Louis and Grete Rosenzweig Family Collection
Scope and Content Note
The Louis and Grete Rosenzweig Family Collection mainly records their lives after their immigration to the USA until their death. There are only a few documents concerning their lives in Germany, for example a photo album with photos of the childhood of Ernst and Irmgard. There are also letters of employers of Louis from his time in Germany, but the bulk of the collection concentrates on the time after their emigration. Finally there are personal letters, which represent their contact to friends in Germany. There are also letters about the German restitution payment and diaries, which Grete wrote when she was in a nursing home the last years of her life.
Dates
- 1903-1990
- Majority of material found within 1950-1990
Creator
- Rosenzweig family (Family)
Language of Materials
The collection is in English and German.
Access Restrictions
Open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
Use Restrictions
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011
email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org
Biographical Note
Louis Rosenzweig was born in 1885 in Kassel and, son of Traugott Rosenzweig and Henriette Rosenzweig (née Eisenberg). After his schooling he was apprenticed to a merchant. Later he worked as a clerk in different factories in Kassel, Berlin and Paris. In 1911 he became manager of the Federstahl-Aktiengesellschaft in Kassel. From 1931 till 1933 he worked as an independent public accountant. From 1931 till 1939 he served as a member of the administration of the Jewish Community of Kassel and also assisted with overseeing the finances of the Jewish Orphanage of Kassel. On Kristallnacht he was arrested along with many other men in his community, but was released a few days later. He died in 1960 in New Haven, Connecticut.
Grete Rosenzweig (née Kaufmann) was born in 1895, the daughter of Julius Kaufmann and Hedwig Katz. She was a goldsmith, one of only a few women in that profession at the time. She died in 1990 after a long illness and spent her last years (1982-1990) in a nursing home.
Louis Rosenzweig and Grete Kaufmann married in 1919 and had two children: Ernst and Irmgard. Ernst Rosenzweig was born in 1922 in Kassel. In 1936 his parents sent him to a boarding school in Switzerland. In 1938 he and his sister were sent to England by Kindertransport. In 1947 he immigrated to the United States, where he worked as a gardener for many years. He died in 2011 in New Haven. His sister Irmgard was born in 1925. In 1952 she married Morris Wessel and had two children.
In May 1940, when the children had already been sent by Kindertransport to England, Louis and Grete managed to immigrate to the United States. After a short sojourn in New York the family were reunited with their daughter Irmgard. With the help of a local church congregation, they moved to Eureka, Illinois in 1941. At first Ernst remained in England, but moved to the USA in 1947 as well. In 1956 Grete and Louis moved to New Haven, Connecticut.
Extent
0.75 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection mainly consists of documents pertaining to the lives of Louis and Grete Rosenzweig. There are several personal documents, such as letters or diaries, as well as official documents concerning, for example, Louis's occupational career.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in three series.
Separated Material
Books were separated and given to the LBI library and a folder "Drawings", containing signed prints, has been removed to the LBI Arts and Objects collection (LBIAO).
Processing Information
This collection was reorganized and new series and folders were created.
- Alba amicorum
- Children
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Diaries
- Eisenberg family
- Emigration and immigration
- Employees
- Eureka (Ill.)
- Federstahl-Aktiengesellschaft (Kassel, Germany)
- Friendship
- Jewish families
- Jüdische Gemeinde Kassel
- Kassel (Germany)
- Kaufmann, Hedwig
- Kaufmann, Julius, 1851-1936
- New Haven (Conn.)
- New York (N.Y.)
- Nursing home patients
- Official documents
- Photographs
- Restitution -- Germany
- Rosenzweig, Ernst, 1922-2011
- Rosenzweig, Grete, 1895-
- Rosenzweig, Henriette
- Rosenzweig, Louis, 1885-1960
- Rosenzweig, Traugott
- Wessel, Irmgard, 1925–2014
- Wessel, Morris A.
- Title
- Guide to the Papers of the Louis and Grete Rosenzweig Family Collection 1903-1990 AR 25721
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Maria Jäger
- Date
- © 2017
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Edition statement
- This version was derived from Louis_and_Grete_Rosenzweig_Family.xml
Revision Statements
- April 2, 2018 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository