Jews -- Germany -- History -- 1096-1800

The collection contains a family tree of the Altschüler family of Grünstadt from 1760 to 1969, including birth, death, marriage, and emigration dates and locations. The family tree is accompanied by related correspondence. Also included is a certificate in memory of Henry Altschuler's work with the Jüdischen Jugendverein Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

This collection consists of materials pertaining to Fritz Rafael Aronstein.

Various materials related to the Jewish community of Fuerth.

The Germany (Vilna Archives) collection contains materials of diverse provenances pertaining to Jewish life in Germany and, to a much lesser extent, other German-speaking areas of central Europe (Austria, Bohemia, Moravia), from the 16th century until the beginning of the Second World War. It includes correspondence, financial records, official documents, business records, writings, minutes, reports, book catalogs, printed ephemera, occasional clippings, and a handful of photographs. A little more than 60% of the collection comprises personal and family papers, or individual items of correspondence (approximately 140 different name headings); and a little over 20%, portions of the records of the Jewish communities of Darmstadt, Frankfurt am Main, Filehne (Wieleń), Raschkow (Raszków), and Rybnik. The remainder of the collection consists of various printed ephemera and scattered records related to Jewish communities, organizations, or firms, including publishers and booksellers. Also included are some 15 individual older items dating from the mid 16th to the early decades of the 19th century, including Schutzbriefe (residence permits), petitions, and attestations, as well as a mohel book (registry of circumcisions). Especially noteworthy among the personal papers are those of art dealer Josef Sandel, comparative law scholar Ernst Rabel, the Henschel brothers (artists), writer and social activist Lina Morgenstern, engineer Erich Kempinski, and writer and editor Julius Rodenberg. The several rabbis represented include Josef Jona Horovitz, of Hunsdorf (Huncovce) and Frankfurt am Main; Salomon Breuer and Isidor Friedmann, both of Frankfurt am Main; and Wolf Landau, of Dresden.

The bulk of the collection consists of extensive research notes for a history of the Saarland and Lorraine and their Jewish communities from the 14th century until 1938, with a notable gap for the 19th century.

The collection pertains to the Portuguese Jewish Jessurun family in 19th century Hamburg, including business and private documents.

Handwritten mortgage indenture of the Jew Loew (Levi) and his wife Haya of Marckelsheim (today Markelsheim in Bad Mergentheim), Franconia, in favor of Johann Theobald Falkner, November 11, 1659. Also included are an appraisal and a typed translation of the document.

Collection of rare original documents from the 18th century, such as a letter of protection, a passport, and three decrees from Berlin, Coburg, Dessau, Kassel, and Schweinfurt. Also included is a copy of the periodical Juedische Rundschau from Dec. 28, 1937.

This collection contains the papers of the historian Raphael Straus. Mainly consisting of research material, the collection holds typescripts and manuscripts, a galley, articles, reviews, and, above all, archival notes and research notes. In addition, there is also the correspondence of Raphael Straus.

The collection contains documents pertaining to various Jewish communities in Hesse (Germany) and Bohemia (Czech Republic), including Oberaula; Blowitz (Blovice); Goltsch Jenikau (Golčův Jeníkov); Burghaun; and Langenschwarz. Included in the collection are photocopies of articles, maps, cemetery records, birth records, census records, family registers, and synagogue registers.

This collection documents the research of Jewish historian Samuel Oppenheim (1857-1928) concerning the lives of colonial Jews in the Americas, and the early history of the United States. Included in the collection are his notes, transcripts of original works, photocopies of the records of the Dutch West India Company, correspondence relating to his research, his writings, and original documents from the Mayor’s Court of the City of New York that date from 1653-1760.

The collection contains documentation of the Stern family, including a passport for Abram Süskind Stern; letters for the appointment of mathematician Moritz Abraham Stern as associate professor and professor at the University of Göttingen; brief obituary for historian Alfred Stern; and notes on the life of Süsskind Stern. Of particular interest is a mohel book from the ancestors of Moritz Abraham Stern in Frankfurt am Main with 55 pages of handwritten entries dating from 1698 to 1826.