Karl-Menahem and Lucy Levy nee Tzobel

Karl-Menahem was born in Kaiserslautern, Germany on 7/9/1880. He was a librarian by profession and worked as a literary editor in a publishing house. He was active in the Zionist movement and participated in the Zionist Conventions. David Wolfson asked him to come to Cologne to serve as the Director of the "Jewish Party Publishers" in part to propagate the Zionist ideas by publishing different books and journals. Karl Levy published, in German, the writings of: Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl, "The Jewish State"; "The Jews of Today", by Arthur Ruppin; "Crossroads" by Ahad Ha'am (Asher Ginzburg) and "Zionist Writing" by Max Nordau, as well as writings on the meaning and importance of Zionism and the Second Aliyah. He also translated the poetry of Haim Nahman Bialik, the national poet, into German, as well as working with Dr. Bodenheimer in the JNF offices in Cologne. He received the third 'certificat' (entry pass) from the 6 that were given to the German Jewish Agency, to be handed out to "veteran Zionist leaders with special privileges". These were separate from the regular pool of certificats. Karl-Menahem Levy moved to Israel on 28/10/1935. In Israel Karl Levy continued being involved in the Zionist Movement. On one of his trips to Europe, after he was widowed from his first wife, he married Lucy Tzobel in Berlin on 20/1/1937. Lucy Tzobel Levy was born in Berlin, Germany on 27/9/1898. She completed her studies in Berlin and received a degree in psychology and education. She worked as a social worker. In her youth she was active in the Zionist Youth Group, "Poalei Zion" and worked for the Jewish Committee in Berlin providing guidance in choosing profession. Between the years 1922-1935 she managed the professional training for the Association of Jewish Labor Offices in Germany. Later she managed the Department of Certificats of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Berlin until she was fired (1937) by the German Gestapo. She put her life in danger more than once when she tried to save Jewish refugees and send them to Israel. She worked in conjunction with the British Counsel, Captain Polly, who was an ardent supporter of Zionism. She refused to use her position to be favored for a certificate. In the end she received a certificate, not from the general pool, but from the British Counsel for Passports in Berlin, Captain Polly, with whom she worked. Lucy moved to Israel on 9/3/1938. In 1935 Lucy's brother, Asher Tzobel, moved to Israel and joined Kibbutz Givat Brenner. Asher passed away with no children. Her two sisters, Edith (1899) and Lonny (1905), were not lucky enough to have gotten to Israel and were murdered in the Holocaust After moving to Israel she worked in the Jewish National Counsel. After the establishment of the State of Israel she worked in the Ministry of Welfare as a National Supervisor for Child Care. She specialized in working with youth in choosing a profession. The couple had a child, Batya (Maoz) on 5/8/1939. Batya followed in her mother's footsteps and studied social work at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She served as the Director of the Welfare Services of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council and later as the Director of the Computer Unit of the Ministry of Welfare. After her retirement, she worked as an organizational consultant for non-profit organizations and various public bodies. At the same time, she volunteered as chairman of the Mutual Aid Organization of the Central European Expatriates. Batya married Eli Maoz. The couple had 5 children. Batya passed away on 13/1/2015. This photo collection, brought to the Archives at Yad Ben-Zvi by Eli Maoz, provides us a look at a collection of postcards of sites in Israel, portraits of Zionist leaders printed on postcards, portraits of Jewish painters, letters by Zeev Binyamin Herzl, and a limited number of personal and family photographs. Read more