Kurt Levin correspondence collection.
Scope and Content Note
These are letters, written between October 1952 and January 1959 by Kurt Levin in New York City to his former client, Princess Luise von Preussen, first in Schloss Nordkirchen in North Rhine Westphalia until December of 1956 and then in Bückeburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. Most letters are typed, unless indicated otherwise. Attached are mostly undated clippings from the American press. – Also included are a detailed, English language synopsis of all letters by Sylvia Irwin, as is a "history of the Dannenbaum family" with the genealogy of Kurt Levin's ancestry.
Levin writes about books, movies, concerts, and other expressions of a rich cultural life, not shying away from royal gossip. His German is richly peppered with English phrases, often with the noun capitalized in German fashion and English verbs altered to match German grammar (“little Dressmaker”, “bother” Germanized into “bothern”, and many others); he also uses a number of French phrases.
Dates
- Creation: 1952-1959
Creator
- Levin, Kurt, 1895-1959 (Person)
- Irwin, Sylvia (Person)
Language of Materials
This collection is in German and some English.
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
Kurt Levin was born in Krefeld on May 25, 1895. He escaped Nazi Germany together with his sister Ilse and her family most likely to England. In 1940 he was interred as an enemy alien in Australia. In 1946, he immigrated to the United States, where he dedicated himself to fashion photography. Before World War II, Kurt Levin had worked as a personal tailor for Princess Luise of Prussia as well as her mother Princess Marie Louise of Schaumburg-Lippe. Kurt Levin died on November 3, 1959 in New York.
Princess Luise of Prussia was born in Berlin, Germany, the only daughter of Prince Friedrich Sigismund of Prussia and his wife, Princess Marie Louise of Schaumburg-Lippe. She was named for her grandmother, Princess Louise of Denmark. In 1942, Luise married Hans Reinhold, with whom she had one son, Manfred. The marriage ended in divorce in 1949, and the princess never remarried. She died in 2009 at age 91 at Schloss Bückeburg, the residence of the princes of Schaumburg-Lippe in Lower Saxony.
Extent
3 Folders
Abstract
These are letters, written between October 1952 and January 1959 by Kurt Levin in New York City to his former client, Princess Luise von Preussen, first in Schloss Nordkirchen in North Rhine Westphalia until December of 1956 and then in Bückeburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. Most letters are typed, unless indicated otherwise. Attached are mostly undated clippings from the American press. – Also included are a detailed, English language synopsis of all letters by Sylvia Irwin, as is a "history of the Dannenbaum family" with the genealogy of Kurt Levin's ancestry.
Other Finding Aid
Synopsis in file
Subject
- Luise von Preussen (Person)
- Neuberg, Ilse, 1900-1997 (Person)
- Irwin, Sylvia (Person)
- Dannenbaum family (Family)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Kurt Levin correspondence collection, 1952-1959 AR 12017
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by LBI Staff
- Date
- © 2016
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- January 04, 2018 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
