Reading Room
Selected documents and objects
Begin with a 14-record path through the family story, or browse all 64 records selected for the Reading Room. The Complete Catalog lists every one of the archive’s 375 public records across 9 series.
Filter and sort
The default path begins with Dolf’s 1938 letter, then establishes the households and shops of Halberstadt and Wernigerode, persecution and flight, and the family’s American chapter.
By kind
What survives
Open a selected card for its source, date, evidence status, credit and reuse terms. Use the Complete Catalog for the full public collection.
Showing 24 of 64 records
The letter
Letter
Dolf’s letter from St. Moritz to Mutti
Dolf wrote these two sheets to his mother from St. Moritz on 26 November 1938.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Photographs
The Reichenbach family
Dolf stands beside Margarete and Paul in the principal surviving family portrait from before 1935.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Civil and official records
Paul entered the civil register as Jacob Paul Reichenbach
The Halberstadt register records Jacob Paul Reichenbach’s birth on 20 October 1876.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Civil and official records
The register names Ruth Helene Reichenbach at birth
The Halberstadt register records Ruth Helene Reichenbach’s birth on 16 May 1909.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Civil and official records
The register records Dolf’s birth in Halberstadt
The Halberstadt register records Dolf’s birth and names Paul and Margarete as his parents.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Civil and official records
The marriage record signed for Gustav Reichenbach and Jeanette Rosenbaum
Gustav and Jeanette’s 1883 marriage record connects the Halberstadt and Wernigerode family branches.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Civil and official records
Fritz appears as the seller of Breite Straße 7
The 1938 forced-sale deed records the loss of the family property at Breite Straße 7 in Wernigerode.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Photographs
Kaufhaus Reichenbach at Martiniplan 10 at night
A family-held night photograph records the illuminated Martiniplan 10 façade and display windows.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Commercial objects
A wooden hanger marked for J. Reichenbach men’s and boys’ fashions
A surviving wooden hanger carries the J. Reichenbach men’s-and-boys’ clothing mark.
Persecution and flight
Civil and official records
Kurt Reichenbach on the transport list
The transport list dated 14 April 1942 names Kurt Reichenbach; the next page names Paula and Hans Wollenberg. They were deported from Halberstadt on 12 April.
The American chapter
Civil and official records
Dolf Reichenbach’s Certificate of Naturalization
Dolf’s family-held certificate records his naturalization in Boston on 15 May 1944.
The American chapter
Photographs
Susan “Subie” Ulmer Reichenbach at seventeen or eighteen
A family-held studio portrait shows Susan “Subie” Ulmer at about seventeen or eighteen, before her marriage to Dolf.
The American chapter
Photographs
Classmates already called her Subie
The 1943 Simmons yearbook gives Susan Berne Ulmer’s portrait, school record and the nickname Subie.
The American chapter
Oral history
Susan Reichenbach Heyman remembers her father’s escape
Dolf and Subie’s daughter recalls her father’s escape. Recorded in Newton, Massachusetts, on 5 August 2026 and published with the speaker’s permission.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Photographs
Paul Reichenbach late in life
Paul Reichenbach late in life. The direct scan keeps the print’s border, fading and surface marks. The date, place and photographer remain unknown.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Commercial objects
Reichenbach spring textiles and ready-made clothing advertisement
Reichenbach spring clothing and textile advertisement, 28 February 1930
The American chapter
Commercial objects
A Boston directory names Dolph Reichenbach as Banner Sportswear’s president
This 1964 Boston directory entry lists Banner Sportswear Inc. at 116 Harrison Avenue, eighth floor, as a ladies’ sportswear business. It names Dolph Reichenbach as president, Jos Barth as treasurer and Louis Krasher as vice-president. The entry places Dolf in Boston’s garment trade in 1964, but it does not establish when the company began or how its ownership was divided. It is not the entry for Adolfo Sardiña and not Banner Bros. of Jamaica Plain.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Commercial objects
J. Reichenbach winter-clothing advertisement
A full-page advertisement presents J. Reichenbach as a large clothing manufacturer and retailer, with 1,500 winter coats and its own workshops.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Commercial objects
J. Reichenbach advertising button
A round advertising button presents J. Reichenbach as Halberstadt's largest specialist house for men's and boys' fashions; its maker's line names S. Münz of Nuremberg.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Commercial objects
Paul’s business ordered goods for J. Reichenbach in Wernigerode
This message side, dated 27 September 1917, places an order with a Leipzig supplier and asks for goods and invoice to go to J. Reichenbach in Wernigerode. Someone in Paul’s business wrote the card, and postal hands carried it to the supplier. It connects the Halberstadt and Wernigerode firms in this transaction, but the writer’s signature and some wording remain a preliminary reading.
Persecution and flight
Commercial objects
The state list naming Mennigen & Co. after Paul Reichenbach’s firm
Under ‘Kreis Halberstadt,’ the official list places ‘Paul Reichenbach, Halberstadt’ opposite ‘Mennigen & Co. K.-G.’ beneath the headings ‘Jüdische Firma’ and ‘Arisiert durch.’ This is direct administrative evidence that Mennigen & Co. was recorded as the Aryanization successor to Paul Reichenbach’s business. It is not the purchase contract.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Civil and official records
Ruth and Martin Pützrath married, divorced, and changed the record
This complete civil entry records Ruth Reichenbach and Martin Pützrath’s 1930 marriage and bears the signatures made that day. Marginal notes add their 1932 divorce and Ruth’s 1933 return to the name Reichenbach. The record gives the legal sequence, not the private life of the marriage.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Civil and official records
Paul’s German passport remains inside its worn cover
This cover enclosed the passport Paul Reichenbach carried. Paul and border officials handled the booklet as he traveled, and the family kept it after his death. The cover identifies the document type, but it carries none of the travel details inside.
Halberstadt and Wernigerode
Civil and official records
Anna Jacob’s death notice gathers the family around her name
This 1931 newspaper notice names Anna’s husband Julius, their son Adolf, and Paul, Max, Else and Ernst Reichenbach among the mourners. The family placed the notice after Anna’s death following an accident. It establishes a close household and family circle, but it does not assign every stated relationship or name Anna’s parents.
Explore all civil evidence: registers, citizenship, addresses and sources cited in the biographies.