Levinson and Stern family papers
Extent and Medium
boxes
oversize folders
oversize box
3
2
1
Creator(s)
- Levinson
Biographical History
Sidney Jack Levinson (1901-1969) was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany to concert pianist Else Hanff Levinson (1875-1948) and Siegfried Levinson (1875-1930). He had one sister, Lilly (1906-1933), who would later marry Otto Stern. Sidney became a doctor and married Ann Stern in 1926. They had one son, Siegfried (b. 1930), who would later change his name to Fred. Sidney convinced both the Levinson and Stern families to emigrate from Germany in 1935 after Saarland voted to rejoin Germany that same year. The majority of them settled in New York. During the war, Sidney enlisted with the United States Army, and was a captain in the Medical Corps. His son Fred also became a doctor, and married Ann Kaufman in 1952. He studied medicine in Basel, Switzerland from 1952-1957, and later settled in Middletown, New York where he opened a gynecology and obstetrics practice. They have three daughters, Elise (b. 1956), Karen (b. 1957), and Susan (b. 1957). Ann Stern Levinson (1901-1990) was born in Ziegenhain (now Schwalmstadt), Germany to Emma Liebenthal Stern (1858-1917) and Jakob Stern (1850-1926). She had nine siblings: Jenny Stern Wallerstein (1881-1978), Bertha Stern Sachs (1883-1953?), Claire Stern Rothenstein (1885-1968), Selma Stern Zimmer (1888-1956), Irma Stern Brand (1889-1987), Max Stern (1890-1974?), Herbert Stern (1892-1975), Julius Stern (1895-1984), and Otto Stern (b. 1898).
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Fred Levinson
Fred Levinson donated the Levinson and Stern family papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in October 2015.
Scope and Content
The Levinson and Stern family papers primarily contain biographical materials and photographs related to the Levinson family of Homburg, Saarland, Germany and the Stern family of Kassel, Germany in the 1920s and 1930s prior to immigrating to the United States in 1935. Biographical materials include birth and death records, identification papers, a diary of Ann Stern Levinson, genealogy notes, marriage certificates and two ketubahs. Photographs include numerous identified family members in Germany as well as three photograph albums. Biographical materials include birth and death records, identification papers, a diary of Ann Stern Levinson, genealogy notes, marriage certificates and two ketubahs. Other material included are cemetery records, papers related to Sidney Levinson’s time in the United States Army, and a memorial book for Emma Stern. The correspondence contains some scattered letters and several telegrams. The telegrams are primarily sent from Fred and Ann Levinson while living in Basel, Switzerland to his parents Sidney and Ann Levinson announcing several events such as their engagement and the births of their daughters. The photographs contain numerous identified family members in Germany as well as three photograph albums. Included are portraits, family gatherings and vacations, and casual photographs. There are also several photographs of Sidney Levinson while he was in the United States Army in Fort Knox, Kentucky, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and Battle Creek, Michigan. The Levinson family photograph album, 1932-1940 contains photographs from the Levinsons’ trip to the United States aboard the SS Bremen in 1935 and their life in New York. The printed material includes copies of Sidney and Fred Levinson’s dissertations, clippings, and a copy of Fred Levinson’s first book as a child, Mathilde Ritter’s Lustige Geschichten in Wort und Bild.
System of Arrangement
The Levinson and Stern family papers are arranged as four series: Series 1: Biographical materials, 1875-1991; Series 2: Correspondence, 1907-1974; Series 3: Photographs, circa 1870s-1958; Series 4: Printed material, 1904-1995. The papers are arranged alphabetically.
People
- Levinson
Subjects
- Jewish families--Germany.
- Homburg (Saarland, Germany)
- Emigration and immigration--United States.
- Jewish physicians--Germany.
- Kassel (Germany)
Genre
- Document
- Diary.
- Photographs.