Louis and Grete Rosenzweig Family Collection

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.