Ernst L. Rosenthal Collection

This collection contains correspondence and other documents relating to Ernst L. Rosenthal (1922- ) and his parents Bernhard Rosenthal (1882-1947), a leather merchant, and Margarethe née Jacobson (1896-1976). Most of the material is from the time period around World War Two, and includes correspondence among Ernst, living in England, his parents in New York, and their friends and family all over the world.

The correspondence in this collection includes many letters from Ernst Rosenthal to his parents. From the day he left Berlin for England on a Kindertransport in August 1939, he wrote regularly (between monthly and weekly) to his parents. The letters describe his life at the Repton School in England, then his employment as chemist at Birmingham Chemical Company, as well as his attempts to get to the USA and join his parents. Although at first the letters are written in German, Rosenthal switched to writing in English by 1942.

Additional incoming correspondence of Bernhard and Margarethe Rosenthal documents the diaspora of Germany Jewry during the Nazi period. Correspondents in Berlin included their immediate family: Betty and Paul Jacobson (Margarethe's parents), siblings, aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews. The other correspondents were friends and family all over the world, such as Alfred and Erna Stahl in Ecuador; Hermann Michaelis in Berlin; Kurt Hesse in Tel Aviv; Rolf Lichtenstein in Grenoble; Norah Elsom, who was watching over Ernst in England; and Louis Jacobson in Shanghai. A small amount of additional correspondence to Ernst, primarily from his friends in England, is also found in this collection.

Other materials in the collection related to Ernst Rosenthal include educational documents such as grades, certificates, and course catalogs from Luisenstadt Gymnasium (Berlin), Repton School (Derbyshire, England), and Brooklyn College; the letter placing Rosenthal on a Kindertransport to England in August 1939; documentation relating to repeated attempts at immigration from England to United States, from 1940 to 1946; application forms for restitution from the German government; letters of reference and resumes; and official documents and correspondence from England, Germany, and the United States (passports, ration cards, insurance documents, selective service cards), address books, and other miscellaneous documents. Materials from his professional life as a food chemist, such as articles and patents, notes, and catalogs are also found here. Photographs include shots of Rosenthal as a child, teen, and adult, class photos from the Luisenstadt Gymnasium and the Repton School (including one oversize print), as well as some other casual snapshots.

Materials relating to Bernhard and Margarethe Rosenthal and their family include official documents such as birth, marriage, naturalization, vaccination, and death certificates, German and American passports, and Bernhard’s military passport from World War One. Photographs show Bernhard and Margarethe, as well as her mother Betty Jacobson. Also found here are two snapshots of city scenes taken by Bernhard in 1900. Other documents relate to the notification of Betty Jacobson’s death in Theresienstadt; Margarethe’s restitution application; poems; and various items such as Margarethe’s X-ray photos from 1926, library and social security cards, and Bernhard’s address book, commercial correspondence, 1918 divorce papers from Kaethe Mandowsky, and papers relating to his funeral and grave. This collection also contains a Hebrew prayer book with handwritten German translations, with a dedication indicating that Isidore Jacobson dedicated the book to the Jewish community of Malchow.