Levi, Kronthal, and Eis families papers

Rabbi Dr. Sali Levi (1883-1941) was born to Wilhelm Levi and Johanna Sternweiler Levi in Walldorf, although some sources give his birthplace as neighboring Wiesloch. He studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau where he was appointed second rabbi at the New Synagogue. He married Margarete Weissmann in 1912. During World War I he served as an army chaplain stationed at Vilna, and he became the rabbi of Mainz in 1918. After the Nazi rise to power, he was appointed chaplain for the Osthofen concentration camp, and he served as the first principal of the Jüdische Bezirksschule Mainz, established in 1934 for the Jewish children who were increasingly unwelcome in German public schools. He died of a heart attack in Berlin in 1941 while awaiting final papers for his immigration to the United States. Sali Levi's relatives include his maternal grandfather Lippmann Sternweiler, brother and sister-in-law Josef and Berta Levi, and sister and brother-in-law Berta and Markus Slodki. Margarete Levi (1886-1960) was born Margarete Weissmann to Simon Weissmann and Lina Wischnitz Weissmann in Kieferstädtel. She had been trained as a concert pianist. She and Rabbi Dr. Sali Levi had three children: Hilde, Hans, and Ruth. She immigrated to the United States following her husband’s death in 1941 and became an American citizen in 1947. Her relatives include her sisters Rosa and Frieda Weissmann, cousin Adolf Kober, and aunt Fanny Kober. Hans Levi (1915-1997) was born in Breslau to Margarete and Sali Levi. He completed his high school education in Germany, pursued aviation studies in the Netherlands, and immigrated to the United States in 1936. He served with the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II, taking part in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, and the Netherlands, and earning a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. After the war he pursued a career as a manufacturer and entrepreneur designing machinery, living and working in the New York/New Jersey area for over thirty years before moving to southern California in the early 1980s. Rosa Kronthal (1878-1964) was an older sister of Margarete Weissmann Levi. She was trained as a school teacher and married Berthold Kronthal in 1918. Berthold Kronthal (1860-1942) was born in Posen and became the head of the public library system in Breslau. During World War II, both were deported to Theresienstadt, where Berthold died. Rosa spent two years in a displaced persons camp in Switzerland following the war before immigrating to the United States in 1946. She died in New York City. The Kronthals’ relatives include their nieces Annemarie Schwabacher and Liselotte Croner, nephew Willy Kronthal, and great-nephews Claes and Stefan Croner. Max Eis (1917-1991) was born in Mainz to Jakob Eis and Regina Meyer Eis. He immigrated to the United States via England in 1938. His brother Albert, who had been assaulted during Kristallnacht, followed shortly after. His parents were deported to Theresienstadt around 1942 where his mother died in 1943. His father spent a year at the Deggendorf displaced persons camp before immigrating to the United States where he died in New York in 1952. Max Eis married Sali Levi’s daughter, Ruth Levi, in 1942, and the couple had two children, Steven Eis and Regina Eis Lackner. Max Eis’ relatives include his mother's uncle Seligmann Meyer, sister-in-law Irma Eis and her parents Sali and Amalie Edinger, and second cousin Irwin Meyer.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Regina Lackner

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

The Levi, Kronthal, and Eis families papers were donated in 2012 by Regina Lackner.