Berthold Rosenthal Family Collection

Berthold Rosenthal was born on January 17, 1875 in Liedolsheim bei Karlsruhe, the son of Emanuel Rosenthal, a cattle dealer and Babette née Weil. In 1914 he married Johanna née Benzian. In the following years they had three children: Ernst, Ruth, and Lotte. From 1889-1891 Rosenthal attended preparatory school in Tauberbischofsheim. For the following three years he studied towards his teaching degree (Baden-Würtemberg). After receiving his teaching degree in Karlsruhe, he taught Jewish religion classes before moving on to a 'Gymnasium' in Mannheim.

From 1914-1916 Rosenthal served in World War I. He was released from service because of an eye injury. He resumed teaching in Mannheim, where he continued until forced to leave in 1933. In addition to teaching, he wrote for the Jewish magazine Die neue Volksschulwarte. He was also involved in Jewish charity organizations and collected information on Jews in Baden; in 1927 his work Heimatgeschichte der badischen Juden was published. This work would become very important in the future, since it contained much information on Jews in Badenlost under the National Socialist regime. After he lost his teaching position in 1933, he conducted research and contributed articles to the Germania Judaica, a work focusing on the history of Jews in Germany. The Germania Judaica was banned in (say year), and was eventually published by the Leo Baeck Institute in 1968.

In September 1940 Berthold Rosenthal and his wife Johanna escaped to the United States via Portugal. They arrived in New York and were greeted by Berthold Rosenthal’s two daughters and younger siblings, who had left Germany earlier. His eldest son Ernst went to live in Palestine on a kibbutz. Berthold Rosenthal lived for eight years in New York, staying with his daughters and working in an export business owned by a relative. Eventually, Berthold Rosenthal moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he died on December 16, 1957.