Buchheim Jonas Family Collection

The Buchheim Jonas Family Collection contains papers of members of the Buchheim family, originally of Dauborn, Germany, and of the related Jonas family from Waldbreitbach, Germany. The collection was originally organized in one large binder, but was divided into multiple folders during the archival processing of the collection. It includes family photographs, family trees, correspondence from the 1930s and 1940s and later correspondence that relates to this time and the fate of family members during the Holocaust. Maps of the village of Waldbreitbach and copies of town records and some family members' official documents are also part of this collection.

The first four folders of the collection provide an overview of the related Buchheim and Jonas families. Included in the folder of introductory documents (1/1) is a timeline that describes Inge Sklar's life in Germany, immigration story, and later life in New York. This folder includes a letter from United States immigration offices declining her visa application for her parents and sister in 1942. The following folder contains material on the village of Buchheim, from which the Jonas family came. Included are copies of maps and photographs of the village, along with copies of town records that feature family members, and copies of their official documents. Included are copies of Louis Jonas's World War I military service record and Inge Jonas's Jewish identification booklet from the 1930s. The next two folders feature family photographs as well as oversized construction plans for Meier Buchheim's house in Dauborn, which had been included with the photographs. The photographs largely focus on members of Jonas family and of their residence in Waldbreitbach, but also include several photos of Meier Buchheim.

One folder (1/4) pertains to the family's genealogy, including some trees of the Strauss family and many of the different branches of the Jonas family. The family trees assist in showing how the Jonas family spread across the planet, ending up in the United States, Australia, and Israel. The trees are especially useful when used in conjunction with the DVD video originally in this collection (now removed to the LBI Audiovisual Collection).

The folder "Pleas for Help" (folder 1/5) primarily consists of family members' correspondence during the late 1930s and early 1940s, although some letters date later. Many letters and telegrams in this folder concern Meier Buchheim and his efforts to get out of Germany, including several telegrams and letters that relate to a failed attempt to go to Cuba. Several of Meier Buchheim's letters were sent from Frankfurt am Main in addition to others from Dauborn. Most of his letters focus on imparting family news or asking about family; emigration efforts are also frequently mentioned. There is also one letter from November 19, 1938 from Louis Jonas, which mentions plans to emigrate. Several other letters from various family members impart family news and mention emigration as well. An undated later letter from a "Ludwig," a nephew of Meier Buchheim, to "Rosi" (no surnames), tells of the deaths and transports of various individuals in Theresienstadt. This letter is followed by an article about a trip to Theresienstadt in 1996, with information about suicides in the concentration camp. Other correspondence in this folder include letters from Willy and Hilde Jonas in Basel and family members in Neuwied.

The following folder pertains to material about the family after World War II. Included are copies of citizenship papers for Louis and Ella Jonas, correspondence about family property in Waldbreitbach, a letter to Elsbeth Brotman from the mayor of Waldbreitbach concerning a memorial, and material relating to museum exhibitions about the Holocaust.

The final folder of the collection holds papers previously held in the original binder's cover. These include correspondence and official documents for Inge Sklar. Her documents include report booklets from her Basel secondary school for 1935 through 1937 and documents from the United States censorship program documenting her position as a clerk translator with them, and the ending of the position as the program was ended in 1944. Other documents in this folder include recent correspondence that mentions a young family member's project about Jewish families from Dauborn and a memoir by Laure Schoenfeld-Lehrer, daughter of Siegfried and Irma Jonas, about her family's flight from Vichy France through Spain and Portugal and eventual arrival in New York. With these papers is also an unidentified photograph. The folder also includes a letter that mentions a recent family trip to Waldbreitbach.