Napkin embroidered with Hedwig Rosenthal's initials and given to Henry Rosenthal

Henry Rosenthal (born Heinz) was born on October 5, 1926 in Erkenschwick, Germany to Georg Rosenthal (b. 1894) and Hedwig Rosenthal (Hete?, née Auerbach, b. 1891 to Simon and Julchen Auerbach). Georg was born in 1894 in Oeventrop, Germany to Louis Rosenthal (1864-1915) and Emma Ransenberg (1864-1942) and was a World War I veteran and salesman. Georg had three sisters: Klara Rosenthal (b. 1893), Emmi Rosenthal (b. 1896), and Elly Raphael (b. 1901). After Kristallnacht, Henry was sent to live in an orthodox orphanage in Cologne where he attended school. Henry then traveled to Frankfurt in 1941 to obtain an American visa and leave Germany. He took a train from Germany to Spain, through France, and left from Barcelona aboard the SS Ciudad de Sevilla for the United States. In August 1941 he arrived in New York and with the help of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), he was placed with the Rosenberg family, a Russian Jewish family in Atlanta. Henry lived with the family for two years until he enlisted in the United States Army. In 1944 he returned to New York until the 1970s. Henry married Mildred Black (1923-2002) in 1941 and had three children: Heather Maigod, Gail Rosenberg, and Hope Fine. Henry was told that when his father, Georg, arrived at Auschwitz and after being separated from his wife he committed suicide. Henry ’s mother, Hedwig, perished in Auschwitz and Georg's mother, Emma, perished in Theresienstadt.

The napkin was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2020 by Henry Rosenthal, son of Hedwig Rosenthal.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum collection, gift of Henry Rosenthal