Ernst Scheuer was born July 22,1906 in Frankfurt/Main. He studied arts in Frankfurt and worked as an editor in Berlin. In 1933 (?) he immigrated to Paris where he worked as a writer. - Rosi Moses was born November 16, 1914 in the small German town Zehdenick/Havel; she emigrated to Paris in 1933 where she worked as a German language teacher and secretary. When Ernst Scheuer was brought to a detention center in Sourioux near Vierzon in September 1939, Rosi, who had a US-Visa since 1935, tried to rescue Ernst by getting married and to travel together to the USA. Instead, Rosi was arrested in May 1940 and sent to a detention center in Southern France. After her release in the summer of 1940, Ernst and Rosi met in Marseille and got married on August 1, 1940. When they attempted to cross the Spanish border on their way to Portugal, the Spanish police arrested Ernst and Rosi Scheuer. They stayed in prison for ca. seven months before being forced to return to France. In July 1941, Ernst and Rosi Scheuer were finally allowed to cross Spain. On August 6, 1941, they took the ill-fated ship “Navemar” in Seville and sailed via Lisbon to New York, where they arrived on September 12, 1941. Ernst’s mother and sister who already lived in New York helped them to settle down. Rosi worked as a secretary, and Ernst tried to establish himself as a writer. Later, Ernst Scheuer acquired a bookstore in Manhattan. In 1946, their daughter Irene was born. Ernst Scheuer died of cancer in 1976, Rosi Scheuer died in 2000 in New York.
From the guide to the Ernst Scheuer and Rosi Moses-Scheuer Collection, 1870s-1999, (Leo Baeck Institute)
