"My Life Before and After Jan. 30, 1933"

Identifier
irn514306
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2003.386
Dates
1 Jan 1940 - 31 Dec 1940
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Web Source

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn514306

Extent and Medium

folder

1

Creator(s)

  • Leo Waldbott

Biographical History

Leo Waldbott (1867-1940) was born on January 28, 1867 in a suburb of Lustadt, Germany to Lazarus and Clara Waldbott (née Neu, d. 1912,). He had two siblings: Sigmund (1865-1950) and Flora (later Flora Leva, 1868-1948). Leo married Hermine Rosenberger (1867-1920) and they had three children: Emil (1891-1972), Elizabeth (1893-1917), and George (1898-1982). Leo’s sons Emil and George both immigrated to the United States before World War II. Leo worked as a teacher of Jewish Studies in Speyer, Germany. He also helped establish a Jewish retirement home in Neustadt. During Kristallnacht, the retirement home was burned down. Leo was forced to leave Speyer, and hid in Mannheim until he was able to secure a visa to emigrate from Germany. He immigrated to the United States on December 16, 1938 aboard the SS Europa and settled in Detroit, Michigan.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

Barbara Kay Mercuro, a friend of Leo Waldbott's granddaughter, Betsy Ramsay, sent this memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Nov. 24, 2003. Betsy Ramsay donated the memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in December 2003.

Scope and Content

The collection includes two copies, one in German and one in English, of a memoir by Leo Waldbott titled "My Life Before and After January 30, 1933," in which Leo describes his own life and life in Speyer, Germany. Leo provides a brief history, with examples, of antisemitism in the region and describes the community's efforts to establish a Jewish home for the elderly, which burned down due to arson during Kristallnacht on November 10, 1938. He also describes his struggles with and eventual immigration to the United States in 1939.

People

  • Waldbott, Leo,--b. 1867.

Subjects

  • Kristallnacht, 1938--Germany.
  • Men--Personal narratives.
  • Jews--Germany--Speyer.
  • United States--Emigration and immigration.
  • Speyer (Germany)

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.