultant to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Miss Sender was named as one of the A.F. of L. representatives. When the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was organized in 1949, it replaced the A.F. of L. on the Economic and Social Council. Miss Sender now found herself in the position of representing some fifty-one million union members in over sixty countries. An authority on forced labor, she fought this evil at the meetings of the Economic and Social Council with a great deal of documentation, which proved conclusively the existence and extent of forced or slave labor in the Communist countries.
Miss Sender fell at the United Nations building in January 1956 and after that was only moderately active at the United Nations as an observer. During the last few years of her life, she was confined to her home with Parkinson's disease. She died in New York City in July 1964.
Scope and Content Note
The Toni Sender Papers are comprised almost exclusively of materials relating to Miss Sender after her arrival in the United States in December 1935. The correspondence in the collection covers the years from August 1934 to March 1964 and includes letters from a number of important individuals including Herbert Morrison (1938-1959), Herta Gotthelf (1947-1951), Paul Löbe (1946-1961), Fritz Heine (1944-1950), Wilhelm Sander (1947-1963), Julius Braunthal (1953), and William Green (1947-1949). All of the correspondence is arranged chronologically by months.
The collection includes correspondence, memos, and reports for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, 1944-1946. Many of these reports concern the problem of displaced persons and economic affairs in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Other reports relate to forced labor, German labor personalities, and non-governmental organizations at the United Nations.
Annually between 1947 and 1956, Miss Sender kept a master file of copies of all of her memos, reports, resolutions, and speeches that were presented at the meetings of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. This material is arranged in chronological order with a table of contents for each year's activities.
The Toni Sender Papers include two manuscript drafts of The Autobiography of a German Rebel and one folder each of additional biographical material and clippings. The papers also contain articles, speeches, and numerous miscellaneous notes that Miss Sender kept for reference purposes for writing and for her United Nations activities.
The sixteen volumes are comprised of three diaries, 1937-1940 (volumes 1-3), and thirteen miscellaneous notebooks.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Leo Holz, New York, New York, December 22, 1964 and August 9, 1965.
Processed by Jack T. Ericson, August 18, 1965.
Contents List
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U.S. Mss BA/Micro 510
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Correspondence
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Box
1
Reel
1
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1934 August-1946
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Box
1
Reel
2
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1947-1948
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U.S. Mss BA
Box
2
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1949-1953
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Box
3
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1954-1964 March, undated
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Correspondence, memos, and reports for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
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Box
4
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1944 February-1945 May
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Box
4
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Regarding displaced persons, 1944-1946, undated
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Box
4
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Articles
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Box
5
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Articles (continued)
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Box
5
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Miscellaneous articles by other authors
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Autobiography
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Box
5
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An Outline
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Box
6
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Autobiography of a German Rebel, copies 1 and 2
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Box
6
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Biographical information regarding Toni Sender
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Box
7
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Clippings
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Box
7
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Ephemera
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Box
7
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Minutes of the International League for the Rights of Man, 1957, 1959
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Box
7-11
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Notes, miscellaneous
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Box
11
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Paper on the non-governmental organization of the United Nations
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Box
11
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Report for the Office of Strategic Services on the French labor scene, 1943
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U.S. Mss BA/Micro 510
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Reports for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
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Box
12
Reel
2
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On Austria, 1944
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Box
12
Reel
2
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On Czechoslovakia
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Box
12
Reel
3
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On various foreign countries
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Box
12
Reel
3
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Reports on forced labor, 1951-1956
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Box
12
Reel
3
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Reports on German labor personalities and German socialist parties
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Box
12
Reel
3
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Reports on the most important German ports, 1945
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U.S. Mss BA
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Reports on United Nations activities
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Box
13
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1947-1950
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Box
14
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1951-1955
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Box
15
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1956
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Box
15
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Speeches and broadcasts
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Diaries
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Box
15
Volume
1
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1937 June-1939 January
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Box
15
Volume
2
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1939 October-1940 March
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Box
15
Volume
3
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1940 August; miscellaneous notes
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Box
15
Volume
4-16
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Miscellaneous notebooks
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