Isenberg family visits relatives in Gilserberg; cemetery; synagogue

Sally (Salomon) and Erna (nee Marx) Isenberg and their three children, Artur, Helmut, and Norbert, lived in Saarbrücken (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland), Loerrach (Germany), and Vaduz (Liechtenstein). Artur came to the United States to attend Harvard University before 1938. The others immigrated in October 1938. The boys served their new country in WWII. Artur worked for the Office of War Information. Helmut and Norbert were deployed overseas in the U.S. Army. Identified family members appearing in the two reels of family film include (the relations to Norbert are indicated): 1) Norbert Isenberg, father of donor, Mark Isenberg, and youngest boy of Sally and Erna (1923-2004) 2) Sally Isenberg; father (1889-1961) 3) Erna Isenberg (nee Marx); mother (1894-1962) 4) Artur, brother (1917-2006) 5) Helmut, brother (1919-1992) 6) Bertha Marx (nee Salomon), maternal grandmother 7) Alice Marx, maternal aunt 8) Julie Isenberg (nee Stahl) paternal grandmother 9) Sigmund Isenberg, paternal uncle 10) Rosa Isenberg (nee Stern), Sigmund's wife 11) Bertha Greif (nee Isenberg), paternal aunt 12) Leo Greif, Bertha's husband 13) Margot Greif, first cousin 14) Nathan Stahl, great uncle (Julie's brother), survived Theresienstadt 15) Hermine Stahl (Nathan's wife), died in Theresienstadt on November 3, 1942 16) Hildegard Stahl Loeb (adopted daughter) 17) Henriette Suesskind (nee Marx), maternal aunt (1882-1940) 18) Rickchen Stahl, paternal great aunt (1858-1933) 19) and 20) Sophie Stern (nee Katzenstein), Rosa's mother, and Sophie Stern's sister 21) Sigmund Stern, Rosa's brother Hans (John) Stern (1923-) lived as a Jew in Gilserberg until he was 8 years old. He left Germany on a Kindertransport in June 1939 and stayed in England until May 1940. He later settled in Oklahoma and served in the U.S. Army as part of the 100th Infantry Division, 397th Infantry Regiment from 1943 to 1946. He started Jomar Industries, a plastics packaging business, in 1959 and lives in California. John has identified a few individuals in the footage, including his first cousin Helmut Stern, who perished at Majdanek in 1942, and Sigmund Stern who emigrated to the U.S. and was working on papers to get the rest of the family out when they were deported. Man riding bicycle through town, past stacks of timber. Horse-drawn wagon. More logs and pan of houses. 01:16:00 "Jakob Stern" sign on a house [see notes about Stern family], men on wagon. Mailman closes door to truck. Man walks down street with a cane. Muddy trail in a field. 01:16:52 Cemetery - gravestones with Hebrew inscriptions - family names: Stern, Marx, Isenberg, Stahl. Family rides in a horse-drawn wagon in town. Jacob and Sophie Stern and family pose in front of the Stern house. Sigmund, Rosa, Julie, unknown women, and Isenberg family work on a farm. Sigmund leads oxen. 01:19:15 Man with cigar carries an animal hide up stairs and to a door. Boy plays with a ball. Group gathers and proceeds on the town's main street. Sheep graze in village. 01:20:18 Nice CUs of Julie and women at work. 01:20:35 Sophie Stern and her sister walk with Julie in the street, bundled in warm jackets. Automobile, Erna and family members walk in the street. 01:21:44 Quick INT, group dining - man cuts meat, bottle on the table. Sheared sheep herded through town. Norbert, Erna, Julie, Rosa, and other family members in alley, piles of wood. 01:22:23 Good shot of Sally Isenberg walking towards camera. A group, including Sophie and Sigmund Stern, sits in chairs in a circle outside a home. Erna, Sigmund, Rosa, and others walk down a dirt road, Sigmund Stern playfully shoves Sigmund Isenberg. Motorcycle and traffic. Pan of town, Norbert approaches camera, chicken, boys playing, including Hans Stern and his second cousin Helmut. Julie, Nathan Stahl, Erna, Hildegard Stahl Loeb, Rosa, Sigmund, and the boys walking in the street and a field. They (with Rickchen Stahl) take a rest and converse. 01:26:01 Back in town, large family gathering and views of the synagogue in Gilserberg. Erna and Nathan walking along a country road. Young boys walk, including Hans and Helmut Stern, and play with string, soccer game. Two teen-aged boys drag a tree through the town street. Rosa and another fashionably-dressed walk by. Women and Julie walk by - Julie clutches a handkerchief to her face not wanting to be filmed. Family members crowd in the street beside Mercedes with IY-23340 license plate, CUs. 01:29:17 Sigmund Stern in light-colored suit. 01:29:20 [VQ shifts to poor] INT, man with suspenders and mustache eats at a table, joined by others.