Otto D. Tolischus Papers, 1926-1942


Summary Information
Title: Otto D. Tolischus Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1926-1942

Creator:
  • Tolischus, Otto D. (Otto David), 1890-
Call Number: U.S. Mss 8AF/32

Quantity: 0.1 c.f. (1 folder)

Repository:
Archival Locations:
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:
Miscellaneous papers of an author and foreign correspondent who won the Pulitzer Prize for his New York Times articles on pre-war Nazi Germany. Included are materials on the confinement and evacuation of foreigners from Japan, 1942; notes on a 1926 interview with King Haakon VII of Norway dealing with prohibition; a letter to the International News Service about conditions in Russia in 1939; a handwritten account of the surrender of Warsaw, 1939; and a letter (ca. 1937) describing the German attitudes toward Tolischus as expressed by Voelkische Beobachter.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us8af32
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Biography/History

Otto D. Tolischus was born on November 20, 1890. His professional education was received at the Columbia University School of Journalism and his professional experience has included reporting for Cleveland Press in Cleveland, Ohio, for the New York Times in Berlin and Tokyo, as well as for the International News Service in Berlin and London.

Mr. Tolischus' speciality has been the field of international affairs, and he is currently (1960) editorial writer and member of the editorial board of the New York Times.

He is the author of the following books: They Wanted War, Tokyo Record, and Through Japanese Eyes.

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of two groups of papers. Miscellaneous papers contains the King Haakon interview notes; a copy of a letter to Barry Faris, general news manager, International News Service, from Tolischus recounting his recent trip to Russia, with descriptions of conditions in Russia and Moscow and the Moscow news situation, June 17, 1930; a letter to Mr. Birchall (annotated “not sent”) from Tolischus giving his account of the accusations of the German newspaper Voelkische Beobachter against Tolischus, then Berlin correspondent for the New York Times, ca. Dec., 1937; and a handwritten account of the surrender of Warsaw, Sept. 27, 1939.

Papers concerning the confinement and evacuation of foreign correspondents, missionaries, diplomats, and businessmen from the Orient in July-August, 1942, after the outbreak of World War II, include press dispatches, about two dozen brief personal accounts and eyewitness reports upon which Tolischus based his press dispatches, and statistics and lists concerning the evacuees. The press dispatches concern the arrival of evacuation ships, the Asama Maru and the Conte Verde, Port of Lourenco Marquez (East African port) and the arrival aboard the Gripsholm of the Japanese diplomats for whom these evacuees were to be exchanged; and the earlier treatment of the evacuees while they were interned or imprisoned in Japan. The statistics concern the nationalities and numbers of persons on board the Asama Maru , passenger lists for the Asama Maru and the Gripsholm, and other lists including Britishers imprisoned, Church of England mission staff in Japan as of June 1942, miscellaneous persons interned and missing, and institutions in Hong Kong taken over by the Japanese.

Administrative/Restriction Information
Acquisition Information

Presented by Otto Tolischus, New York, N.Y., 1960.


Processing Information

Processed by Janice O'Connell, May 20, 1964.