Ernst and Hildegard Israel papers

Ernst Israel (1905-1987) was born in Cologne, Germany. After the Nazis took power in Germany, Ernst fled to Shanghai, one of his three sisters fled to Belgium, another to England, and the third was hidden. Ernst managed a wooden button factory called Holz Knöpfe Israel (HIK) in his home in Shanghai and employed eight Chinese people. He married Hildegard Cohn Ksinski in December 1943, and the couple immigrated to the United States with their two year old son Kay Frank aboard the SS Marine Swallow in 1948 and settled in Salt Lake City.

Hildegard Cohn was born in Germany in 1917. Along with her parents, Alex and Paulina, and brother Alfons, Hildegard left Germany on the night of Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938. They traveled to Genoa, Italy, and then sailed to Shanghai, China, arriving in January 1939. There she met Ernst Israel, age 32, who was originally from Cologne, Germany. They married on December 19, 1943. This was Hildegard's second marrige. In Germany, she had been married to Leo Ksinski, but the marriage had ended in divorce. In Shanghai, Hildegard worked as a dressmaker. Hildegard and Ernst came to the United States in 1948 as displaced persons. They were endorsed by a lawyer in Shanghai and had friends in California.