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Descriptive Summary
Creator:	Rosenkranz, Moses
Title:	Moses Rosenkranz Collection
Dates:	1930-1999
Abstract:	The collection documents the life and work of the poet Moses Rosenkranz. It includes correspondence, manuscripts, general notes pertaining to his work, private photographs, and clippings.
Languages:	The collection is in German, English, French, and Romanian.
Quantity:	2 linear feet
Identification:	AR 25087
Repository:	Leo Baeck Institute

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Biographical Note

Moses Rosenkranz was born as Edmund Hans Rosenkranz to a rather poor Jewish farmer family in the village of Berhometh in the Bukowina, Romania in 1904. Protesting against the anti-Semitism of one of his teachers, he adopted the name Moses at the age of eleven. Moses chose German to be his native tongue out of the broad range of languages that were spoken at his home, such as Polish, Yiddish, Ruthenic, Romanian and German. At the early age of fifteen his enthusiasm for the German language established his passion for poetry, and he started to write. During these years, the First World War brought poverty and hunger about for his family, his father died and Moses had to earn a living for his family as a worker in France and a soldier in Romania. In the early 1930s he finally got a job as a translator and ghostwriter for the Romanian Queen Mary in Bucarest, where he also met his future wife Anna.

In 1941, he was first sent to the Ghetto of Czernowitz and then to a labor camp, where he was interned until his escape in 1944. After the War, Moses Rosenkranz worked as a social worker for the International Red Cross. In 1947, he was deported to a labor camp in Siberia. His (then ex-)wife Anna - from the correspondence we do not learn when exactly their divorce took place - was making feverish attempts to get him out of the Gulag during these years. In the 1950s Anna married again, moved to New York and went to university there in order to become a socio-psychological worker. After she had married her second husband Karl Ruebner, she was often officially addressed as Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz, which is why in this collection she is always referred to as such. Her affection for Moses Rosenkranz had stayed strong over the years, and after her second husband died in the late 1950s, the two were even thinking of marrying again (a plan they never carried out in the end).

In 1957 Moses Rosenkranz was finally able to return to Romania and to reunite with his daughter Marianne, called "Bimmel" or "Miez" (whose mother was Marka, future Marka Brender, wife of Isidor Brender, a former girlfriend of Moses), and her family. Back there, he experienced not only the difficulties of the economic situation during the Cold War, but also the bitter fact that he was still regarded as a political outcast and not even fully acknowledged as a writer in his former home country. In 1961 he emigrated to West Germany, where he still remained rather unnoticed by the German literary and editorial scene. Until his death in 2003, he lived in a village in the Schwarzwald, together with his wife Doris. The correspondence suggests, but does not prove, that this Doris was indeed Doris Rosenfeld, Anna's good friend from Switzerland who also helped Moses on Anna's behalf to get out of Romania.

The correspondence is also not explicit about the others who helped in this process and in the liberation process before, but it can be assumed that the following provided assistance: Helene Gottesmann ("Hina") probably was Anna's sister, as was Lilly Kehlmann, wife of Heinz Kehlmann; and Liselotte ("Lilly") Pusch, obviously a close friend to the Rosenkranz family, and maybe also a former lover of Moses Rosenkranz.

The poetry of Moses Rosenkranz is mostly described as a literary reaction to the terror he experienced throughout the century, and this is indeed what his texts are about. Literary criticism notes mainly his sophisticated style, based on traditional cross-rhyme schemes and a lyrical speech that has mostly been regarded as rather antiquated but that has also often evoked pure delight thanks to its romantic and poetic tone. So, even if Moses Rosenkranz is often named together with his much more famous fellow Romanian poet Paul Celan, who emerged from the Jewish-German cultural scene in Czernowits/Bukowina as well (see III.3), he has never had much in common with him in regard to his literary production due to this conventional style.

Moses Rosenkranz' work has only recently been made available to the public by the Rimbaud Verlag in Germany, Aachen, which published his fragmentary biography in the editions Kindheit. Fragment einer Autobiographie (Aachen 2001) and Jugend (in preparation for 2004), and his poems in the editions Visionen (in preparation for 2004), Bukowina. Gedichte 1920-1997 (1998), Im Untergang. Ein Jahrhundertbuch (1986), and Im Untergang II. Ein Jahrhundertbuch (1988).

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Scope and Contents

The Moses Rosenkranz Collection documents the life and work of Moses Rosenkranz via his and his friends' extensive correspondence as well as his manuscripts and personal documents relating to him and his first wife Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz.

Since the documents come from the estate of Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz, the collection concentrates on her role in her first husband's life: The bulk of the correspondence series consists of private letters she got from Moses Rosenkranz, which tell both about his eventful life as well as the story of their complex relationship that started in the early 1930s and ended in the late 1980s. Only a few of her letters are included the collection. Her own correspondence to friends and institutions shows how deeply she was dedicated to the challenge of helping Moses Rosenkranz in his difficult life and trying to liberate him from the Russian labor camp. Also, the correspondence of the couple's friends and acquaintances deals mainly with Moses Rosenkranz' liberation process, his emigration efforts and compensation claims.

The manuscripts enclosed in the collection are presumably typed/written and arranged by Moses Rosenkranz himself or on his behalf, the texts are compilations of poems and essays written (and partly published) throughout longer periods of time.

The collection also contains other materials pertaining to Moses Rosenkranz' life and work, also compiled and generated by Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz. Her own personal documents and various documents collected by her form the last part of the collection.

Materials pertaining to the Essay on Russia (series II, box 2, folder 40) are removed to series VI (Oversized), and so are the originals of the clippings on Moses Rosenkranz and the Bukowina poetry (series III.3, box 2, folder 52).

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Arrangement

This collection is organized in six series:

• Series I: Correspondence
  • Subseries 1: Moses Rosenkranz and Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz
  • Subseries 2: Moses Rosenkranz
  • Subseries 3: Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz
  • Subseries 4: Various
• Series II: Writings
• Series III: Documents
  • Subseries 1: Pictures
  • Subseries 2: Liberation
  • Subseries 3: Work
  • Subseries 4: Notes
• Series IV: Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz
• Series V: Miscellaneous

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY, 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

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Access Points

This collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

• Subject Names:

  • Brender, Marka
  • Rosenfeld, Doris
  • Rosenkranz, Moses, 1904-2003
  • Rubner, Anna, 1908-2002

• Subject Organizations:

  • Red Cross. International Tracing Service

• Subject Topics:

  • Emigration and immigration; after 1945; Germany
  • German poetry--Jewish authors
  • Labor camps--Romania
  • Labor camps--Soviet Union

• Occupations:

  • Authors, German (Jewish)

• Subject Places:

  • Bukowina
  • Chernovtsy

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Related Material

Other materials about Moses Rosenkranz and other important authors from the Bukovina are housed at the North American Heine Society and at the Heinrich-Heine-Institut in Duesseldorf, Germany.

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Separated Material

Several books by Moses Rosenkranz were removed to the LBI library.

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Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); Moses Rosenkranz Collection; AR 25087; box number; folder number; Leo Baeck Institute.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Series I: Correspondence, 1934-1990.
Arrangement: The series is divided into four subseries.
Scope and Content: This series contains all the correspondence contained in the collection: letters (partly including the pertaining envelopes), postcards, cables etc. Besides personal issues of life of all the people involved, it mainly evolves around Moses Rosenkranz's liberation process and relating circumstances. The major part of the correspondence consists of the private letters Moses Rosenkranz sent to his wife, later ex-wife Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz over the years. These letters - together with Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz's responses - constitute the heart of the correspondence series. Some of Moses Rosenkranz' letters contain also literary drafts and even small poems where they are integrated in the flow of the letter. Some letters suggest that they formerly contained attachments, literary works as well as other material, which were separated before the collection was deposited at the Leo Baeck Institute. One remarkable attachment is a little kerchief that Moses Rosenkranz sent to Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz as a gift in 1962 (series I.1). Due to the difficulties with the mail delivery system and to the necessity of keeping certain names and facts a secret during World War II and the Cold War, some of the letters were obviously not delivered directly but via friends and acquaintances. Thus, addressees and senders on the outside of the envelopes sometimes do not correspond to the actual addressee or sender. Sometimes there even occur two (or more) different senders or addressees on one item of correspondence. In this case, the item's place within the arrangement is based on the name that occurs first on the item. Both private and official correspondence can be found in the series..
Subseries 1: Moses Rosenkranz and Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz ,  1934-1986.
Scope and Content: This subseries contains the correspondence between Moses Rosenkranz and Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz over the period of over fifty years. The very open and private letters, often an intense discussion of their love in written words, tell the story of both their lives as well as their changing relationship, which was constantly challenged by the difficult outer circumstances, in a very detailed and personal manner. They are arranged chronologically.
A) Moses Rosenkranz to Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	2	Correspondence	1934
1	3	Correspondence	1935
1	4	Correspondence	1936
1	5	Correspondence	1937
1	6	Correspondence	1938
1	7	Correspondence	1939
1	8	Correspondence	1940
1	9	Correspondence	1944
1	10	Correspondence	1955
1	11	Correspondence	1956
1	12	Correspondence	1957
1	13	Correspondence	1958
1	14	Correspondence	1959
1	15	Correspondence	1960
1	16	Correspondence	1961
1	17	Correspondence	1962
1	18	Correspondence	1963
1	19	Correspondence	1964
1	20	Correspondence	1965
1	21	Correspondence	1968
1	22	Correspondence	1975
1	23	Correspondence	1979
1	24	Correspondence	1980
1	25	Correspondence	1986
1	26	Correspondence	undated
B) Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz to Moses Rosenkranz
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	27	Correspondence	1955
1	28	Correspondence	1956
1	29	Correspondence	1957
1	30	Correspondence	1961
1	31	Correspondence	1962
1	32	Correspondence	1963
1	33	Correspondence	1964
1	34	Correspondence	1965
1	35	Correspondence	undated
Subseries 2: Moses Rosenkranz,  1937-1967.
Scope and Content: This subseries contains Moses Rosenkranz' correspondence with friends as well as with institutions, both covering personal matters as well as parts of his official correspondence regarding his liberation process, emigration efforts and compensation claims. The arrangement is alphabetical.
A) Incoming
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	36	Brender, Marka	undated
1	37	Forek, Nora	1961-1963
1	38	Lapper, Marianne	1955
1	39	Pillat, Ion	1939
1	40	Pusch, Liselotte (Lilly)	undated
1	41	unidentified	1937-1962
B) Outgoing
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	42	Brender, Marka and Isidor	1957
1	43	Comite International de la Croix Rouge	1962
1	44	Gottesmann, Helene	1961
1	45	Kehlmann, Liselotte and Heinz	1957
1	46	Lapper, Marianne	1955
1	47	Pusch, Liselotte (Lilly)	1957-1961
1	48	Ruebner, Karl	undated
1	49	Stuermer, Julius	1956
1	50	unidentified	1955-1957
Subseries 3: Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz,  1949-1990.
Scope and Content: This subseries contains Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz' correspondence. It covers personal matters, but mostly it shows her effort to take care of her husband's, later ex-husband's matters in regard of his liberation process and emigration efforts. Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz asked not only friends and the official tracing services for help, but also sent help requests to famous personalities such as Ninon Hesse, Eleanor Roosevelt and Josef Stalin. Moses Rosenkranz' daughter Marianne ("Bimmel") is listed under "Rosenkranz", even if this was not her name at the time.
A) Incoming
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	51	Brender, Marka and Isidor	1956-1960
1	52	Cavin-Schauer, Hannah and Eric	1961
1	53	Comite International de la Croix Rouge	1955-1962
1	54	Commercial Bank of North America	1965
1	55	Deutsches Rotes Kreuz/Suchdienst Hamburg	1954-1955
1	56	Evangelisches Hilfswerk fuer Internierte und Kriegsgefangene Erlangen e.V.	1955
1	57	Forek, Nora	1949-1955
1	58	Fridenson, Dora	1955
1	59	Gottesmann, Helene	1955
1	60	Hihn, Michael	1950
1	61	Kawa, Hania	1955
1	62	Lapper, Marianne	1954-1957
1	63	Pusch, Liselotte (Lilly)	1954-1961
1	64	Riedel, Walter	1957
1	65	Rois, Martin	1996
1	66	Roosevelt, Eleanor	1953
1	67	Rosenfeld, Doris	1958-1964
1	68	Rosenkranz, Marianne (Bimmel)	1956-1978
1	69	Rothleder, Barbara (Biri)	1955-1956
1	70	Schaechter, Susi	1955
1	71	Schleyer, Dolly	1955-1959
1	72	Sommer, Beko	1956
1	73	Stuermer, Julius	1956
1	74	Was, Harghel Georg	1956
1	75	unidentified	1957-1990
B) Outgoing
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	1	Brender, Marka and Isidor	1955-1960
2	2	Cavin-Schauer, Hannah and Eric	1961
2	3	Chase National Bank	1955
2	4	Comite International de la Croix Rouge	1955
2	5	Consulate of Israel, Switzerland	1960
2	6	Deutsches Rotes Kreuz/Suchdienst Hamburg	1954-1955
2	7	Evangelisches Hilfswerk fuer Internierte und Kriegsgefangene Erlangen e.V.	1955
2	8	Forek, Nora	1955
2	9	Hesse, Ninon	1955
2	10	Kawa, Hania	1955
2	11	Lapper, Marianne	1954-1955
2	12	Pusch, Liselotte (Lilly)	1955-1956
2	13	Rois, Martin	undated
2	14	Roosevelt, Eleanor	1953
2	15	Rosenfeld, Doris	1962-1964
2	16	Schleyer, Dolly	1955-1988
2	17	Mr. Scholmer	1954
2	18	Stalin, Josef	1951
2	19	Voroshilov, Kliment Efremovich	1953
2	20	Various	1954
2	21	unidentified	1951-1955
Subseries 4: Various,  1955-1961.
Scope and Content: This subseries contains all the correspondence that is neither written/received by Moses Rosenkranz nor by Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz. The subseries is arranged alphabetically by the senders' names.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	22	Comite International de la Croix Rouge - Lapper, Marianne	1955
2	23	Drescher, Willy - Lapper, Marianne	1955
2	24	Gottesmann, Helene - "Frau Nellie"	undated
2	25	Kehlmann, Fritz - Kehlmann, Lilly	1959
2	26	Lapper, Marianne - DRK/Suchdienst Hamburg; Der Heimkehrer; Pusch, Liselotte (Lilly)	1955
2	27	Rotes Kreuz Wien - Esau, Valerie	1955
2	28	Rothleder, Barbara (Biri) - Lapper, Marianne	1957
2	29	Schleyer, Dolly - Kehlmann, Heinz and Lilly	1957
2	30	Stuermer, Julius - Pusch, Liselotte (Lilly)	1957
2	31	Swierzy, Anton - Lapper, Marianne	1954
2	32	Wuerttembergische Verlagsgesellschaft - Franz Thierfelder	1961
2	33	various: drafts and notes of correspondence	undated
2	34	unidentified	undated

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Series II: Writings, 1930-1963.
Arrangement: Chronological.
Scope and Content: This series contains the manuscripts of a significant part of Moses Rosenkranz' work. Presumably typed/written and arranged by Moses Rosenkranz himself or on his behalf, the texts are compilations of poems and essays written (and partly published) throughout longer periods of time. They partly contain related notes, letters (partly fragmentary) and clippings. The series' arrangement is chronological where possible.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	35	Untitled: collection of poems	1930
2	36	Bilder vom Wesen. Gedichte	1934
2	37	Die Tafeln. Gedichte	1936
2	38	Uebersetzungen rumaenischer Volkslieder	1937
2	39	Essay on Romanian Poetry	1938
2	40	Essay on Russia	circa 1961
Box	Folder	Title	Date
OS 84		Clippings and other material regarding Essay on Russia	1993-1995
2	41	Leseproben aus dem Werk eines Verschollenen	1963
2	42	Das deutliche Leben	undated
2	43	Die unerhoerte Schlacht	undated
2	44	Leuchten und Erkennen	undated
2	45	Untitled: collection of poems	undated
2	46	Various	undated

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Series III: Documents, 1953-2001.
Arrangement: This series is arranged in four subseries.
Scope and Content: This series contains documents related to Moses Rosenkranz' liberation and professional life as well as pictures.
Subseries 1: Pictures,  n.d..
Scope and Content: This subseries contains Moses Rosenkranz' portrait and private photographs of himself, his family and friends.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	47	Portrait of Moses Rosenkranz, watercolor; painter: Koppelmann	undated
2	48	Private photographs and negatives	various dates
Subseries 2: Liberation,  1953-1988.
Scope and Content: This subseries contains general documents provided by the different tracing services dealing with the matters of political prisoners and prisoners of war during World War II and the Cold War. Beyond that, there are newspaper articles relating to life in labor camps and its consequences for the prisoners. The testimonies are mainly affirmations in lieu of oaths stated by friends to help Moses Rosenkranz with his emigration efforts and compensation claims.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	49	Tracing services (miscellaneous)	1955
2	50	Life in labour camps (clippings)	1953-1988
2	51	Testimonies/confirmations	1956-1962
Subseries 3: Work,  1978-2001.
Scope and Content: This subseries contains advance notices, reviews and laudations relating to Moses Rosenkranz and to poetry from the Bukowina (represented by poets such as Paul Celan and Rose Auslaender, for example). Moreover, one can find a large compilation of notes by Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz about her (then) ex-husband's work.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	52	Clippings on Moses Rosenkranz and the Bukowina poetry (photocopies)	1978-2001
Box	Folder	Title	Date
OS 84		Clippings on Moses Rosenkranz and the Bukowina poetry (originals)	1978-2001
2	53	Fragmentary work inventories and biographical notes by Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz	undated
2	54	Notes on "In der Sprache der Moerder" (exhibition catalogue on Moses Rosenkranz) by Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz	undated
Subseries 4: Notes,  n.d..
Scope and Content: This subseries contains a compilation of Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz' notes relating to Moses Rosenkranz' life.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	55	Notes by Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz	undated

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Series IV: Anna Ruebner-Rosenkranz, 1951-1999.
Arrangement: Topical.
Scope and Content: In addition to official documents on her finances, this series contains a few personal notes like cooking recipes and some household bookkeeping.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	56	Money transfers (receipts) and account statements	1954-1964
2	57	Various	1951-1999

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Series V: Miscellaneous, 1950-1993.
Arrangement: Topical.
Scope and Content: This series contains clippings on various topics, some envelopes that could not be assigned to their former content anymore, and various documents.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	58	Clippings	1993, undated
2	59	Envelopes	1950-1965
2	60	Various	1981, undated

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