Prölsdorfer - Lederman Family Collection
Scope and Content Note
This collection documents the Prölsdorfer and Lederman families. A narrative summary of the materials by the donor is found in folder 1.
Prölsdorfer family materials include modern reproductions of family photographs from the 1930s; Irma Proll's naturalization certificate; color photocopies of the inscription in a 1919 prayer book; the cover of a military passbook; photocopies of family documents such as passports, photos, and correspondence, primarily about the 1933 preventive detention of Ignaz Prösldorfer, Hermann Krämer, and Fritz Krämer (some with handwritten English translations); and a genealogy of the Krämer, Fleischmann, and Wilmersdörfer families.
Documents relating to Fred Lederman include birth, naturalization, and marriage certificates, photographs from the 1920s through the 1950s, a Mosbacher family genealogy, and other family history documents. Lederman's military documents include identification cards, separation letters, his letter of commendation for his Bronze Star, a photograph and a sketch of him in uniform, and other military records from his service in the United States Army. A large photograph of his unit, Company A, 56th Signal Battalion at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, is found in the oversize folder.
The Roth family folder contains a genealogy originally written in Hungarian in 1953 by Hermin Roth Iszak, and translated into English in 1988 by her daughter Madeleine Stern.
Dates
- Creation: 1915-2013
Creator
- Proll, Lauren (Person)
Language of Materials
This collection is in German and English.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open to researchers.
Access Information
Readers may access the collection by visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. We recommend reserving the collection in advance; please visit the LBI Online Catalog and click on the "Request" button.
Biographical Note
Ignaz Prölsdorfer (later Jack Proll, 1895-1974), his wife Irma née Kramer (1909-2006), and his son Gert (George, 1931- ) left Gerolzhofen, Germany for the United States in 1936. After her husband died, Irma Proll married Fred Lederman (born Manfred Ledermann, 1918-2003). Lederman was a baker by trade. After he fled Neckarsteinach, Germany for the United States, he was drafted into the Army and returned to Europe in 1944, where he earned a Bronze Star in France for convincing a German unit to surrender. He married Frida née Eben in 1954. George Proll married Rita Rado (1932- ).
Extent
0.25 Linear Feet (OS 156) and one large oversize folder (OSL 48)
Abstract
This collection documents the Prölsdorfer and Lederman families, of Gerolzhofen and Neckarsteinach, Germany and the United States.
Arrangement
The materials were left in their original arrangement, by family.
Physical Location
Archives
Digitization Note
The collection was digitized and made accessible in its entirety with the exception of the family tree, which was not digitized due to technical issues.
Separated Material
Two US Army unit histories, "Fightin' Fourth – The History of the Fourth Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron" and "Mission Accomplished – The Story of the Campaigns of the VII Corps United States Army in the War Against Germany, 1944-1945", were removed to the Prölsdorfer - Lederman family clippings collection (AR 25554 C).
Two Jewish baby charms, and Fred Ledermann's Bronze Star, Army dog tag with prayer scroll, service ribbons, and Disabled Veterans of America pin were removed to the Art and Objects Collection.
Subject
- Prölsdorfer, Ignaz, 1895-1974 (Person)
- Prölsdorfer, Irma, 1909-2006 (Person)
- Lederman, Fred, 1918-2003 (Person)
- Prölsdorfer family (Family)
- Lederman family (Family)
- Krämer family (Family)
- Fleischmann family (Family)
- Mosbacher family (Family)
- Wilmersdörfer family (Family)
- Title
- Guide to the Prölsdorfer - Lederman Family Collection undated, 1915-2013 AR 25554
- Author
- Processed by Kevin Schlottmann
- Date
- © 2013
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- Processing made possible by the Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives Grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources through The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support "Illuminating Hidden Collections at the Center for Jewish History." Digitization made possible by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.
Revision Statements
- July 2015: dao links to oversized material added and digitization note updated by Leanora Lange.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
