Rubel family papers

Ferdinand Rubel was born in a small village, Steinbach am Donnersberg in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, in 1900. His family worked as barley and grain brokers. Most of his extended Rubel family had immigrated to Chicago in the mid-19th century. Ferdinand had been involved in ad hoc anti-Nazi groups who broke up Nazi rallies. Soon after the January 1933 Nazi takeover, Ferdinand was arrested as a political prisoner and held for 6-8 weeks in Zweibrueken concentration camp. He was released after being hospitalized for ulcers. In May 1934 he married Else Jacob who lived in the nearby town of Rockenhausen. Else Jacob Rubel (1911-1977) was born in Münchweiler an der Alsenz, Germany, to Isidor (d.1933) and Frieda (née Bähr, 1884-1971) Jacob. Else had a brother, David (1909-1951), and three sisters, Gertrude (1913-2007), Irma (1915-1988), and Louise (1918-2001). The following year Else gave birth to a daughter Doris, who died at the age of 20 months after a local doctor refused to treat a Jewish child. Ferdinand and Else wanted to leave Germany but would not apply for a visa as long as Ferdinand’s ill father Jacob was still alive. After he passed away, Ferdinand went to the American consulate in Stuttgart to apply for a visa for the couple and his mother, Bertha Keller Rubel. He tried repeatedly but could not get an audience. Then, one day in autumn 1938, he was visited by a non-Jewish friend, August Kaufhold, who had earlier immigrated to the United States and was visiting family in nearby Weitersweiler. As an American citizen, Kaufhold managed to gain Ferdinand entry into the consulate, where he was able to speak with the Consul to obtain a visa. Soon after, during Kristallnacht, approximately 40 Nazis from neighboring villages ransacked the Rubel home, and Ferdinand was arrested with other Jewish men from Steinbach, including his brother Berthold. The Kaufhold family again came to their aid. Once the violence subsided, Kaufhold’s mother, Margaretta, at great personal risk, walked some distance through the forest to deliver a basket of food to Else and Bertha. Other neighbors came by to help clean up and to create a place for Else and Bertha to sleep. Ferdinand was held overnight to be sent to Dachau the next day, but the visas for Ferdinand, Else and Bertha had come through days earlier, so Ferdinand was released. In December 1938, the family left Germany for the United States and settled in Washington Heights. Else was pregnant before the journey, and their daughter Evelyn was born 3 1/2 months after their arrival.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Evelyn Umlas.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Evelyn Umlas

Evelyn Umlas donated the Rubel family papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 and 2017. The accessions formerly cataloged as 2016.168.1 and 2017.593.1 has been incorporated into this collection.