Sally Blumenfeld had been living in the two rooms assigned to him in the school house on Lange Strasse in Adelebsen for more than a year when he wrote this letter on 7 May 1862.¹ Although he found the situation “very unpleasant” “storing the small amout of food that he needed, clothing, and everything else in his bedroom,” he had hesitated to ask for more living space until now. He wrote: “…because I was loath to burden the Honorable Board with my request.” But now, Sally was going to have a pupil living with him and needed a place to set up a bed for him.

Sally “allows himself to suggest to the Honorable Board” that they should covert the wood shed into a usable room. This room could be given to Mr. Dannenberg and thus free up a room upstairs for his own use. If Mr. Dannenberg lived in th house or just used the room is not clear. “In addition, I feel compelled to request that the apartments be put into proper condition.”

1. YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Adelebsen Jewish Community Records (RG 244), Series IV: Other community records, circa 1775, 1830-1913, Subseries 2: Correspondence from community members and others, 1862-1913, Correspondence – Blumenfeld, S., Jewish teacher (1 of 3), 1862-1863, Box 4, Folder 90. ↩︎