Rahel Varnhagen von Ense Collection

Collection

Identifier: AR 336

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

Original correspondence from Rahel Varnjagen as well as from her husband Karl August. Annotated handwritten transcripts of lost correspondence from and to Rahel Varnhagen, prepared before WW II. Also included are commentaries, essays, etc.

Dates

Creation: 1793-1974

Creator

Löwenthal, Erich (Person)
Varnhagen von Ense, Karl August, 1785-1858 (Person)
Varnhagen, Rahel, 1771-1833 (Person)

Language of Materials

This collection is in German and some English.

Access Information

The collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note

Born in Berlin on May 26, 1771, Rahel Levin was an author and salon hostess. She married Karl August Varnhagen von Ense in 1814 and died in Berlin on March 7, 1833.

Erich Loewenthal prepared the transcripts of the correspondence between Rahel Varnhagen and her brother Ludwig Robert before WW II with the intention to have it published. The letters were held in Berlin’s Staatsarchiv Unter den Linden, before being moved to Silesia and destroyed in WW II. Erich Loewenthal was killed in Auschwitz.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet : and part of reel

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement

This collection consists of a single series.

Other Finding Aid

15 catalogue cards.

Related Material

The LBI Archives contains handwritten transcribed letters between Rahel Varnahgen and her brother Ludwig Robert and his wife. DM 210 Friederike Rahel Varnahgen’s correspondence had been published incompletely shortly after her death by her husband August Varnhagen v. Ense, who still needed to protect the privacy of living acquaintances. Erich Loewenthal was preparing a new publication of her correspondence, based on the Varnhagen collection at the state archives Unter den Linden in Berlin, when the archives where moved to Silesia, where they were destroyed during WW II. Erich Loewenthal was killed in Auschwitz.