Emil Mosbacher Family Collection
Scope and Content Note
The Emil Mosbacher Family Collection holds most prominently papers of the physician Emil Mosbacher and his son Stephen (born Sigmund). Other material pertains to the genealogy of the related Flack family, in addition to photographs of both branches of the family. The collection consists of extensive family correspondence and photographs, some educational and official certificates, a family tree and narratives on family genealogy and a few newspaper clippings.
Predominant in this collection is the Mosbacher family. The first series consists of the papers of gynecologist Emil Mosbacher, with letters from his parents and other family as well as friends and his future first wife, Anna Schweizer. Other papers in this series relate to his education and profession. Series II contains the papers of Stephen Sigmund Mosbacher, whose prolific correspondence forms about half of the collection. His copious letters home provide many details of life in the army, documenting his daily experiences from the beginning of his active duty, through his training and deployment to Europe, and concluding just prior to his death. His letters include his observations of the circumstances in England, France and Belgium. Responses from his father, mother Rose Mosbacher and sister Marianne Mosbacher are also extensive and depict their lives in Toledo. Further material on the Mosbachers include many photographs in Series III. These include photos of the family members mentioned above as well as one photo album that shows Rose Neumann's year-long visit with her brother's family in Shanghai in 1926.
The Flack family is documented to a smaller degree. Series III includes photographs of many members of this family, especially of Peter Flack and his parents, Hans and Gertrude (née Stern). Series IV provides further information on the family, with several narratives on the history of the family and its individual members as well as a family tree.
Dates
- Creation: 1890-2008
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1904-1945
Creator
- Flack, Marianne L., 1933- (Person)
Language of Materials
The collection is in German and English, with a very small amount of Latin.
Access Restrictions
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 "Reserve" button.
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<extptr actuate="onload" altrender="Photograph of Emil, Rose and Sigmund (later Stephen) Mosbacher" href="http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1770103" show="embed" title="Photograph of Emil, Rose and Sigmund (later Stephen) Mosbacher"/>
Emil Mosbacher was born in Fürth, Germany, on June 7, 1886, the son of the teacher Sigmund Mosbacher and his wife Karoline (née Sichel). After completing his studies at the Gymnasium (high school) in Fürth, he went on to study medicine, specializing in gynecology and obstetrics. In 1909 he received his doctoral degree from the University of Heidelberg and from 1915 to 1917 he headed a maternity clinic in Nuremberg. On June 4, 1915 he married Anna Schweizer, the daughter of Emil Schweizer and Dina née Obermeyer. He served in World War I as a medical officer, including in France and Belgium. After the war he returned to Nuremberg, where he opened his own private practice. On October 14, 1923 Emil and Anna Mosbacher's son Sigmund was born. In January 1926 Anna Mosbacher died.
On August 28, 1931 Emil Mosbacher married again, to Rose Neumann. Two years later their daughter Marianne was born. In August 1938 Jewish doctors were ordered to close their practices in Nuremberg; the Mosbachers immigrated to the United States in October 1938, where the family first lived in Queens, New York City, before moving to Toledo, Ohio in June 1940. There Emil Mosbacher established a medical practice.
Sigmund Mosbacher, called Stephen Sigmund Mosbacher after immigration, studied chemical technology and engineering at North Dakota State College and University of Toledo, respectively. In June 1943 he was called up for active duty in the U.S. Army. After training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, and Camp Ritchie, Maryland, he was sent overseas, to England and then to France, Luxemburg and Belgium. He served in the intelligence staff of the Eighth Armored Division due to his knowledge of European languages and achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant. On April 2, 1945 he was killed in action in the Netherlands while attempting to rescue a comrade under fire and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions.
In 1949 Emil Mosbacher and his family moved to New York City, where he joined a medical practice in Manhattan along with smaller offices in Queens. Due to declining eyesight he had to give up his medical practice in 1964; he died in 1973. Rose Mosbacher died in April 1997.
Marianne Mosbacher married Peter Flack, son of Hans and Getrude (née Stern) Flack.
Extent
1 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection consists of papers of the family of Emil Mosbacher. Prominent are the personal papers and correspondence of Emil and Stephen Sigmund Mosbacher. In addition, the collection holds a number of family photographs and photo albums as well as genealogical information on members of the related Flack and other families.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in four series:
Digitization Note
The collection was digitized and made accessible in its entirety with the exception of the oversized materials, which were not imaged due to technical issues.
Separated Material
A CD-ROM with a video made of family photographs accompanied by music was removed to the LBI Audiovisual Collection.
Processing Information
During processing of the collection, series were created through observation of the most prominent individuals, formats or subjects. Some folders were retitled to provide more accurate or concise description of contents. Many of the letters to and from Stephen Sigmund Mosbacher include summaries of their contents that were written during the processing of the collection.
Subject
- Mosbacher, Emil, 1886-1973 (Person)
- Mosbacher, Stephen Sigmund, 1923-1945 (Person)
- Mosbacher, Rose, 1899-1997 (Person)
- Mosbacher family (Family)
- Flack family (Family)
- Fuchs family (Family)
- United States. Army (General subdivision: Military life.) (Organization)
Genre / Form
- Articles
- clippings (information artifacts)
- Diplomas
- Documents (object genre)
- Genealogical tables
- Notes (documents)
- personal correspondence
- Photograph albums
- Photographs
- Résumés (personnel records)
Geographic
Occupation
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Papers of the Emil Mosbacher Family 1890-2008 AR 25516
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Dianne Ritchey and Arthur Rath
- Date
- © 2013
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- Digitized as part of the CJH Holocaust Resource Initiative, made possible by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.
- Edition statement
- This version was derived from Emil_Mosbacher_Family.xml
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
