Hello, I've just joined the list and I'm hoping someone can help me. My grandfather, Alfred Stern who was born in Ludwigshafen am Rhein in Germany in 1896, never spoke about his father Leopold Stern. According to my grandmother there had been a scandal. Leopold had acted as a guarantor for some of his cousins who formed an iron foundry which failed and then he had "run off with his wife's money". He then apparently committed suicide in either Montreal or New York in July 1901 at the age of 37. However my grandfather did always have a document which seems to have been a reference for his father who was Jewish and seems to have also been a municipal employee. I am still asking Ludwigshafen for information, but I was wondering whether anybody else could suggest what happened and the significance of this document. I have never been able to find out where my great grandfather committed suicide (he apparently drowned), although I have written to Montreal which seemed the most likely candidate. I do have just one photo which may be of Leopold Stern. It does look like my brother. My grandfather had it in a locket made from a watch chain. It also had a photo of his mother, Hedwig, in it. His photo has lasted, with his face clearly visible, while her's has faded. After Leopold's death, if indeed he died, she was known as "a schoolteacher's widow" (Lehrers Witwe) and when my grandfather married she went into a home. I have the document written to my great great grandfather Leopold Herz of Kochendorf, now Bad Friedrichshall, on the River Neckar in Baden Wuerttemberg. It is from Bernhard Weingart, whom I believe was head of the Synagogue committee in Ludwigshafen between 1886 and 1894. He obviously was also head of the Israelitische Cultusgemeinde. The document is dated 9 January 1890, four months before my great grandfather, Leopold Stern, of Heppenheim an der Bergstrasse in Hesse married my great grandmother Hedwig Herz. I would be very interested - and grateful - to anybody giving me a translation and what they think the document was for. I would especially like to know what is meant by "politische Gemeinde" in this context. The document is as follows (as far as I can tell reading old German Script): Israelistche Cultus-Gemeinde Ludwigshafen A Rh Ludwigshafen A Rh 9 Januar 1890 Sehr Wohlgeboren Herrn Leopold Herz Kochendorf Nach Gemeindebeschluss respectiv durch deren einstimmigen unterschrieften wuerde Herr Cantor Stern zu Ludwigshafen am Rhein auf die Dauer von sechs Jahren mit einem fixen Gehalt von IMK [DMK???] 2000 jaehrlich engagiert. Ein laengerer Abschluss des Vertrags waere ebenfalls erfolgt wenn nicht mit Ruecksicht auf baldige definitive Anstellung dass Herr Stern durch die politische Gemeinde in Aussicht staende. Wass Person, Stellung etc dass Herrn Stern betrifft, glauben wir nich noetig zu haben eine weitere Auseinandersetzung geben zu muessen, da die Taetigkeit und Beliebheit dass Herrn Stern in der Hissigen Stadt zur Genuege bekannt und fur Ihn dass beste Zeugniss ist. Der Vorstand der Israelitischen Cultusgemeinde B Weingart What can I say? It's all a mystery... Alice Josephs Loughton Essex UK