Blumenthal family papers

Bernhard Blumenthal (b. 1863, Germany) was a farmer born in Hüttengesäß, Germany (a district in Ronneburg) to Moses and Jette Blumenthal. Bernhard and his wife Elissa Sinsheimer (b. 1862) had three children, Theodor (b. 1892), Sophie (b. 1894), and Albert Blumenthal (1896‐1972). Bernhard was imprisoned for one year in Wolfenbüttel and deported from Frankfurt am Main in August 1942 to Theresienstadt. According to Blumenthal's granddaughter, Ellen B. Sehgal, Bernhard Blumenthal died in Auschwitz concentration camp, but other sources indicate he was killed at Treblinka. Theodor Blumenthal emigrated to Argentina with his wife and two sons prior to World War II. Sophie Blumenthal suffered from a thyroid condition and was murdered during her time in a hospital. Albert Blumenthal was a shoe salesman in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and had served as a medic in Italy during World War I. He was arrested by the Nazis twice before managing to immigrate to the United States with his wife Alice (nee Kahn, 1900-1985), and their young daughter, Ellen, in December 1938. Another family relative, Joseph Sinsheimer, also perished in the Holocaust. The Blumenthal family papers consist of biographical materials, correspondence, emigration and immigration papers, and photographs documenting the Blumenthal family from Hüttengesäß; Albert, Alice, and Ellen Blumenthal’s immigration to the United States before World War II; and Bernhard Blumenthal’s deportation to Theresienstadt during the Holocaust. Biographical materials include Albert Blumenthal’s identification papers and World War I military papers; Alice and Ellen Blumenthal’s immunization records; tracing documents attesting to Bernhard Blumenthal’s imprisonment and deportation; a copy of Sophie Blumenthal’s birth certificate; real estate records documenting Blumenthal family property in Hüttengesäß; photocopies of French travel papers documenting Suzanne Jacoby’s stay in France and eventual immigration to the United States with her parents, Otto and Regina Jacoby; and photocopies of tracing materials documenting the deportations of Ilse, Leopold, and Susanne Löwy, and Hans, Irma, Anna, and Kurt Gerstl to Theresienstadt and beyond. (It is unclear how the Jacoby, Löwy, and Gerstl families related to the Blumenthal family.) Correspondence includes letters from Bernhard Blumenthal and Josef Sinsheimer in Wolfenbüttel and Frankfurt am Main to Albert Blumenthal asking for help emigrating, fearing deportation, and reporting on their health and news from family members and friends. This series also includes two postwar letters from Hüttengesäß acquaintances describing events during the Holocaust and reporting on postwar life in Germany. Emigration and immigration papers document the Blumenthal family’s immigration to the United States and include affidavits of support from Marion Berkley, Julian Kahn, and Samuel J. Bloomingdale; German certificates clearing the Blumenthal family for emigration; luggage inventory and insurance documents; and a preliminary citizenship application for Albert Blumenthal. The collection includes a copy print of a photograph of Bernhard, Sophie, Theodor, and Julia Blumenthal with Theodor and Julia’s sons in approximately 1939 and a photograph of Tana Henle, the daughter of family friends of Albert and Alice Blumenthal. The Henles perished in the Holocaust because although Tana’s parents had visas, they were not able to obtain a visa for baby Tana.