Correspondence

Transcripts of selected correspondence from and to Moritz Lazarus. Originals are held at the library of the Humboldt-University in Berlin / Nachlass Lazarus II, 1-44; at Deutsche Staatsbibliothek Berlin; and at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München.

This collection contains official documents, such as visa and travel documents, and correspondence pertaining primarily to Eugen Julius and Matje Baum. Also included is a photograph and a memoir by Alain Lang.

Folder 1/1 contains official documents and correspondence. Included is a copy of Eugen’s birth certificate from 1901, reissued by the Third Reich in 1937 as well as Matje Cohen’s Dutch birth certificate from 1917. Also included is Karl and Luise (née Frank) Baum’s wedding certificate from 1871, reissued by the Third Reich in 1937. In addition, it contains declarations of citizenship and religion with translations, Eugen Baum’s declaration of good conduct from 1935, his declaration of moving from Kehl to Rotterdam in 1937, and Eugen and Matje’s Dutch wedding certificate, signed in 1937 in Rotterdam.

Further documents regard their emigration to Haiti, including papers supporting their naturalization in Haiti, Eugen’s Certificate of Naturalization from 1940 and Eugen and Matje’s Haitian passports. These passports include stamps for their immigration admission to the United States. The folder also holds proof of financial independence for Eugen regarding his immigration to the United States and a Certificate of Literacy from the University of the State of New York for Eugene Baum in 1952. Other documents pertain to Eugen and Matje’s daughters Mina and Reina. These include a French declaration of Mina’s birth regarding the claiming of French citizenship for her in 1938, and a document certifying the registration of Mina as a French citizen, issued at the French consulate in the Netherlands in 1939. In addition, it holds alien registration cards for Mina and Reina Baum for the United States from 1945 and correspondence regarding their citizenship from 1951.

Folder 1/2 contains a copy of a photograph of Sallie Cohen with his sons Barend, Max, Harry, and Louis from 1942, all wearing a yellow star. Folder 1/3 holds a self-published photo book/memoir titled ‘Mon Histoire de 1939 a 1968’ by Alan Lang from 2010. It contains a handwritten note, indicating that it was gifted to Mina Bernhard by Alan’s son Philippe.

The Seligsohn Kroner Family Collection consists of material that reflects the life and work of the philosopher Richard J. Kroner (1884-1974), his wife Alice Kroner née Kauffmann (1885-1968), their daughter Gerda M. Seligsohn née Kroner (1909-2002), and their son-in-law Rabbi Rudolf Seligsohn (1909-1943). The collection primarily consists of correspondence relating to the emigration experiences of each of the family members. In addition, the collection contains personal documents, newspaper clippings, off-prints of the philosophical writings of Richard Kroner, photographs, a photo album, and a few paintings.

The collection holds autographs, correspondence, music scores, official documents and photographs pertaining to the pianist and composer Selma Berliner.

The Jewish historian and scholar Selma Stern-Taeubler was born in 1890 in Kippenheim, Baden, and was the first archivist of the American Jewish Archives. This collection is comprised of extensive research notes used by her in the preparation of her book Der Preußische Staat und die Juden (The Prussian State and the Jews). It also contains other material pertaining to her scholarly writing such as a few manuscripts, reviews of her works, and correspondence concerning publications of her writing. Some personal information is also available in the form of diaries and poetry, biographical clippings and obituaries, and a few photographs.

The Semi Uffenheimer family collection contains the papers of Semi Uffenheimer and his famliy, and documents the effects of Nazi persecution on their lives, his emigration to Argentina and the fate of his mother Anna, his father Adolf and his sister Flora, who were deported to the concentration camp of Gurs, France. The collection also holds information about other members of Semi’s family. Much of the collection is correspondence between Semi and his sister, focusing on the family’s life in Germany and later in the concentration camp of Gurs. Furthermore the collection contains genealogical research documents such as family trees; documents relating to Semi’s marriage search; and some photographs and postcards.

This collection contains the text of several speeches delivered by Senta Gerstein (née Meyer), as well as numerous award certificates for Gerstein's social work and a few letters of recommendation dating to her life in 1930s Hamburg.

The collection contains genealogical research materials compiled by Senta K. Simon on the Bachmann, Beihoff, Ettisch, Fechheimer, Fleischmann, Freudenthal, Friedeberg, Friedmann, Kahn, Katz, Pretzfelder, Reichmannsdörfer, Rosenbaum, Rosenthal, Schloss, and Simon families, as well as locations with which they were associated, primarily in Franconia and Thuringia. Materials include correspondence, research files, work sheets and lists, and a small quantity of primary sources.

The Sephardic Home for the Aged served as a nursing and rehabilitation center for the Sephardic Jewish community of New York City from 1951-2014. While this collection spans the institution’s history, the bulk of the records stems from 1988-2011. The largest portions of the collection are the photographs and Board of Directors files. Also included are the by-laws and constitution, general administrative files, event files, and files of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Sephardic Home Association (LASHA).

Series II provides detailed genealogical information collected by Louis S. Wolf about the Eckhaus and Wolf families and their ancestors in the form of printed and handwritten family trees and drafts as well as biographical notes about individual family members. The collected genealogical information goes back to as far as 1601. The most complete family trees derive from Louis' paternal ancestor Abraham Wolf and his maternal ancestor Joseph Eckhaus. The genealogical information is supplemented with copies of various vital documents.

The series contains a brief summary about the life of the Wolf family in Kaiserslautern, Germany written by Louis S. Wolf in folder 1/11. He describes their dairy business and properties, and how more and more members of the extended family emigrated to Argentina and the United States due to Nazi persecution. Shortly after the sudden death of Louis' father Willi at the age of 29 in 1936, Louis, his mother Alice, his sister Doris and his uncle Albert were the only members of the family still living in Kaiserslautern. After selling some of their properties to a Nazi officer, Albert managed to organize their escape. At the end of his report, Louis mentions that during a trip to Kaiserslautern in 1994 he learned that the former property of his family between Hühnerstraße and Eierstraße had become part of a shopping mall.

This introduction to the family's history is followed by various computerized and handwritten family trees and drafts in folder 1/11. The genealogical information goes back to as far as 1601. However, the most complete family trees derive from Louis' paternal ancestor Abraham Wolf and his maternal ancestor Joseph Eckhaus, who were both born in 1774. The family trees are complemented by brief genealogical profiles about various members of the Wolf and Eckhaus families in folder 2/2 and numerous documents of Louis Wolf's genealogical research and its results in folders 1/8 to 1/10 and 1/12. Folder 1/10 holds correspondence between several municipal authorities in Rhineland-Palatinate and Louis S. Wolf, his mother Alice Wertheimer and his sister Doris Loeb. The letters contain information about the Wolf family and the Strauss branch of the Eckhaus family. The letters to Louis from 1994 contain information about the Wolf family. Documents such as copies of vital records that were originally attached to these letters can be found among additional similar records in folder 1/8. Further correspondence in folder 1/10 pertains to Louis' visit of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany in the summer of 1994. Included are copies of his letters announcing his trip to the mayor of Kindenheim and further requests as well as thank you notes and correspondence between Louis and the family of his former neighbor whom he met by chance in Kindenheim. During this trip, Louis also visited the graves of many of his ancestors. Photographs showing Louis and various tombstones can be found in folder 1/15. Folder 1/10 also holds a summary about the history of the Jewish Community in Kaiserslautern from 1242 to 1965 by the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora (today Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot) in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Folders 1/8 and 1/9 comprise copies of vital documents about members of the Eckhaus and Wolf families and their ancestors. The records in folder 1/8 are copies of birth, marriage and death certificates from the years 1830 to 1907. Most of the copies are dated, and some of them officially certified by the municipalities in Germany that issued them.

In 1995 Louis Wolf engaged Wolfgang Heiss, a genealogist in Germany, to conduct research in local archives about the Eckhaus family and their ancestors such as the Decker, Straus (Strauss, Strauß) and Trifus families. The results of this research can be found in folder 1/9. It holds vital records of various family members from the years 1803 to 1867. The photocopies of these documents are accompanied by informational overview pages created by Wolfgang Heiss. Furthermore, correspondence between Louis S. Wolf and the researcher is included.

This series also presents an original Jewish marriage contract – a ketubah – from 1840. The document is in fragmentary condition and presumably pertains to the marriage of Aron Ben Joseph and Hadas Bat Aharon. However, it remains unclear whether or how the mentioned persons are related to the Wolf and Eckhaus families.

Finally, folder 1/7 holds printouts of information and documents retrieved via ancestry.com by LBI staff members in 2019. Contained is information about Alice Wertheimer's (formerly Wolf, née Eckhaus) application for United States citizenship and the passenger list of the ship S.S. Volendam on which Louis S. Wolf and his family arrived in the United States in 1938.

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Shad Polier, including legal files from cases with which Polier was involved, particularly those concerning adoptions and civil liberties, articles and speeches by Polier, correspondence, and materials from several of the organizations with which Polier was affiliated, including the American Jewish Congress, the World Jewish Congress and the NAACP. These materials reflect his widespread participation with the civil liberties movement, equal rights and anti-discrimination law.

The collection consists of 6 boxes and 46 folders.

The collection contains the papers of Shalom Schwarzbard (1886-1938), the Russian-born French Jewish watchmaker, revolutionary, writer and activist for Jewish self-defense. In May 1926 in Paris, Schwarzbard assassinated the exiled Ukrainian nationalist leader Simon Petlyura, whom he held responsible for the pogroms against the Jews in the Ukraine in 1918-1921. His trial in October 1927, at which he was acquitted, drew worldwide attention. The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts of Shalom Schwarzbard's autobiographical writings, personal documents, clippings, and printed ephemera, as well as poems by Schwarzbard's wife Anna and others. Materials in this collection mostly relate to Shalom Schwarzbard's writings, his speaking engagements following his acquittal, and his efforts in the 1930s to organize Jewish war veterans and war victims of the First World War.

Papers of Rabbi Shaul Osadchey cover the period from the late 1960’s to the early 1990’s and reflect the activities of Houston Action for Soviet Jewry, co-founded by Rabbi Osadchey. The collection also contains print and near print materials from various American and European Soviet Jewry Movement organizations, and background information on the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union during that period. The documents include correspondence, memos, minutes, publications, news clippings, pins, stickers and a kippah.

The Shimon Schwarzschild Collection holds the materials of Shimon (Bert) Schwarzschild and his return to his birthplace of Wertheim, Germany. The collection documents his trips to Wertheim through photographs, newspaper clippings and correspondence with the town’s officials and friends, and manuscripts. It also holds materials on his documentary film “Transcending Terror.”

Shirley T. Joseph was a feminist Jewish activist involved in a number of advocacy groups and community organizations working locally (in Buffalo, New York), nationally, and internationally. She attended three of the United Nations’ World Conferences on Women (in 1980, 1985, and 1995), and the bulk of the collection documents these events in the records of various planning committees, personal correspondence, official UN documentation, collections of news clippings, and Joseph’s own notes, speeches, and articles.

The Shloyme Rosenberg Collection contains manuscripts and newspaper columns written by Rosenberg. Also included are some personal materials such as correspondence, certificates, and international documentation. Newspaper columns comprise the majority of the collection and are written under a variety of pseudonyms, including S.R. Berg, A. Prashker, I. Prashker, S. Prashker, Reb Shloyme, and Shrage. The manuscript and newspaper and journal publications series are divided into works written under Shloyme Rosenberg's own name and works written under any of his pseudonyms. A majority of the material is written in Yiddish, with some manuscripts translated into English and some articles in Hebrew. Yiddish titles have been transliterated and are arranged according to transliterated title.

This collection consists mainly of materials related to the restitution claims of the Weinberger family members who owned a group of grocery stores in Berlin from the early 1920s until its forced closure in 1936. These materials include correspondence, legal papers, inventories, and financial records. Also included are some personal papers of Adolf Weinberger as well as speeches and photographs from a memorial ceremony.

The Siegfried Altmann Collection contains primarily his correspondence with various luminaries and other personalities, the International Red Cross, as well as materials pertaining to the Jewish Institute for the Blind in Hohe Warte, Vienna. Documents consist of a guestbook, a manuscript, articles, an obituary, autographs, and correspondence.

The collection includes mainly photographs of Siegfried and Gertrude Bloch as well as several other unidentified people. The collection holds a few official documents referring to Siegfried and Gertrude Bloch.

The collection holds vital records, education certificates, private and professional correspondence, as well as other documents pertaining to the dentist Siegfried Fehl.

This collection contains the papers of members of the Siegfried Jacoby family, depicting the family's private lives as well as their literary work. Most prominent among the papers here are many unpublished manuscripts, family correspondence, and Siegfried Jacoby's herbarium. There is also personal correspondence with others, some professional correspondence, official and personal papers, newspaper clippings, and a few notebooks and family photographs.

This collection consists of a letter to editors of Vorwärts, a few music manuscripts (some sent as correspondence), personal correspondence, a publicity photo, clippings and programs for 25th anniversary of the Philharmonischer Chor Berlin, and a program for 'Euphonia.'

This collection documents the life of Siegfried Seligmann Mühsam. It contains material about his education, military service, career as a pharmacist, public service in Lübeck, as well as some writings. It contains also materials by and about Mühsam's ancestors and descendants, both original correspondence and genealogical research.

This collection documents the personal and professional life of the rabbi Siegmund Salfeld, who served in Dessau and Mainz. Although the major focus of the collection is on the rabbi himself, there is also some material on the Mainz Jewish community and correspondence exchanged with prominent Jewish individuals. The collection is composed of official documents, correspondence, manuscripts of articles and sermons, published works, and clippings.

This collection contains the correspondence - in photocopied originals and typed transcripts - between Sigismund Asch (1825-1901) and his wife Jenny, née Bauer (1832-1907). The bulk was written 1867-1900; also included are transcribed courtship-letters from Sigismund Asch to Jenny Bauer in 1853, as well as a published article about Sigismund Asch.

This collection contains personal papers and correspondence which document the personal and professional lives of Sigmund and Toni Feist from the 1880s through their emigration to Denmark in 1939.

The collection includes official and personal documents pertaining to Sigmund, Selma and Erna Weinberger as well as photographs of the family, World War I sites and medical staff.

The collection contains materials relating to the Sigo and Else Baum family. The bulk of the collection is made up of photo albums documenting everyday life of the family. Other materials in the collection include, correspondence, official documents, clippings, and an autograph album.

Series II pertains to the genealogical history of the extended family. It includes a number of family trees of several branches of the family. Most pertain to the related Pincus and Silberstein families; one tree in folder 2/4 shows relatives of the Ball/ Zorek family.