Family archive of the Levy family from Essen, Germany, 1863-1993
Extent and Medium
126 files
Creator(s)
Biographical History
About the Levy family:
Dr. Ernst Levy (b.1872) was the eldest son of physician Dr. Hermann Levy (b. 1838) and his wife Emma, née Hirschland (b. 1847). Dr. Ernst Levy and his wife, the former Martha Ruthenburg (b. 1878) lived in Essen, Germany, where Dr. Levy was a general practioner and researcher. They had four children, Hermann (b. 1906), Rudolf (b. 1908), Hans (b. 1911) and Eva (b. 1914). A year after the rise of nazism, Hermann Levy, a lawyer by training, went to study a new career in Paris, France, since he was banned from practicing his profession in Germany. At the end of 1935 he emigrated to Argentina, and, within four years, the rest of the family followed him to Buenos Aires where they all set up a new existence. Dr. Ernst Levy had two brothers: Fritz Levy (b. 1874), a well-known lawyer, and Heinz (b. 1876), who was a trade representative. Fritz Levy died of natural causes in 1936. His wife Frida, née Stern, was deported to Riga in January 1942 and Heinz Levy and his wife Grete, née Aronstein, were deported to Minsk in November 1941. All three perished. Fritz and Frida Levy's four children managed to escape to Sweden and Palestine. Apparently, Heinz and Grete had no children. Dr. Ernst and Martha Levy died in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1945 and 1953, respectively.
Archival History
The collection was donated to Yad Vashem in 2009 by Ernesto Levy from Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of the grandsons of Dr. Ernst Levy.
Scope and Content
The collection contains different types of documentation, mostly private papers of the extended Levy family from the pre-WW I, pre-WWII and post-WWII periods.
The papers cover three generations of the Levy family, from Dr. Hermann Levy, his eldest son Dr. Ernst Levy to his eldest grandson Hermann (Germán) Levy.
The core of the collection is the private correspondence between members of the nuclear and extended Levy family, dating from 1932 until 1967. There are also letters to and from friends and acquaintances, who, after the rise of nazism in Germany, were scattered across four continents. The letters are mostly written in German, some in French and English. They are both handwritten and typed. Dr. Ernst Levy and his wife Martha kept copies of most of the letters they wrote.
There are, in addition, personal documents such as school reports, passports, and a number of miscellaneous items ranging from libretti to family poetry, sketches, recipes and photographs.
Finding Aids
Description of the files are available on IDEA ALM system at Yad Vashem Archives reading room
Existence and Location of Originals
YV archives
Archivist Note
JL according to the RG description in the YV system
Rules and Conventions
EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0
Dates of Descriptions
2014-06-24
Families
Subjects
Places
- Germany
- Essen
- Argentina