Bertha Zimmerman

AKA: Masdawid; Masdawit
Released
Date of birth:1885
Era:1920s
Time Imprisoned:
1 Year 30 Days
Support
Communism Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Communist Party USA Socialist Party of America
No image available

Biography

Bertha Zimmerman was born 1885 in Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Immigrated to the United States in 1907.

Born 1885, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Latvian. Housewife; garment worker. Migrated to US 1907. Married fellow deportee David Zimmerman in Boston that same year. Literate in Russian, Lettish, German, and some English. Joined the National Lettish Organization of the Socialist Party of America. 1908 son Erick born. Circa 1908 moved to Chicago, where involved in the IWW. Circa 1918 moved to Baltimore. September 1919 charter member of the Lettish Federation of the Communist Party of America; member of the party’s Baltimore Central Committee and distributor of its publication The Communist. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 2, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54859/549; FBI file OG 391151

See also: Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57

Adapted from Kenyon Zimmer, Red Scare Deportees (kenyonzimmer.com), compiled from INS deportation case files.

Case

Charges: Administrative deportation under the wartime Immigration Acts — expelled as an alien radical (Industrial Workers of the World member) in the First Red Scare.
Arrested: Jan 2, 1920
Incarcerated: Jan 2, 1920
Released: Feb 1, 1921
In exile since: Feb 1, 1921
Sentence: Arrested on January 2, 1920 and deported on February 1, 1921. The source records no release on bail or bond, so custody pending deportation is recorded from arrest to sailing; if evidence of an interim release surfaces, the span should be shortened. Charges as recorded: Administrative deportation under the wartime Immigration Acts — expelled as an alien radical (Industrial Workers of the World member) in the First Red Scare. Documented in Kenyon Zimmer’s Red Scare Deportees index, drawn from INS deportation files.

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