Sternheim and Isenberg Family Collection

Max Osterberg-Verakoff was born in Fuerth (Bavaria), Germany, on June 1,1865. His father was a naturalized American citizen and therefore Max Osterberg was an American citizen too, but he lived his whole life in Germany. His American citizenship made him and his family enemy aliens during World War I.

Max Osterberg studied at the Humanistic Gymnasium in Munich. In 1890 the Osterberg family moved to Stuttgart. As a young man Max Osterberg worked in his father's banking business, but his main passion belonged to literature, which he later fulfilled by creating his own publishing house. On May 10, 1899 Max Osterberg married Lina Loewi from Bamberg (Bavaria). They had two daughters: Alice (born 1900) who later married Julius Letsche, and Else, who later married Hans Sternheim.

In 1924 Max Osterberg founded the Gemeindezeitung fuer die Israelitischen Gemeinden Wuerttembergs, which was published until November 1938, when all Jewish newspapers ceased to exist. Max Osterberg was also a writer, sometimes using the pennames Osterberg-Verakoff or Ernst Verakoff. He wrote essays, plays, short stories, feuilletons and novels. His most successful book was Das Reich Judaea im Jahre 6000, a Zionist utopia, which was published in 1893. In Stuttgart, Max Osterberg was well known as the publisher of the Sueddeutsche Literaturschau. He served on the board of the Juedisches Schwesternheim and was also a member of the board of the Chevra Kadisha and president of the Stuttgart Freie Buehne. Max Osterberg died in Stuttgart on March 20, 1938. His wife and daughters, together with their families, immigrated to the United States in 1938.

Hans Sternheim was born on November 22, 1900 in Heidelberg, the son of Rudolf Sternheim and Helene Sternheim née Thalheimer. He attended the Gymnasium in Bensheim (Hesse), and graduated in 1921. From 1921 until 1925 Hans Sternheim was employed at the Darmstaedter and National Bank and the Normal Zeit Inc. in Hamburg while also contributing to various German newspapers. In 1925 he studied at the University of Heidelberg for two semesters. At the same time he was managing editor of the Weinheimer Nachrichten.

In March 1927 Hans Sternheim married Else Osterberg, the younger daughter of Max Osterberg and his wife Lina. As a result he became a partner with Max Osterberg in the ownership of the Osterberg & Co. publishing house (later named the Israelitische Verlagsanstalt and its newspaper, of which Sternheim became associate publisher and managing editor until the business was shut down in 1938.

In November 1938 Hans Sternheim was taken to the concentration camp at Dachau. While there he vowed to retain the Nazi-ordained middle name of Israel if he and his family were ever able to escape Germany. Therefore he kept this middle name throughout the rest of his life, even after his acquisition of American citizenship. Hans Sternheim was unable to secure visas for his parents to leave Germany, and they died in Theresienstadt.

Due to the efforts of Else Sternheim's relatives, Hans Sternheim, his wife, and their daughter Edith were able to immigrate to the United States in March 1939. At first the family settled briefly in Flushing, New York where Hans Sternheim worked as a salesman before being sent by the National Refugee Service to New Haven, Connecticut, where he worked in an auto body shop. After improving his English he found a position at the John B. Pierce Foundation, a scientific institution. Eventually he was transferred by the foundation to laboratories in New Jersey, where he resided in Somerville. While working there he worked in the field of organic synthetics, and eventually acquired his own patent in this field. Later he worked for the National Starch and Chemical Corporation, also in New Jersey. While pursuing work in this area, he also continued to write, including contributions to the local newspaper and Jewish newspapers.

In 1966 Sternheim wrote In Memoriam, in response to the fate of his parents and intended as an introduction to the LBI's collection of their letters. Over the next several years, he disseminated copies of this work to numerous archives, libraries, and individuals in Germany, the United States, and Israel. Hans Sternheim died in 1983.