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Interview with Henry Kronberg by Barbara Tabach in two sessions, February 26 and April 13, 2015. In the first session Kronberg talks about his childhood in Germany and Poland and his experience being imprisoned by the Gestapo, and transported to a concentration camp. He survived the Holocaust and met his wife, and they moved to the United States in 1946. He discusses being reunited with his sister in Las Vegas after decades of searching, and moved his family to Las Vegas in 1962. Kronberg talks about becoming involved with Jewish life here, and his wife, Lillian's involvement at Temple Beth Sholom. In the second session, Kronberg discusses purchasing Stoney's, a loan and pawn shop, including some of the clientele and merchandise. He also discusses other social and environmental concerns like anti-Semitism and water resources in Southern Nevada.
Henry Kronberg was born in 1920 and spent his early childhood in a town on the border of Poland and Germany, about 40 miles from Krakow. For years he felt uncomfortable telling his story of surviving the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. Today his name is linked to the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center in Las Vegas. And in his soft-spoken manner, Henry recalls his ordeal of loss of family and survival during this most heinous of situations through backbreaking labor and ingenuity. At the end of the war, Henry met the love of his life, Lillian, also a survivor. The two married in 1946 in Frankfurt and immigrated to New Jersey where she had relatives. He describes their difficulties and the various jobs he held until becoming an excellent baker. Then in 1962 an interesting choice took him to a bar mitzvah in Canada. While there the dinner conversation lead him to a great discovery?his sister Lala had survived and was living in Las Vegas. Soon he moved his wife and daughter to Las Vegas. His first foray into business was with his brother-in-law. However, soon it was important to be independent and to control his own destiny. He purchased a going concern, Stoney's Pawn Shop, from Dr. Alexander Coblentz, one of the city's first doctors. He became the fourth owner of Stoney's and operated it until selling it to Steven Mack in 1998. Henry and his wife were active in the Jewish community. They joined Temple Beth Sholom and became fast friends with many of the early leaders of Las Vegas and became a respected member of the secular and Jewish communities.
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Allard Frank Roen, age 87, of La Costa in Carlsbad, CA passed away on Thursday, August 28, 2008, succumbing to complications of heart disease. He was born May 8, 1921, in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a resident of La Costa for 41 years. Allard graduated Duke University in 1943 with a degree in business. He served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy from 1943 thru 1946; participating in the Gilbert Islands and Okinawa campaigns. Following his discharge in 1946, Allard worked in Palm Beach, Florida, as a hotel contractor and builder.
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The Hazel Baker Denton Photograph Collection (1910-1961) is comprised of photographic prints and one negative of the Denton family and friends, primarily taken in Nevada and Utah. Many photographs depict life in small Nevada towns, particularly Caliente. Photographs also depict Utah, Oregon, Washington D.C., and California, and unidentified desert and forest landscapes throughout the American West.
Archival Collection