Buttenhausen (Germany)

This collection holds the letters, postcards and holiday greetings of Irene Adler and Maria Hagenmeyer. Prominent topics are Irene Adler's everyday life and matters of the Adler and Hagenmeyer families.

The bulk of the collection deals with a 1787 letter of protection for 25 Jewish families, allowing them to settle in Buttenhausen. Also included is material, documenting Jewish history in and around Buttenhausen; material, documenting the persecution of Jews, 1933-1945; and clippings about the dedication of various memorials, 1961-2000.

Leopold Levi was a merchant in Stuttgart. Most of the material in this collection gives information on his activities for Jewish organizations and the Jewish Community in Wuerttemberg. Levi was a member of the Oberrat der Israelitischen Religionsgemeinschaft Wuerttembergs (from 1919 to 1940) and of the Israelitisches Gemeindevorsteheramt. He also was an Oberkirchenvorsteher in the Oberkirchenbehoerde and he was active in the Chewra Kadischa. Furthermore he assisted the Juedische Nothilfe. During the years 1941-1943 he succeeded to immigrate to the United States. He died in 1968 in New York.