Breisacher family photographs

Copyright Holder: Ms. Helga Careskey The collection consists of three photograph albums documenting the Breisacher family of Breisach am Rhein, Germany. The photographs depict the family's pre-war lives in Breisach am Rhein and their wartime and post-war lives in the United States after emigration from Germany in 1938. Wartime photographs include depictions of Walter Breisacher with the United States Army. Bertold Breisacher was the son of Leopold (1856-1939) and Babette Breisacher (1857-1924). He had at least two sisters, Corinne and Jenny. Bertold was a veteran of World War I and married Hedwig Bildstein in Breisach am Rhein, Germany shortly after the end of the war. Hedwig was the daughter of Emy and Adolph Bildstein, and she had one sister, Rosa, and one brother, Gustav. Bertold and Hedwig had two chldren, Helga (later Helga Careskey, b. 1925) and Walter (1922-2000). They were Orthodox. The family was wealthy and owned a textile wholesaler business. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, anti-Semitism increased in Breisach, and the Breisacher family decided it was time to leave. Through relatives of Bertold's mother in the Guggenheim family of Switzerland, they received affidavits from a distant relative, Julius Liebermann, who owned the Rheingold Brewery in New York. The family emigrated from Germany with their children in October 1938 aboard the RMS Queen Mary and settled in Indianapolis, Indiana. Leopold died in Germany eight months after his son's family emigrated, and was the last Jew to be buried in Breisach. Walter served with the United States Army during the war and was with the tank division that liberated Breisach. Many of their relatives and friends perished during the Holocaust.