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23 March to 15 July 2012 Jewish Migrants from Eastern Europe in the 1920s

The Hebrew Bookstore/The Semer Record Label

Historical photo: exterior view of shop with carriage in front
The Hebrew Bookstore © bpk

Black-and-white portrait photo of a young man with a moustache in a suit
Hirsch Lewin (born Vilnius, 1892, died Israel, 1958), around 1941 © Zeev Lewin, Ramat Gan
Woman with a small child and a boy in the foreground
Rodla Lewin (1896–1967) with her children Wolf/Zeev (b. 1927) and Rifka (1932–2010), ca. 1932/33 © Zeev Lewin, Ramat Gan

Black-and-white portrait of a man with a hat and a polka dot cravat
Hirsch Lewin in March 1941 © Zeev Lewin, Ramat Gan
Boy with glasses sitting at a desk in school
Wolf/Zeev Lewin (b. 1927) in the school on Siegmundshof run by the Adass Jisroel Congregation © Zeev Lewin, Ramat Gan

Zeev Lewin on »Semer«

»At first the records were imported from America but later my father started recording talented young musicians in Germany. He established the Semer label, which eventually offered a large selection of recordings. The company was successful and gramophone records became the mainstay of his business. Some of these recordings survived because a friend of my father’s who managed to emigrate to the United States took a suitcase of original recordings with him.«

The History of the Lewin Family, written by Zeev Lewin around 2000

Record label: H. Lewin—Berlin, Grenadierstr. 28— Lybka Goes to America
Pinkas Lavender, »Leybke fort keyn Amerike,« with piano accompaniment by Max Janowski, recorded around 1931 © Rainer Lotz Collection
Play »Lybka Goes to America« as an mp3 file.

Pinkas Lavender, »Leybke fort keyn Amerike,« with piano accompaniment by Max Janowski, recorded around 1931


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