Reinheimer family collection

Collection

Identifier: DM 338

Staff Only

Abstract

Two amateur films of the Reinheimer family in Washington Heights, depicting family life and religious services.

Dates

Creation: 1947, 1957

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: http://www.lbi.org/ask

Biographical Note

Emma Haas née Gottlieb worked from 1924 to 1942 as a housemother at Bertha Pappenheim’s orphanage in Neu-Isenburg, where she lived with her daughter, Else. Else immigrated to the United States, but her mother was deported to Theresienstadt in 1942, before she could join her daughter after the war. - Else’s husband Jack Reinheimer was the owner of ‘Jack’s Furniture’, a furniture store on 514 West 181st Street in Washington Heights.

Shaare Hatikvah was the first German-Jewish congregation in Washington Heights, founded in 1940 under the leadership of Rabbi Dr. Siegmund Hanover, the last rabbi of Würzburg, Germany before the war. Construction for a new building, including a large sanctuary with separate ladies galleries; a social hall; offices; and the rabbi’s study began in November of 1954 and was completed in 1957.