Ron Steinhart, an 86-year-old retired banking executive from Dallas, has dedicated much of his life to uncovering the fates of his extended family members who perished in the Holocaust. For nearly four decades, Steinhart has traveled extensively to Germany, visiting key locations linked to his family’s history and gathering evidence to document the lives and deaths of relatives on both sides of his family.
Steinhart’s paternal relatives primarily lived in Dresden, where a vibrant Jewish community of about 6,000 thrived before World War II. His maternal family had roots in the industrial town of Gelsenkirchen, where a significant portion of the prewar population was Jewish. Many of these relatives were killed or displaced in the aftermath of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, as Jews faced escalating persecution, deportation, and murder.
Since the late 1980s, Steinhart has pieced together records and eyewitness accounts, culminating in the placement of “stumbling stones” (Stolpersteine)—small brass plaques embedded in sidewalks—to commemorate family members at their last known residences in Dresden. In a recent ceremony, Steinhart installed stones honoring his great uncle Hermann Steinhart Rosenberger, his wife Lina, and their son Philipp, all victims of Nazi camps or executions.
Steinhart’s research has been supported by his relatives, including his twin sons and grandson Jared, who accompanied him on his latest trip to Germany. Jared Steinhart, 27, expressed a deeper connection to his family’s history through these visits, underscoring the importance of remembrance and optimism for future generations.
The remembrance events took place at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden, where Steinhart was invited by the city’s lord mayor to share his family’s story as part of the annual Holocaust commemoration. Earlier the same day, the Stolpersteine initiative placed multiple memorial stones across the city, honoring not only Jewish victims but also other groups persecuted by the Nazis, such as Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and political dissidents. Brigitte Lange, chairwoman of the nonprofit behind the Stolpersteine project, emphasized that these markers serve as “quiet but unmistakable signs against forgetting.”
Steinhart traces his American roots to his parents, who emigrated from Germany to Texas shortly before World War II. His family’s escape was aided by his great-uncle, Sol Katzenstein, who had established himself as a successful businessman in East Texas. Katzenstein’s financial support and sponsorship allowed roughly 400 relatives and acquaintances to obtain U.S. visas during a time when emigration was severely restricted. Without this intervention, Steinhart believes his parents would have likely perished in the Holocaust.
Beyond his personal quest, Steinhart has been deeply involved in Holocaust remembrance efforts and civic leadership. He served on the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and played a key role in fundraising efforts for the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, which opened in 2017. Mary Pat Higgins, the museum’s president and CEO, credited Steinhart’s leadership as instrumental in the successful capital campaign and the institution’s early stability.
During their visit to Dresden, the Steinhart family toured significant sites related to their history, including the New Synagogue built on the ruins of the Semper Synagogue destroyed during Kristallnacht, the family’s ancestral cemetery, and locations associated with forced labor camps. A centerpiece of the synagogue is a glass-encased Star of David rescued from the flames by a Jewish firefighter during the pogrom, symbolizing resilience amid destruction.
Despite his age, Steinhart remains actively engaged in genealogy research, maintaining contact with descendants and monitoring new archival discoveries. His ongoing efforts reflect a commitment to preserving his family’s memory and educating future generations about the dangers of authoritarianism and hatred.