Buchheim Jonas family collection 1920-2017

Abstract

The Buchheim Jonas Family Collection holds documentation of various branches of the Jonas family of Waldbreitbach, Germany, especially the descendants of Louis Jonas and Ella Buchheim, and tells of their emigration from Germany. In addition, it documents aspects of the life of Meier Buchheim of Dauborn, Germany, especially his attempt to emigrate and later death. The collection includes many family photographs, family trees, correspondence, official documents, material on the village of Waldbreitbach, and other documentation.Meier Buchheim’s great-granddaughter, Lynette Polatin (daughter of Inge Jonas?). Lore Brenauer née Moser is the daughter of Betti (Betty) Moser née Buchheim.A video (DVD), "Out of the Valley" about the Jonas family's history and experiences in the village of Waldbreitbach, Germany has been removed to the LBI Audiovisual Collection.See also the Betty and Morris Moser collection, AR 25497.Meier Buchheim lived in Dauborn, Germany. In 1893 he married Lina Strauß. They had three daughters: Ella, Betti, and Klara (who died in infancy). Meier Buchheim served in World War I. In 1943 he committed suicide in the concentration camp Theresienstadt.In 1919 Ella Buchheim married the cattle dealer Louis Jonas of the village of Waldbreitbach, near the town of Neuwied, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Jonas family was one of six Jewish families in Waldbreitbach, and the families of Louis Jonas and his father Jakob Jonas shared one house, across the street from the village's small synagogue. Louis and Ella had two daughters: Inge, born in 1921, and Elsbeth, born in 1923.In 1935 Inge went to Belgium to attend a private school and learn French. Afterward, she went to Basel, Switzerland, where her uncle Willy Jonas and aunt Hilde lived. In 1939 her uncle sent her to England, where she was trained as anurse. In 1940 she was able to reunite with her parents and sister in England.Inge acquired an American visa, and left England on August 10, 1940 to go to New York City where her aunt Betty (née Buchheim) Moser lived in the neighborhood of Washington Heights, along with her uncle Morris (Moritz) Moser, and cousin Lore. Inge's parents and sister followed later. In New York, Inge met Saymour Sklar, and the couple married in 1943. During the war she worked as a translator for the postal censorship department, translating the letters of German prisoners of war. After the war, Inge and Saymour had two children and lived in New Jersey. Her sister Elsbeth married Gerald (Jerry) Brotman; they had one son and lived in Maryland.Finding aid available onlineProcesseddigitize