Henry Ellenbogen Papers
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The online materials from the Henry Ellenbogen Papers include correspondence pertaining to immigration cases of Jewish individuals who contacted Judge Ellenbogen in an attempt to escape Nazi persecution in Europe. The online collection currently includes 574 letters and telegrams written between 1934 and 1943, pertaining to the following five cases: the Brajtman family, Emanuel Ellenbogen and family, Ignatz Ellenbogen and family, Salomon Ellenbogen and family, and the Feuerman family.
What's in the entire collection?
The Henry Ellenbogen Papers are housed in 44 boxes arranged into seven series: personal papers, law practice, congressional papers, labor relations, judicial papers, United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and audio recordings. Papers document professional and volunteer activities, including biographical information, correspondence, scrapbooks, and organizational materials.
About Henry Ellenbogen.
Henry Ellenbogen was born April 3, 1900 in Vienna, Austria. He attended the Real Gymnasium in Vienna and the Royal-Imperial University of Vienna Law School before coming to the United States in 1921, where he settled in the Pittsburgh. He worked as an accountant at Kaufmann's Department store during the day and attended Duquesne University Law School at night. He received the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws in 1924.
Ellenbogen passed the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 1924, achieving the highest marks ever received until that time. As a lawyer, Ellenbogen was quite liberal for his time. He defended the interests of labor against corporate abuse and represented clients accused of Communist activities. He also acted as counselor for a number of labor unions in the Pittsburgh area.
In 1932, Ellenbogen ran for the 33rd Congressional District seat of the United States House of Representatives on the Democratic ticket. He drew wide support from labor for his work in defending the rights of the workers and was elected to a two-year term in Congress on November 8, 1932. He was re-elected to Congress in 1934 on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. Ellenbogen went on to win another term in the House of Representatives in 1936.
He spoke weekly on the radio, informing listeners of proposed legislation and of Congressional and governmental activity in Washington. As a member of Congress, he sponsored and co-sponsored legislation designed to help the workers and the poor. This legislation included a resolution to establish a pension system, which was a forerunner for Social Security; the Home Owners Loan Corporation Act (HOLC), which provided funds to replace dilapidated and unsafe housing with new housing and created low interest loans for home-buyers; many resolutions to study unemployment and implement solutions; and a number of bills to assist veterans.
Henry Ellenbogen served in the United States House of Representatives from 1932-1938 as a representative from the 33rd Congressional District. He resigned from Congress to take a position on the bench of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and rose to the rank of President Judge of that court in 1963. He was responsible for reforming and modernizing the court system before retiring in 1977.
Ellenbogen resigned from Congress in January 1938 to assume a position as a judge of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, to which he had been elected in November 1937 for a ten-year term. As judge, he presided over civil and criminal cases. He handled precedent-setting cases in which his decision became law. During World War Two, Judge Ellenbogen served on the Price Control Board and the National War Labor Board. He determined wages and working conditions for most of the leading steel companies, such as U.S. Steel, Jones and Laughlin, and Crucible Steel. He was re-elected in 1947, 1957, and again in 1967.
Judge Ellenbogen may be best remembered in the Pittsburgh region for his efforts in reforming the Court of Common Pleas. When he took over as President Judge and court administrator in 1963, the backlog of untried cases totaled almost eight thousand. By 1965, that number had been reduced to fewer than five thousand, the lowest it had been since 1955. His reforms in the court included the addition of twenty judges; modernization of court management and installation of computers; and cutting the vacation time of judges from two months to one month. The modernization of the court and cutting the backlog of cases were a major concern to Judge Ellenbogen. He studied the subjects and compared the legal systems used internationally. His studies resulted in a series of articles and lectures to various groups. He was also interested in how other countries dealt with problems that were currently plaguing the court systems in America. He was actively involved in the fight against drug abuse and was part of a delegation sent to the United Nations Commission on Narcotics, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1959.
During his tenure as President Judge and court administrator, other judges, officeholders and newspapers criticized Judge Ellenbogen, accusing him of taking credit for many plans that were not of his authorship alone. His control of the court system angered fellow judges and he resigned as court administrator in 1966. Despite the criticism, he was recognized for improving and modernizing the court system.
His retirement on January 2, 1978, was not by his choice but by a state statute that required all judges older than seventy to retire at the end of their term. He moved to Miami, Florida, in 1980, where he died on July 4, 1980. He was buried in the West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation, in Pittsburgh.
Among Ellenbogen's many affiliations were the Masons, Moose, Eagles, Elks and the Islam Grotto. His activities in the Jewish community included the Zionist Organization of America, acting as president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Association, and acting as president of the Pittsburgh and Tri-State Council of the Jewish National Fund.
Henry Ellenbogen married Rae Savage on December 18, 1927. They had two daughters together, Naomi and Judith. Rae Ellenbogen passed away on January 19, 1981. Judge Ellenbogen had two brothers, Joseph and Theodore. Joseph was a partner in the accounting firm of Crawford and Ellenbogen in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
