Levi family collection 1928-2011

The Levi Family Collection primarily tells the story of Eric Levi and his family from Ellwangen, Germany, especially focusing on his loss of schooling in Ellwangen and later service in the United States Army during World War II. The collection also includes information on the family of Inge Levi (née Thalheimer), the Thalheimer family of Bensheim. The collection includes many photographs, official documents, newspaper clippings, military records, articles about Eric Levi as well as the Thalheimer family, some correspondence, a scrapbook, and other documentation.A book about the Jewish students who attended the Peutinger Gymnasium in Ellwangen has been removed from the archival collection to the LBI Library: "Wer war Erich Levi?" : Die jüdischen Schüler des Gymnasiums in Ellwangen 1823-1935. This book accompanied an exhibition at the school in 2002.Erich Levi was born on October 3, 1920 in Ellwangen, Germany, the eldest son of the cattle dealer Julius Levi and Melanie Levi née Süssel. He had a younger brother, Max. The town of Ellwangen was known as a center for cattle trading, and his grandfather had also been a cattle dealer. Erich began attending the Peutinger Gymnasium in Ellwangen in 1931, but was forced to leave the school in 1935 for being Jewish. He then apprenticed as a salesman for a shoe factory.As one of only a few Jewish families in Ellwangen, the family suffered persecution during the 1930s, notably when Nazis drove Julius Levi's cattle into the river Jagst. In 1938 Erich and his parents emigrated to the United States with the help of an aid society. Max Levi had left for England previously on a Kindertransport. Eric and his parents settled in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.From 1940-1942 Eric Levi worked as a jewelry polisher. In 1942 he joined the U.S. Army, where he was trained as a combat medic, seeing combat in France and Germany. He also worked as a translator and interpreter. For his actions during combat on November 7, 1944 in eastern France, where he attended to wounded comrades while under heavy enemy fire, he was awarded the Bronze Star. He left the Army in January 1946.On March 16, 1947 Eric Levi married Inge Thalheimer, who had been born in Heidelberg, Germany, the daughter of Hermann and Paula Thalheimer. Prior to emigrating to the United States, Hermann Thalheimer had owned a clothing factory in Bensheim, Germany. Eric and Inge Levi had one son, Michael, born in 1952. On May 4, 1966 Eric Levi died at the age of 45 in a car accident while on a business trip in Caracas, Venezuela.In 2002 the Peutinger Gymnasium in Ellwangen created an exhibition with an accompanying book about the last Jewish students at the school. It was called "Wer war Erich Levi?"Finding aid available online.Processeddigitize