David and Dina Westheim collection 1937-1946 Bulk dates: 1940-1941, 1945-1946

The collection includes the correspondence, 1937-1946, between members of the Westheim family, who lived in Amsterdam, and their two sons, Alfred and Benno Bodo Westheim, who lived in New York City.David Westheim was born May 30, 1878 in Abterode, Hessen, Germany, son of Lehmann David and Rosa Westheim. He married Dina Spangenthal born September 28, 1884 in Spangenberg, Germany, daughter of Aaron and Jeanette Schona Spangenthal. David and Dina lived in Abterode where they owned Lehmann D. Westheim Textile and Clothing Store.David and Dina Westheim had four children: their two sons Benno (Bodo) and Alfred immigrated to the United States in 1936 and 1937. The affidavits for their visas came from a member of the Spangenthal family who had immigrated to the US in the early 1900s. David and Dina’s youngest daughter Eleonore (Ellen) moved to Amsterdam, Holland in 1936 to marry her fiancé, Fritz (Fred) Rose. Fritz had left Germany in 1933 and opened a kosher butcher shop in Amsterdam. The young couple brought both sets of parents and their 6 sisters to the Netherlands. Their daughter Esther Marianne was born May 11, 1937. David and Dina’s daughter Alice Westheim married Fritz’s business partner Siegbert Mielzynski. Their son Ralf was born January 7, 1940.During Kristallnacht, Nov. 9, 1938, the Westheim store was looted. David Westheim was incarcerated in Buchenwald and released after three weeks. David and Dina then fled to Amsterdam and moved in with Ellen and Fritz. Alice and Siegbert also moved in, when their apartment was damaged during the German invasion. David and Dina Westheim were murdered in Sobibor April 9, 1943. Alice, Siegbert and Ralf Mielzynski were murdered in Sobibor July 9, 1943.Ellen, Fritz and Esther Rose survived World War II in hiding in Enschede and Delden, Holland. They returned to Amsterdam after the war. During 1945 and 1946, they mainly traded with American products that Ellen’s brothers sent to Amsterdam, such as cigarettes and lighters.Dina Westheim’s brother Leopold Spangenthal lived in Berlin before World War II. His correspondence dated in 1941 indicates that he was involved in the Spangenthal family business.Some letters are from Dina’s brother Leopold Spangenthal: He was a veteran of WW I. His health was compromised due to mustard gas and he received a special decoration. From Spangenberg he moved to Kassel, where he married, then to Berlin and onward to Theresianstadt. He and his wife received documentation of citizenship from Ecuador. Both perished in Auschwitz in 1944.Finding aid available onlineProcesse