Ludwig Steinberger, who was the Cantor and Teacher of Religious Education of the Jewish Community in Bad Kissingen for 45 years, came from Schonungen near Schweinfurt. He was born there on January 20, 1874 as the son of the cattle dealer Lazarus Steinberger and his wife Eva. They had eight children. In addition to his breadwinning job as a cattle dealer, Lazarus Steinberger actively engaged himself as cantor and prayer leader and quickly became the “spiritual center of his community” in that position.

Ludwig Steinberger had obviously not only inherited his father’s beautiful voice but also his love of liturgy and music. Therefore, he early made up his mind to become a cantor. He got his education as a cantor and teacher of religious education at the famous Israelite Teachers’ Training College in Würzburg which in those days was a Jewish religious center of European renown. At the age of 18 in 1892, he started his work as a cantor at Bad Kissingen Synagogue. He was to do his job there for 45 years till his forced emigration to America. Ludwig Steinberger married relatively late when he was in his mid-forties. Before that, he had been a front fighter in “Landsturm” in World War I and had survived. His wife Bertha May, who was 18 years his junior, was the daughter of a wealthy and respected Jewish hops dealer from Nuremberg. She had studied English and French at Munich university after her graduation (Abitur) and travelled to England and France for language studies, which was utterly uncommon for a woman in those days. After their marriage in August 1919, Bertha moved to her husband in Bad Kissingen. Ludwig and Bertha Steinberger had three children: the oldest son Herbert was born in Bad Kissingen in 1920, Hans Jakob (Jack) followed in May 1921 and Rudolph in 1924.

Music was Ludwig Steinberger’s great passion. He wasn’t only attached to it because of his position as a cantor. He especially loved Classical and Romantic music. And, therefore, not only songs for the synagogue and religious songs could be heard in the Steinberger house but also songs by Schubert and Schumann and piano music by Beethoven. Ludwig Steinberger is an excellent example of the merging of German and Jewish culture, which was typical of many German Jews at the turn of the century. 

In addition to his work as a cantor, Ludwig Steinberger was also a teacher of Religious Education. With great devotion he dedicated himself to studying the Thora, the Talmud and the Mishnah. His attitude was rather liberal. So it was self-evident that there would be confrontations with the orthodox Rabbi Dr. Seckel Bamberger. Those became more pointed in the course of time which caused Steinberger to earnestly plan to emigrate to Buenos Aires in Summer 1912 and work in the business of his brothers Joseph and Ernst there, as “Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt” (Frankfort Israelite Family Paper) reported on September 6, 1912. Luckily for the Jewish Community he had second thoughts and stayed with them as their Cantor.

After Hitler had been appointed Reichskanzler (Canceller of the Reich), on January 30, 1933, the climate in Bad Kissingen as in the whole of Germany dramatically changed. Anti-Semitism was something the Steinbergers could also increasingly feel. They were particularly concerned about their children. And, therefore, the Steinberger couple made up their minds with heavy hearts in 1934 to send their two older sons to America on a children’s transport where they would be taken care of by foster parents through the agency of a Jewish charity organization.

In 1936, Ludwig and Bertha made up their minds to emigrate to America with their youngest son Rudolph. Apart from the increasingly dangerous political situation in Germany, the death of Bertha’s mother in August 1936 seems to have been the last push for them. The Steinbergers no longer felt attached to Bad Kissingen. And, therefore, Jack Steinberger’s foster father Barnett Faroll helped them as a guarantor and with their emigration. The Steinberger family went on board the “S.S. Manhattan” in Hamburg and arrived at New York Harbour on May 14, 1937.

Rudolph Steinberger remembers the depressing circumstances of the emigration: “My parents and I emigrated to the United States in 1937 without much fuss in a legal fashion. We didn’t have any money at all (10 Reichsmark were the highest amount of money you could legally take with you from Germany). We were supported by Jewish charitable associations and lived on a farm in Aurora in Illinois for one year thanks to the generosity of Barnett Faroll, Jack’s foster father in Winnetka”. In spite of trying intensely, Ludwig Steinberger didn’t succeed in finding a position as a Cantor. At his age of 63, he had become too old then and there was no high demand of cantors in the Jewish communities. And then Ludwig Steinberger contracted a laryngitis when he was asked to serve as a cantor on a high holiday on a trial basis. Therefore, he had to give up his being a cantor for good.

With the help of a Jewish charity organization who gave him a loan, Ludwig Steinberger could open a small Jewish delicatessen in Rogers Park in the North of Chicago. But in spite of all efforts the shop didn’t run really well. A transfer of the shop to Irving Park Road didn’t render the wished-for success. When the Steinberger couple got some money from the German government as compensation, Ludwig and Bertha Steinberger retired in 1952 and moved to New York City.

On June 17, 1957, Ludwig Steinberger died at the age of 83. His wife outlived him by 16 years and died in Moorestown in 1973.