The Rainer Family

Heinrich Rainer (b.1875) immigrated to the United States from Munich, Germany, in the 1890s and became a U.S. citizen before returning to Germany about 1906. In Germany, he married Emile Koenigsberger. They had three children, Rudolf, Luise and Robert.

The family lived with relatives in Switzerland during World War I and returned to Germany in 1920 to continue the family importing and exporting business. Heinrich Rainer renounced his American citizenship in 1924  so that he could vote in a German election. When the Nazi Party came to power in the 1930s, the Rainer children were able to immigrate to the United States relatively easily, but Heinrich and Emile Rainer were only able to leave Germany due to a legal technicality: because Heinrich was an American citizen when he married, Emile had automatically gained American citizenship.  She was subsequently able to claim her husband as her dependent.

Rudolf Rainer (1909-1997) worked as a salesman in Boston before settling in Pittsburgh.

Luise Rainer (b.1910), an actress for M.G.M. in the 1930s, was the first person to win consecutive Academy Awards, for Best Actress for The Great Ziegfield in 1936 and The Good Earth in 1937. She was briefly married to playwright Clifford Odets. She visited Pittsburgh in May 1951 to address the United Jewish Fund Women’s Division.

Robert Rainer (1915-2008) worked in San Francisco before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. He later worked in the publishing industry in the Chicago area.