Levy family aboard SS France en route to Europe
Levy family descends steps of the family home at 690 North Crescent in Cincinnati, Ohio.
01:00:34 Aboard "SS France" ship from May 21-28, 1927. The family spent seven days on the ship sailing from the New York harbor on May 21, 1927. Children walk toward and wave at the camera. CU, young Emilie Jane smiles for the camera. 01:01:20 Clara Levy rests in a chair on the shipdeck. More views of the shipdeck with passengers and the ocean.
01:02:15 Dora Hartman, Clara Levy, and Emilie Jane Levy descend stairs of monument and stand before a stone statue (unknown location).
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Record last modified: 2022-07-28 22:00:42
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1004741
Also in Carl Henry Collection
Carl Henry Levy travelled to Europe from the United States with his family from May to July 1927 where they visited Paris and several locations in Alsace-Lorraine, France. Fourteen-year-old Carl filmed the trip with his first camera, purchased a few days before leaving on the trip, about which he wrote in his diary, "I am in love with it to say the least." The Levys visited Ingwiller, which Carl’s father August left in 1892 in order to escape being drafted into the German Army. These home movies show Ingwiller’s synagogue, the house where August Levy was born, and prewar Jewish life in France, including relatives of the Levy family who did not survive, such as Salomon and Mina Levy, two of 36 members of the French resistance who were thrown alive into a well by the Nazis in Guerry in July 1944. From May to July 1927, when Carl Henry Levy was 14 years old, he travelled to Europe with his family - father, August Levy (1875-1967); mother, Clara Levy (1890-); sister, Emilie Jane Levy Drooker (1924-) and her governess; and his brother, Robert (1918-). They were accompanied by close friends - Louis Hartman, a shoe manufacturer from Haverhill, Massachusetts, his wife Deborah (Dora), and their daughter Sarah (known as Sally, later as Sarah Gould). Carl filmed the trip with a camera he purchased a few days before leaving for Europe; it was his first camera. [Carl wrote in a travel journal on May 19, 1927 in New York prior to departing for France, "Tinkered around with my movie camera. I am in love with it to say the least."] Upon the family's return to Cincinnati, young Carl would screen the footage to family friends about 50 times over a period of 2-3 months. The repeated projection of the images in social occasions might explain some of the scratches on the film. Abrupt cuts are a result of Carl's novice talent or experimentation. A bit of lint gets caught in the camera near the end of the film. Carl Henry's family visited his father's place of origin in Ingwiller in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. The area has alternated between French and German rule for hundreds of years. In 1870, the French lost the territory in a humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Under German rule and a policy of Germanization, which included the prohibition of speaking in French, the elimination of all French references, and other policies, many inhabitants of the area moved to France. Carl's father, August, moved to Cincinnati from Alsace in 1892 in order to escape the draft of the German army. The French desire to rule the Alsace-Lorraine region was a major mobilizing cause for French nationalism, and the French indeed regained control of the area after World War I, in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. When Carl's family visited Alsace, it was under French rule, and his father could freely show the family the places of his youth. In 1940, Hitler's troops occupied Alsace and regained German control of the region. Under Nazi control, the Jewish community captured in this footage would perish. In 1945, French and American troops regained the control of the region for France.
Prewar Jewish life in Alsace-Lorraine; tourist views
Film
June 8-15, 1927 in Ingwiller (the family stayed at the Hotel de la Gare in Alsace-Lorraine). Stone house in Ingwiller, France where August Levy grew up. Emilie and Robert play. Street life in the village - cow pulling a wagon with passengers moves along the town's main road passing "Epicerie et Mercerie" shop. 01:03:07 CUs of Levy relatives: Lucy Levy; Rachel Meis, half-sister of Henry Meis (who brought August Levy to Cincinnati in 1892), and August; Henry Meis (1857-) with Lucy Levy; another relative (woman) with Clara Levy; Henry Meis with Lucy Levy again, followed by Rachel Meis; Clara Levy with Henry Meis, Emilie Jane, and Robert; 01:04:09 Henry's companion, Howard Landon (1874-) with Emilie Jane, Robert, and a dog. 01:04:23 The store of Salomon Levy, with Salomon and his wife Mina in the doorway (both were killed by the Nazis in July 1944). Street scene. 01:04:48 Synagogue in Ingwiller (Henry Meis was a big contributor and supporter of the synagogue. Carl revisited the synagogue during the war in 1944.). The visiting Americans pose on the steps of the synagogue. Children play in the doorway of a shop. Man walks on a cobbled street in Ingwiller(?). Lucy Levy and others in the street before the "Emile Bronner Printre" shop. Street scenes in Alsace region (maybe Ettendorf or Hochfelden). Farmer. Changing a tire on the way from Hochfelden back to Ingwiller. Robert Levy on the dirt road. 01:06:09 Street scenes in an Alsatian town (maybe Ettendorf or Hochfelden). MS, the home in Hochfelden, Germany where August Levy was born in 1875; family poses near the doorway. Cow. Levy family on a narrow street in an Alsatian town (probably Hochfelden). 01:07:16 June 15- 18, 1927. Laundry hanging along a canal/river in Strasbourg(?). Several tourist shots of Strasbourg where August Levy went to school ("Dad wanted to show us all the places of his youth"). Illegible sign. Children in gardens. 01:08:22 The Palace of the Rhine (formerly the Palace of the Kaiser) in Strasbourg. Children at play at the base of a monument. "Litteris et Patriae" on the University Palace building of the University of Strasbourg. 01:09:22 LS, Boat on the Rhine River. 01:09:44 Glimpse of Ingwiller with Clara, Rachel Meis, and Emilie Jane, and a brief street scene of women and children in the town. 01:09:55 Back in Strasbourg, tram, street scenes. LS, Levy women across the street in front of a statue, pan of large domed building. Family with bearded tour-guide. "H. Tietz & Co" shop behind a fountain. 01:11:30 Emilie in the doorway of the school where August Levy went. 01:11:36 Clara Levy and the canals of Strasbourg. CU, tour-guide. More sights and streets in Strasbourg. 01:13:31 Strasbourg Cathedral. Canals. 01:14:18 Outdoor restaurant, café tables with umbrellas. Overview shot of café and pedestrians. 01:15:09 LS, family members before an arched-marble statue ending with August with Emilie walking towards the camera. More tourist shots of unidentified buildings and other sights (unknown location).
Levy family on SS France - departure and arrival in France
Film
Levy family on the SS France ship from May 21-28, 1927. Crowds gathered on the French Line pier in New York to see the SS France depart on May 21, 1927. New York harbor and Statue of Liberty. At leisure on the boat walking toward the camera: Lou Hartman on left with August Levy; Clara Levy with Dora Hartman; Emilie Jane; August with Lou Hartman. 01:18:10 Faceless boy in knickers and knee socks is the cameraman, Carl, better shot of him at 01:18:31. Scenes aboard the ship. Sally Hartman reads on deck. 01:19:12 Boat reaches Southhampton, England where a tender came out to take off the British-bound passengers. Scenes from the window of a train as the Levy family travels from Le Havre to Paris on May 28, 1927 at 01:19:48.
Sightseeing in Paris
Film
In Paris, Lou Hartman with August Levy standing at an outdoor café. The family converses and takes a walk. 01:20:47 The Palace at Fontainebleau. Statue in the square near the Fontainebleau. 01:21:37 The family tours the Palace of Versailles. Robert Levy at a café table. 01:22:00 Family aboard "Rubber-neck Buses" for tourists to see the sights. Place de la Concorde with automobile traffic. 01:22:31 LS, Eiffel Tower (visited on May 30, 1927). Military men on horseback in street. CU, decorated French war veteran (according to diary, he was 98 years old and fought under Napoleon). MS, Bois de Boulogne, a public park in Paris, people sitting on benches. Possibly, Mont Saint-Michel. Walking in the city, 01:23:53 CU, Emilie Jane.01:23:59 The Levy family visits the Palace of Versailles again on Sunday to observe the fountains which played once a month. Fountains on display. French enjoying a picnic day. 01:25:20 Good CUs of Emilie Jane in Tuilerie Gardens, feeding the birds.
Levy family visits spa in Baden-Baden
Film
In Baden-Baden, Germany, Robert and Clara Levy walking. Children and the family visiting the gardens and the spa where they spent a week. 01:26:46 CU, Carl Henry Levy. 01:27:04 CU, Emilie Jane and governess. LS, Europaeischer Hotel where the family stayed. Drinking hall with columns. 01:27:30 CU, Clara Levy.
Prewar Jewish life in Alsace
Film
The Levy family took a final trip back to Ingwiller from Baden-Baden by automobile. Cross via a pontoon bridge - the bridge was taken apart and reassembled for the car to cross. Bridge at Strasbourg. 01:28:30 Group shot of the entire Levy family together in Ingwiller. Carl waves to camera. Cart and wagon in town, villagers walk past shops on cobbled streets in Ingwiller. Men, including Henry Meis on extreme left, looking up at a stork on the house where August Levy was born in Hochfelden.
Sightseeing in Switzerland and Italy
Film
June 27-29, 1927. Lucerne, Switzerland, views of the lake of Lucerne. 01:30:49 The Palace Hotel with mountains in BG. Covered bridge and the marketplace at Lucerne. Street scenes, bicycles, pedestrians crossing a bridge, Swiss flag on a building. Very brief CU of Carl. Lakeside views as the family travels to the Rigi tourist mountain with a cog railway. Brief MS of train at station. 01:32:19 June 29 to July 1, 1927. MS, Lake Como. Family members on a boat in Italy on Lake Como. Lakeside buildings, flag waving in wind on boat. 01:33:05 July 1-6, 1927. Hotel Excelsior at Lido Beach near Venice where the Levy family stayed for five days. The group poses together. At Piazza San Marco, Dora Hartman and August Levy feed the pigeons. Drinking and eating at an outdoor restaurant on an island nearby where glass and lace are made, street scenes. Gondolas along the canals in Venice. 01:35:20 Gondola ride. Lido Beach. Family at cabana. Ornate buildings at Piazza San Marco in Venice. View of the famous sights from a motorboat trip around the canals, including the Rialto bridge. 01:38:38 July 6-8, 1927. Aerial view of Florence, Italy, including Il Duomo. 01:39:02 July 8-13, 1927. The Colosseum in Rome. Sightseeing in Rome. 01:40:18 Ruins at Tivoli, the summer home for Roman emperors and Italian aristocracy. Waterfall. City of Tivoli. 01:41:17 Gardens of the Villa d'Este estate with fountains. 01:43:03 Roman forum. Ruins. City views taken from the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, first king of unified Italy, completed in 1925. Pan of the marble monument building. Robert Levy on the steps of the monument. Pan of church on the outskirts of Rome. Equestrian monument to Garibaldi. 01:45:56 Long aerial view of Rome including the Vatican and St Peter's Basilica. 01:46:16 Trevi Fountain. Closer view of St. Peter's Basilica exterior. Very brief glimpse of automobile.
Levy family on SS Rotterdam returning to US
Film
"SS Rotterdam" ship at sea. The travelers took this boat back to New York (July 20-29, 1927). The family boards the boat. Emilie Jane in her father's arms. Robert and Sally, August and Hartman, and Robert and Carl play shuffleboard. Emilie Jane plays with a small sandbox on the ship deck. Robert, August, and Dora Hartman lounge in deck chairs. Emilie plays. Robert plays shuffleboard. Clara Levy reads a book. August converses with another passenger. Robert hugs his little sister, Emilie. Lou and Dora Hartman. CU, Sally Hartman reading. Passengers on deck. Emilie Jane poses inside the life preserver ring buoy labeled "Rotterdam," supposed to simulate the MGM lion.
