Month: February 2022

POST 116: FINDING PHOTOS & ANCESTRAL INFORMATION ON ANCESTRY’S “FOLD3” DATABASE: THE VON KOSCHEMBAHR CASE

 

Note: In this Blog post, I introduce readers to the “Fold3” database, which primarily provides access to military records and documents on the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, and WWII, incorporating the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served in these conflicts. Utilizing ancestry.com, I will explain how I chanced upon naturalization documents in Fold3 for members of the von Koschembahr branch of my family that supplement what I found on ancestry and that may be similarly useful to readers in their own familial endeavors. This post is part of a series of infrequent installments where I give readers clues on accessing ancestral databases.

 

Related Post:

POST 115: THE BRUCK VON KOSCHEMBAHR BRANCH OF MY FAMILY TREE

 

 

Figure 1. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr with his wife Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch and their thirteen children

 

As discussed in Post 115, Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) arrived in America with his wife Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch (1891-1954) in October 1938 with ten of their thirteen children (Figure 1), having by then dropped the “Bruck” portion of his surname and going simply by Gerhard von Koschembahr. A Passenger Manifest shows the arrival of the family in New York on the 1st of October 1938 from Le Havre, France aboard the “SS Paris.” (Figure 2) A New York Times article dated the 2nd of October 1938 reported on Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr’s arrival in New York and confirmed the names of their ten children traveling with them. (Figure 3) Included at the end of this post is a vital statistics table for Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr and their 13 children, only one of whom still survives.

 

Figure 2. A “Manifest of Alien Passengers” listing the names of Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr and ten of their 13 children that arrived in New York City on the 1st of October 1938 aboard the “SS Paris” from Le Havre, France

 

 

Figure 3. A New York Times article dated the 2nd of October 1938 reporting on the arrival of Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr in New York the previous day, and giving the names of the ten children accompanying them

 

Readers familiar with ancestry.com know that attached to each of the persons in one’s family tree are “leaves” representing clues possibly related to the individual in question. I carefully reviewed all the clues attached to Gerhard and Hilda and their children. Of acute interest were forms labelled either “U.S. Federal Naturalization Records, 1787-1991” (Figures 4a-b) or “Naturalization Petition and Record Books, 1888-1946” (Figures 5a-b); the latter are particularly interesting because they often include photographs attached to the petitions. I have mentioned in previous Blog posts, but it is worth reiterating here, that finding photographs of people in my family tree makes those people seem tangible and real.

 

Figure 4a. The “Maine, U.S. Federal Naturalization Records, 1787-1991” cover page for Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornella Hilda Von Koschembahr

 

Figure 4b. The 1938 Maine, U.S. Federal Naturalization Record page for Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornella Hilda Von Koschembahr

 

 

Figure 5a. The “New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943” cover page for Gerhard von Koschembahr (1917-1996), one of Gerhard and Cornelia Hilda’s sons

 

Figure 5b. The 1937 New York, U.S., State and Naturalization Record page for Gerhard von Koschembahr (1917-1996)

 

The aforementioned “U.S. Federal Naturalization Records, 1787-1991” linked to some of the von Koschembahr family members mostly originate from Maine (see Figures 4a-b); upon their arrival in America, as the 1938 New York Times article pointed out, the family settled in Portland, Maine so this connection makes sense. In the case of Gerhard von Koschembahr, the form he signed on the 22nd of August 1939 in the U.S. District Court of Portland, Maine entitled “Declaration of Intention” does not include an attached photograph. (Figure 6a) HOWEVER, the same form with precisely the same information and identically typed date that is found among the “Ohio, U.S., Naturalization Petition and Record Books, 1888-1946,” under “Naturalizations—Ohio Northern,” has an attached photo. (Figure 6b) Similarly, page two of Gerhard’s “Declaration of Intention” form found in the two databases includes one version of the form with a photo, the other without. (Figures 7a-b) The latter forms with the attached photos from the Northern District of Ohio are postmarked “N.D.O.” and are dated “Apr 25 1944,” but in all other aspects contain the same information. For Cornelia Hilda, I could only find the two pages of her Declaration of Intention form with photos. (see Figures 9a-b)

 

Figure 6a. Gerhard von Koschembahr’s 1939 “Declaration of Intention” form, marked in the upper lefthand corner as “Original (To be retained by clerk),” does not include his picture

 

 

Figure 6b. An identical of Gerhard von Koschembahr’s 1939 “Declaration of Intention” form, lightly postmarked “N.D.O.” and dated “Apr 25 1944” and marked in the upper lefthand corner as “Triplicate (To be given to declarant),” however, includes Gerhard’s photo

 

 

Figure 7a. Page 2 of Gerhard von Koschembahr’s 1939 “Declaration of Intention” form, marked in the upper lefthand corner as “Original (To be retained by clerk),” again does not include his picture

 

 

Figure 7b. Page 2 of an identical Gerhard von Koschembahr’s 1939 “Declaration of Intention” form, postmarked “N.D.O.” and dated “Apr 25 1944” and marked in the upper lefthand corner as “Triplicate (To be given to declarant),” however, again includes Gerhard’s photo

 

According to what is printed in the upper lefthand corner of the Declaration of Intention form, it was completed in triplicate; the “Original” without the picture was kept by the clerk but the one labelled “Triplicate” was supposedly to be given to the declarant. If this is the case, how then have ones with pictures wound up in the official Naturalization Record Books?  

There is a reason I painstakingly explain the above to readers. To be sure that one has found all the naturalization and petition forms that may exist for an immigrant ancestor, one should not only check ancestry.com, but should also peruse ancestry’s “Fold3” database. I’ll return to the specifics of what supplementary materials may exist in those forms below but let me digress and briefly tell readers about Fold3.

Fold3 began in 1999 as “iArchives,” and was involved in digitizing historical newspapers and other archival content for universities, libraries, and media companies across the country. In January 2007, they launched “Footnote.com” by digitizing 5 million original documents, many of which were military related. Then, in October of 2010 ancestry.com purchased iArchives, and rebranded it as Fold3 as part of its effort to make it a premier website for military records. According to their website, “The Fold3 name comes from a traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in defense of their country and to maintain peace throughout the world.” Today, the database includes documents on the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, U.S. presidents, historical newspapers, and naturalization documents.

Since ancestry owns Fold3, I assumed all the information in Fold3 is included in ancestry.com; this may well be true, but it was only by accessing BOTH databases that I found all the naturalization documents related to the von Koschembahrs.

In trying to access a “Declaration of Intention” form on ancestry for one member of this family, possibly by mistake, I was unable to open it but discovered it was in the Fold3 database. Since I know my local library not only has an institutional version of ancestry but also one for Fold3, I was successfully able to retrieve the form in this manner. I then realized that not only does Fold3 include military records but also contains naturalization documents for immigrant arrivals. It took me a while to navigate Fold 3, but I eventually learned that naturalization records for the following regions and cities are digitized: 

  • Naturalization Index—California San Diego (A-Z)
  • Naturalization Index—Massachusetts (1866-1983 with gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—Maryland (1703-1968 with gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Eastern (July 1865-September 1906)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Eastern (October 1906-November 1925)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Eastern (November 1925-December 1957)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Southern Intentions (A-Z)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Southern Petitions (1810-1964 with gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—Western (1892-1988 with gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—New York City Courts (1792-1958 with minor gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—WWI Soldiers (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—California Los Angeles (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—California San Diego (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—California Southern (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—Los Angeles Eastern (by “Birth Country”)
  • Naturalizations—Massachusetts (U.S. District Court)
  • Naturalizations—Maryland (by “Birth Country”)
  • Naturalizations—New York Eastern (by “Birth Country”)
  • Naturalizations—New York Southern (by “Birth Country”)
  • Naturalizations—Ohio Northern (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—Pennsylvania Eastern (U.S. Circuit Court)
  • Naturalizations—Pennsylvania Middle (Circuit Court and District Court, 1901-1906; District Court, 1906-1911; District Court 1909-1911; District Court 1910-1930; District Court 1911-1916)
  • Naturalizations—Pennsylvania Western (Records of the US Circuit and District Courts: Declarations of Intent and Petitions. 1798-1959 with gaps)

I found the specific information on the von Koschembahr branch of my family in Fold3 under “Naturalizations—Ohio Northern.” (Figures 8a-b) Simply typing the surname in the “Search” bar on the portal page of Fold3 will yield the broadest number of hits; occasionally one may have to search for one’s relatives using name variations. Case in point. There may be as many as ten different variations by which to search for Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr since she was a baroness in her own right and was a descendant of the Roosevelt family (e.g., Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch; Hilda Cornelia Roosevelt Koschembahr; Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr; etc.).

 

Figure 8a. Screen shot from Fold3 for five von Koschembahr family members’ naturalization records found under the Northern District of Ohio alphabetized under the letter “V”

 

Figure 8b. Screen shot from Fold 3 for “Hilda Cornelia Roosevelt Koschembahr’s” naturalization forms found under the Northern District of Ohio alphabetized under the letter “K”

 

Figure 9a. Page 1 of Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr’s “Declaration of Intention” form with her photo

 

 

Figure 9b. Page 2 of Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr’s “Declaration of Intention” form with her photo

 

In the case of the father Gerhard von Koschembahr’s “Declaration of Intention” form, suffice it to say, a lot of vital data are provided. Because Gerhard had 13 children, a separate form was attached, naming them, and giving their dates and places of birth. While this information was previously known to me from elsewhere, had it not been this would have been useful ancestral information. On Gerhard’s wife’s “Declaration of Intention” form, her vital data is similarly shown, and the identical form attached with the names and vitals of her children. (Figures 9a-b)

In addition to Gerhard and Hilda’s 1939 Declaration of Intention forms, in Fold3, for both I discovered combined 1945 “Affidavit of Witness” and “Oath of Allegiance” forms (Figures 10-11); 1939 “Certificate of Arrival” forms (Figures 12-13); and 1939 “Petition for Naturalization” forms which were withdrawn in December 1944. (Figures 14-15)

 

Figure 10. Gerhard von Koschembahr’s combined 1945 “Affidavit of Witness” and “Oath of Allegiance” form

 

Figure 11. Hilda Cornelia Roosevelt von Koschembahr’s combined 1945 “Affidavit of Witness” and “Oath of Allegiance” form

 

 

Figure 12. Gerhard von Koschembahr’s “Certificate of Arrival” form postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.”

 

 

Figure 13. Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr’s “Certificate of Arrival” form postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.”

 

Figure 14. Gerhard von Koschembahr’s “Petition for Naturalization” form

 

Figure 15. Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr’s “Petition for Naturalization” form

 

As mentioned above, Gerhard and Hilda arrived in America on the 1st of October 1938 with ten of their thirteen children. I was able to find forms with photos like those of their parents for only four of the children (Figures 16-19); two were also required to sign “Certificates of Loyalty.” (Figures 20a-b) For two of the boys, Clemens (Figures 21a-b) and Hans (John) Christoph von Koschembahr (Figures 22a-b), I found their WWII Registration cards since both were of an age appropriate to be drafted into the armed forces. This is something I would have expected to find in Fold3 since the database includes primarily military records.

 

Figure 16. “Declaration of Intention” form for Gisela von Koschembahr postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.,” including her photograph

 

Figure 17. “Declaration of Intention” form for Heinz von Koschembahr postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.,” including his photograph

 

Figure 18. “Declaration of Intention” form for Wolfgang von Koschembahr postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.,” including his photograph

 

 

Figure 19. “Declaration of Intention” form for Ursula von Koschembahr postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.,” including her photograph

 

Figure 20a. “Certificate of Loyalty” form for Wolfgang von Koschembahr signed in 1945
Figure 20b. “Certificate of Loyalty” form for Ursula von Koschembahr signed in 1944

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 21a. Page 1 of Clemens von Koschembahr’s 1944 WWII Registration Card
Figure 21b. Page 2 of Clemens von Koschembahr’s 1944 WWII Registration Card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 22a. Page 1 of John Christoph von Koschembahr’s 1945 WWII Registration Card
Figure 22b. Page 2 of John Christoph von Koschembahr’s 1945 WWII Registration Card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In closing I would simply advise readers coming across naturalization and petition records for immigrant ancestors to check both ancestry.com and Fold3, naturally as well as other ancestral databases, to ensure you have not inadvertently overlooked anything. And you too may be rewarded by finding photos of your predecessors.

  

VITAL STATISTICS FOR GERHARD VON KOSCHEMBAHR, CORNELIA HILDA VON ZEDLITZ UND NEUKIRCH, & THEIR THIRTEEN CHILDREN

 

NAME

(relationship)

 VITAL EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE OF DATA
         
Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (self) Birth 28 July 1885 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Marriage (to Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch) 21 March 1914 Dresden, Germany Dresden, Germany marriage certificate
Death 3 October 1961 Rye, Westchester, New York New York State, U.S. Death Index, 1957-1970; headstone
Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch (wife) Birth 1 April 1891 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Marriage (to Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr) 21 March 1914 Dresden, Germany Dresden, Germany marriage certificate
Death 26 May 1954 Port Chester, Westchester, New York New York, U.S. Death Index, 1852-1956; headstone
Gisela von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 24 November 1914 Berlin, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 1 January 1999 Palmdale, Los Angeles, California Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Irmela von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 7 November 1915 Berlin, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 15 September 2001 Mayfield Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio Ohio, U.S. Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018
Gerhard von Koschembahr (son) Birth 22 January 1917 Berlin, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 11 May 1996 New York City, New York Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Gundula von Koschembahr Daughter) Birth 13 November 1918 Berlin, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 16 August 2004 Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio Ohio, U.S. Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018
Heinz-Hasso von Koschembahr (son) Birth 3 December 1919 Baden-Baden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 19 March 1999 Winnetka, Cook, Illinois Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Wolfgang von Koschembahr (son) Birth 1 July 1921 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 22 June 1996 Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio Ohio, U.S. Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018
Ursula von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 14 September 1923 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 31 October 2018 Pennsylvania U.S., Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection, 1847-Current
Cordula von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 28 November 1924 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 15 December 2004   U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
Clemens von Koschembahr (son) Birth 20 February 1926 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death Living    
Hans Christoph von Koschembahr (son) Birth 28 May 1927 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 20 June 2006 Middletown, Connecticut Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012
Dietrich von Koschembahr (son) Birth 10 July 1929 Erfurt, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 6 January 1995   U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
Edela von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 23 May 1931 Erfurt, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 24 November 2001   U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Gottfried von Koschembahr (son) Birth 5 November 1934 Bern, Switzerland 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 17 December 1995   U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014

POST 115: THE BRUCK VON KOSCHEMBAHR BRANCH OF MY FAMILY TREE

 

Note: In this post, I introduce readers to my great-grandfather Fedor Bruck’s youngest brother, Wilhelm Bruck, who in 1884 married a noblewoman, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr. This resulted in the nobiliary particle “von” being added to the Bruck surname in merged form as “Bruck von Koschembahr”; in the subsequent generation the “Bruck” part of the surname was dropped altogether. I also talk briefly in this installment about German nobility.

 

Related Posts:

POST 113: CHIUNE SUGIHARA, JAPANESE IMPERIAL CONSUL IN LITHUANIA DURING WWII, “RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS”

POST 114: EDWARD HANS LINDENBERGER, A DISTANT COUSIN: MIGHT HE HAVE SURVIVED BUCHENWALD?

 

In Post 113, I acquainted readers with Oskar Bruck (1831-1892), the oldest of my great-great-grandparents Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) and Charlotte Bruck née Marle’s (1809-1861) nine children. This provided an opportunity to discuss Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Consul in Lithuania at the outset of WWII, one of Yad Vashem’s “Right Among the Nations,” whose courageous actions helped save one of Oskar’s daughters, son-in-law, and grandson. Then, in Post 114, I discussed Samuel and Charlotte Bruck’s eighth born child, Helena Strauss née Bruck (1845-1910), one of whose daughters, son-in-law, and grandson were likely murdered in either Auschwitz-Birkenau or Buchenwald. The fate of Oskar and Helena’s descendants could not have been more divergent.

 

Figure 1. My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck’s youngest brother, Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907)

 

In the current post, I will focus on the youngest of Samuel and Charlotte Bruck’s children, Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907) (Figure 1), along with his descendants. Happily, their destinies had a more favorable outcome. In this essay I will switch gears and introduce readers to a custom that was occasionally followed by German bridegrooms upon marriage to a woman of German nobility. Such is the case with Wilhelm Bruck who on the 14th of September 1884 married a Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (Figures 2-3), a noblewoman eleven years his junior. Wilhelm Bruck was a “Justizrat,” justice counsel, and he and Mathilde had five children (see vital statistics table at the end of this post).

 

Figure 2. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife Margarethe von Koschembahr as a child in around 1863 with her mother, Amalie von Koshembahr née Mockrauer (1834-1918)
Figure 3. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (1860-1946) around the time she and Wilhelm got married in 1884

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me begin by quoting from a page of a much larger document (Figure 4) explaining the transition of the Bruck surname within this branch of the family, first to Bruck von Koschembahr, then subsequently to simply von Koschembahr as the Bruck part was unofficially dropped. The citation below appears to be from a history of the von Koschembahr family probably written by Gisela von Koschembahr (Figure 5), the oldest daughter of Wilhelm and Mathilde’s first-born son, Gerhard Bruck-von Koschembahr. I found several pages of this longer document on a family tree on ancestry.com attached to Mathilde’s profile, and am trying, as we speak, to obtain the complete account:

 

Figure 4. Page from a much larger history on the von Koschembahr family describing how the “von Koschembahr” surname was merged with the “Bruck” surname, then subsequently dropped
Figure 5. 1939 photo of Gisela von Koschembahr, Wilhlem Bruck von Koschembahr’s granddaughter and Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr’s eldest daughter, believed to be the author of the von Koshchembahr family history

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“By virtue of his father, Wilhelm Bruck, our father (‘Vati’) was born Gerhard Bruck. Through ‘adoption’ by an unmarried aunt, Mathilde von Koschembahr (his mother’s sister) (Figure 6), he added his mother’s maiden name to his father’s name in 1924. For several years thereafter, our family was officially known as Bruck von Koschembahr (and Vati’s mother called herself that also), until by the time our family moved to Switzerland (1934), the Bruck was quietly (not officially) dropped altogether.”

 

Figure 6. Wilhelm Bruck’s unmarried sister-in-law (his wife’s sister), Mathilde von Koschembahr (1866-1931) in March 1914, who caused the “von Koschembahr” surname to be added to Gerhard Bruck’s surname in 1924

 

In this context, I will briefly explain German titles of nobility, surnames of the German nobility and what is referred to as the nobiliary particle. As in the case of the von Koschembahr family name, most surnames of the German nobility were preceded by or contained the preposition von (meaning “of”) or zu (meaning “at”) as a nobiliary particle, simply to signal the nobility of a family. 

The prepositions von and zu were occasionally combined (meaning “of and at”) In general, the von form indicates the family’s place of origin, while the zu form indicates the family’s continued possession of the estate from which the surname is drawn. Therefore, von und zu indicates a family which is both named for and continues to own the original feudal holding or residence. Case in point. An example of this can be seen in the vital statistics table at the end of this post for Wilhelm Bruck von Koschembahr’s eldest child, Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (Figure 7), who married Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch. (Figure 8) As a related aside, since Gerhard already had the nobiliary particle von as part of his surname, he had no need to adopt his wife’s surname upon their marriage in 1914 (Figure 9), unlike his father.

 

Figure 7. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) on the 21st of March 1914 when he married Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch

 

Figure 8. Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch (1891-1954) on her wedding day, the 21st of March 1914

 

 

Figure 9. Gerhard Bruck and Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch’s wedding party on the 21st of March 1914

 

Perhaps because I am only half-German and not in contact with any descendants of the von Koschembahr branch of my family, the attachment of the nobiliary particle von to my surname is remarkably uninteresting. That said, my good friend Peter Hanke, the “Wizard of Wolfsburg,” who often assists me and others in their ancestral searches, is regularly asked whether he can confirm the noble descent within a questioner’s family (i.e., “My grandmother said. . .”); the desire for a family coat of arms or an affiliation to a noble branch comes to the fore, as Peter says, which both he and I find odd.

This said, I have a few of my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s surviving papers, including a schematic and much abbreviated diagram of his family tree. (Figure 10) The only one of his grandfather Fedor Bruck’s eight siblings he shows on this simplified tree is Wilhelm Bruck who married Margarethe von Koschembahr (i.e., who my uncle identifies as “Grete v. Koschembahr”). Then, as if to further stress the importance he placed on connections to nobility, the only one of Wilhelm and Margarethe’s five children he shows is Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr who, as noted above, also married a noble, Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch, identified by my uncle as “Freiin v. Zedlitz & Leipe.” “Freiin” means Baroness in German.

 

Figure 10. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s schematic family drawing incorporating the noble connections to the Bruck family

 

Continuing. Gisela von Koschembahr, whose family history I cited above, describes the position of her family in the order of German nobility, and, again, I quote what she has to say: 

“It may be useful here to delineate the relative position of the von Koschembahrs in the order of the German nobility—(or ‘Adel,’ a Medieval German word meaning ‘edel’ or noble). The German nobility, as that of other countries, originally comprised the most able-bodied and distinguished (in the service of a king or prince=‘Fürst’) families in the nation; later it came to mean a class endowed with special personal property and tax privileges. While these official privileges were abolished in Germany (and Austria) at the end of World War I, the nobility continues to be—regardless of the individual family’s financial status—highly regarded, socially prominent, and exclusive among themselves. The order from top down is as follows:

  • Herzöge (dukes)
  • Fürsten (princes)
  • Grafen (counts)
  • Freiherrn (barons)
  • Uradel (genuine nobility)
  • Briefadel (nobility by letter)

(The writer acknowledges there may be another category ‘Adel’ between Uradel and Briefadel.)

The von Koschembahrs belonged to the next-to-last category, the Uradel, hereditary nobility since the 10th century, including in modern times all families whose origins as nobility are recorded in public documents before 1350. Uradel, like Freiherrn and Graf, was bestowed by a duke or prince upon a member of his entourage who was especially deserving for services rendered or distinguished in some other way. Land grants and/or decorations usually accompanied bestowal of the title of the title (although less extensive or valuable as for higher grades of nobility), and the family’s name was henceforth preceded by ‘von.’ The last is also true of the ‘Briefadel,’ but it was bestowed by letter; in more recent times, and unlike the other forms of nobility, could be purchased with money from a sovereign in need of funds. Due to the Uradel’s greater age, the meaning of the family names is usually unrecognizable.”

Without getting too deeply into it, let me briefly emphasize and supplement what Gisela von Koschembahr wrote about German nobility. They along with royalty were status groups having their origins in medieval society in Central Europe. Relative to other people, they enjoyed certain privileges under the laws and customs in the German-speaking areas until the beginning of the 20th century. Historically, German entities that recognized or conferred nobility included the Holy Roman Emperor (A.D. 962-1806), the German Confederation (A.D. 1814-1866), and the German Empire (1871-1918). As Gisela alluded to, the sovereigns had a policy of expanding their political base by ennobling rich businessmen with no noble ancestors. Germany’s nobility flourished during its rapid industrialization and urbanization after 1850 as the number of wealthy businessmen increased.

The monarchy in Germany, as well as in Austria, was abolished in 1919. In August 1919, at the beginning of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), which would eventually be displaced by the Nazis, Germany’s first democratic government officially abolished royalty and nobility, and the respective legal privileges and immunities having to do with an individual, a family, or any heirs. In Germany, this meant that legally von simply became an ordinary part of the surnames of the people who used it. According to German alphabetical sorting, people with von in their surnames, both of noble and non-noble descent, were listed in phone books and other files under the rest of their names (i.e., in the case of Gerhard von Koschembahr, had he returned to Germany after WWII, his surname would have been found under K in the phone book rather than under V).

In closing I would simply note that among some members of my extended family descended from Wilhelm and Mathilde’s children, the “disappearance” of the Bruck surname in this branch of the family is a persistent irritant and constant source of ancestral confusion. Their descendants would be my third or fourth cousins, one or two generations removed, but since our surnames are different mostly because of a random decision, I have no contact with this branch. So, I ask myself, “What’s in a name?”

 

 

 

VITAL STATISTICS FOR WILHELM BRUCK, HIS WIFE, AND THEIR FIVE CHILDREN

 

NAME

(relationship)

 VITAL EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE OF DATA
         
Wilhelm Bruck (self) Birth 23 February 1849 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Marriage (to Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr) 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany marriage certificate
Death 15 February 1907 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany death certificate
Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (wife)

(FIGURE 11)

 Birth 28 November 1860 Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Germany] Ancestry.com “Germany, Select Births & Baptisms, 1558-1898 (database on-line)”
Marriage (to Wilhelm Bruck) 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany marriage certificate
Death 19 October 1946 Boston, Massachusetts Von Koschembahr Family History pages uploaded to Mathilde’s profile on ancestry.com by “LynnKabbelWeissgerber”
Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (son)

(FIGURE 12)

 Birth 28 July 1885 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Marriage (to Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch) 21 March 1914 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” Immigration & Naturalization form; 1914 wedding photo
Death 3 October 1961 Westchester, New York U.S., Find-A-Grave
Charlotte Bruck (daughter) Birth 17 August 1886 Berlin, Germany 3 May 1906 Berlin, Germany marriage certificate to Walter Edward Stavenhagen
Death 5 June 1974 West Haven, Connecticut “Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012”
Marianne Johanna Bruck (daughter)

(FIGURE 13)

 Birth 31 July 1888 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death 21 September 1975 Munich, Germany Kurt Polborn (grandson) ancestry tree
Friedrich Wilhelm Bruck von Koschembahr (son) Birth 15 December 1889 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death 14 March 1963 Haag, Germany “Report of Death of American Citizen Abroad, 1835-1974”
Heinz Leopold Bruck (son) Birth 17 July 1892 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death April 1915 Ypres, Belgium Kurt Polborn (grandson) ancestry tree

 

Figure 11. Wilhelm Bruck’s widow, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr, in around 1938

 

Figure 12. Wilhelm Bruck’s oldest son, Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr with his wife Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch and their thirteen children

 

Figure 13. Wilhelm Bruck with his daughter Marianne Johanna Bruck in around 1889

 

 

POST 114: EDWARD HANS LINDENBERGER, A DISTANT COUSIN: MIGHT HE HAVE SURVIVED BUCHENWALD?

 

Note: In this post, I consider the possibility, absent absolute evidence to the contrary, that a distant cousin I just learned about who was interned in Buchenwald might have survived his confinement in this notorious concentration camp.

Related Post:

POST 113: CHIUNE SUGIHARA, JAPANESE IMPERIAL CONSUL IN LITHUANIA DURING WWII, “RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS”

 

 

Figure 1. Edward Lindenberger’s original signature from the “Häftlings-Personal-Bogen”, the prisoner personnel sheet he was compelled to sign upon his arrival at KL Mittelbau, a subcamp of concentration camp Buchenwald

 

I most assuredly consider my distant cousin Edward Hans Lindenberger’s life to have mattered. (Figure 1) Within this context, I review the limited evidence of his existence in terms of whether he might have survived his ordeal in the Konzentrationslager (KL), concentration camp, Buchenwald. His case serves as an illustration of a question relatives of internees likely asked themselves in the aftermath of WWII, namely, whether their loved ones might somehow have outlasted detention in Nazi internment camps. Too often this question is rhetorical because, as we know, the odds of survival once Jews were in the maws of the Nazis were infinitesimal. Yet, in the absence of irrefutable confirmation of Edward’s fate, I assess what I have been able to uncover about him and consider the remote possibility he might have lived.

Briefly, let me provide readers with an orientation on how I learned about Edward Lindenberger and how we are related. In Post 113, I discussed my great-granduncle Oskar Bruck (1831-1892) and his wife Mathilde Bruck née Preiss (1839-1922) who together had 14 or 15 children. As mentioned, Oskar Bruck had eight siblings, children of Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) (Figure 2) and Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861) (Figure 3), whose fates I’ve been trying to determine. The vital information on the nine children is presented in a table at the end of this post. For reference, Edward Lindenberger would have been one of Samuel and Charlotte Bruck’s great-grandsons.

 

Figure 2. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863)
Figure 3. My great-great-grandmother Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of Oskar Bruck’s younger sisters, the eighth-born child of Samuel and Charlotte, was Helena Bruck (1845-1910). She was married to Edward Strauss (1842-1920) with whom she had three children. The youngest of these was Else Strauss (b. 1884) who married Moritz Lindenberger (b. 1877), and these were the parents of Edward Lindenberger, their only child and the subject of this post. I discovered these distant relatives on ancestry.

Ancestry.com includes documents for Moritz (Figure 4), Else (Figure 5), and Edward Lindenberger (Figure 6) entitled “Kraków, Poland, ID Card Applications for Jews During World War II, 1940-1941 (USHMM).” The page for Edward Lindenberger contains a link to another document, “Germany, Concentration Camp Records, 1937-1945” showing he was interned in a Konzentrationslager referred to as “KL Mittelbau,” a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp. (Figures 7a-b) Knowing that Edward’s parents had also filed for IDs as Jews living in Kraków, Poland at the same time as Edward established the fact they too had been there as late as 1941 and had probably been swept up in a deportation to a concentration camp like their son.

 

Figure 4. Cover sheet for Moritz Lindenberger’s “Kraków, Poland, ID Card Application for Jews During World War II, 1940-1941 (USHMM)”

 

Figure 5. Cover sheet for Else Lindenberger’s “Kraków, Poland, ID Card Application for Jews During World War II, 1940-1941 (USHMM)”

 

Figure 6. Cover sheet for Edward Lindenberger’s “Kraków, Poland, ID Card Application for Jews During World War II, 1940-1941 (USHMM)”

 

Figure 7a. Cover sheet for Edward Lindenberger’s “Germany, Concentration Camp Record”

 

Figure 7b. One page of Edward Lindenberger’s “Germany, Concentration Camp Record,” the same page found in his file at the Arolsen Archives (see Figure 15a)

 

 

I checked in the Yad Vashem Shoah Victims’ Database and, sure enough, all three of their names show up. (Figure 8) The source of the data in Yad Vashem is the aforementioned database entitled “Card file of Jews in Krakow with German identity card (‘Kennkarte’) nos. 12301-12600, with personal details and photographs, 03/1941.” (Figure 9) Based on this, it would appear pictures of Edward and his parents possibly exist. Oddly, their fates are unspecified and the transport and concentration camp where they were shipped is not identified. I assume they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau since it was the internment camp closest to Krakow.

 

Figure 8. Page from Yad Vashem with Moritz, Else, and Edward Lindenberger’s names showing their fate as “not stated”

 

Figure 9. The page with Moritz, Else, & Edward Lindenberger’s names from the “Card file of Jews in Krakow with German identity card (‘Kennkarte’) nos. 12301-12600, with personal details and photographs, 03/1941”

 

Suspecting the page of Edward Lindenberger’s internment in a Konzentrationslager might be from the Arolsen Archives, I also checked Edward’s name in this database. Surprisingly, here I discovered a complete 10-page file on him (Figure 10), including one page I had found in ancestry.com, that provides important clues. His date and place of birth are given as the 27th of July 1925 in Bielitz, Poland [today: Bielsko-Biała, Poland]. (Figure 11) The latest date in the file suggests he was still alive as late as the 27th of January 1945. His occupation was “mechaniker,” a mechanic. His parents’ names and father’s occupation are given, “Kaufmann. Mauricius L.” and “Alzbieta L. geb. Strausz.” The file confirms he was assigned to KL Mittelbau, which was established in late summer of 1943 as a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. (more on this below)

 

Figure 10. Cover page of Edward Lindenberger’s KL Mittelbau file from the Arolsen Archives, giving his name, data and place of birth, his detainee number “114883,” and the name of the four documents attached to his file

 

Figure 11. 1893 map of Silesia showing town of Bielitz where Edward Lindenberger was born

 

The file shows four documents attached: Häftlings-Personal-Karte (Detainee Personnel Card); Effektenkarte (Effects Card); Postkontr.-Karte (Post Control Card); and Häftlings-Personal-Bogen (Detainee Personnel Sheet) (Häftlings-Personal-Karte_AroA.pdf (arolsen-archives.org) Uncertain as to the significance of these documents, I started researching them. Briefly, here’s what I learned.

The Häftlings-Personal-Karte (Detainee Personnel Card) (Figures 12a-b) was created for all concentration camp prisoners. At first glance, the cards seem diverse, having been printed in different colors, having been filled out by prisoner scribes by hand, usually in pencil, or typewriter, and on some of them having a photograph of the prisoner attached. In certain instances, the cards are entirely filled in, while on others personal descriptions in the right-hand column are missing. Despite the diversity, all cards are the same document regardless of age, nationality, and category of detention, and were completed for both male and female prisoners.

 

Figure 12a. Side 1 of Edward Lindenberger’s “Häftlings-Personal-Karte (Detainee Personnel Card)”

 

Figure 12b. Side 2 of Edward Lindenberger’s “Häftlings-Personal-Karte (Detainee Personnel Card)”

 

The Effektenkarte (Effects Card) (Figures 13a-b) came in different colors, though all versions had the same meaning. These cards were used to manage the personal belongings prisoners had to turn over when they arrived at a concentration camp. According to the Arolsen Archives, the cards could be filled out very differently. On pre-war cards, more items were ticked or numbered than on cards from 1939 onwards. By 1944 and 1945, most cards were completely empty as the prisoners were transferred to camps with no personal belongings. It’s unknown exactly when Edward Lindenberger arrived in Buchenwald and/or whether he was transferred there from another camp, but his Effektenkarte shows no personal effects. Apparently, different stamps provided information on the disposition of the objects. As the war progressed, Nazi decrees and regulations increasingly allowed belongings to be confiscated and reused for other purposes.

 

Figure 13a. Side 1 of Edward Lindenberger’s “Effektenkarte (Effects Card)”

 

Figure 13b. Side 2 of Edward Lindenberger’s “Effektenkarte (Effects Card)”

 

The Postkontr.-Karte (Post Control Card) (Figures 14a-b) implausibly appears to record the incoming mail received and outgoing mail sent by concentration camp prisoners. I can find no specific information about this record, but in the case of Edward Lindenberger, predictably, there is no incoming or outgoing mail. Perhaps, like the Effektenkarte, this card was more relevant in the pre-war period?

 

Figure 14a. Side 1 of Edward Lindenberger’s “Postkontr.-Karte (Post Control Card)”

 

Figure 14b. Side 2 of Edward Lindenberger’s “Postkontr.-Karte (Post Control Card)”

 

 

The Häftlings-Personal-Bogen (Detainee Personnel Sheet) (Häftlings-Personal-Karte_AroA.pdf (arolsen-archives.org) (Figures 15a-b) is the most informative record. The form was designed in such a way that it could be printed inexpensively and in large numbers and be used in different concentration camps. The Detainee Personnel Sheets, also referred to as prisoner personnel sheets, were intended only for male prisoners, with no separate form for females; the names of spouses were almost always added by hand.

 

Figure 15a. Side 1 of Edward Lindenberger’s “Häftlings-Personal-Bogen (Detainee Personnel Sheet)” (see Figure 7b.)

 

Figure 15b. Side 2 of Edward Lindenberger’s “Häftlings-Personal-Bogen (Detainee Personnel Sheet)”

 

The prisoner personnel sheet was one of the central documents used to administer prisoners in the concentration camps. Upon arrival, all relevant information about a prisoner was recorded, including personal data, previous periods and reasons of imprisonment, and sentences or transfers to other camps. In the early years, registration was done by the Gestapo, which used the interrogations to harass and abuse the internees. Soon, so-called Funktionshäftlinge, prisoner functionaries or “kapos,” as Germans commonly called them, took over the interrogations.

Regarding this system, “. . .the prisoner functionary system minimized costs by allowing camps to function with fewer SS personnel. The system was designed to turn victim against victim, as the prisoner functionaries were pitted against their fellow prisoners to maintain the favor of their SS overseers. If they neglected their duties, they would be demoted to ordinary prisoners and be subject to other kapos. Many prisoner functionaries were recruited from the ranks of violent criminal gangs rather than from the more numerous political, religious, and racial prisoners; such criminal convicts were known for their brutality toward other prisoners. This brutality was tolerated by the SS and was an integral part of the camp system.” (Wikipedia)

On Edward’s personnel form, above the printed word Konzentrationslager, is handwritten “Pol. Jude,” signifying Polish Jew. Obviously, he was Polish and was interned because he was Jewish. The Nazis assigned each concentration camp inmate to a category, making it clear why he or she had been arrested. Assignment to a detention group, like nationality, led to a hierarchy in the camp, since the groups were subject to different rules, among these the amount of food or the hardship of the work. Therefore, prisoner category and nationality had an impact on one’s chances of survival.

All concentration camp prisoners were assigned a number upon arrival at a camp. Numbers were more important than names, and prisoners had to report to roll calls using them. Multiple numbers could be assigned within a camp, for example, after discharges, transfers, or death of prisoners. Prisoners transferring from another camp were almost always given new numbers.

As mentioned above, as the number of new arrivals in camps increased the Gestapo could no longer handle the registration. Consequently, the SS assigned prisoner functionaries to carry out administrative tasks or supervise forced labor. The prisoner clerk’s number recording the information was noted on the form.

The prisoner personnel sheet has a special meaning for many relatives today, especially of deceased prisoners. The signature is often the last personal sign they have of their relative. (see Figure 1) A “newcomer” to the camps had to confirm with his signature that the information he gave was true; false statements were threatened with the most severe penalties. This seems like an oxymoron since internment in a concentration camp was tantamount to a death sentence.

On the back of the prisoner personnel sheets, after the personal data and the history of imprisonment, are items that determined the lives of the concentration camp inmates: punishments and (re)transfers to other camps. However, in most cases, the prisoner personnel sheets were not updated which is why these fields are almost always empty.

Having given readers a general overview of the individual documents attached to Edward Lindenberger’s file, let me turn now to the Buchenwald subcamp to which he was assigned. This may provide clues as to whether Edward might have survived.

The Konzentrationslager where Edward Lindenberger was interned was KL Mittelbau, also referred to as Mittelbau-Dora, Dora-Mittelbau, and Nordhausen-Dora. (Figure 16) It was a Nazi concentration camp located in Nordhausen in the German state of Thuringia. (Figure 17) It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald.

 

Figure 16. Map showing location of Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in relation to Buchenwald and other German camps

 

Figure 17. German state of Thuringia where Dora-Mittelbau camp was located

 

To better understand the role that Mittelbau-Dora came to play in the Nazis’ war effort, a brief discussion of some historic events is useful. In early summer of 1943, the Germans began mass production of the A4 ballistic rocket, later and better known as the V-2, the “V” standing for Vergeltung or retribution. Among other places, it was mass produced at the Heeresanstalt Peenemunde on the Baltic Island of Usedom. On the 18th of August 1943, a bombing raid by the Royal Air Force seriously damaged the facilities and effectively ended the construction of V-2s there.

On the 22nd of August 1943 with Hitler seeking to move facilities to areas less threatened by Allied bombers he ordered SS leader Heinrich Himmler to use concentration camo workers in the production of the A4/V-2 rocket. One of the sites selected was at the mountain known as Kohnstein, near Nordhausen in Thuringia, not far from Buchenwald. Since 1936, the Germans had been building an underground fuel depot there for the Wehrmacht, which was almost ready by late summer 1943.

By the 28th of August 1943, thus within ten days after the British raid on Peenemünde, inmates from Buchenwald began to arrive at the Kohnstein. Over the ensuing months, almost daily transports from Buchenwald brought thousands more prisoners. During the first months, most of the work done was heavy construction and transport.

Mittelbau-Dora exemplifies the history of the concentration camp forced labor and the subterranean relocation of armaments production during WWII. The inmates at Mittelbau-Dora, most of them from the Soviet Union, Poland, and France, were treated brutally and inhumanely, working 14-hour days, and being denied access to basic hygiene, beds, and adequate rations. There were no sanitary facilities except for barrels that served as latrines. Inmates, died from hunger, thirst, cold, and overwork. Since there were initially no huts, the prisoners were housed inside the tunnels in four-level beds. Only in January 1944, when production of the A4/V-2 began, were the first prisoners moved to the new above-ground camp on the south side of the Kohnstein though many continued to sleep in tunnels until May 1944.

Estimates are that one in three of the roughly 60,000 prisoners who were sent to Mittelbau-Dora between August 1943 and March 1945 died; the precise number of people killed is impossible to determine. By the end of 1943, the Dora work squads are known to have had the highest death rate in the entire concentration camp system.

Towards the end of 1944, as the Red Army approached Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen concentration camps (Figure 18), the SS began to evacuate the inmates from there, many winding up in Mittelbau. It seems reasonable to assume that Edward and his family were initially deported to Auschwitz since the distance there from Kraków, Poland, where the family lived, was only slightly more than 40 miles. Edward’s parents were already elderly by 1942 or whenever they were deported so likely were immediately killed. Edward, on the other hand, would only have been in his late teens so would have been considered useful to the Nazis as a slave laborer. It’s possible Edward was among those evacuated from Auschwitz to Mittelbau towards the beginning of 1945, as his Häftlings-Personal-Karte dates his arrival there as the 17th of January 1945. Likely any who survived the transit would have been weak or sick. References suggest that between January and March 1945, around 6,000 inmates died. We have no way of knowing whether Edward was among this number.

 

Figure 18. Map of the concentration camps in occupied Poland including Auschwitz-Birkenau and Gross-Rosen; Edward was likely transferred from Auschwitz to Mittelbau-Dora

 

With the advance of US troops towards the Harz in early April 1945, just under nine miles north of Kohnstein, the SS decided to evacuate most of the Mittelbau camps. Thousands of inmates were forced to board box cars in great haste and with considerable brutality, while others were forced to walk; they were being headed northeast towards Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbrück concentration camps. (Figure 19) Those unable to keep up with the death marches were summarily shot. The worst atrocity, known as the Gardelegen massacre, resulted in more than 1,000 prisoners being murdered in a barn that was set on fire; those who were not burned to death were shot by the SS as they tried to escape. Again, no reliable statistics exist on the number of deaths on these transports, but estimates put the number of prisoners killed at around 8,000. On the 11th of April 1945, US troops freed the remaining prisoners who’d been left behind at Mittelbau-Dora.

 

Figure 19. Map showing the location of Dora-Mittelbau in relation to Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbrück concentration camps where prisoners were transported or marched in early April 1945

 

The British Army liberated Bergen-Belsen on the 15th of April. Many of the “kapos” there had accompanied the internees from Mittelbau, and after liberation the inmates turned on their former overseers and killed about 170 of them on that day.

So, returning to the question I asked at the outset of whether Edward Lindenberger could have survived the brutal and inhumane conditions in Buchenwald, the answer is we don’t know given the absence of accurate record-keeping in the final days of the war. However, given the chaotic conditions that prevailed towards the end of WWII, the callous and barbaric manner in which prisoners were treated, the weakened and sickened state surviving internees would have been in, and the final paroxysm of atrocities the Nazis perpetrated as they were cornered, the answer is that he likely did not reach his 20th birthday.

 

VITAL STATISTICS FOR SAMUEL & CHARLOTTE BRUCK AND THEIR CHILDREN

 

NAME

(relationship)

 VITAL EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE OF DATA
         
Samuel Bruck (self) Birth 11 March 1808   Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Samuel Bruck & Charlotte Marle)
Marriage (to Charlotte Marle) 18 January 1831 Pless, Upper Silesia, Germany [today: Pszczyna, Poland]  
Death 3 July 1863 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Samuel Bruck & Charlotte Marle)
Charlotte Marle (wife) Birth 2 October 1809 Pless, Upper Silesia, Germany [today: Pszczyna, Poland] Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Samuel Bruck & Charlotte Marle)
Marriage (to Samuel Bruck) 18 January 1831 Pless, Upper Silesia, Germany [today: Pszczyna, Poland]  
Death 17 August 1861 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Samuel Bruck & Charlotte Marle)
Oskar Bruck (son) Birth 9 October 1831 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 6 April 1892 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany death certificate
Rosel Bruck (daughter) Birth 9 June 1833 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death Unknown    
Fedor Bruck (son) Birth 8 October 1834 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 3 October 1892 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Samuel Bruck & Charlotte Marle)
Jenny Bruck (daughter) Birth 12 December 1835 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 25 April 1902 Paris, France Paris, France death register listing
Emilie Bruck (daughter) Birth 10 September 1837 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 1908 Bielitz, Poland [today: Bielsko-Biała, Poland] Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Samuel Bruck & Charlotte Marle)
Julius Bruck (son) Birth 9 August 1841 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 28 February 1919 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany death certificate
Hermine Bruck (daughter) Birth 16 February 1843 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death Unknown    
Helena Rosalie Bruck (daughter) Birth 11 August 1845 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 20 June 1910 Bielitz, Poland [today: Bielsko-Biała, Poland] Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Samuel Bruck & Charlotte Marle)
Wilhelm Bruck (son) Birth 23 February 1849 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 15 February 1907 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany death certificate

 

 

POST 113: CHIUNE SUGIHARA, JAPANESE IMPERIAL CONSUL IN LITHUANIA DURING WWII, “RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS”

 

Note: In this brief post, I discuss how while researching the fate of my great-granduncle’s 14 or 15 children I learned about a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, who saved the lives of upwards of 6,000 Polish and Lithuanian Jews following the Nazi invasion of Poland and the beginning of WWII.

 

Figure 1. My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck (1834-1892)
Figure 2. My great-grandmother Friederike Bruck née Mockrauer (1836-1924)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3. Entrance to the family hotel in Ratibor, the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel

 

My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck (1834-1892) (Figure 1) and his wife Friederike Bruck née Mockrauer (1836-1924) (Figure 2), were the second-generation owners of the family hotel in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland], the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel. (Figure 3) Fedor Bruck and his eight known siblings, born between 1831 and 1849, were the children of Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) (Figure 4) and Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861) (Figure 5), seven of them believed to have lived into adulthood.

 

Figure 4. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863)
Figure 5. My great-great-grandmother Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The oldest child was Oskar Bruck (1831-1892) married to Mathilde Bruck née Preiss (1839-1922) with whom she had, by my last count, 14 or 15 children born between 1859 and 1877. The sources of this information are two family trees (Figure 6); the Jewish birth register listings from the Church of Latter-day Saints Microfilm No. 1184449 for Ratibor, where most of the children are known to have been born; and ancestral information on MyHeritage. (The names of the children, their birth and death dates, and the sources of the data are summarized on a table at the end of this post). Aware that several of their children were born during the Kulturkampf, the conflict from 1872 to 1878 between the government of Prussia and the Roman Catholic Church, I even asked Paul Newerla, my historian friend from Racibórz, to check the civil birth records at the Archiwum Państwowe W Katowicach Oddzial W Raciborzu (“State Archives in Katowice Branch in Racibórz”) for their children born during this period, to no avail.

 

Figure 6. The Oskar Bruck-Mathilde Preiss family page from the “Pinkus Family Collection 1500s-1994, 1725-1994,” archived at the Leo Baeck Institute showing the names and some vital data on 12 “kinder” (children) out of 14 or 15 thought to have existed

 

Realizing that any of Oskar and Mathilde’s surviving great-grandchildren would be my third cousins, I recently tried to determine whether any of their children have living descendants to whom I would be related by blood. Surprisingly, after having conducted a thorough search, I have been unable to find a single living third cousin (i.e., my generation), second cousin once removed (i.e., previous generation), or third cousin once removed (younger generation) descended from any of those 14 or 15 children. I did not include any of Oskar and Mathilde’s children’s spouses where the divorced or surviving spouse remarried and had children who would not be blood relatives. I have tentatively been able to track one of their children, Dr. Erich Bruck (b. 1865) to, of all places, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and am currently scrounging more information to hopefully bring an intriguing future post to regular readers. The youngest daughter Emma Naumann née Bruck (1877-1942) and her husband Ernst Naumann (1877-1942) were both murdered in Theresienstadt, but otherwise all their other children are believed to have died of natural causes.

What is surprising to me given the enormous collection of family photos I own or that have been shared with me by different branches of my family is that I have not a single photo of my great-granduncle or great-grandaunt nor any of their children. I’m hoping that a reader of this post may recognize an ancestral connection and contact me so I may learn more about this offshoot of my family.

Continuing. As often happens when I embark on searches of remote ancestors is that I make unexpected discoveries, such as the one which forms the basis for this brief Blog post. And truth be told this fortuitous finding is much more significant than unearthing another distant cousin. As an aside, I would never pretend that my ancestors are any more interesting or accomplished than those of readers. In writing about my predecessors, I am more interested in describing the too often tragic social and historic context in which they led their lives to see what lessons and modern-day parallels can be drawn. As Shakespeare wrote in “The Tempest,” “what’s past is prologue.” In other words, history sets the context for the present.

As mentioned above, the table below summarizes the birth and death dates, where known, of Oskar and Mathilde’s children. One of their daughters, Charlotte Bruck (1866-1909) married a man named Rudolf Falk (1857-1912) with whom she had one daughter, Käthe Falk. This is the only one of Oskar and Mathilde’s descendants I’ll directly discuss, one of their granddaughters.

Through the documents I found on ancestry.com, Käthe Falk had already caught my attention. Her first husband was Wilhelm Sinasohn (b. 1880-d. unknown), and her second husband was Erhard Friedrich Sinasohn (1888-1967); I assumed her husbands were related to one another. A January 1925 notation in the upper righthand corner of Käthe and Wilhelm’s 1911 marriage certificate (Figures 7a-c) indicates they were divorced on the 29th of November 1924; Käthe got remarried on the 11th of February 1926 (Figures 8a-c) to Erhard Sinasohn, who I would later learn was her first husband’s cousin. Inasmuch as I can determine, Käthe had two sons, Robert Nast and Werner Rudolf Nast (in America, Warren Roger Nast) with her first husband, and none by her second; Nast was the maiden name of their paternal grandmother.

 

Figure 7a. Cover page of Käthe Falk and Wilhelm Sinasohn’s 1911 marriage certificate

 

Figure 7b. Page 1 of Käthe Falk and Wilhelm Sinasohn’s 1911 marriage certificate containing a notation in the upper righthand corner stating their divorce became final on the 29th of November 1924
Figure 7c. Page 2 of Käthe Falk and Wilhelm Sinasohn’s 1911 marriage certificate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 8a. Cover page of Käthe Falk and Erhard Friedrich Sinasohn’s 1926 marriage certificate

 

 

Figure 8b. Page 1 of Käthe Falk and Erhard Friedrich Sinasohn’s 1926 marriage certificate
Figure 8c. Page 2 of Käthe Falk and Erhard Friedrich Sinasohn’s 1926 marriage certificate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A continuing search on ancestry.com yielded an astonishing document for both Käthe (Figure 9) and her husband (Figure 10), simply a cover sheet entitled “in the Lithuania, Jews Saved by Passports from the Japanese Diplomat Chiune Sugihara, 1940”; the page showed both were Luxembourgers, and that each had been issued a visa dated the 31st of July 1940 signed by a Japanese consul. Having never heard of Chiune Sugihara, I scurried to learn about him.

 

Figure 9. Page from ancestry.com for Käthe Sinasohn titled “in the Lithuania, Jews Saved by Passports from the Japanese Diplomat Chiune Sugihara, 1940” showing she was a Luxembourger and was issued a Visa dated the 31st of July 1940 by Chiune Sugihara

 

Figure 10. Page from ancestry.com for Käthe’s husband, Erhard Friedrich Sinasohn, showing he too was issued a Visa dated the 31st of July 1940 by Chiune Sugihara

 

Figure 11. Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986)

Chiune Sugihara (Figure 11), I would find out, was a Japanese diplomat who during WWII helped Jews living in Lithuania leave, including Jews who had made their way there after the war began. Let me provide some brief historic context. WWII began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. This caused hundreds of thousands of Jews and other Polish citizens to flee eastward ahead of the advancing German troops; many displaced persons found at least temporary safety in Lithuania. Once there, however, their options for escape were limited and required diplomatic visas to cross international borders. One route involved traveling through Asia, but it required a combination of permits issued by acquiescent foreign envoys trying to address the refugee crisis. However, it required declaring a final destination, with the Dutch Caribbean Island of Curaçao being suggested.

One diplomat willing to help Jews was the Japanese Imperial Consul Chiune Sugihara, the first Japanese diplomat posted to Lithuania. Absent any clear instructions from his government, Sugihara took it upon himself to issue 10-day transit visas to Japan to hundreds of Jewish refugees supposedly possessing destination visas for Curaçao. By the time he received a reply from his own government, he’d already issued 1800 visas. The Foreign Ministry in Japan told him then that individuals to whom he’d issued these visas were really headed to Canada and the United States but had arrived in Japan without money or final destination visas.

Sugihara acknowledged to his superiors he’d issued visas to people who’d not completed all the necessary arrangements for destination visas but explained that Japan was the only transit country available for people going in the direction of the United States and Canada, and that Japanese visas were required to leave the Soviet Union. Despite orders from his government to desist, Sugihara continued issuing visas, even going so far as to sign his name on blank stamped sheets, hoping the rest could be filled in; he was apparently still passing out the visas as he boarded the train for Berlin where he’d been reassigned. At the end of August 1940, the Soviets shuttered all diplomatic consulates, including the Japanese mission, but by then, Sugihara had managed to save thousands of Jews in just a few weeks. For his humanitarian efforts in 1984 Yad Vashem awarded him the title of “Righteous Among the Nations.”

Many of the Jews who managed to escape through Lithuania were either Jewish residents from there or Jews from Poland. Sugihara is estimated to have helped more than 6,000 Jewish refugees escape to Japanese territory. And among those to whom Sugihara issued visas are the granddaughter of Oskar and Mathilde Bruck and her husband. Among the pertinent documents I found on ancestry.com was a “Manifest of Alien Passengers” for the “SS President Taft” with Käthe and Erhard Sinasohn’s names showing they arrived with one of her sons, Werner Rudolf Nast, in San Francisco from Kobe, Japan on the 8th of February 1941 (Figures 12a-b), slightly more than six months after receiving their visas signed by Chiune Sugihara. Coincidentally, following their escape from Europe and their arrival in the United States, Käthe and Erhard settled in Forest Hills, Queens, the neighborhood adjacent Kew Gardens, Queens, where I was raised.

 

Figure 12a. Page 1 of the passenger manifest bearing Käthe Falk and Erhard Friedrich Sinasohn’s names, as well as the name of Werner Rudolf Nast, her second son, showing they departed Kobe, Japan on January 25, 1941

 

Figure 12b. Page 2 of the passenger manifest with Käthe Falk, Erhard Friedrich Sinasohn, and Werner Rudolf Nast’s names showing they arrived in San Francisco on February 8, 1941 and were met by Robert Nast, Käthe’s first son with Wilhelm Sinasohn-Nast

 

One final fitting note about this valorous Japanese diplomat. On his tombstone is engraved his first name, “Chiune,” the Japanese word which just so happens to translate into “a thousand new lives.”

 

VITAL STATISTICS FOR OSKAR & MATHILDE BRUCK AND THEIR CHILDREN

 

NAME

(relationship)

 VITAL EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE OF DATA
         
Oskar Bruck (self) Birth 8 October 1831 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Marriage 29 October 1858 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (marriages)
Death 6 April 1892 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany death certificate
Mathilde Preiss

(wife)

 Birth 20 October 1839 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Marriage 29 October 1858 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (marriages)
Death 23 February 1922 Berlin, Germany Standesamt Berlin XI, Berlin, Germany death certificate
Richard Bruck (son) Birth 17 August 1859 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death Unknown    
Georg Bruck (son) Birth 21 July 1860 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 2 April 1937 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany death certificate
Carl Bruck (son) Birth 10 May 1862 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death Unknown    
Samuel Bruck (son) Birth 17 July 1863 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death Unknown    
Franz Samuel Bruck (son) Birth 28 September 1864 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 19 February 1924 Berlin, Germany Landesarchiv Berlin, Standesamt Charlottenburg I, Sterberegister, 1921-1931
Erich Bruck (son) Birth 31 August 1865 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death Unknown Argentina ??  
Charlotte Bruck (daughter) Birth 18 September 1866 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 7 December 1909 Berlin, Germany Charlottenburg I, Berlin, Germany death certificate
Margaretha Bruck (daughter) Birth 19 October 1868 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 18 February 1900 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Frankfurt, Germany death certificate
Gertrud Bruck (daughter) Birth 9 June 1870 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 26 July 1871 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)-notation of death on birth register
Anna Bruck (daughter) Birth 4 July 1870 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death 8 September 1895 Neustadt, Upper Silesia, Germany [today: Prudnik, Poland] Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Oskar Bruck & Mathilde Preiss)
Martin Bruck (son) Birth 22 July 1873 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Death Unknown    
Marie Bruck (daughter) Birth 29 June 1874 Plania, Kreiss Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
  Death 20 February 1913 Leipzig, Germany Borchardt-Pincus-Peiser Family Website (MyHeritage)
Bertha Bruck (daughter) Birth 5 November 1876 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Oskar Bruck & Mathilde Preiss)
Death July 1949 Santiago, Chile MyHeritage Family Tree
Emma Bruck (daughter) Birth 20 October 1877 Berlin, Germany Standesamt Berlin VI, Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death 15 October 1942 Theresienstadt Ghetto, Czech Republic Theresienstadt death certificate (holocaust.cz)
Selma Bruck (daughter) Birth Unknown   Pinkus Family Collection (family tree for Oskar Bruck & Mathilde Preiss)
Death Unknown    

 

POST 112: WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ’S BEQUEST TO THE HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY

 

Note: Inspired by a reader of my Blog, this post builds on a previous one about my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s friend, German baron Wolfram von Pannwitz, who upon his death, bequeathed his $500,000 fortune in equal parts to the Catholic Church and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). In this post, I explore some additional questions surrounding Wolfram.

Related Post:

POST 84: MY UNCLE DR. FEDOR BRUCK’S FRIEND, WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ, GERMAN BARON

Paraphrasing one of my English teachers, quoting a long-forgotten to me author, “the basis for a short story can be found on any street corner in the world.” This Blog post, short story if you will, is an example. The inspiration for this tale is a reader of my Blog, John Thiesen from Newton, Kansas, who stumbled on Post 84 where I discussed my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s (Theodore Brook in America (Figure 1)) friend, Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, a German Baron.

 

Figure 1. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (1895-1982), Theodore Brook in America, in September 1981

 

 

While Mr. Thiesen and I are unrelated, and I would have had no reason to know of his family, John contacted me because his grandfather John Kroeker and Wolfram E. von Pannwitz came to America at the same time aboard a ship named the “Marine Marlin” departing from Bremen, Germany on the 8th of July 1947, making landfall in New York City on the 17th of July; my uncle Fedor also travelled on this ship at the same time, so would likely have met John Kroeker. Naturally, I already knew my uncle had met Wolfram in a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany, that they had traveled together to America, and had remained friends throughout the remainder of their lives. (Figure 2) I was completely unaware that Wolfram, and possibly my uncle, had befriended John Kroeker on their voyage to America.

 

Figure 2. Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, far right, at my aunt and uncle’s wedding on March 4, 1958, in New York City

 

Upon contacting me, John Thiesen told me a little about his grandfather as the basis for trying to understand why he had suddenly moved to Providence, Rhode Island from Kansas in about 1953. He thought that perhaps his grandfather’s acquaintance with Wolfram von Pannwitz might have had something to do with this and hoped I might know. John explained that upon his arrival in America his grandfather moved to Kansas; he apparently suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and for whatever reason seemed unable to fit in there. So, he eventually relocated to Rhode Island though he had no friends or family there that Mr. Thiesen is aware of. His grandfather’s address book is in John’s possession, and amazingly includes Wolfram von Pannwitz’s name and Providence address, seemingly written in Wolfram’s own hand (Figure 3); more on this below. The question John asked me is whether von Pannwitz was still in Providence in 1953? As a related aside, given the likelihood that my uncle Fedor met John Kroeker aboard the Marlin Marlin on his trip across the Atlantic, I wondered whether my uncle’s name appears in his address book? It does not, according to John Thiesen.

 

Figure 3. Page from John Kroeker’s address book with Wolfram E. von Pannwitz’s Providence, Rhode Island address, seemingly written in his own hand. The address is care of (c/o) of Dr. Alexander Dorner, from whom Wolfram likely rented a room (Photo courtesy of John Thiesen)

 

A brief digression. In the 1947 Marine Marlin passenger manifest, John Kroeker’s nationality is given as “Stateless,” unlike Wolfram and my Uncle Fedor who are identified as German. (Figures 4-6) John Kröker, as his name is spelled on his 1894 Hamburg, Germany birth certificate (Figures 7a-b), is shown on this document to have been “evangelisch,” Protestant, though his grandson tells me he was a Mennonite. This is logical as the Mennonite church is a branch of the Protestant church having emerged from the Anabaptist movement of the 16th century. What is puzzling to me is why John Kroeker was Stateless. In the case of my own father who as a Jew was Stateless upon his arrival in America because the Nazis revoked the German nationality of all Jews, John Thiesen says that his grandfather was Stateless because he was a citizen/subject of the Russian Empire. Why or how he wound up in Russia remains unexplained.

 

Figure 4. Listing for John Kroeker in the “Alien Passenger Manifest” for the “Marine Marlin” showing he departed Bremen, Germany on July 8, 1947, and arrived in New York City on July 17, 1947, and indicating that he was “Stateless”

 

Figure 5. “Alien Passenger Manifest” for Wolfram E. von Pannwitz showing he traveled aboard the “Marine Marlin” at the same time as John Kroeker and that he was a German national

 

Figure 6. “Alien Passenger Manifest” for my uncle Fedor Bruck showing he too traveled aboard the “Marine Marlin” at the same time as John Kroeker and his friend Wolfram E. von Pannwitz and that he was also a German national

 

Figure 7a. Cover page for John Kröker’s birth certificate indicating he was born on the 3rd of May 1894 in Hamburg, Germany

 

Figure 7b. John Kröker’s birth certificate indicating he was born on the 3rd of May 1894 in Hamburg, Germany and that he was born a Protestant (“evangelisch”)

 

Anyway, faced with John’s question as to where Wolfram lived in 1953, I started investigating this.

From almost immediately upon his arrival in America, available documents in ancestry.com find Wolfram associated with Providence, Rhode Island. Beyond the fact that his residence in John Kroeker’s undated address book places him on 10 Cooke Street in Providence, apparently boarding in the home of a Dr. Alexander Dorner, the “Rhode Island, U.S., Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890-1992” for “Wolfram Von Pannwitz” shows this same address for him on the 15th of October 1947. (Figures 8a-b) Incidentally, this record is more aptly referred to as a “Declaration of Intention” to become an American citizen once the five-year waiting period was over. Presumably, Wolfram lived in Providence, R.I. after his arrival in New York on the 17th of July 1947.

 

Figure 8a. Cover page for the “Rhode Island, U.S., Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890-1992” for “Wolfram Von Pannwitz”

 

Figure 8b. The “Rhode Island, U.S., Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890-1992” for Wolfram giving his full name as “Wolfram Ernst Hans Wilhelm Eberhard von Pannwitz,” and his date and place of residence (i.e., 10 Cooke Street, Providence, R.I.) on the 15th of October 1947

 

As an aside, Wolfram’s October 1947 “Rhode Island Index to Naturalization,” as well as his 1889 birth certificate, gives his full name; like that of many aristocrats it was very lengthy, “Wolfram Ernst Hans Wilhelm Eberhard von Pannwitz.”

Absent any contemporary phone directories and address book listings for Wolfram von Pannwitz following his arrival in America, either for Providence or New York City, and the yet unavailable 1950 census, there is no clear evidence for how long Wolfram resided in Providence. However, when Wolfram departed New York City for Germany via Southampton, England on the 19th of February 1953 aboard the “Queen Elizabeth” his address was given as the Hotel Seville on East 29th Street (Figures 9a-b), his permanent residence throughout his life in New York City. (Figure 10)

 

Figure 9a. Cover page for list of passengers departing New York City aboard the Queen Elizabeth on the 19th of February 1953

 

Figure 9b. Wolfram von Pannwitz’s name on the passenger manifest showing him departing New York City on the 19th of February 1953, providing the date and place he became a naturalized U.S. citizen, the 8th of December 1952 in New York City, and his place of residence, the Hotel Seville

 

Figure 10. The Hotel Seville where Wolfram E. von Pannwitz rented modest accommodations for $23 a week

 

This same February 1953 passenger manifest shows Wolfram was naturalized in New York City on the 8th of December 1952, logically, slightly more than five years after his arrival in America. The distance between Providence and New York City is only about 180 miles, so it is possible Wolfram was naturalized in New York City while still residing in Providence. Still, it is safe to conclude that by early 1953 Wolfram was permanently living in Manhattan at the Hotel Seville. The question of how long or whether his residency in Providence may have overlapped with John Kroeker’s is another unknown.

Let me move now to the question of why Wolfram may have taken up residency in Providence. Aware of Wolfram’s more permanent inhabitance there, I did a Google search of “Mr. von Pannwitz + Providence, Rhode Island.” Completely unexpectedly, I stumbled upon an article I’d previously overlooked when researching Wolfram written by Ms. Geraldine S. Foster, a past president of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association (RIJHA), entitled “Strands of history: HIAS and Rhode Island.” Embedded in this article is the explanation of why Wolfram von Pannwitz, upon his death, bequeathed half of his sizeable estate to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). (Figure 11)

 

Figure 11. Contemporary newspaper account from a 1966 New York daily discussing Wolfram E. von Pannwitz’s $500,000 bequest, split equally between Cardinal Spellman and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

Quoting from Ms. Foster’s article: 

“Almost since its founding, HIAS has not turned away non-Jews who needed its help. An undated new article in RIJHA archives tells us that in 1946, a Providence couple approached a Jewish organization, Rhode Island Refugee Service (later part of Jewish Family and Children’s Service), to ask for help in processing immigration papers for Wolfram von Pannewitz [sic], described as an anti-Nazi German Protestant and an aristocrat.

The couple had signed the proper forms, but then found they urgently needed a second affidavit. They also needed a conduit for the money to pay for von Pannewitz’ [sic] passage.

The R.I. agency, an affiliate of HIAS, helped them find someone to provide the affidavit and fulfill their other needs. We do not know how large a role HIAS played in von Pannewitz’ [sic] rescue. What we do know is that in 1966, he left his entire fortune of $500,000, in equal parts, to Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman and HIAS.”

According to the Museum of Family History, HIAS is described as follows: “HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, is America’s oldest international migration and refugee resettlement agency. Dedicated to assisting persecuted and oppressed people worldwide and delivering them to countries of safe haven. HIAS has rescued more than 4.5 million people since 1881. Growing from organizations founded in the 1870s and 1880s to assist Jewish migrants arriving in America, HIAS is responsible for the rescue and resettlement into the United States of noted academics, artists, athletes, entertainers, scientists, mayors, governors, and members of the United States Congress, as well as everyday people. Its operational goals are based on Jewish religious teachings.”

As the above article states, it’s unclear how large a role HIAS played in bringing Wolfram to America, but we do know from a contemporary document that the cost of his passage aboard the Marine Marlin was $134 plus $8 fee. (Figures 12a-b) Possibly, obtaining a second affidavit may have been as important as paying for the trip?

 

Figure 12a. Cover page of “Passenger List of Displaced Persons” showing Wolfram von Pannwitz departed Bremen, Germany aboard the Marine Marlin on the 8th of July 1947

 

Figure 12b. “Passenger List of Displaced Persons” showing the cost of Wolfram von Pannwitz’ passage to the United States was $134 plus an $8 fee, costs presumably paid for by HIAS

 

Which brings us to the final question of why, upon landing in America, did Wolfram decide to settle in Providence, Rhode Island? From the above article, we know a Providence couple approached the Rhode Island Refugee Service asking for their help in processing Wolfram’s immigration papers. Was this the Dr. Alexander Dorner and his wife with whom Wolfram boarded when he lived in Providence? This seems likely. As I discussed in Post 84, Wolfram’s wife died young in Germany, and he was estranged from his German family because they had cheated him out of his inheritance. It appears Wolfram had no family in America and lived a rather reclusive and modest lifestyle, accruing a large fortune through stock investments. Possibly, moving to Providence upon his arrival here may initially have been his best option until he settled in, which he did most admirably.

 

 

REFERENCE

 

Foster, Geraldine S. “Strands of history: HIAS and Rhode Island. Jewish Rhode Island, November 8, 2018,

https://www.jewishrhody.com/stories/strands-of-history-hias-and-rhode-island,9401