Prewar religious service in Gilserberg
Men in overcoats and hats walk toward the camera on snowy street in Gilserberg, Germany. 01:41:44 Brief, dark INT of synagogue, rabbi with tallit opening ark. Family in icy streets and other street views. 01:42:51 INT, woman in kitchen. Man with Artur and Helmut in yeshiva hats lift up glasses of wine. Julie blesses the boys. More interiors. Snow-covered streets.
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Record last modified: 2022-07-28 21:56:23
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1004763
Also in Isenberg Family Film Collection
Mark Isenberg donated his grandfather Solomon’s black and white home movies of the Isenberg family to the Museum during the 20th anniversary commemoration event in Chicago. Solomon Isenberg was a successful banker living in Saarbrücken, Germany. The films show Jewish family life in Germany and travel to other European cities between 1928 and 1938. The Isenbergs immigrated to the United States in 1938. A photograph of this collection is featured on the cover of the fall 2013 issue of the Museum’s bi-annual magazine, Memory & Action.
Jewish family life in Germany before the war
Film
Car on the street, police directing traffic, trams, shop signs. People peer into shop window of Süsskind shop. Norbert, Erna, and her mother Bertha stand on a street corner. 01:00:26 INT, woman in front of a window. Man walks on a cobbled street with an overcoat thrown over his shoulder. Sally waves and runs backwards away from the camera. Alice, Erna, and Norbert joke and run on the street. INT, woman in an apron cleans dishes in the kitchen. [VQ shifts to poor] Alice in a drop-waist dress walks in yard, others gather. 01:01:26 Leo Greif, Bertha, and others get out of a car with Saarbruecken license plates (SAAR - 111812). The boys hold a kite, walk around beside the house with family. Three Isenberg boys play ball. Alice fixes a Norbert's clothing. The three Isenberg boys and another sit on a ledge overlooking a valley, family poses together. Views of the surrounding fields and houses. Artur climbs a flat building wall. Helmut flies a kite. 01:05:06 INT, Artur plays the piano.
Isenberg family on vacation in Klosters; hiking; boating
Film
Valley, lake, mountains, farmland. Isenberg family swims in the lake, paddles boats, Erna sunbathes. 01:07:41 Family hikes a mountain trail, wild panning shots. 01:08:07 VQ - poor, CUs of Norbert and overlook views of a city. INT, man in bed, waves, a woman walks around the room. 01:08:38 Alice with young Norbert on a terrace, camera pans to show the street below their balcony. People get onto a train, farmland. 01:09:01 Isenberg family swims at a lake - sunbathe, row boats, play. 01:10:11 [VQ shifts to poor] View of houses along an empty street. The Isenberg family and two unknown men walk along the street and towards the camera. 01:11:20 Sally with the boys runs towards the camera, laughing. 01:11:25 Men and women get out of a car, walk up stairs, pose. People and horses on the street below, pan of buildings. Sign: "Hotel Pardenn." Men carry planks of wood. Pan of town.
Snowball fight in Zurich
Film
Snow-covered landscape. Norbert and Isenberg family walk down snow-covered stairs at the Isenberg family home. Sally swings Norbert and kisses Erna. Snowball fight.
Harvard football game
Film
In United States, houses in neighborhood. Women and children in front of house. Men rowing on the Charles River, flag. Harvard University marching band on a sports field. Men play American football, sign: "Harvard 14, Visitors 13." Marching band plays in the stands. Car driving on highway past trees and power lines. Aerial pan. Car drives up a snowy road. A group of young people exit the vehicle and walk towards the camera.
Sally and Erna Isenberg tour Geneva and vicinity
Film
[VQ begins poor] Erna in bed. EXT of Geneva with apartments and river. Another view of Erna reading or writing in bed followed by city views. 01:00:34 An outdoor entertaining space on street level. Street scenes and lake-views. People with umbrellas on a platform. CUs of Erna eating. Cat jumps off ledge. Erna Isenberg walks by a train. Erna types on a typewriter. Scenic views of landscape. INT, pan of dining room with tables and waiters in tuxedos. Views of a boat on a lake from hotel window. City street scenes, bicycles, traffic. 01:04:05 Entrance to Hotel Beau Rivage in Geneva, Switzerland. Park and ornate church. People exit the hotel and tour the city. 01:04:50 Quick view of a man in uniform carrying a bag. Boat on Lake Geneva. 01:05:14 Sally Isenberg walks toward the camera, followed by Erna. More lake views. People (possibly Henriette Susskind beside Erna) board a boat with dining room, views of shore. Boat docks, sign: "Morges", more lake views from boat journey. Train on mountainside. Touring lakeside city by car showing broad boulevards and narrow alleys. 01:07:30 Erna gets out of the car, eats at a café outdoors. 01:07:55 Schoolgirls dressed in uniform walk along street. Views of the lake, countryside, castles from boat. Erna in a fur-lined coat walks toward camera - sightseeing near old stone building, narrow streets, country homes, and harbor. Erna walks toward camera with car in BG, sightseeing, castle, lake views. 01:12:18 Back in city, people board a tram. Red Cross truck. Pedestrians line streets. Boy walks dogs on leash. Pan of street scene. Erna peers into shop windows. Dog. Boat on lake. People board a boat (possibly including Henriette with Erna), water, boat mechanic, etc. Sally on-deck at 01:14:38.
Isenberg family visits Switzerland; zoo; train station
Film
Visiting a zoo (probably Zoo Basel) - ape, peacock, cage of birds, ram, flamingoes, camel, ostrich, wolves, antelope, and bears. 01:15:34 LS, Basel train station and street scenes with traffic. Sign: "Grand Hotel, Hotel Euler" in Basel. Erna exits hotel and gets into a car. Stone monument surrounded by stones and flowers, quick view of a family at left in the park. Aerial view of tram. A different sign of "Hotel Euler" and tourist pan with sign: "Central Apotheke." MS, unknown man posing in front of a fence. Two people talk in a dining room. Erna in bed with her boys, Artur, Norbert, and Helmut. They play and pose for the camera. The three boys and Erna walk down steps and in the street carrying their luggage to the train station. The boys help each other get on a train.
Family tours Switzerland; boat tour; airship; sightseeing
Film
Snow-covered streets in St. Moritz, ice-skating, mountains in BG. Bertha Greif, Erna, and Julie walk towards camera in snow. 01:19:16 They pose playfully on a boat-deck, Sally appears at 01:19:51. 01:20:34 Tourist views of cobbled street, clock on a building façade (possibly in Bern), horse and carriages. CU driver, Erna, and Henriette Susskind in an open car, sightseeing. Hillside with trees and a railway line. Erna and relatives walk on a dirt road, sit at an outdoor table and raise their drinks. The women stand in an open field, plane in the sky. Good MS of Erna holding sunglasses. 01:22:34 Airship in the sky (probably the stop-over landing of the Graf Zeppelin LZ127 on October 12, 1930 in Bern). 01:23:10 Isenberg boys and their mother stand on the ledge of a boat-deck, pointing at the land. Erna picks out postcards at newspaper stand. Boys approach an ice cream stand. 01:23:37 Good views of the Isenberg family - Sally, Erna, the boys, and Alice - walking towards the camera and getting into a car. A woman leads a large group of young schoolgirls through a gate.
Isenberg family at leisure; children play
Film
Sally Isenberg walks out of a door, followed by an older Artur and grandmother Bertha. Coy pond in the garden. [VQ - film not registered in camera well, poor] Helmut runs toward the camera and takes off his hat. The Isenberg family, Alice, and Bertha Marx walk toward camera, posing. Norbert plays with a yo-yo. House. The adults and children pose for camera, walk along the street, and joke. 01:27:16 Pan of the house and gardens. Norbert on his bicycle. Family members (including Bertha, Leo, and Margot Greif) gather in yard, Sally appears at 01:28:32. Boys and girl play, Helmut and Norbert ride bicycles, see-saw.
Parade in Switzerland; Isenberg family visits Klosters
Film
A crowded square in Graubuenden. People in traditional costume parade through the street. Bank in BG. 01:31:29 Norbert, Artur, Helmut, and Erna walk together past outdoor tables and benches in Klosters. Sally Isenberg joins them. Erna and the boys exit a home and walk through a park with a seesaw, umbrellas, lounge chairs, giant wheels. Helmut and Norbert salute Sally as he walks over. Sally motions for the camera to follow as he leads the boys to the seesaw. Sally gets on one end of the seesaw as the boys climb on the other end. The boys do handstands and somersaults in the grass. Sally sits on a lounge chair with Norbert in his lap. Artur wearing sunglasses rubs ointment on his face. 01:34:14 People in costumes march in a parade and carry signs with place names written on them: "Bludenz" and "Montafon" [towns in the mountains near Lichtenstein and Switzerland]. Horse and carriage carry people playing instruments. Elaborate floats. Family members descend stairs in town.
Isenberg family at home in Vaduz; men dancing; swimming
Film
Boys swim in a pool at the family home in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Modern-looking houses with mountains in BG. More diving and swimming. 01:39:40 Car and Norbert on bicycle pass a large house. Norbert and an unknown man walk towards camera on street, one with a cigar in his mouth, car in BG. Sally and Erna tussle in bed. Sally walks past window. 01:41:01 [VQ shifts to poor] Men in national costume dance and play in a street under "Hotel Greif" awning (hotel in Wels, Austria). People watch from the sidewalk. Older man lies in a chair by a window with Norbert. The elders Nathan Stahl and Julie Isenberg exit home with Norbert and Herbert Goldsmith in the BG. INT, parlor, people sit on stuffed chairs in front of windows. Modern house, clothes hang on a laundry line and a woman stands on a balcony. The family rakes, including Sally at 01:43:13. Pool at the Vaduz home, men swim, including Hans Susskind and Artur.
Sailing on the SS Normandie in 1938
Film
People on board the SS Normandie sailing from Le Havre, France on October 5, 1938, including Erna, leaning against the rails, reading papers. More views of ship passengers and Sally at 01:44:39.
Isenberg family visits relatives in Gilserberg; cemetery; synagogue
Film
Man riding bicycle through town, past stacks of timber. Horse-drawn wagon. More logs and pan of houses. 01:16:00 "Jakob Stern" sign on a house [see notes about Stern family], men on wagon. Mailman closes door to truck. Man walks down street with a cane. Muddy trail in a field. 01:16:52 Cemetery - gravestones with Hebrew inscriptions - family names: Stern, Marx, Isenberg, Stahl. Family rides in a horse-drawn wagon in town. Jacob and Sophie Stern and family pose in front of the Stern house. Sigmund, Rosa, Julie, unknown women, and Isenberg family work on a farm. Sigmund leads oxen. 01:19:15 Man with cigar carries an animal hide up stairs and to a door. Boy plays with a ball. Group gathers and proceeds on the town's main street. Sheep graze in village. 01:20:18 Nice CUs of Julie and women at work. 01:20:35 Sophie Stern and her sister walk with Julie in the street, bundled in warm jackets. Automobile, Erna and family members walk in the street. 01:21:44 Quick INT, group dining - man cuts meat, bottle on the table. Sheared sheep herded through town. Norbert, Erna, Julie, Rosa, and other family members in alley, piles of wood. 01:22:23 Good shot of Sally Isenberg walking towards camera. A group, including Sophie and Sigmund Stern, sits in chairs in a circle outside a home. Erna, Sigmund, Rosa, and others walk down a dirt road, Sigmund Stern playfully shoves Sigmund Isenberg. Motorcycle and traffic. Pan of town, Norbert approaches camera, chicken, boys playing, including Hans Stern and his second cousin Helmut. Julie, Nathan Stahl, Erna, Hildegard Stahl Loeb, Rosa, Sigmund, and the boys walking in the street and a field. They (with Rickchen Stahl) take a rest and converse. 01:26:01 Back in town, large family gathering and views of the synagogue in Gilserberg. Erna and Nathan walking along a country road. Young boys walk, including Hans and Helmut Stern, and play with string, soccer game. Two teen-aged boys drag a tree through the town street. Rosa and another fashionably-dressed walk by. Women and Julie walk by - Julie clutches a handkerchief to her face not wanting to be filmed. Family members crowd in the street beside Mercedes with IY-23340 license plate, CUs. 01:29:17 Sigmund Stern in light-colored suit. 01:29:20 [VQ shifts to poor] INT, man with suspenders and mustache eats at a table, joined by others.
Jewish family at leisure
Film
Pan, farm/field and manicured gardens. People on the balcony of house wave at the camera. 01:30:12 Sally Isenberg waves to camera. Train pulls into station. Group disembarks and walks along streets. INTs of train, Erna reads newspaper. 01:32:00 In city, Sigmund and Erna approach the camera. Sally takes off his hat. Traffic officer stands in the middle of a busy intersection (maybe Zurich), bikes and cars pass. Pan of city life with shops, cars, pedestrians, trees lining the street. Sigmund and Erna walk past the camera and wave. 01:32:48 View of train tracks from the train window. Signs: "Friedberg", "Bad Nauheim," "Giessen." Empty train station. 01:33:43 Soldiers walk in formation. Man stands in front of his shop; woman with baby carriage.
The Isenbergs visit family in Gilserberg
Film
Cows in field. Bertha and Margot Greif, Rosa, Julie, Erna, Hermine, Sophie Stern, and her sister walk down the country road. Men with horses and wagons. Pan of village and piles of wood. Women walk in the street. 01:36:46 In Gilserberg, INT, Julie in the kitchen, another washes rags. Erna leans out of the window. Street activity, mail truck drives past. 01:37:36 Young girl with a backpack poses for camera. Men with a pig. Margot and Bertha Greif, Sigmund, Rosa, Juile, Erna, and Sigmund Stern walk down stairwell of house. Pan of village streets with animals, people, houses, wood. Motorcycle with IT-37270 plate. More street scenes with family members and villagers. CU, Rosa, Julie, Hermine, Erna, Sigmund, and Nathan gather for a group shot, walk in the street.
Isenberg family greets townspeople
Film
Unknown people in a carriage in an unknown location. Isenberg family gets out of a car. Artur, Sigmund, and others gather in the street, talking to folks through windows of brick homes.
