Primary Documents

Featured record

The St. Moritz letter

Two handwritten sheets carry the voice at the center of the archive: intimate, practical and determined.

Two cream-colored handwritten sheets from the Carlton Hotel, St. Moritz — Letter from St. Moritz

Family-held records

Paper carried forward

Passports, cards, membership papers and photographs of grave markers survive because the family kept them. Open any image for a high-resolution view, historical explanation, source, credit and archive reference.

1970s photograph of the German face of Adolph Reichenbach’s gravestone — Adolph Reichenbach’s gravestone

1970s photograph of the German face of Paul Reichenbach’s gravestone — Paul Reichenbach’s gravestone

Printed German card thanking mourners for expressions of sympathy — Funeral acknowledgment card

Address side of a P. Reichenbach business postcard sent from Halberstadt to a Leipzig supplier — P. Reichenbach business postcard — address side

Handwritten message side of a P. Reichenbach business postcard dated 27 September 1917 — P. Reichenbach business postcard — message side

Scanned German announcement of the engagement of Jenny Schottländer and Philipp Liebenthal at Pentecost 1887 — Jenny Schottländer and Philipp Liebenthal engagement announcement

Late nineteenth-century W. Höffert cabinet-card portrait of an unidentified young woman from the Liebenthal family papers — Unidentified Liebenthal-family woman

Dolf Reichenbach, Margarete Reichenbach and Ruth Reichenbach walking on the seaside promenade at Westerland on Sylt — Margarete, Dolf and Ruth at Westerland

Typed German notice conferring the War Aid Merit Cross on Paul Reichenbach — War Aid Merit Cross notice

Passport cover from Paul Reichenbach’s German passport — Passport cover

Passport title page from Paul Reichenbach’s German passport — Passport title page

Passport description and portrait from Paul Reichenbach’s German passport — Passport description and portrait

Passport validity extensions from Paul Reichenbach’s German passport — Passport validity extensions

Passport currency-control entries from Paul Reichenbach’s German passport — Passport currency-control entries

Passport: Basel entry stamp from Paul Reichenbach’s German passport — Passport: Basel entry stamp

Family life on paper

A public tribute, a wedding, a voyage and a meal

Not every surviving paper concerns business or persecution. A 1926 newspaper honored Paul on his fiftieth birthday; a wedding booklet, menu card and a friend’s playful shipboard verse preserve a family moving through ordinary civic and social worlds.

The S.S. Manhattan letter helps document Margarete’s Atlantic travel in 1937. Its author signs only as “Fred”; his full identity remains open.

German newspaper notice in Fraktur type congratulating Paul Reichenbach of Halberstadt on his fiftieth birthday — Paul Reichenbach at fifty

Full mounted studio portrait of young Dolf Reichenbach smiling in a suit and tie — Young Dolf Reichenbach — full mounted portrait

Close detail of faint pencil writing on the lower front mount beneath a portrait of young Dolf Reichenbach — Faint inscription beneath Dolf’s portrait

Printed German menu card from the wedding meal of Ruth Reichenbach and Albert Rothschild — Menu from Ruth and Albert Rothschild’s wedding meal

First leaf of a handwritten verse on United States Lines stationery addressed to Mutti Reichenbach — Verse for ‘Mutti Reichenbach’ aboard S.S. Manhattan — leaf 1

Second leaf of the handwritten S.S. Manhattan verse ending with a greeting from Fred — Verse for ‘Mutti Reichenbach’ aboard S.S. Manhattan — leaf 2

View 1 from Ruth Reichenbach and Albert Rothschild’s printed wedding booklet — Ruth Reichenbach and Albert Rothschild wedding booklet — dedication and first verse

View 2 from Ruth Reichenbach and Albert Rothschild’s printed wedding booklet — Ruth and Albert’s wedding song — verses two through five

View 3 from Ruth Reichenbach and Albert Rothschild’s printed wedding booklet — Ruth and Albert’s wedding song — closer view of verses two and three

View 4 from Ruth Reichenbach and Albert Rothschild’s printed wedding booklet — Ruth and Albert’s wedding song — sixth verse

View 5 from Ruth Reichenbach and Albert Rothschild’s printed wedding booklet — Ruth Reichenbach and Albert Rothschild

Paul at fifty · 20 October 1926

“Mr. Paul Reichenbach, the long-serving former chairman of our Halberstadt local branch, celebrated his fiftieth birthday on 20 October. We offer our warmest congratulations to this deserving man, who for years has stood in the struggle against antisemitism with tireless energy.”

The Central-Verein-Zeitung notice documents Paul’s former chairmanship, many honorary offices and public work against antisemitism. Susan Reichenbach Heyman identifies the surviving party photograph as his fiftieth-birthday celebration. Read the complete clipping, transcription and translation →

A friend’s verse · working English reading

„Von ‘Washington’ und der ‘Manhattan’ … Und ob beim Bridge, beim Bingo war ‘Mutter’ Reichenbach obenauf! … Sie sind ’ne Künstlerin des Lebens! Von Herzen wünsch’ ich alles Gute für Dolf und Ihre Lebensroute!“

“From the Washington and the Manhattan … whether at bridge or bingo, ‘Mother’ Reichenbach came out on top! … You are an artist of life. From my heart I wish every good thing for Dolf and for the course of your life.”

Working translation prepared for the Reichenbach Family Archive. The reading is partial; some lines remain unread.

United States immigration records

Dolf’s AR-2 form

The National Archives delivered Dolf Reichenbach’s Alien Registration Form on 13 August 2026. The two-page record fixes his Brookline address, New York arrival aboard the SS Paris, first citizenship papers and early Boston employment.

The follow-up search added a second address source: Brookline’s 1940 street list names “Adolph” and “Margarette” Reichenbach at 3 Netherlands Road. It also found F & M Skirt Co. in the 1922 Boston register and business directory at 515 Washington Street, room 519; the exact 1940 employer listing remains open.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, Digital Records Division, Reference Branch. Ordered reproduction `QO1-1110421874`; NARA file `AR005106001957.PDF`. The Brookline street list is cited but not republished because its Internet Archive metadata marks it as possibly in copyright.

Open the two-page PDF Open Brookline street list Open 1922 directory Read it in Dolf’s story

First page of Dolf Reichenbach’s 1940 Alien Registration Form, showing name, address, birth details, arrival information and employer — Dolf Reichenbach’s Alien Registration Form · page 1

Second page of Dolf Reichenbach’s 1940 Alien Registration Form, showing organization membership, naturalization first papers, relatives, fingerprint and signature — Dolf Reichenbach’s Alien Registration Form · page 2

Paul Reichenbach’s Trauer-Album

A mourning book, preserved page by page

The family retained a printed Jewish mourning volume dedicated to Paul after his sudden death in 1935. Its German title means “mourning album.” Inside are Kaddish, Yizkor, Jahrzeit tables, prayers for the grave and spaces where a family could assemble a record of loss.

The complete surviving sequence is available below—twenty-three views, without repeating the same image elsewhere on the page.

View the complete 23-image sequence

Cover from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Cover

Endpapers from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Endpapers

Title and dedication from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Title and dedication

Calendar tables from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Calendar tables

Memorial plate from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Memorial plate

Burial record form from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Burial record form

Death notice and obituary page from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Death notice and obituary page

Rules for the mourning year from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Rules for the mourning year

Kings’ Tombs page from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Kings’ Tombs page

Partial page-edge view from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Partial page-edge view

Prayer in the days of mourning from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Prayer in the days of mourning

Tomb illustration from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Tomb illustration

Mourners’ Kaddish from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Mourners’ Kaddish

Illustrated Kaddish plate from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Illustrated Kaddish plate

The meaning of Kaddish from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — The meaning of Kaddish

Memorial-day table from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Memorial-day table

On the Jahrzeit from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — On the Jahrzeit

Jahrzeit from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Jahrzeit

Yizkor from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Yizkor

Maskir prayer from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Maskir prayer

Prayer at the grave from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Prayer at the grave

Family-tree plate from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Family-tree plate

Closing leaves from the mourning volume dedicated to Paul Reichenbach — Trauer-Album — Closing leaves

Genealogy as an archive

Charts, questions and the first family researcher

The Ahnentafel and later charts are displayed as historical research objects—not as automatic proof of every name. Beside them are the letters showing that Paul was already trying to recover the family’s earlier history in 1935.

The LBI cover and chart leaf are shown as unaltered access copies under written permission. Their exact institutional credit appears with each object.

Read Paul’s 1935 letter in German and English

Unaltered archive access image of the cover marked A. T. Reichenbach for Ernst Reichenbach’s Ahnentafel — Ernst Reichenbach Ahnentafel — cover

Unaltered archive access image of the handwritten genealogical chart for Ernst Reichenbach of Halberstadt — Ahnentafel for Ernst Reichenbach — chart leaf

Photographic copy of a six-generation Ahnentafel completed for Ernst Reichenbach — Ahnentafel for Ernst Reichenbach — photographic copy

Hand-completed Ahnentafel form associated with the Stadtarchiv Halle — The original Ahnentafel form

Narrow damaged handwritten genealogical register with crumbling edges — Ahnentafel — damaged manuscript view

Hand-drawn 1997 descent chart shown in correct reading orientation — Hand-drawn Reichenbach descent chart

Several family charts and a typed Reichenbach family tree arranged together — Genealogical charts and family register

Typed German letter from Paul Reichenbach to Rudolf Simonis dated 17 April 1935 — Paul Reichenbach to Rudolf Simonis

Typed German archive query about Abraham Jacob Reichenbach and Therese Frank — Halberstadt archive query concerning Abraham Jacob Reichenbach

What Paul wrote

“It is established that our family lived in Gröbzig at the beginning of the eighteenth century … After Easter I will travel immediately to Gröbzig, perhaps to determine at the cemetery there how many Reichenbachs lie buried there.”

Paul’s letter documents his research and intended cemetery visit. The stories he repeats about the Berezina and Lieutenant Katte remain inherited accounts until independent records are found. The separate query dated 4 February 1936 presents a genuine problem: that date follows Paul’s documented death in November 1935, so the sender cannot simply be assumed.

Persecution written into the record

The instrument, not only the aftermath

The documents below place family names inside civil, notarial and camp bureaucracies. They are shown as complete records, with the administrative language translated and its limits explained.

The publication copies retain full archive attribution. Private emails that accompanied the scans are not published.

Theresienstadt Ältestenrat death notice for Jeanette Reichenbach née Rosenbaum — Jeanette Reichenbach’s Theresienstadt death notice

First page of the 1938 notarial deed for the sale of Breite Straße 7 in Wernigerode — Forced-sale deed, Breite Straße 7 — page 1

Second page of the 1938 notarial deed for the sale of Breite Straße 7 in Wernigerode — Forced-sale deed, Breite Straße 7 — page 2

Third page of the 1938 deed with the clause identifying Fritz Reichenbach as Jewish — Forced-sale deed — racial-law clause

Göttingen civil marriage record for Salomon Gustav Reichenbach and Jeanette Rosenbaum — Marriage of Salomon Gustav Reichenbach and Jeanette Rosenbaum

Signature and witness page from Gustav Reichenbach and Jeanette Rosenbaum’s marriage record — Gustav and Jeanette’s marriage record — signatures and witnesses

First page of the Halberstadt building police file ordering demolition of the synagogue at Bakenstraße 56 after the November pogrom — Demolition file for the Halberstadt synagogue

The decisive clause · German and English

„… dass der Erschienene zu 2 Jude ist und dass auf Grund der Anordnung zu der Verordnung über die Anmeldung des Vermögens der Juden vom 26. April 1938 die Genehmigung der höheren Verwaltungsstelle für dieses Rechtsgeschäft notwendig ist.“

“That the person appearing as no. 2 is a Jew, and that under the order pursuant to the Regulation on the Registration of Jewish Property of 26 April 1938, the approval of the higher administrative authority is required for this transaction.”

This is why the Breite Straße deed can be described as a forced sale under racial law: the coercive condition is written into the instrument itself. The Theresienstadt form is different. It records Jeanette’s death, but its cause-of-death field is the language of a camp administration, not a neutral medical verdict.

Historisches Archiv der Stadt Halberstadt

The civil record

All eight record photographs from the family’s Halberstadt visit appear here. Five are overlapping views of Ruth’s marriage record and are shown together as one record, not five independent sources.

Credit: Historisches Archiv der Stadt Halberstadt and Reichenbach Family Archive.

Ruth’s marriage record — second view, supplied by the Halberstadt archive and prepared in correct reading orientation — Ruth’s marriage record — second view

Paul Reichenbach’s death record, supplied by the Halberstadt archive and prepared in correct reading orientation — Paul Reichenbach’s death record

Ruth’s marriage record — detail view, supplied by the Halberstadt archive and prepared in correct reading orientation — Ruth’s marriage record — detail view

Ruth Reichenbach and Martin Pützrath marriage record, supplied by the Halberstadt archive and prepared in correct reading orientation — Ruth Reichenbach and Martin Pützrath marriage record

Ruth’s marriage record — third view, supplied by the Halberstadt archive and prepared in correct reading orientation — Ruth’s marriage record — third view

Ruth Helene Reichenbach’s birth record, supplied by the Halberstadt archive and prepared in correct reading orientation — Ruth Helene Reichenbach’s birth record

Paul Reichenbach’s birth entry, supplied by the Halberstadt archive and prepared in correct reading orientation — Paul Reichenbach’s birth entry

Adolf “Dolf” Reichenbach’s birth entry, supplied by the Halberstadt archive and prepared in correct reading orientation — Adolf “Dolf” Reichenbach’s birth entry

Deutscher Alpenverein · Halberstadt section

Membership, then formal exclusion

Four section reports place Paul in his own town’s Alpine Club from its founding year through 1931/32. The section’s 1934 statute then required applicants to prove “Aryan descent,” turning racial exclusion into a written admission rule.

Reports: Bibliothek des DAV, München. Statutes and archive inventory: Archiv des DAV, München. Published by permission.

Scanned Alpine Club membership card associated with Paul Reichenbach — Paul’s Alpine Club membership card

Reverse of Paul Reichenbach’s Alpine Club membership card with layered colored validation slips and a 1935 edelweiss stamp — Paul’s Alpine Club membership card — stamped reverse

Membership roll in the 1909 Halberstadt Alpine Club report listing P. Reichenbach, merchant, at Martiniplan 19/21 — Paul in the Halberstadt Alpine Club’s first report

Two-page 1912 Halberstadt Alpine Club membership roll listing P. Reichenbach at Martiniplan 19/21 — Paul on the 1912 membership roll

1913 Halberstadt Alpine Club membership roll listing P. Reichenbach at Martiniplan 19/21 — Paul on the 1913 membership roll

Printed membership roll showing Paul Reichenbach, merchant, Halberstadt, Moltkestraße 46 — Paul in the Alpine Club roll

Printed German tour report listing Paul Reichenbach’s 1931 Engadine and 1932 Zugspitze routes — Paul’s recorded Alpine routes

First typed page of the 1934 Halberstadt Alpine Club statute, including the Aryan-descent admission clause in section 3 — The Halberstadt section’s exclusionary statute, 1934

1934 · the rule changes

Belonging was converted into a racial test.

Paul’s long membership record and the later statute belong together. The first documents participation; the second shows how a civic and recreational association rewrote admission under Nazi rule.

The object record preserves a complete transcription and English translation of the photographed page. The complete 1934 and 1936 statutes and the DAV collection inventory remain available as full PDFs.

Open the 1934 statute Open the 1936 statute

Commerce in print

Handbills, correspondence and official recognition

HATEX sale sheets name both Halberstadt and Wernigerode, but they do not by themselves prove corporate continuity with J. Reichenbach. Paul’s award notice survives as a folded sheet, front and reverse, preserving how the Prussian state addressed a Jewish merchant for public service in 1917.

HATEX winter clearance handbills listing goods and prices in Halberstadt and Wernigerode — HATEX winter-sale handbills — first view

Second view of HATEX winter clearance handbills — HATEX winter-sale handbills — second view

Blank reverse of Paul Reichenbach’s folded 1917 War Aid Merit Cross notice — War Aid Merit Cross notice — reverse

Reading the print

Winter-Schluss-Verkauf means “winter clearance sale.” The HATEX sheets list garments and prices for Halberstadt and Wernigerode. Verdienstkreuz für Kriegshilfe means “Merit Cross for War Aid”; the 1917 notice names “Herrn Kaufmann Paul Reichenbach in Halberstadt, Hoheweg 27.” Open the high-resolution scan, complete transcription and translation →

Family objects

Objects kept in the family

The objects are evidence of survival, but their family histories are not all equally documented. Each record separates what can be seen from what later generations remember.

Gold signet ring with a deep blue intaglio stone held in a hand — Dolf’s signet ring

Framed painting of the Halberstadt marketplace with church towers and a fountain — Halberstadt marketplace painting

Close view of the artist signature on the Halberstadt painting — Marketplace painting — signature

Close view of the inscription Halberstadt 1926 on the painting — Marketplace painting — dated inscription

Three-drawer walnut-veneered chest with gilt-brass rococo mounts — The family chest

A lidded silver-coloured sugar caster beside a rectangular hinged box with a raised tavern scene — Margarete’s silver household objects

Three-quarter view of an oval silver-coloured box with raised floral, fruit and scroll decoration — Family silver box — three-quarter view

Top view of the oval silver-coloured box with a central putto among fruit, flowers and scrolling leaves — Family silver box — cover

Close view of three struck marks on the scratched underside of the family silver-coloured box — Family silver box — underside marks

J. Reichenbach and J. M. Meyer wooden shop hangers displayed over a Halberstadt map — Halberstadt shop hangers in context

J. Reichenbach hanger — second mark detail

J. Reichenbach hanger — Herren- und Knaben-Moden

Curved wooden clothes hanger with a metal hook and the printed mark P. Reichenbach, Halberstadt — P. Reichenbach wooden clothes hanger

J. Reichenbach advertising stamps

Twelve rooms of a vanished store

These printed Reklamemarken, issued by the firm about 1910–1914, name the store’s rooms and departments. The complete set is presented together in its own gallery.

Open the dedicated gallery to compare every original crop with its conventionally adjusted viewing copy and inspect the full object records.

Open all twelve advertising stamps

Historic Halberstadt address directories

The city in names and streets

These pages were photographed during the family’s research visit in Halberstadt. One opens to Sedanstraße; the other to the surname Reichenbach. The address-book identification is secure; the exact edition and year remain uncertain.

Historic Halberstadt address directory open to the street entries for Sedanstraße — Halberstadt address directory — Sedanstraße

Historic Halberstadt address directory open to the alphabetical entries under Reichenbach — Halberstadt address directory — Reichenbach entries

Paul J. Reichenbach · working manuscript

Seven pages for a room of young leaders

The surviving manuscript begins as a typed delivery copy marked up in Paul’s hand and then becomes a handwritten draft. Together the pages preserve both the address and the choices made while preparing it.

Internal references place the gathering in Savannah, within SETY and NFTY, and have Paul returning to New York. No date or title page survives. The Savannah gathering is a different occasion from the Temple Israel sermon delivered after the October 1969 UAHC Biennial.

Open the original seven-page PDF Read it in Paul’s story

Examine all seven manuscript pages

First page of Paul J. Reichenbach’s youth-group address, a typed page densely revised in handwriting — Paul J. Reichenbach’s youth-group address · typed page with revisions

Second page of Paul J. Reichenbach’s youth-group address, typed at the top and continued in handwriting — Youth-group address · page 2 · typed text and handwritten continuation

Third page of Paul J. Reichenbach’s youth-group address written entirely in his hand — Youth-group address · page 3 · Paul’s handwritten draft

Fourth handwritten page of Paul J. Reichenbach’s youth-group address — Youth-group address · page 4 · outreach and thanks

Fifth handwritten page of Paul J. Reichenbach’s youth-group address — Youth-group address · page 5 · planning person by person

Sixth handwritten page of Paul J. Reichenbach’s youth-group address — Youth-group address · page 6 · success, failure and shared values

Final handwritten page of Paul J. Reichenbach’s youth-group address ending with Shabbat Shalom — Youth-group address · final page · “Shabbat Shalom”

A growing archive

Sources remain with the objects

Family-held originals, institutional scans, commercial ephemera, civil records and translations appear with their sources and credits. Personal information concerning living people, private third-party correspondence and restricted legal records are not published. Corrections to descriptions and credits are welcome.

View the chronology Rights and reuse