May 2025 - bruckfamilyblog.com

POST 182: THE JEWISH ANKER FAMILY FROM DANZIG AS THE SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT MY FATHER DR. OTTO BRUCK

“First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)

Note: This post is the result of a recent contact with a gentleman living in Los Angeles whose Anker family, like my father, once lived in the Free City of Danzig. Due to Nazi persecution, both of our families left there around the same time in 1937. Coincidentally, our ancestors were both singled out in a contemporary Nazi-era newspaper, “Zweischen Weichsel und Nogat.”

Followers of my blog understand many of my posts discussing snippets of information acquired about members of my family emanate from casual or regular readers. The previous post about the British RAF airman Joe Powell who, along with my father’s first cousin Heinz Löwenstein, escaped from a work camp connected to German Stalag VIIIB in 1943 is one such example. In that case, the particulars came from Joe’s son, John Powell; he highlighted some intriguing details about Joe’s capture after he and a fellow RAF airman were shot down by the Germans over the coast of the Netherlands, as well as facts his father told him about his and Heinz’s escape from Stalag VIIIB and recapture. It just happens they were retaken in Danzig [today: Gdańsk, Poland], a place my father had ties to as well the Anker family I’ll be talking about in this post.

The current post continues in the vein of presenting tidbits of family information acquired from blog readers. I was recently contacted by a Jewish gentleman from Los Angeles, George Jakob Fogelson. Having read about my father Dr. Otto Bruck’s connection to Danzig and Tiegenhof [today: Nowy Dwór Gdański, Poland] in the Free City of Danzig, George reached out to tell me about his own Anker family’s links there at the same time as my father lived and worked in the area. George’s mother was once a Danziger (i.e., resident of the Free City of Danzig, basically a city-state), as were his grandparents and great-grandparents. George’s great-grandparents were Simon and Henriette Anker, with Simon being on the Board of Directors of the Great Synagogue there for 15 years.

In conjunction with a family history George is currently writing, among his family’s papers he came across a copy of an article from a Nazi-era newspaper entitled “Zwischen Weichsel und Nogat” (“Between the Vistula and Nogat Rivers”), dated June 1937. (Figures 1a-b) This is believed to have been an insert to the “Der Danziger Vorposten,” a National Socialist journal. George’s mother donated the original paper to the Leo Baeck Institute. On page 2 (Figure 2) was an article which singled out George’s great-uncle Arthur Anker by name under a very provocative headline, “How Much Longer Will the Jew Anker Own a Farm?” As George aptly notes, the article was “. . .a striking example of the antisemitic rhetoric that had become normalized under Nazi influence.”

Figure 1a. Cover page of the Nazi-era newspaper “Zwischen Weichsel und Nogat” (“Between the Vistula and Nogat Rivers”), dated June 1937, mentioning both the Anker and Bruck families

Figure 1b. Header of Nazi-era newspaper “Zwischen Weichsel und Nogat”

Figure 2. Page 2 of the July 1937 issue of “Zwischen Weichsel und Nogat” discussing Arthur Anker, George Fogelson’s ancestor

The article reads in part:

“Now that Jews and their associates, at least those living in the Grosses Werder district, have either fled or are packing their suitcases, it may be time to make the Jew Anker aware that the population expects him to return land in the village of Gnojau, which he currently calls his own, to German hands.

It is typical Jewish impudence not to have already drawn the necessary conclusions. It is a disgrace that elements alien to our land and our race are depriving native, down-to-earth German farmers of land cultivated by our ancestors—not by the Jews.”

George spells out what the National Socialists were ultimately successful in doing:

“This language—casually dehumanizing, racially charged, and threatening—illustrates how public pressure and propaganda were used to isolate Jewish citizens and drive them from economic and social life. Though phrased in the guise of communal interest, the article functions as a public denunciation, aimed at legitimizing expropriation and preparing the population to accept—or even assist in—the displacement of their Jewish neighbors.”

Continuing:

“Arthur Anker, a respected member of the community and former board member of the local synagogue, was not merely criticized; he was targeted as a symbol of everything the Nazi movement wished to remove from German soil. The article reflects the broader campaign of intimidation and exclusion that escalated in the late 1930s, culminating in deportations and mass murder just a few years later.”

Arthur Anker and his family owned the largest grain business in Danzig. In view of the deteriorating social and political climate in Danzig at the time, following a “family conference,” the family agreed to sell everything they had and take their money to America. According to a front-page New York Times article, dated October 7, 1938 (Figure 3), announcing the family’s arrival in New York headed to California, the grain elevators valued at $500,000 were sold for half of that; the family also sold all their buildings and land.

Figure 3. New York Times article, dated October 7, 1938, announcing the Anker family’s arrival in New York headed to California

Apropos the sale of property by Jews in Danzig, George notes the following: “In the final week of October [1937], a new decree was issued ordering the removal of all Jewish businesses and offices from the city’s main streets. Those who had been evicted were forbidden from reopening elsewhere. At the same time, a law was passed requiring special permission from the Senate for any Jew to sell personal property—effectively blocking any chance of a fair sale and ensuring that Jewish assets could be seized or devalued.”

I know from my father’s compensation file, a copy of which I obtained from the German Embassy in conjunction with my ongoing efforts to obtain German citizenship, that my father’s forced sale of his own dental practice, resulted in a similar devaluation of the assets, equipment, and inventory with him getting pennies on the dollar.

Readers may wonder about the relevance of the Anker family’s experience to my father’s own history. Surprisingly, on page 3 of the same newspaper targeting Arthur Anker, George found a blurb about my father (Figures 4a-b) that translated reads as follows:

“We wish to inform our readers that the Jewish dentist, Dr. O. Bruck, has left Tiegenhof. The practice has now been assumed by Dr. Erich Kendziorra, a German-born dentist.”

Figure 4a. Page 3 of the July 1937 issue of “Zwischen Weichsel und Nogat” with the blurb about my father, Dr. Otto Bruck

Figure 4b. The blurb about my father from the July 1937 issue of “Zwischen Weichsel und Nogat”

Clearly, the National Socialists felt the need to trumpet their success in forcing my father to sell his dental practice to a “German-born dentist,” though like many persecuted Jews he too was German-born.

The lead story in the issue of the “Zwischen Weichsel und Nogat” targeting Arthur Anker and my father was titled “Four years ago, the absolute majority of National Socialists, today the constitutional majority.” I won’t include the translation but will just quote from George’s family history as to what the publication effectuated:

“By singling out Arthur Anker and Otto Bruck, both Jews, the publication shifted from abstract ideological rhetoric to a direct personal attack—contributing to the broader machinery of social exclusion, economic dispossession, and ultimately, the path toward deportation and genocide. The safety and future of Danzig’s Jews were now under serious and immediate threat.”

Dr. Erich Kendziorra was previously known to me as the dentist who took over my father’s dental practice in Tiegenhof. Let me explain. The address of the office building where my father had both his dental clinic and where he lived was Markstrasse 8. Students of history know that during the Nazi era large cities as well as smaller towns and hamlets renamed their major streets as Adolf Hitler Strasse. Tiegenhof was no exception, Markstrasse became Adolf Hitler Strasse. A 1943 Address Book I have a digital copy of shows Dr. Erich Kendziorra occupying my father’s former office, then named and numbered Adolf Hitler Strasse 8. (Figure 5)

Figure 5. Page from the 1943 Tiegenhof Address Book showing Dr. Erich Kendziorra occupying the dental office at Adolf Hitler Strasse 8, formerly Marktstrasse 8, that my father had formerly occupied

Curious as to Dr. Kendziorra’s fate, I turned to ancestry.com and familysearch.org. A database I’d accessed back in 2018 when I first investigated this question are referred to as “Heimatortskartei (HOK),” literally translated as “hometown index.” Heimatortskartei was set up in post-WWII Germany for the purpose of identifying and locating people in the catastrophic aftermath and destruction of the war. It helped displaced Germans to figuratively find their way back to their original home areas or connect with those from their former regions. Individuals from a particular “Kreis” (county or district) would register their names, addresses, and other relevant information with the Heimatortskartei, creating a sort of “social network” for those who shared the same origin.

While the need for the Heimatortskartei has obviously diminished over time, it continues to be an extremely valuable resource for genealogists and those interested in tracing their family history, especially in regions that were affected by displacement or significant population changes. Case in point, there is a Heimatortskartei for “Danzig-Westpreussen, 1939-1963.” Back in 2018, when checking this index, I happened upon an index card from Tiegenhof for an Erika Kendziorra, née Ganger. (Figures 6a-b) Usefully, it provides her date of birth as the 12^th of July 1911. The back of the index card confirms that she was the widow of Dr. Erich Kendziorra, whose birth date is also provided, the 12^th of September 1911.

Figure 6a. Front side of the Heimatortskartei card for Erika Kendziorra, née Ganger, Dr. Erich Kendziorra’s wife, showing she was born on July 12, 1911

Figure 6b. Back side of the Heimatortskartei card for Erika Kendziorra, née Ganger, identifying her husband as Dr. Erich Kendziorra, giving his date of birth as September 12, 1911, and the date and place of his death in Hungary during WWII

According to the Heimatortskartei, Dr. Kendziorra was killed in a place called Kaba, Hungary on the 17^th of October 1944. Presumably drafted into the Wehrmacht despite being a dentist, I assumed he had been killed on the Eastern Front battling the advancing Red Army. Such happens to be the case. Kaba turns out to be less than 40km (~25 miles) from a place called Debrecen, Hungary. (Figure 7) In October 1944, the same month Dr. Kendziorra was killed, the Battle of Debrecen took place. The siege of Debrecen was a significant part of the overall Hungarian campaign. The battle involved German and Hungarian forces against the Red Army, and while Debrecen was the main target, the fighting extended to surrounding areas like Kaba.

Figure 7. Map showing the approximate distance from Debrecen, Hungary to Kaba, Hungary where Dr. Erich Kendziorra was killed in October 1944

It’s unclear when Dr. Kendziorra arrived in Tiegenhof, nor where he came from. I located a fleeting reference to a dentist by that name in a 1936 address book from a place called Arendsee in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, some 721km (~448 miles) southwest of Tiegenhof, but am unsure whether this is the same person. (Figures 8a-b) What is certain is that his widow Erika died in 1998 in Berlin and is buried there in the Evangelischer Friedhof Biesdorf, interestingly alongside her husband. This information comes from Geneanet, and the date of birth and the name of Erika’s deceased husband confirm what I found on her Heimatortskartei. (Figures 9-10)

Figure 8a. Cover page from ancestry from a 1936 Arendsee, Germany Address Book listing a dentist named Dr. Erich Kendziorra living there

Figure 8b. Page from a 1936 Arendsee, Germany Address Book listing a dentist named Dr. Erich Kendziorra living there

Figure 9. Information from Geneanet showing that Erich Kendziorra’s wife died in 1998 in Berlin and is buried in the Evangelischer Friedhof Biesdorf alongside him

Figure 10. Headstone for Erika and Erich Kendziorra from the Evangelischer Friedhof Biesdorf in Berlin

Notwithstanding the fact that Arthur Anker, his siblings, and their children escaped Danzig, Leslie Anker, one of George’s cousins, estimates that no fewer than 28 descendants of Simon and Henriette’s extended family were murdered in the Holocaust.

I encourage readers to contemplate this post in the context of our ongoing political divisiveness and Martin Niemoller’s quote at the outset of this post. I don’t think any of us want to find ourselves on the wrong side of history by our descendants or future generations.

The Holocaust Encyclopedia notes three key facts about Niemoller’s statement, which begins “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out. . . “:

“(1) The quote that begins with the words ‘First they came for. . .’ continues to be used today in popular culture and public discourse. It has often been adapted to reflect current social issues and debates across the world.

(2) There are different versions of the quotation because it originated from Martin Niemoller’s impromptu public speeches.

(3) The quotation expresses Niemoller’s belief that Germans had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people. He felt this was especially true of the leaders of the Protestant churches, which were made up of Lutheran, Reformed, and United traditions.”

REFERENCE

Fogelson, George Jakob (ND). “The Beginnings of Open Violence.”

POST 181: JOE POWELL, ESCAPEE FROM A GERMAN STALAG WITH MY FATHER’S FIRST COUSIN HEINZ LÖWENSTEIN

Note: The son of an English prisoner of war whose father Joe Powell escaped from German Stalag VIIIB with my father’s first cousin Heinz Loewenstein recently contacted me. He shared some firsthand facts told to him by his father about their escape and eventual recapture.

POST 137, POSTSCRIPT-MY FATHER’S FIRST COUSIN HEINZ LÖWENSTEIN, DISCOVERING HIS WHEREABOUTS DURING WWII—ADDITIONAL FINDINGS

POST 163: THE WARTIME ESCAPADES OF HEINZ LÖWENSTEIN, FEDOR LÖWENSTEIN’S BROTHER

POST 163, POSTSCRIPT: THE WARTIME ESCAPADES OF HEINZ LÖWENSTEIN, FEDOR LÖWENSTEIN’S BROTHER

Through my blog, I was recently contacted by an English gentleman named John Powell. His father, known familiarly as “Jack Powell,” but referred to as Joe Powell in a few books discussing prisoners of war from the English Commonwealth interned in German stalags, is a name I immediately recognized. In January 1943, Joe Powell escaped from a work camp connected to Stalag VIIIB in Lamsdorf [today: Łambinowice, Poland] with my father’s first cousin, Heinz Loewenstein. (Figure 1) Regular readers will recognize my father’s cousin name as I’ve discussed him in multiple posts. (Posts 137, 137-Postscript, 163, and 163-Postscript)

Figure 1. Group photo found by my friend Brian Cooper on Facebook of British POWs at Lamsdorf, astonishingly including my father’s first cousin Heinz Löwenstein

Naturally, John Powell contacting me provided an opportunity to obtain a few additional details about his father’s wartime escapades. Regrettably, Joe Powell left no memoir or diary of his experiences, and, like his comrades, rarely spoke of them. However, John mentioned a book by Chris Goss, entitled “It’s Suicide But It’s Fun: The Story of 102 (Ceylon) Squadron, 1917-1955,” that includes a few anecdotes his father related to the author, whom he knew.

At my request, John sent me a picture of his father in his flying gear taken circa 1942. (Figure 2) John also shared copies of two letters he obtained from the United Kingdom’s Air Ministry. (Figures 3-4) They describe where his father and a fellow RAF airman named Brian Treloar were shot down over the Netherlands on the night of July 8/9, 1942, and the Dutch farm where they landed by parachute. Fascinatingly, one of the documents was from the local mayor in Pieterburen, Eenrum, the Dutch town where the airmen came down. According to the letter, after landing they handed the farmer a scrip of paper with their names which he promptly hid and that was only rediscovered in 1950. The farm is where they remained hidden for a short period before they were taken captive by the Germans.

Figure 2. Joe Powell in his airman’s uniform circa 1942

Figure 3. Cover letter from the United Kingdom’s Air Ministry enclosing letter from the mayor of the Dutch town of Pieterburen, Eenrum about the airmen Joe Powell and Brian Treloar’s parachute landing there during WWII

Figure 4. Letter from the mayor of the Dutch town of Pieterburen, Eenrum about the airmen Joe Powell and Brian Treloar’s parachute landing there during WWII

John learned that the farm where the two RAF airmen landed is still owned by the same family. When the plane Joe Powell was flying on was hit, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, the fragments of which were never removed and, surprisingly, never caused him any problems. The shrapnel came to light during a routine X-ray later in life and was a cause of great interest amongst the doctors who treated him.

Suffice it to say, these letters John generously shared bring the past to life in a way that is especially intriguing to me as a retired archaeologist; rarely am I provided such an up-close glimpse into the past.

In Post 137, I included an extensive passage from a book by Cyril Rofe entitled “Against the Wind” describing Joe and Heinz’s escape. I quote it again here:

“The first pair to escape were Joe Powell and Henry Löwenstein. Tall and ginger haired, Löwenstein had been brought up in Danzig and spoke perfect German. They had already been on one working party, which had been no use from their point of view. They had managed to get themselves sent back to the Stalag and then volunteered to come to Tarnowitz. As soon as they arrived, they wanted to be away. They were not fussy about their clothes, and it was easy enough to collect together all they needed. By the end of February they were ready to go. [EDITOR’S NOTE: BASED ON HEINZ’S PERSONALKARTE, WE KNOW HEINZ AND JOE WERE READY TO MAKE THEIR ESCAPE ATTEMPT AT THE END OF JANUARY 1943 RATHER THAN THE END OF FEBRUARY 1943]

On the morning of their escape they wore their civilian clothes under their battledress and overcoats. When groups left camp the men were always counted by the duty clerk, who handed them over to the guards, who also counted them. The guards were then responsible for the men until they handed them back to the duty clerk in the evening. The group to which Powell and Löwenstein belonged were working on the line just outside Beuthen station, about 10 miles from the camp, and travelled there and back by train each day. At the end of the day the Unteroffizier in charge always counted them before they got on the train for the return journey.

Joe Powell and Löwenstein had no difficulty in getting away at Beuthen. [Figure 5] Finding a quiet corner they slipped out of their Army clothes and walked away as civilians. They boarded a tram outside the station and travelled to Gleiwitz, where they caught a train to Danzig. None of the guards noticed their absence during the day. When the train arrived in the evening the men fell in quickly, the Palestinian corporal counted them rapidly and gave the full number as present. Before the guards had a chance to check the count the men broke off and clambered on to the train.

Figure 5. A map showing the approximate route Heinz and Joe Powell would have traveled by train between Beuthen [today: Bytom, Poland], where they escaped, and Danzig [today: Gdańsk, Poland], where they were recaptured five days later

The Unteroffizier said nothing. Judging by his subsequent behaviour he had his suspicions but was not anxious to confirm them. He was a wily old fellow. When they reached camp he counted the men quickly, gave the same number as he had taken over in the morning and dismissed the men before the duty clerk had completed his check. The men broke off and entered the camp, while the clerk accepted the Unteroffizier’s figure as correct. The Unteroffizier had covered himself against blame.

Every night there was Appell (roll-call) in each of the barracks, the men falling into five ranks to be counted. That night Kaplan came around as usual with the Feldwebel and a guard, whose duty it was to count the men by walking along in front of them, checking that there were five in each file. Kaplan had it all carefully arranged. When he and the two Germans entered the barrack in which Joe and Löwenstein had slept, the men in the front rank were standing close together to prevent the guard from noticing the two empty places at the end of the rear rank. Kaplan talked to the Feldwebel, blocking his view while the guard started his count. As soon as he had passed the first few files, two men in the rear rank ducked low, ran quietly long the back, fell in again at the other end, and were counted a second time. The guard reported the correct number present and the Feldwebel was satisfied.

This was on Monday night. The next morning Kaplan, who arranged all the work lists for each day, marked the two escapees down on the light-duty list, so that they did not have to report for work at Beuthen. Kaplan kept them covered up until the following Friday, on which day I myself was working at Beuthen. During the lunch-hour the Unteroffizier came into the hut and asked for Löwenstein and Joe, the second by the name he had adopted. On being told they were sick he grinned all over his face and went out again. Apparently the Feldwebel had telephoned to ask if they were there.

When we arrived back at camp we heard that during the morning a telephone call had come through to the Feldwebel enquiring whether he had had anybody escape from the camp. On his answering in the negative, he learned that the police in Danzig had picked up two men using those names who claimed to have escaped from Tarnowitz. When the Feldwebel checked up he found the two men were missing and nobody had the slightest idea when they had left or how.

An officer came to investigate. The Feldwebel accused Kaplan of being responsible for this outrage, affirming that it was Kaplan’s duty to work with him, not against him and threatened to get even with him. This was right up Kaplan’s street. Not only did he inform the Feldwebel that he actually had helped the men to escape, but he added that he considered it his duty as a British solider to help anybody else who wished to escape and that he would do so whenever he could. Furthermore, he said, it was the Feldwebel’s job to guard us, not his, and the Feldwebel need expect no more cooperation from him until he apologized! Fortunately the officer agreed that Kaplan had only done his duty and managed to preserve the peace.

Kaplan had told them that Joe and Löwenstein had escaped on Monday, although he did not tell them how, and that he had covered them up ever since. They flatly refused to believe such a thing was possible until Kaplan showed them how he had done it.

There were no repercussions in the camp, except that thereafter the Feldwebel counted us himself at night, and for some days he and Kaplan were not on speaking terms. Kaplan refused to have anything more to do with the worklists. The result was chaotic, and within a week the Feldwebel was back begging to be ‘friends as before.’ This sounds fantastic, but it happened. Only a Kaplan could have brought it off, but knowing Kaplan one did not expect less. He was tall and bulky, and when one saw him ordering the Germans around he looked a veritable Gulliver among pygmies.”

John provided a few more details about his father’s escapades. Apparently, the Germans did not detail RAF airmen to work camps. Knowing that escape from the work camps was easier and not wishing escaped RAF airmen to successfully rejoin the war effort, they were kept together in separate barracks and not assigned to work camps. Nonetheless, Joe Powell was successful in swapping identities with a regular English soldier, which allowed him to gain an outside assignment. He appears to have escaped on at least two occasions from work camps, including the one time he escaped with my father’s first cousin, Heinz Loewenstein.

There appear to have been at least two things that worked in Heinz’s favor during his five or six escape attempts, unsuccessful ones mind you. He was born in Danzig [today: Gdańsk, Poland], and therefore spoke fluent and unaccented German. Secondly, according to various contemporary accounts, detailed in other posts about Heinz Loewenstein, he was a master forger able to authentically replicate official documents.

Given Heinz’s familiarity with the Baltic port city of Danzig, Heinz forged papers saying they were Belgian dock workers. The Germans were known to use foreign non-Jewish nationals for various tasks, so these identities made sense. For obvious reasons, during the train ride to Danzig Heinz did all the talking. According to John Powell, his father and Heinz miraculously managed to infiltrate the docks in Danzig upon their arrival there. They were hiding and waiting to sneak onto a Swedish ship when they were discovered.

I presume they were captured by a Wehrmacht soldier rather than by the Gestapo, the latter of whom were known to treat captured soldiers much more brutally and lethally. I say this because the German officer in charge burned their fake IDs, telling them they would otherwise be treated as spies, then tortured and killed.

John’s mother recalled receiving a letter from her husband during his captivity. While she recognized the handwriting and knew the letter was from him, she did not recognize the addressee’s name, evidence Jack Powell had assumed a false identity.

In closing, I will simply emphasize something I’ve previously alluded to, namely that gaining information about one’s ancestors may come from unexpected sources. What makes the kernels so intriguing is they enrich one’s understanding of the challenges our ancestors faced, particularly in uncertain and dangerous times.

POST 180: REICHSMARSCHALL HERMANN GÖRING: FROM TIEGENHOF’S MARKTSTRASSE TO PARIS’ JEU DE PAUME

Note: In this post, I draw a connection between two “encounters” my family had with the Nazi war criminal Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring. This gives me an opportunity to discuss where so-called “decadent art” confiscated in France by the Nazis, including from my father’s first cousin, wound up and explore Göring’s role as leader of the “artistic underworld” during the Nazi Occupation.

From the window of his dental office (Figure 1) in Tiegenhof (today: Nowy Dwór Gdański, Poland) in the Free City of Danzig, my father Dr. Otto Bruck witnessed and recorded increasingly large crowds of Danzigers (i.e., residents of the Free City of Danzig, basically a city-state) parading in support of Nazi candidates in 1933, 1934, and 1935. This culminated in the participation by Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring in the 1935 procession. (Figure 2) My father’s unique pictures of the event that took place on April 5, 1935, capture one “interaction” of my family with this psychopath who played a key role in issuing orders that led to the Final Solution.

Figure 1. The office building in Tiegenhof, Free City of Danzig where my father had his dental practice between 1932 and 1937

Figure 2. Photos my father took on April 5, 1935, when Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring paraded through Tiegenhof

I recently discovered another indirect interaction of Göring with my family, specifically to artworks that once belonged to one of my ancestors. Though a remote connection, I’ve chosen to link it to my father’s 1935 “encounter” with Göring because it represents the culmination of an almost 11-year journey to repatriate on behalf of my family artworks confiscated by the Nazis from my father’s first cousin in December 1940 at the Port of Bordeaux in France. As the closest and only surviving heir, the task of recovering the paintings in question has of necessity fallen to me. While I have finally prevailed in my quest to have the three surviving paintings returned, I grapple with the existential question of whether I’ve simply attained success at the expense of obtaining justice? I’ve not satisfactorily answered this question, though one of my lawyers characterizes my achievement as “nothing less than a miracle.” I would only say that since France is governed by a civil law system, obtaining justice would have been an impossible bar to clear and would have jeopardized the success I have achieved.

Let me provide more background. One of my father’s first cousins was named Fedor Löwenstein, the oldest of Rudolf Löwenstein and Hedwig Löwenstein, née Bruck’s three children; Hedwig Bruck was my father’s aunt and likely the one he was closest to. Fedor Löwenstein has been the subject of several previous posts. He passed away before I was born so I never met him. However, I met his two younger siblings, Jeanne “Hansi” Goff, née Löwenstein and Heinz Löwenstein as a young boy in Nice, France. (Figure 3)

Figure 3. Fedor Löwenstein (seated) with his sister Hansi, brother Heinz, and mother Hedwig on the balcony of their apartment in Nice, France in March 1946, several months before Fedor’s death in August 1946

As detailed in Post 105, in 2014 I uncovered a letter at the Stadtmuseum in Spandau, outside Berlin, that Hansi wrote in 1946 to another aunt, Elsbeth Bruck, following her older brother’s death earlier that year. She mentioned that one of his paintings had posthumously sold for 90,000 French Francs, a sizeable amount of money at the time. In the process I discovered Fedor had been an accomplished artist.

After further investigation, I learned that France’s ministère de la culture, the French Ministry of Culture had uncovered three paintings by Fedor Löwenstein at the Centre Pompidou in the early 2010s that had been confiscated by the Nazis at the Port of Bordeaux in December 1940 and sent to the Jeu de Paume (more on this below); the three paintings were among a cache of 25 of his works originally seized on their way to New York, the remainder presumed to have been destroyed by the Nazis as examples of so-called “decadent art.” According to the information I discovered in 2014, France’s ministère de la culture is looking to return rediscovered stolen art to surviving heirs.

Let me provide more context. In 2014 my wife and I spent 13 weeks in Europe driving from northeast Poland to south-central Spain visiting places associated with my Jewish ancestors’ diaspora. Coincidentally, that year, soon after the Centre Pompidou recognized Fedor Löwenstein’s works to be stolen art, they were exhibited at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux. (Figure 4) Given our extensive travels that year, had we known about Fedor Löwenstein and the exhibition, my wife and I would certainly have detoured there to see the artworks. Regrettably, I only learned of the exposition following my return stateside.

Figure 4. Cover page of the 2014 exhibition catalog from the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux that featured Fedor Löwenstein’s three orphaned paintings

Online materials identified the curator of the exhibit, a Mme Florence Saragoza. Two days after learning about her, we were in communication. In her response, she wrote words that resonate with me to this day and probably will for the remainder of my life. Paraphrasing, she wrote words to the effect that learning that a descendant of Fedor Löwenstein survives brought tears to her eyes. While Florence and I have never met, a situation we hope to rectify at the upcoming restitution ceremony in Paris later this year, I consider her a friend who has aided and always supported my repatriation claim. I have tremendous admiration for her.

Given my background as an archaeologist, it was coincidental that at the time we first communicated Mme Saragoza was the Director of the Musée Crozatier in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, an archaeology, Velay crafts, fine arts, and science museum. (Figure 5) Today, Florence is the Director of the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum in Albi, France. Florence’s familiarity with Fedor Löwenstein’s art given her involvement as curator of the 2014 Bordeaux exhibition was exceedingly helpful when she offered to help me file my claim with France’s ministère de la culture’s CIVS.

Figure 5. Mme Florence Saragoza when she was the Director of Musée Crozatier in le Puy-en-Velay, France

The CIVS, now called the Commission pour la restitution des biens et l’indemnisation des victimes de spoliations antisémites (Commission for the Restitution of Property and Compensation for Victims of Anti-Semitic Spoliation), has three distinct missions:

to recommend measures to compensate for material and bank-related anti-Semitic spoliations that occurred in France between 1940 and 1944, exclusively based on referrals from heirs;
to recommend measures to compensate for the anti-Semitic spoliation of cultural property in France between 1940 and 1944, at the request of any person concerned or on its own initiative;
to recommend the restitution of cultural property looted in the context of Nazi anti-Semitic persecution, including outside France, between 1933 and 1945, when this property is held in a public or similar collection.

Let me shift gears and discuss the Jeu de Paume in Paris where works of art confiscated by Nazis from Jewish painters, private collectors, gallery owners, and art dealers living in France were shipped.

According to their mission statement, today, the Jeu de Paume is “. . .an art center that exhibits and promotes all forms of mechanical and electronic imagery (photography, cinema, video, installation, online creation, etc.) from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It produces and coproduces exhibitions but also organizes film programs, symposiums and seminars, as well as educational activities. Jeu de Paume also publishes a few art publications each year. With its high-profile exhibitions of established, less known, and emerging artists, this venue ties together different narrative strands, mixing the historic and the contemporary.”

The Jeu de Paume, however, did not begin as an art center. It was constructed in 1862 in the Tuileries Garden as an area in which to play an early variant of tennis, the so-called jeu de paulme, literally the “palm game.” Nowadays, this sport is known as real tennis or court tennis, while in France it is called courte paume. Originally an indoor precursor of tennis played without rackets, thus the “game of the hand,” rackets were eventually introduced.

The relevance of the Jeu de Paume for the purpose of the present post was its use from 1940 to 1940 as the place to store Nazi plunder looted by the regime’s Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce. This was the Nazi Party’s organization dedicated to appropriating cultural property during WWII. It was under the command of the Nazi Party’s chief ideologue, Alfred Rosenberg. The plundered works included masterpieces from the collections of French Jewish families like the Rothschilds, the David-Weills, the Bernheims, and noted dealers including Paul Rosenberg who specialized in impressionist and post-impressionist works. As mentioned above, the works of Fedor Löwenstein confiscated in December 1940 in Bordeaux were among those that wound up at the Jeu de Paume (Figure 6), 25 pieces of art according to the information gathered by Florence Saragoza from contemporary documents and included in my repatriation claim.

Figure 6. Details from the “Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume” about Fedor Löwenstein’s painting entitled “Composition (Landcape)” drawn from a list of “Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg”

Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring directed that the looted art would first be divided between Adolf Hitler and himself. Towards this end, Göring visited the Jeu de Paume twenty times between November 1940 and November 1942. (Figures 7-8) The art dealer Bruno Lohse (1912-2007), art historian and specialist in Flemish and Dutch masters of the 17th century, attracted Göring’s attention because of his art knowledge. (Figure 9) He essentially became Goring’s envoy in charge of enriching his collection by tracking down the most beautiful works in French art collections. (Polack & Prevet, 2014) In conjunction with each of Göring’s visits, Lohse staged special expositions of newly looted art objects, from which Göring is known to have selected at least 594 pieces for his own collection; the remaining pieces were destined for Adolf Hitler’s unrealized art museum, the so-called Führermuseum, in Linz, Austria.

Figure 7. Hermann Göring entering the Jeu de Paume on one of his twenty visits there (from the Collection Archives des musées nationaux)

Figure 8. Hermann Göring inside the Jeu de Paume (from the Collection Archives des musées nationaux)

Figure 9. Hermann Göring and Bruno Lohse seated on a sofa at the Jeu de Paume (from the Collection Archives des musées nationaux)

Figure 10 is a plan view of the Jeu de Paume. Salle 15, room 15, was specifically referred to as the “Salle des Martyrs,” the “Martyrs’ Room.” This is the room that was designated for so-called “degenerate art,” that’s to say modern art deemed “unworthy” in the eyes of the Nazis and slated for destruction. Much of the art dealer Paul Rosenberg’s professional and private collection wound up here, as did some, perhaps all, of Fedor Löwenstein’s paintings.

Figure 10. General view of the Jeu de Paume including room 15, the “Salle des Martyrs”

Joseph Goebbels was the chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945. He had privately decreed that the degenerate works of art should be sold to obtain foreign currency to fund the building of the Führermuseum and the wider war effort. Göring used this decree to personally appoint a series of ERR-approved dealers to liquidate the looted art and then pass the funds to him to enlarge his personal art collection. Much of the looted art designated as degenerate was sold via Switzerland. Unsold art, including works by Picasso and Dali, as well as my lesser-known relative Fedor Löwenstein, were destroyed in a bonfire on the grounds of the Jeu de Paume on the night of 27th of July 1942. This unparalleled vandalism was unfortunately not unprecedented; the Nazis had perpetuated a similar outrage in Berlin in 1939 when they destroyed 4,000 works of German “degenerate” art.

In a March 2014 article entitled “Bruno Lohse and Herman Göring,” the authors Emmanuelle Polack and Alain Prevet, discuss the art market in Paris under the Nazi Occupation. They characterize it as undeniably flourishing, the “. . .euphoria (being) . . .a reflection of a massive influx of goods taken from people of Jewish faith and from all opponents of the Third Reich.” The authors characterize Göring as the true leader of this “artistic underworld.” They use the French word “rabatteur” to describe essentially the “beaters” and “canvassers” Göring surrounded himself with, people such as Bruno Lohse, to flush out collections of great value.

I’ve included three photographs (Figures 7-9) in this post that immortalized at least two of the 20 twenty visits Hermann Göring made to the Jeu de Paume. They are attributed to German staff working for the ERR, either Rudolph Scholz or Heinz Simokat, both photographers at the Jeu de Paume. The one of Göring and Lohse is described as follows: “Comfortably installed on a sofa in a museum office, requisitioned for the benefit of the Parisian service of the ERR, under the satisfied gaze of Bruno Lohse, Hermann Goring carefully examines a monograph devoted to Rembrandt, most likely one of the publications of the German art historian Wilhelm R. Valentiner, a great painter’s specialist since his thesis in 1904.”

Preserved in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FR-MAE Centre des archives diplomatiques de La Corneuve, 20160007AC/7) are 14 negatives showing the rooms of the Jeu de Paume museum taken after November 1, 1940. This date corresponds to when the museum was made available to the ERR to store the confiscated works of art plundered by this organization in France. The shots were likely also taken by the photographers working at the Jeu de Paume. The photographs have been optimized thanks to a specific digitization of the details. This has allowed for the identification of 232 works of art. Among the 14 negatives are two photographs of room 15, the Salle des Martyrs. More on this below.

A list exists of the works present at the Jeu de Paume at the beginning of 1942. The notes were compiled by Rose Valland (Figures 11a-f) and sent to her boss Jacques Jaujard on March 10, 1942; Rose Valland was an unpaid museum employee and the only one retained by the Nazis upon their takeover of the Jeu de Paume and was a clandestine member of the French resistance. The list translated into French, most probably surreptitiously, is an inventory drawn up by the ERR staff. It has the advantage of including a description of the looted works and providing the names of the people from whom they were plundered. The comparison of this list with the works visible on the two photographs of room 15 has made it possible for museum staff to identify many works that were previously unknown or poorly attributed. Figures 11b-c include a few details of some of Fedor Löwenstein’s confiscated works of art from Rose Valland’s list.

Figure 11a. Page 1 of Rose Valland’s 1942 list of Nazi-confiscated art

Figure 11b. Page 2 of Rose Valland’s 1942 list of Nazi-confiscated art including details on some of Fedor Löwenstein’s works

Figure 11c. Page 3 of Rose Valland’s 1942 list of Nazi-confiscated art including details on some of Fedor Löwenstein’s works

Figure 11d. Page 4 of Rose Valland’s 1942 list of Nazi-confiscated art

Figure 11e. Page 5 of Rose Valland’s 1942 list of Nazi-confiscated art

Figure 11f. Page 6 of Rose Valland’s 1942 list of Nazi-confiscated art

As confiscated art passed through the building, Rose Valland eavesdropped on German conversations and covertly kept notes on where the looted pieces were being shipped. Her records were instrumental in the recovery of tens of thousands of artworks, many of which were returned to rightful owners. Yet about 70 of the paintings belonging to the French art dealer Paul Rosenberg, for example, are still missing.

Let me conclude this post by mentioning two ERR photographs of room 15, the Salle des Martyrs, where some of Fedor Löwenstein’s confiscated paintings were hung. Until recently, I was uncertain how many photographs of the Jeu de Paume existed. One picture I had stumbled upon, then lost track of, showed Rose Valland standing in the Salle des Martyrs. (Figure 12) Relocating this picture was of paramount interest because clearly visible in the background is one of Fedor Löwenstein’s paintings, the one known as “Composition (Paysage),” which happens to be one of the three paintings I’ll be repatriating. (Figure 13)

Figure 12. Rose Valland seemingly standing in room 15, the “Salle des Martyrs” at the Jeu de Paume

Figure 13. Details and photo of Fedor Löwenstein’s painting entitled “Composition (Paysage)” that I’ll be repatriating

Unable to relocate this image on my own, I asked one of my acquaintances at the CIVS if she could help me track it down. Of passing interest to readers but of great personal interest is that Rose Valland has been “photoshopped” into the Salle des Martyrs. If she was ever photographed there, such a picture does not survive; I’ve included an authentic one of Rose standing elsewhere in the Jeu de Paume. (Figure 14) The one I’d come across was based on a photo of Rose taken elsewhere where she was “inserted” into room 15. I include a copy of that original. (Figure 15)

Figure 14. Rose Valland in one of the rooms at the Jeu de Paume

Figure 15. The original of the photo of Rose Valland used to “photoshop” her into the “Salle des Martyrs”

The two contemporary authentic photos of the Salle des Martyrs both show Fedor Löwenstein paintings. So-called View 1 (Figure 16) includes two Loewenstein paintings. Photographed is a fragmentary section of an unknown painting (Figure 17), and a second one titled “La Ville Moderne,” “The Modern City.” (Figures 18a-b) Regrettably, the latter two were lost or destroyed. View 2 (Figure 19), the one where Rose Valland has been photoshopped into the image, includes the still existing painting “Composition (Paysage).” This is one of the three paintings I will be repatriating.

Figure 16. The so-called View 1 of the “Salle des Martyrs” where a fragment of an untitled work by Löwenstein and the painting known as “The Modern City” were hung

Figure 17. The description and view of the “Untitled Work” by Fedor Löwenstein

Figure 18a. The description and view of “The Modern City” by Fedor Löwenstein

Figure 18b. “The Modern City” by Fedor Löwenstein

Figure 19. The so-called View 2 of the “Salle des Martyrs” where Fedor Löwenstein painting known as “Composition (Paysage)” can be seen

Besides the painting “Composition (Paysage),” I’ll also be acquiring artworks entitled “les Peupliers” (Figure 20) and “Arbres.” (Figure 21) Neither of these paintings is pictured in the ERR photographs. Having personally seen the three paintings, it is obvious the Nazis intended to destroy them as evidenced by the fact that now faintly visible red Xs were scrawled across their painted surfaces. Whether Rose Valland played a role in saving Löwenstein’s paintings is unknown.

Figure 20. Fedor Löwenstein’s painting known as “les Peupliers”

Figure 21. Fedor Löwenstein’s painting known as “Arbres”

REFERENCES

Doré-Rivé, Isabelle. “La Dame du Jeu de Paume Rose Valland Sur Le Front de L’Art Sommaire.” “Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation.”

plan-général-dp2

“History of CIVS.” Premier Ministère, Commission pour la restitution des biens et l’indemnisation des victimes de spoliations antisémites (Commission for the Restitution of Property and Compensation for Victims of Anti-Semitic Spoliation), Updated 19 April 2024.

History of CIVS | CIVS

“Jeu de Paume.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, 21 May 2025.

Jeu de paume – Wikipedia

“Jeu de Paume.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 August 2024.

Jeu de Paume | Museum, History, Impressionism, Photography, & Facts | Britannica

“Jeu de Paume (museum).” Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, 13 March 2025.

Jeu de Paume (museum) – Wikipedia

Ministère De La Culture. “POP : la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine”

Vue 1 de la salle 15

La Ville moderne

Titre inconnu

Vue 2 de la salle 15

Paysage

Composition

Polack, E. (March 2014). “Rose Valland à la veille de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.” “L’Historire Par L’Image.”

Rose Valland à la veille de la Seconde Guerre mondiale – Histoire analysée en images et œuvres d’art | https://histoire-image.org/

Polack, Emmanuelle & Alan Prevet (March 2014). “Bruno Lohse et Hermann Goering.” “L’Historire Par L’Image.”

Bruno Lohse et Hermann Goering – Histoire analysée en images et œuvres d’art | https://histoire-image.org/

POST 179: WHAT BARON CLEMENS VON ZEDLITZ, AL CAPONE, AND GUY DE MAUPASSANT HAVE IN COMMON, A RANDOM FACT LEARNED WHILE RESEARCHING THE CONNECTION OF THE BRUCK AND ROOSEVELT FAMILIES

Note: Photos recently sent to me by my third cousin caused me to investigate the Bruck family connection to former President Teddy Roosevelt’s family, and in the process learn a trivial fact and uncover some inaccurate information in a so-called “Roosevelt Genealogy.”

I was astonished to discover that “ChatGPT” (see end of post, Figures 22a-c) correctly divined the connection between Baron Clemens von Zedlitz und Neukirch and the infamous American gangster Al Capone and the celebrated 19th century French author Guy de Maupassant, a disparate group to say the least. Having thought I’d merely come up with a catchy title for my post, I was quickly brought down to earth by artificial intelligence. Let me be clear, I have no known ancestral connection to either Al Capone nor Guy de Maupassant, and only a distant link by marriage to Baron Clemens von Zedlitz. Regular readers may vaguely recognize the von Zedlitz surname as it came up briefly in Post 177.

The current post is inspired by high-quality pictures my third cousin Christopher von Koschembahr (Figure 1) recently sent, including several of Baron Clemens von Zedlitz. (Figure 2) Family photos for me are always an inducement to researching and writing about people, as they make them come to life. As I will explain, these photos caused me to further explore the connection between the Bruck and Roosevelt families. This is a link I’ve long known existed. I’ve never previously investigated this because the Bruck von Koschembahrs, through whom I’m connected to the von Zedlitz family and by extension the Roosevelts, dropped the Bruck portion of their surname upon becoming naturalized American citizens. Having never interacted with the von Koschembahr family means I never thought much about the connection to their von Zedlitz kinsmen. I don’t mean to sound dismissive but am merely reflecting reality and the fact that for me connections to German aristocracy are just coincidental. This may simply reflect the fact I’m American.

Figure 1. My third cousin, Christopher von Koschembahr, in July 2024 at Żarki Średnie, Poland with his family’s dilapidated castle in the background

Figure 2. Five photographs from a Facebook account belonging to a George Weissgerber, Jr. with photos of Baron Clemens von Zedlitz and family

That said, the hand drawn ancestral trees left to by my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck, though very incomplete, include the von Koschembahr and von Zedlitz relatives. (Figure 3) I think this was intentional on my uncle’s part, as I think he fashioned himself an aristocrat and wanted to draw the connection to aristocrats in the family, even if they were only related by marriage. There are two photos of him taken in 1926 in Liegnitz, Germany [today: Legnica, Poland] on horseback that illustrate my uncle’s self-perceived sense of himself as part of the aristocracy. (Figures 4-5) They recall a snippet in Amalie von Koschembahr, née Mockrauer’s diary which was the subject of Post 177. The quotation is about her son Stanislaus von Koschembahr, patriarch of the family following her husband’s death, when he greets his mother atop a recently acquired stallion. Quoting: “Stanislaus arrived on horseback; the horse was newly acquired, and we were supposed to inspect it. It was indeed a charming animal, and I was delighted to see my son as a rider.”

Figure 3. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s abbreviated family tree showing the family link to two aristocratic families, von Koschembahr and von Zedlitz

Figure 4. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck in 1926 atop his horse in Liegnitz [today: Legnica, Poland] dressed as an English gentleman

Figure 5. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck in 1926 atop his horse in Liegnitz [today; Legnica, Poland] dressed as Frederick the Great

To help readers understand the link between the Bruck and Roosevelt families, I need to first review the link between the Bruck and von Koschembahr families. My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck’s (Figure 6) younger brother Wilhelm Bruck (Figure 7) married Margarete “Gretchen” von Koschembahr (Figure 8) and was henceforth known as Wilhelm Bruck von Koschembahr, as I discussed in Post 177. Wilhelm and Margarete and their five children were favorites of Margarete’s mother, Amalie von Koschembahr, née Mockrauer, who often mentioned them in her memoirs.

Figure 6. My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck

Figure 7. My great-grand-uncle Wilhelm Bruck who married Margarete “Gretchen” von Koschembahr and adopted her surname in conjunction with his own

Figure 8. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife Margarete “Gretchen” von Koschembahr

The oldest of Wilhelm and Gretchen Bruck von Koschembahr’s five children was Gerhard Bruck. In Post 177, I included a very poor-quality photograph of his wedding in 1914 to Hilda Zedlitz und Neukirch (Figure 9), with whom he would go on to have thirteen children (Figure 10), all of whom were known in America as von Koschembahr. As readers will surmise, Hilda von Zedlitz was the daughter of Baron Clemens von Zedlitz. Baron Clemens von Zedlitz married Cornelia Roosevelt in 1889 in New York as reported in the New York Times. (Figure 11)

Figure 9. Wedding of Gerhard Bruck with Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch on the 21st of March 1914

Figure 10. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr and his wife Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch with their 13 children

Figure 11. New York Times article dated the 17th of January 1889 reporting on the planned marriage of Cornelia Roosevelt and Baron Clemens von Zedlitz

One photo shared by Christopher von Koschembahr is an endearing one of Hilda as a child embracing her father. (Figure 12) Another photo shows Hilda as a baby with her mother, none other than Cornelia Roosevelt, a cousin of the former American President Theodore Roosevelt. (Figure 13) Another photo shows Cornelia standing alone. (Figure 14)

Figure 12. Hilda von Zedlitz as a child with her father Baron Clemens von Zedlitz

Figure 13. Hilda von Zedlitz as a baby in the arms of her mother Cornelia von Zedlitz, née Roosevelt

Figure 14. Cornelia von Zedlitz, née Roosevelt as a young woman

The “smoking gun,” so to speak, showing beyond a doubt the Bruck family connection to the Roosevelt family comes from Gerhard and Hilda’s 1914 wedding certificate where her parents are identified. (Figures 15a-b) Having none of my normally reliable translators currently available to me to translate the entire certificate, I’ve simply circled the relevant and very legible sections of it that show the Bruck and Roosevelt surnames. Interestingly, Gerhard Bruck, who would later adopt the von Koschembahr surname in America, still self-identified as a Bruck when he got married in 1914. Two of the witnesses at his wedding were his youngest brothers, Friedrich (1889-1963) and Heinz Bruck (1892-1915).

Figure 15a. Page 1 of Gerhard Bruck and Hilda von Zedlitz’s 1914 wedding certificate with the Bruck and Roosevelt names circled

Figure 15b. Page 2 of Gerhard Bruck and Hilda von Zedlitz’s 1914 wedding certificate with the names of Gerhard’s two youngest brothers, Friedrich and Heinz, circled identifying them as witnesses

Christopher sent several photos of Baron Clemens von Zedlitz including one with his elderly father Benno von Zedlitz with his stepmother Anna (Figure 16), and a charming one of Clemens with his sister Hedwig as children. (Figure 17) I turned to ancestry seeking additional information, specifically about Baron Clemens von Zedlitz. Here’s where things took a completely unexpected and fascinating turn.

Figure 16. Baron Clemens von Zedlitz with his father Baron Benno von Zedlitz and his stepmother Anna

Figure 17. Baron Clemens von Zedlitz as a young boy with his sister Hedwig von Zedlitz

On one page of a document entitled “Roosevelt Genealogy” (Figures 18a-b), clearly part of a lengthier compilation, was a notation about Baron Clemens von Zedlitz claiming he died in 1901 in a boating accident involving none other than the last German Kaiser’s yacht. This fact alone made Clemens’ death of interest to me. The last German Kaiser was Wilhelm II, and he reigned until the end of WWI in 1918. Regular readers may recall him as my Bruck family had several interactions with him during his reign and following his abdication after German’s defeat during WWI.

Figure 18a. Cover page from ancestry.com for the “Roosevelt Genealogy” discussing Baron Clemens von Zedlitz’s purported cause of death

Figure 18b. Page from the “Roosevelt Genealogy” with the section circled explaining the purported cause of Baron Clemens von Zedlitz’s death and incorrectly naming his surviving daughter as Olga

The fact that Baron Clemens von Zedlitz, an aristocrat, would have been in the company of Kaiser Wilhelm II came as no surprise. As just implied, what was of far greater interest was that he was involved in a boating accident involving the Kaiser’s yacht during a regatta that resulted in his death in 1901, as the Roosevelt Genealogy claims.

Subscribers to ancestry may occasionally come across reference to newspaper accounts of contemporary events; typically accessing these articles requires a separate subscription to newspapers.com. I could tell from ancestry there are multiple articles about Baron von Zedlitz, so I asked a friend with a subscription if he could track these down for me, which he gratefully obliged to do.

Naturally, given the prominence of the Kaiser, I assumed newspapers of the time would have reported the boating accident. Sure enough, the Salt Lake Tribune published an article on the 19th of August 1896 describing the mishap in detail (Figure 19), and indeed a Baron von Zedlitz died as a result. The problem is that the news account was from 1896, not 1901 as the Roosevelt Genealogy reports. Also, a closer reading of the article showed that Baron von Zedlitz, notably no first name given, was crewing the boat with his brother, obviously another Baron von Zedlitz, again with no prename. Another detail noted in the 1896 article is that the Baron who died was not yet 40 years of age. Born in 1857, had Clemens died in a boating accident in 1901 as the Roosevelt Genealogy claims, he would have been over 40. Yet another clue something was amiss in the Roosevelt Genealogy is that his surviving daughter was supposedly named Olga; as implied above Clemens’ only child was named Hilda.

Figure 19. Salt Lake Tribune article dated the 19th of August 1896 reporting on the death of a Baron von Zedlitz that year with no forename provided

Since first names were not provided for either von Zedlitz brother, I was compelled to search elsewhere. Fortunately, I uncovered the death certificate for Baron Clemens von Zedlitz, and he did in fact die in 1901. (Figures 20a-b) Unable to read the certificate and ascertain his cause of death, I asked my German friend if he could decipher it. He found the cause of death not on the death certificate but on a contemporary Lutheran Church burial register, another document I’d downloaded from ancestry. (Figures 21a-b)

Figure 20a. Cover page of Baron Clemens von Zedlitz’s death certificate showing he in fact died on the 17th of October 1901 in Berlin

Figure 20b. Baron Clemens von Zedlitz’s death certificate showing he in fact died on the 17th of October 1901 in Berlin

Figure 21a. Cover page from Lutheran Church burial register bearing Baron Clemens von Zedlitz’s name showing his date of death

Figure 21b. Baron Clemens von Zedlitz’s name on the Lutheran Church burial register identifying his cause of death as “Lähmungsirrsinn,” paralytic madness from late-stage syphilis

According to the church register, Baron Clemens von Zedlitz cause of death was supposedly “Lähmungsirrsinn,” what my friend thought might be “paralytic madness.” Having no idea what this means, I investigated on my own. I also asked my English fourth cousin, Helen Winter, née Renshaw, if a comprehensive German encyclopedia she recently purchased might have an explanation about this disease. Independently, we came to an identical conclusion, namely, that Baron Clemens died because of untreated syphilis, the final stages of which result in unpredictable behavior which manifests someone going mad. Since 1943, syphilis has been treated with penicillin or another antibiotic, though the first effective treatment was salvarsan (arsphenamine), discovered in 1909 by Paul Erhlich and Sahachiro Hata.

The realization that Baron Clemens died from untreated syphilis contracted much earlier in life recalled to me the movie “Scarface” about Al Capone starring Al Pacino. For readers who’ve seen the movie, towards the end of his life Al Capone exhibits increasingly erratic behavior, like what I assume Baron Clemens experienced. Helen’s own research had her learn that the famed French writer Guy de Maupassant suffered from and died from untreated syphilis. So apropos of trivial discoveries having virtually nothing to do with my family, Baron Clemens von Zedlitz, Al Capone, and Guy de Maupassant all died of the same condition. (Figures 22a-c)

Figure 22a. Part 1 of explanation from ChatGPT explaining the common link among Baron Clemens von Zedlitz, Al Capone, and Guy de Maupassant

Figure 22b. Part 2 of explanation from ChatGPT explaining the common link among Baron Clemens von Zedlitz, Al Capone, and Guy de Maupassant

Figure 22c. Part 3 of explanation from ChatGPT explaining the common link among Baron Clemens von Zedlitz, Al Capone, and Guy de Maupassant

One final thought about the misinformation I found in the Roosevelt Genealogy about the cause and timing of Baron Clemens von Zedlitz’s death. This is hardly the first time I’ve found incorrect ancestral information. The Russian proverb “Doveryai, non proveryai,” translated as “trust, but verify,” comes to mind. It was popularized by Ronald Reagan during nuclear negotiations with the Soviet Union during his presidency. As I’ve regularly stressed, I strongly urge ancestral researchers to logically and systematically analyze data found in ancestry.com and on ancestral trees. Little should be taken at face value absent primary source documents.