Hugo Steinthal Collection 1922-1958

The bulk of the collection consists of extensive research notes for a history of the Saarland and Lorraine and their Jewish communities from the 14th century until 1938, with a notable gap for the 19th century. For the most part, these notes are handwritten annotations by Steinthal in chronological order; he would list important events for each year, sometimes supplemented by excerpts from publications. For the 20th century, the notes also include related publications such as articles, annoucements and reports as well as correspondence. A lot of materials are related to the Saarland referendum of 1935. It seems like most of the material was gathered in the 1930s. The collection also holds Steinthal's doctoral dissertation on the status of Jews in the Merovingian and Carolingian empires (5th through 9th centuries) as well as a photograph and correspondence with Zvi Avneri of the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem.Hugo Steinthal was born in Saarbruecken on July 27, 1893. His parents were Josef Steinthal and Fanny (nee Stolzberg). In 1914, he moved to Freiburg where he studied history and philosophy. Later in 1914 he joined the army, and was discharged in 1916 due to an injury. He continued his studies in Freiburg, Munich and Breslau, where he received his doctorate in 1921. He was rabbi in Saarbruecken until his immigration to France in 1935. After the World War II, he returned to Germany and died in Saarbruecken in 1961.Photographs removed to Photograph Collectiondigitize