Maria Leschnitzer, 1989

Michael Lesch, December 2005 (Addenda)

The original collection, AR 246 (1 ft.) consisted of material pertaining to Freie Universitaet Berlin (1952-1972) and Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland. There also was the Manuscript: "Symposium on Literature in Exile. Discussion Dr. Adolf Leschnitzer". 1972; German, 8 p.; typed. Transcript of comments by Leschnitzer on a paper delivered by Hermann Kesten about Heinrich Heine and Joseph Roth, at a symposium on German exile literature

OVERSIZED MATERIAL: [OS 50]: Certificate for Dr. Oscar Leschnitzer, Waisenerziehungsanstalt, Posen, September, 1910

The Adolf Leschnitzer Collection documents the life and professional activities of Adolf Leschnitzer, researcher, historian, and teacher. The collection includes brochures, booklets, clippings, correspondence, financial, vital, and immigration documents, minutes, notes, photographs, printed materials, and writings, by Adolf Leschnitzer as well as other authors. Additionally, there are materials dealing with other members of the Leschnitzer family, namely his wife, Maria Leschnitzer, née Bratz, her mother, Elly Bratz, née Michael, Adolf and Maria Leschnitzers' son, Michael Lesch, also known as Michael Leschnitzer, and Adolf and Albertt Frank

Adolf Leschnitzer, scholar, historian, and teacher was born on February 3, 1899 in Posen, Germany (now Pozna, Poland). He was the son of the pharmacist Dr. phil. Oscar Leschnitzer and Natalie Leschnitzer, née Fuchs. He began his schooling at the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in Posen. He then continued his studies at the Kaiserin Auguste Gymnasium, Berlin, Charlottenburg, which he graduated with honors in 1917. Upon graduation Leschnitzer served in the German Army until 1918 He resumed his studies in 1918 at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, concentrating on German philology, history, philosophy, and education and in 1923 received his Doctoral degree from the University of Heidelberg. By 1926 Leschnitzer also passed First and Second State Examination for High School Teachers. Between 1925 and 1933 he was an instructor, and later a professor in a number of municipal high schools in Berlin. IIn 1933 Adolf Leschnitzer was asked by Leo Baeck, then the head of the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland (National Federation Of Jews in Germany), to head the Department of Education, one of the most important positions there. The following six years, until his immigration in 1939, Leschnitzer dedicated his work to organizing and supervising Jewish schools throughout Germany in addition to collaborating with other agencies involved in organizing teachers seminars and adult education. In 1939, Adolf Leschnitzer and his wife Maria Leschnitzer, née Bratz left Germany and after a brief stay in England arrived in the United States in 1940

Upon arrival to the United States, Prof. Leschnitzer organized the American Institute of Modern Languages, an organization aimed at helping immigrants from Central Europe, mostly from Germany, to learn the language and to get acclimated to the new environment. In 1943 he became an instructor in the German Section of the Foreign Area and Language Curriculum of the Army Specialized Training Program at Rutgers University and in 1944 he got a position of a field representative of the Office of the War Information and also became a consultant to the War Department. In 1946 Dr. Leschnitzer became an instructor at the Department of German and Slavic Languages at City College of New York, of which he was elected chairman in 1958. He retired from City College in 1966. In addition to his work at City College, starting in 1952 and until 1972, Prof. Leschnitzer taught one term each year at the Freie Universität Berlin

Professor Leschnitzer was one of the first German-Jewish academicians to realize the importance of the dialogue between the new post-war Germany and the German Jews, who lived in Germany as well as those who were forced to leave. He was immediately involved with the reconstruction of the German school system right after the war ended and authored, in 1945, a memorandum entitled An Immediate Program for the Reconstruction of the German School System. He recognized the importance of bringing the next generation of German students closer to understanding German history in relation to Jewish history and culture as a way for bringing the two peoples together. Adolf Leschnitzer died on July 24, 1980, in Centerport , Long Island, NY

His wife Maria was born in Berlin in 1909. She was among the last Jewish women to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Berlin. In New York, she taught at Hunter and Queens Colleges and, like her husband, was actively involved in the Leo Baeck Institute. She died in 2005

The couple had one son, Michael Lesch

Finding aid online

Photographs removed to Photograph Collection

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