Oscar Koppel papers

Oscar Koppel was born in Letmathe, Germany in December 1886. After obtaining his law degree from Heidelberg University in 1912 and serving in the German military in 1914, Oscar embarked on a career as a lawyer and notary. For nearly ten years, from 1923-1934 he served as a legal advisor to coal mining unions, including the Association of Metal and Raw Product Wholesale Merchants. Oscar was living in Bochum with his wife, Elsa (1891-1966) and daughter, Lore (1924-), at the time of the Nazi rise to power. In April 1933, as a result of the Nuremburg laws, Oscar was disbarred and banned from practicing law because of his Jewish faith. In an effort to escape further persecution, Oscar moved his family to the United States. In June of 1934 the family left Germany for Amsterdam, Netherlands, and subsequently sailed from South Hampton, England to New York City on the RMS Carinthia.

Once in the United States, Oscar and his wife and daughter settled in the Van Ness neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Unable to practice as a lawyer, Oscar took a job as a bookkeeper for a local liquor store and taught German lessons on the side, at one point teaching President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s son. After declaring his intent to seek citizenship in 1937, Oscar obtained a job as an economist for the United States government, focusing on industrial production and coal mining. In1939, the entire family was granted citizenship.