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Nothmann Family Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 10492

Scope and Content Note

The Nothmann Family collection consists of eight folders, covering the years 1892 to 1951. A major theme of the collection is the persecution of family members by the Nazi regime and their immigration. However, there are also other documents that display the family's history.

The first folder deals with Heimann (or Heymann) Nothmann. It contains a letter from him, asking for his birth certificate so that his son Georg Nothmann can get married. The folder also includes a eulogy by Dr. Max Biram for Amalie Nothmann in 1892.

The second folder consists of a scrapbook, which contains correspondence from and to Berthold Nothmann, newspaper clippings and photographs.

The third and fourth folders contain personal and official documents of George Nothmann, such as his wedding invitations and correspondence, but also his passport and visa application.

The next two folders (no. 5 and 6) are Otto Nothmann's personal and official documents, personal being correspondence and official being correspondence, certificates, identification cards and other documents.

Folder 7 is about other Nothmann family members and holds four Yahrzeit charts (Amalie Nothmann, Salo Nothmann, Heimann Nothmann, and Julie Nothmann), a letter, and three photocopied pages from Leoni’s penmanship textbook from 1939. A small family tree is also included.

The last folder consists of one clipping and one information sheet about new ways to find people in Russia, addressed to an unidentified Herr Nothmann. There is also one envelope with German money (1x20, 2x5 Reichsmark) and Theresienstadt money (1x20 Kronen).

Dates

  • Creation: 1892-1951
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1938-1948

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is in English, French, German, Hebrew and Russian.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

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

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

Heimann Nothmann (February 2, 1836 – January 6, 1911) was a son of Salomon Nothmann and Amalie Nothmann, née Brieger. He was married to Amalie, née Riesenfeld, and they had nine children, two of whom were Berthold and Georg Nothmann.

Berthold Nothmann was born in Langendorf, Upper Silesia (today Wielowieś, Poland), on December 27, 1865. In Breslau (today Wrocław, Poland) he became a merchant and started working in the Hudschinsky tube factory (Röhrenwerke). Later he became the director of the company's branch in Gleiwitz (Gliwice, Poland). After World War I, he organized a tube industry syndicate which he led as the director of the board. Nothmann retired in 1931. A year later he moved from Düsseldorf to Berlin Wannsee. Because of the Nuremberg Laws, he had to resign his 40-year-old membership in the Verein Deutscher Hüttenleute (Union of German Metallurgists) in 1935, and in 1939 he filed an application for a visa to the United Kingdom. He died in London at the beginning of February 1942 and had no descendants. He had been a passionate art collector and some of his pieces can be seen in the photographs in this collection. Berthold was married to Martha, née Bender.

Georg (also: Jiri) Nothmann was born on July 23, 1873 in Langendorf. He married Flora, née Batzdorff, in 1904. In July 1939, he and his wife applied for immigration visas to the U.S., where they eventually immigrated.

Otto Nothmann, Georg's and Flora's son, was born in Breslau on September 19, 1905. He was married to Elga Nothmann, née Liebrecht, with whom he had a daughter, Leoni Salomon, née Nothmann, born on October 10, 1931. The family lived in Berlin until they were forced to leave by the Nazi regime. They went to Estonia, where Otto found employment as a specialist for tubes in the tube factory in Reval (today Tallinn) until 1940. Because of their German passports, they were deported by the Russians to a forced labor camp in Karaganda, Kasakh Soviet Republic, on June 22, 1941. After the war, they were able to enforce their return to Germany by a hunger strike, and eventually they ended up in Frankfurt/Oder in a repatriation center. Being supported by their Jewish community, the Nothmanns moved to Berlin, where Otto worked in the camp committee Wittenau, but because of the approaching blockade, the family moved to Fürth, where he worked as the chief investigator for the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO) from October 22, 1948 – April 23, 1951. In April 1948 Otto received a permit to immigrate to Israel.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

Abstract

This collection consists of documents of the Nothmann family, including personal correspondence and official documents, such as passports and certificates. A lot of the material is about or from the time of the Nazi persecution.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in one series.

Related Material

There are four further collections that are related to this collection.

  1. The Nothmann Chronicle (AR 5584)
  2. Nothmann Family Collection (AR 4629)
  3. Meine Lebenserinnerungen 1865-1935 (ME 474)
  4. Kindheit und Jugend bis zum Eintritt in die Schwerindustrie 1865-1875 (ME 1058)

Separated Material

Leoni Salomon’s (née Nothmann) penmanship textbook from the Goldschmidt School in Berlin (1936) has been moved to the LBI Library. Photocopies from pages with her handwriting have been included in the collection.

Processing Information

This collection has been rearranged and folders have been added. The material has been sorted differently than it had been before, and consequently, the order of the folders has been changed.

Title
Guide to the Papers of the Nothmann Family 1892-1951 AR 10492
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Alexandra Weinschenker
Date
© 2013
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Edition statement
This version was derived from NothmannFamily.xml

Revision Statements

  • August 2015:: dao links added by Emily Andresini.

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States