Rosenberg and Mosler families papers

The collection documents the families of Elsie Mosler (born Ilse Rosenberg in Hamburg) and her husband, Claude Mosler (born Klaus Mosler in Berlin). Both families fled Germany due to antisemitic persecution by the Nazis during the 1930s. Biographical material includes Hermann Rosenberg’s German army papers from World War I, birth and marriage certificates, a diary written in German and English kept by Elsie as a teenager, report cards of Ernest Mosler, and Claude Mosler’s United States Army papers. Photographs primarily document pre-war family life and travel in Europe and wartime life in New York. The majority of photographs are contained in albums, many of which are annotated. Hermann Rosenberg (1887-1957) was born in Kleve, Germany on 7 March 1887 to Michaelis and Lenore (née Salomon) Rosenberg. He had three brothers, Karl, Max, and Paul, and one sister, Hennie (later Hennie Gottlieber). He was a veteran of World War I, and married Alice Herzfeld on 29 October 1922. Alice (1890-1965) was in 1890 in Frankfurt, Germany. She had one brother, Peter (later Peter Hart, 1923-2004) and one sister, Linda (later Linda Weil, b. 1887). Hermann and Alice lived in Hamburg, Germany where Hermann worked as a stockbroker. They had two children, Ilse (later Elsie Mosler, b. 1925) and Peter (b. 1923). Facing ever increasing anti-Semitism in Hamburg, the family immigrated to the United States in August 1939. Peter served in the United States Army during World War II. Ilse married Claude Mosler in 1949 and they settled in New York where they had two sons, Ken and Steven. Hermann’s brothers Max and Paul both perished at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Alice’s sister Linda, her husband Ludwig Weil also perished there after being deported from the Łódź ghetto. Their daughter Henny perished at an unknown camp, but their son Felix survived by being sent on a Kindertransport to England. Claude Mosler (born Klaus Mosler, 1923-2003) was born on 7 February 1923 in Berlin, Germany to Ernst (1882-1950) and Ilse (née Berliner, 1894-1976). He had one stepbrother, Gerard (1911-1986). Ernst was a cardiologist and co-inventor of the electrocardiogram. In 1934, Ernst was among the first prisoners to be detained in the Dachau concentration camp. Ernst was later released due to efforts by one of his patients, a cousin of Nazi Hermann Göring. In 1936, Claude’s mother brought him to Washington, D.C. where he rented a room and attended high school. His mother returned to Berlin, but she and Ernst left Germany for the United States the night after Kristallnacht in 1938. Claude served in the United States Army during World War II. His mother’s siblings also immigrated to the United States, and his father’s sister immigrated to Palestine.