Werner Isenberg papers

The Werner Isenberg papers include biographical materials and correspondence documenting Werner Isenberg’s family from Dortmund, their emigration from Nazi Germany to South Africa and the United States, and relatives murdered in the Holocaust. Biographical materials include passports for Lina and Simon Isenberg as well as certificates required for emigration. This series also includes a list of relatives of Werner and Therese Isenberg from the Isenberg, Kleeblatt, Freund, Bendorf, Hainebach, Stahl, Kahn, and Levy families who were murdered during the Holocaust. The correspondence series primarily documents Werner Isenberg’s immigration to the United States and his parents’ relocation to South Africa before World War II. Correspondence includes letters and telegrams exchanged between Werner, Kurt, Lina, and Simon Isenberg and Melvin Kleeblatt as well as official correspondence from the American Consulate in Stuttgart, the Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland, and the Jüdische Religionsgemeinde Dortmund. This series also includes correspondence documenting efforts by Lina and Therese Isenberg to trace their relatives both before and after the Holocaust. Werner Isenberg (1911‐1994) was born in Dortmund, Germany, to Simon (1875‐1964) and Lina Isenberg (née Kleeblatt, 1881‐?). His older brother Kurt (1912‐2001) moved to South Africa in 1936. Werner immigrated to the United States in 1938 with the help of his mother’s step‐nephew Melvin Kleeblatt (1905‐1990). Werner’s parents joined Kurt in South Africa in 1939, and the three joined Werner in the United States in 1947. Werner’s wife Therese (Trudi) immigrated to the United States from Ober‐Ramstadt in 1938. Her father was murdered in Treblinka.