richardbrook@bruckfamilyblog.com, Author at bruckfamilyblog.com

POST 96: DISCOVERING THE FATE OF CHARLOTTE BRUCK’S FIRST HUSBAND, WALTER EDWARD STAVENHAGEN

CORRECTIONS & AMENDMENTS MADE ON 8TH MAY 2023 BASED ON COMMENTS PROVIDED BY A READER, FRANK WEBSTER-SMITH

Note: This post is a follow-up to Post 95 in which I discussed the sad fate of my great-grandfather’s niece, Charlotte Bruck, my first cousin twice removed. In this post, I talk about her first husband, Walter Edward Stavenhagen, to whom she was married for only four years (1906-1910) and with whom she had her only two children. Thanks to my German genealogist friend, Peter Hanke, I was finally able to determine when and where Walter died; Peter put me in touch with a Swiss gentleman, Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen, whose deceased wife was the granddaughter of Walter’s youngest brother, Herbert Frederick Stavenhagen. While only related to my family by marriage, the scope and breadth of the Stavenhagen family primary source documents I obtained from Mr. Bucher make the telling of this story compelling.

When writing Blog posts, I often begin by reviewing primary source documents relevant to the people or topic I am writing about. These are mostly written in German, and in the interest of accuracy and completeness, I sometimes ask my German friends or relatives to transcribe and/or translate original certificates, hoping for additional clues. I followed this process in writing the current post, and inadvertently wound up solving the mystery of what happened to Walter Edward Stavenhagen, first husband of Charlotte Bruck (Figure 1), my first cousin twice removed. While doing this, I obtained a trove of primary source documents, many of which are only tangentially relevant to the story I am about to relate.

Figure 1. Charlotte Bruck (1886-1974) in 1914 or 1915 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Before my recent discoveries, the date and place of birth of Charlotte Bruck’s first husband, Walter Edward Stavenhagen, were already known to me from the Mecklenburg-Schwerin or Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (i.e., Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Germany 1900 census I found on ancestry.com (Figure 2a); the Stavenhagens originally hailed from Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a territory in Northern Germany. The 1900 census states Walter was born on the 1^st of September 1876 in Calais, France.

Figure 2a. The 1900 census from Wittenburg in Quassel, the region of Mecklenburg-Schwerin where Walter Edward Stavenhagen lived, bearing his name and date and place of birth, the 1st of September 1876 in Calais, France

As discussed in Post 95, on ancestry, I also found Walter Stavenhagen and Charlotte Bruck’s marriage certificate, showing Walter lived in Eichwerder [today: Dąbrowa, Poland] near Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] (Figure 3) and stating they were married in Berlin on the 3^rd of May 1906. Following their marriage, the couple lived on Walter’s estate in Eichwerder, where their two sons, Frederick Wilhelm and Hans Joachim (Figure 4), were born. A notation on their marriage certificate indicates Walter and Charlotte were divorced on the 19^th of May 1910 (Figure 5); according to family accounts, the cause of Walter and Charlotte’s divorce stems from Charlotte’s postpartum depression or bi-polar disorder after the birth of her second son and Walter’s suspected spousal abuse. Charlotte obtained custody of her two boys, who never again saw their father, and eventually decamped to America where she sadly spent much of the remainder of her life in mental institutions because of schizophrenia.

Figure 3. 1:25,000 scale German map from 1934 showing the location of Eichwerder in relation to the nearby town of Soldin

Figure 4. Birth certificate of Hans Joachim Stavenhagen showing he was born on the 13th of February 1909 in Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] (document courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Figure 5. German notation in the upper right-hand corner of Charlotte and Walter Stavenhagen’s marriage certificate noting they got divorced on the 19th of May 1910

Jay Dunn née Lorenzen, Walter and Charlotte Stavenhagen’s granddaughter, sent me primary source documents suggesting Walter stayed in Eichwerder following his divorce. Jay obtained these documents from a German archivist showing that, respectively, in 1911 (Figure 6a), 1919 (Figure 6b), and 1923 (Figure 6c), Walter was the best man for three weddings that took place on his estate in Eichwerder.

Figure 6a. 1911 document from the “Standesamt” (Registry Office) in Soldin stating that the “Gutsbesitzer” (estate owner) Walter Stavenhagen was a “trauzeuge” (best man) at a wedding on his estate in Eichwerder near Soldin

Figure 6b. 1919 document from the “Standesamt” (Registry Office) in Soldin stating that the “Gutsbesitzer” (estate owner) Walter Stavenhagen was a “trauzeuge” (best man) at a wedding on his estate in Eichwerder near Soldin

Figure 6c. 1923 document from the “Standesamt” (Registry Office) in Soldin stating that the “Gutsbesitzer” (estate owner) Walter Stavenhagen was a “trauzeuge” (best man) at a wedding on his estate in Eichwerder near Soldin

On ancestry I was able to locate a list of passengers including Walter’s name showing he travelled from Hamburg, Germany to Grimsby, England on the 22^nd of May 1924 (Figure 7), presumably to visit family or conduct family business; this document states his German occupation as “gutsbesitzer,” estate owner, logically. Prior to my recent discoveries, the last physical evidence I could find of Walter’s whereabouts was another passenger list showing he again left from Hamburg, this time headed to Leith, England, on the 20^th of August 1929 (Figure 8); then he is listed as farmer, for all intents and purposes the same occupation. Both the 1924 and 1929 Hamburg passenger lists confirm Walter’s date of birth as the 1^st of September 1876

Figure 7. May 22, 1924 Hamburg passenger list with Walter Stavenhagen’s name identifying him as a “gutsbesitzer” (estate owner), born on the 1st of September 1876 in Calais travelling to Grimsby, England

Figure 8. August 20, 1929 Hamburg passenger list with Walter Stavenhagen’s name identifying him as a farmer, born on the 1st of September 1876 in Calais travelling to Leith, England

Having found nothing further on Walter Stavenhagen in ancestry in my general search, I next turned to a collection accessible there, namely, “Germany and Surrounding Areas, Address Books, 1815-1974” (“Adressbücher aus Deutschland und Umgebung, 1815-1974).” Two old address books exist for Soldin, one for 1925, another for 1931. Neither includes a listing for Walter Stavenhagen even though both directories would logically have covered the period when he could still have been living near Soldin. Unfortunately, neither address book specifically includes the community of Eichwerder where Walter owned his estate even though Eichwerder and Soldin are only a few miles apart.

Knowing of Walter’s association with Soldin, Germany, today Myślibórz, Poland, I next contacted the “Archiwum Państwowe w Gorzowie Wielkopolskim” in Gorzow, Poland, where I was told German records from Soldin, Germany are archived. They graciously informed me their office only contains vital records covering the period between 1874 and 1917, obviously preceding Walter’s death; for land and property records, they referred me to the “Archiwum Państwowe w Szczecinie” in Szczecin, Poland, located 55 miles north of Eichwerder or Dąbrowa. I was hoping the old German “Grundbuch,” in which titles and actions related to land and property were registered, might still exist for Walter’s estate but they claimed not to have it. My previous experience trying to obtain the “Grundbuch” for a family-owned business outside Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] suggests these may be stored in courthouses rather than archives but are definitively not available online.

I was curious whether the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (i.e., Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Germany 1900 census with Walter Stavenhagen’s date and place of birth might yield additional clues. (see Figures 2a-c) Thus, I asked my German genealogist friend, Peter Hanke, whether he could transcribe this document. I humorously dub Peter who has made some miraculous ancestral finds on my behalf and on the behalf of others the “Wizard of Wolfsburg” because he hails from Wolfsburg, Germany where Volkswagen is headquartered.

Figure 2b. German transcription of the 1900 census from Wittenburg in Quassel bearing Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s name and date and place of birth

Figure 2c. English translation of the 1900 census from Wittenburg in Quassel bearing Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s name and date and place of birth

In sending this transcription, Peter casually mentioned that he might have chanced upon when and where Walter died and promised to get back to me. I was stunned given all the effort I have expended over the years trying to uncover Walter Stavenhagen’s fate. I waited in excited anticipation, and by the following day Peter put me in contact with a Swiss gentleman, Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen, whose deceased wife, Silke Stavenhagen, it turns out was the granddaughter of Walter’s youngest brother, Herbert Frederick Stavenhagen (1885-1960).

Peter located Achim through the GEDBAS database of the “Verein für Computergenealogie,” Association for Computer Genealogy (https://gedbas.genealogy.net/), a database I have never consulted. Entering the search fields and beginning the search sometimes yields results as happened in the case of Walter Edward Stavenhagen along with the name of a contact.

In contrast to Walter Stavenhagen, prior to my introduction to Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen, I had come across quite a bit of information related to Walter’s parents and four siblings (see vital statistics table below), including their dates and places of birth. I learned that Walter was the third of five siblings, though none of these sources indicated when and where he died. Much of this information originates from a family tree found on ancestry, a source I have often told readers I view with circumspection and wariness because of the erroneous data often incorporated into even the best of trees. With access to Achim, I soon learned he has done in-depth ancestral investigations on his wife’s Stavenhagen ancestors that make my own ancestral endeavors pale by comparison. He answered many of my questions and sent me dozens of primary source documents and photos of the Stavenhagen family, some of which I include in this post. Let me first summarize some of what I learned below about Walter.

According to Achim, Walter was schooled in Wittenberg, Germany, trained in Hamburg, Germany before eventually buying his estate in Eichwerder using family money amassed from trading in lace and tulle. The estate was about 414 hectares or 1023 acres, about 1.25 miles by 1.25 miles, in size. Contrary to my situation, by travelling to Szczecin, Poland, Achim was able to acquire a copy of the Grundbuch from the Szczecin archive for Walter’s estate, from which he sent only a few pages. (Figures 9a-b)

Figure 9a. Cover page of the Soldin “Grundbuch” containing information on Stavenhagen’s Eichwerder estate

Figure 9b. Page from the Soldin “Grundbuch” listing 1903 estate transactions on Stavenhagen’s Eichwerder property

Figure 10. Page from the Soldin “Grundbuch” listing 1928 through 1933 estate transactions by Hermann Bodzanowski, the Jewish gentleman to whom Walter Stavenhagen sold his Eichwerder property

Walter sold the property in 1926 to a Jewish banker Hermann Bodzanowski but stayed on as the foreman of the estate. (Figure 10) Apparently, Walter’s youngest brother, Herbert Frederick Stavenhagen, was eventually intended to obtain ownership of the property. Germany’s hyperinflation in the early 1920’s affected the family’s fortunes requiring the sale of the landholding, although it was sold with an option to repurchase it. Regardless, given the Stavenhagen family’s Jewish origins, the estate might well have been confiscated by the Nazis as it was from Hermann Bodzanowski later.

Walter developed stomach cancer in the 1930’s and, while still living in Eichwerder, went to Heilbronn, Germany for treatments as his condition worsened where he died on the 9^th of February 1937. According to Walter’s youngest sister, Emilie Fanny Stavenhagen, who kept daily notes between 1912 and 1960 (except during WWII), he was cremated on the 11^th of February 1937 and buried in Soldin, Germany on the 15^th of February. (Figure 11)

Figure 11. Page from Emilie Stavenhagen’s journal noting her brother Walter’s 1937 date of death, cremation, and burial

Finally, after several years trying to find out what happened to Walter, I uncovered the truth. Achim and Peter Hanke both sent me Walter’s death certificate from Heilbronn, Germany (Figure 12a), transcribed and translated below. (Figures 12b-c)

Figure 12a. Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s death certificate from Heilbronn, Germany confirming he died there on the 9th of February 1937

Figure 12b. German transcription of Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s death certificate from Heilbronn, Germany

Figure 12c. English translation of Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s death certificate from Heilbronn, Germany

One of the first items Achim shared with me was a 1931 photo taken in Nottingham, England of Walter and his four siblings lined up from oldest to youngest. (Figure 13)

Figure 13. Walter and his four siblings in Nottingham, England in 1931, from oldest (left) to youngest, Margarethe (“Maggi”), Paul, Walter, Emilie (“Sunny”), and Herbert (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Achim sent me the birth certificates for Walter and his four siblings; all were born in Calais, France, thus are written in French which I read passably. I thought I might have difficulties deciphering the French handwriting, but in fact it is very legible. Walter’s birth certificate confirmed he was born on the 1^st of September 1876. (Figure 14a) Below readers will find a French transcription and English translation of Walter’s birth certificate done for me by my second French cousin. (Figures 14b-c)

Figure 14a. Walter Stavenhagen’s Calais birth certificate

Figure 14b. French transcription of Walter Stavenhagen’s birth certificate

Figure 14c. English translation of Walter Stavenhagen’s birth certificate

Walter Stavenhagen’s parents are named on his 1906 marriage certificate, Moritz Paul Stavenhagen and Fanny Ann Stevenson. (Figures 15a-b) Prior to connecting with Achim, I had already found Moritz and Fanny Ann’s marriage certificate showing they wed on the 19^th of April 1873 in Saint Mary Abbots Church in Kensington, Middlesex, London, when he was supposedly 21 and she was 19. (Figure 16) I already knew Moritz had supposedly died on the 8^th of January 1905 in Calais, France from the “England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration), 1858-1966, 1973-1995,” showing his will was administered on the 15^th of June 1905 in London, leaving his effects to his wife. (Figure 17) As though to prove my point that family trees on ancestry are often unreliable, I found two trees with different years of birth for Moritz, 1842 and 1852, a discrepancy I was eventually able to sort out with primary source documents given to me by Achim.

Figure 15a. Page 1 of Charlotte Bruck and Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s May 3rd, 1906 marriage certificate indicating they were married in Berlin and were Protestant

Figure 15b. Page 2 of Charlotte Bruck and Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s May 3rd, 1906 marriage certificate with Charlotte, Walter, and Paul Stavenhagen’s original signatures

Figure 16. Marriage certificate for Walter Stavenhagen’s parents, Moritz Paul Stavenhagen and Fanny Ann Stevenson, showing they wed in Saint Mary Abbots Kensington on the 19th of April in 1873 when he was allegedly 21 and she was 19

Figure 17. Page from “England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration), 1858-1966, 1973-1995” showing Moritz Stavenhagen died in Calais allegedly on the 8th of January 1905

Now, let me briefly review what I have pieced together about Moritz (Figure 18) and Fanny Ann Stavenhagen (Figure 19), Walter’s parents.

Figure 18. Walter Stavenhagen’s father, Moritz Paul Stavenhagen (1842-1905), between 1890 and 1895 in Calais (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Figure 19. Walter Stavenhagen’s mother, Fanny Ann Stevenson (1853-1939), in 1872 in Calais (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Moritz Paul Stavenhagen (1842-1905) was actively involved in trading lace with a financier originally from Nottingham, England by the name of William Henry Stevenson (1807-1886). Moritz wound up marrying William’s adopted daughter, Fanny Ann Roche, whose mother Margarite Roche née Smith had married William in around 1872. William moved permanently to Calais, France after 1828 and became a naturalized citizen in 1831. (Figure 20)

Figure 20. Documentation showing that Fanny Ann Stavenhagen née Stevenson’s adopted father William Henry Stevenson became a naturalized French citizen on the 30th of April 1831

Two 1907 French Phone Directory listings indicate that “Stevenson et Stavenhagen” were in business together in Calais (Figure 21), a collaboration they likely began in around 1872 (Figures 37a-b). Following William’s death in 1886, Moritz’s continued collaboration was with William’s stepson, Frederick, born in 1855 who could have been his natural son.

Figure 21. Summary page in ancestry.com for a 1907 French Phone Directory from Calais showing that “Stevenson et Stavenhagen” were in business together as “negociant,” traders. Address “Rue Neuve 24, 26” matches the address on the 1905 England & Wales, National Probate Calendar showing where Moritz died

Figure 37a. French extract from “L’Efficacite Des Commissionaires En Tulle et Dentelle de Calais” referring to Fanny [Ann Roche] Stevenson and her stepfather William Henry Stevenson

Figure 37b. Translation of French extract from “L’Efficacite Des Commissionaires En Tulle et Dentelle de Calais”

I initially theorized that Moritz might have apprenticed with William or his father, John Stevenson, in Nottingham, England, but Frank Webster-Smith, the reader who provided corrections and additions for this post, pointed out that John was dead before Moritz was born and William was already living in Calais. According to the information in Figures 37a-b, in 1870 Moritz still lived in Nottingham, though he eventually moved to Calais from there. Frank theorizes rather that Moritz may well have acted as an agent for William in Nottingham in the early 1870s and picked up knowledge of lace business there.

Interestingly, John Stevenson together with his partner Richard Skipworth appear to have provided financing to a John Leaver, a reclusive genius from Nottinghamshire, recognized today as the “father” of modern lace making, who developed the prototype for machine-made lace. Suffice it to say, the history of lace making is fascinating, and partially explains the connection between England and France in this endeavor in the early-to-mid 1800’s.

According to the directories, it seems the trading company was in Calais proper, while the “succursale,” branch office or fabrication site, was in Caudry, 105 miles to the southeast of Calais. (Figure 22)

Figure 22. Summary page in ancestry.com for a 1907 French Phone Directory from Caudry, showing that “Stevenson et Stavenhagen” had another business located about 105 miles to the southeast of Calais where they fabricated “tulles et dentelles,” tulle and lace

Achim sent me two death notices for Moritz Paul Stavenhagen from “Le Petit Calaisian” published after his death on the 8^th of January 1905. He was identified as “négociant en matières premières, commissionnaire en tulles, vice consul d’allemagne à Calais,” commodities trader, tulles commission agent, and German vice consul in Calais. (Tulles is a sheer often stiffened silk, rayon, or nylon net used chiefly for veils or ballet costumes that was exported from England.) The death notice remarked that Moritz had been the German vice consul in Calais for 35 years. (Figure 23)

Figure 23. Death notice for Moritz Paul Stavenhagen from “Le Petit Calaisian” dated the 10th of January 1905 stating he had been the Vice Consul for Germany in Calais for 35 years

Achim also sent me Moritz’s Calais death certificate (Figure 24), which served to further muddy the waters because the vital data for Moritz, his wife, and his son Paul differs from dates in other primary source documents, specifically, birth and marriage records. Moritz’s death certificate says he died on the 9^th of January, rather than the 8^th of January 1905 cited elsewhere, at the age of 62 years and 3 months; this would mean he was born in 1842 contradicting what is written on his 1873 marriage certificate saying he was 21 at the time, meaning he would have been born in 1852. Moritz’s wife Fanny Ann Stevenson is said to be 49 years old at the time of his death when she was known to have been born in 1853 and would have been 51; similarly, Moritz’s son, Paul Stavenhagen, is said to have been 27 years in 1905 when he was in fact 29. What to make of all these discrepancies is unclear. I mention this because I often harp about tying vital events to primary source documents, but this is proof there can be discrepancies among even well-sourced certificates.

Figure 24. Moritz Paul Stavenhagen’s Calais death certificate indicating he died on the 9th rather than the 8th of January 1905 and containing other inconsistences with primary source data recorded elsewhere

Another fascinating document Achim shared with me was a letter dated the 23^rd of May 1872 appointing Moritz Stavenhagen as German vice consul in Calais. (Figures 25a-b) This would seem to confirm that Moritz was born in 1842 since he would have been only 20 years old in 1872 had he been born in 1852, rather young in my opinion to be appointed vice consul. Another 1907 French Phone Directory lists “Stavenhagen” as the German vice consul. (Figure 26)

Figure 25a. Page 1 of letter from the “Ministère des Affaires Etrangères,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Paris dated the 23rd of May 1872 naming Moritz Paul Stavenhagen the vice consul of Germany in Calais

Figure 25b. Page 2 of letter from the “Ministère des Affaires Etrangères,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Paris dated the 23rd of May 1872 naming Moritz Paul Stavenhagen the vice consul of Germany in Calais

Figure 26. Summary page in ancestry.com for a 1907 French Phone Directory from Calais identifying “Stavenhagen” as “Vice-cons. d’allem,” German Vice Consul

A brief digression to recount some of what Achim related. By any measure, the Stavenhagen family were cosmopolitan with ties to Germany, England, and France. At the start of WWI in 1914, the French determined the Stavenhagens to be Germans, and liquidated their businesses. The French newspapers of the day apparently took great delight in the fact German bombs destroyed Stavenhagen’s house during the WWI. Later, during the Nazi era, the family was judged to be Jewish with a predictable outcome. Members of the family who were Anglicans escaped to England, mixed marriages fell apart, and others were murdered in the Holocaust.

We know from Moritz and Fanny Ann’s 1873 marriage certificate they were married in the Anglican Church in Kensington. I naturally assumed that Moritz had converted from Judaism, but such was not the case, according to Achim. His death notice from the “Le Petit Calaisian” dated the 12^th of January 1905 states that he was Jewish and that his funeral was presided over by a rabbi from Boulogne-sur-mer, France. (Figure 27) It seems odd Moritz was married in the Anglican Church as a Jew, but then again, neither Moritz nor Fanny’s religion is denoted on the certificate.

Figure 27. Death notice for Moritz Paul Stavenhage from “Le Petit Calaisian” dated the 12th of January 1905 stating that Moritz was Jewish and that his burial had been presided over by a Rabbi from Boulogne-sur-mer

As previously mentioned, Moritz’s wife, Fanny Ann Stevenson, was the adopted daughter of William Henry Stevenson; she was born in 1853 in Campagne-Les-Guines, France. Remarkably, Achim was able to track down census records from Campagne-les-Guines, respectively, from 1856 (Figure 28a), 1861 (Figure 28b), and 1866 (Figures 28c-d) with Fanny Ann’s name on it. It’s not entirely clear when or if Fanny’s mother, Margarite (Margueritte in French) Roche née Smith, married William Henry Stevenson, but at some point Fanny and her brother or half-brother, Frederick, took the Stevenson surname. There is no question William deemed these children to be his own because in his 1886 will, they each inherited one-third of his estate, with the last third left to other heirs. (Figure 29)

Figure 28a. Page from an 1856 census from Campagne-les-Guines, France showing William Stevenson living with his son “Henri,” his future wife “Margueritte Roche” and her two children from earlier marriages or liaisons, “Fanny Ann Roche” and “Frederick Smith”

Figure 28b. Page from an 1861 census from Campagne-les-Guines, France showing William “Henri” Stevenson shown then living with “Margueritte Roche,” her two children, Fanny Ann and Frederick, and a domestic

Figure 28c. Page 1 from the 1866 census from Campagne-les-Guines, France showing William “Henri” Stevenson shown then living with “Margueritte Roche,” only one of her children, Fanny Ann, plus a domestic and a cook

Figure 28d. Page 2 from the 1866 census from Campagne-les-Guines, France showing William “Henri” Stevenson shown then living with “Margueritte Roche,” only one of her children, Fanny Ann, plus a domestic and a cook

Figure 29. First page of William Henry Stevenson’s 1886 will showing he provided for both of his wife’s children from earlier marriages or liaisons, Fanny Ann Roche and Frederick Smith

In closing what I realize is an involved and overly lengthy post on Walter Stavenhagen and his family (Figures 30-36), I want to end on a touching note. While researching his wife’s ancestry in her final months, Achim related how he would give Silke daily updates on his newest genealogical finds, including the day he discovered the fate of Walter’s two sons, revelations that brought her great joy and calm towards the end of her life.

Figure 30. Walter Stavenhagen on his estate in Eichwerder in 1932 with (from left to right) niece Bertha, sister Maggie Just née Stavenhagen, and grandniece Anneliese (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Figure 31. Four generations of Walter Stavenhagen’s relatives in 1929 in Nottingham, England (from left to right), sister Maggie, niece Bertha, mother Fanny Ann, and grandniece Anneliese (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Figure 32. Walter’s sister and brother-in-law, Maggie and Albert Just, between 1897 and 1900 in Hamburg (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Figure 33. Walter’s brother-in-law Dr. Albert Just (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Figure 34. Walter Stavenhagen’s niece and grandniece, Bertha and Anneliese Just (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Figure 35. Cemetery in Halam, Nottinghamshire where Walter Stavenhagen’s mother Fanny Ann Roche Stavenhagen is buried (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

Figure 36. Fanny Ann Roche Stavenhagen’s grave in Halam, Nottinghamshire (photo courtesy of Achim Bucher-Stavenhagen)

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Regular readers know that I am a stickler for accuracy. In recent posts, I have begun to include a table of vital statistics of the people I write about and their closest relatives, citing the source of the vital data. I expect this to be of zero interest to most readers, and I do this primarily for my own benefit so I can recollect where names, dates, places, etc. originate from. That said, I would emphasize to readers that compiling and documenting the source of vital data is a laborious task as the following table illustrates.

VITAL STATISTICS FOR WALTER EDWARD STAVENHAGEN & HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY

NAME	EVENT	DATE	PLACE	SOURCE

Walter Edward Stavenhagen (self)	Birth	1 September 1876	Calais, France	Birth Certificate
	Marriage (to Charlotte Bruck)	3 May 1906	Berlin, Germany	Marriage Certificate
	Divorce (from Charlotte Bruck)	19 May 1910	Berlin, Germany	Notation on Marriage Certificate
	Death	9 February 1937	Heilbronn, Germany	Death Certificate
	Cremation	11 February 1937		Emilie Fanny Stavenhagen’s diary
	Burial	15 February 1937	Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland]	Emilie Fanny Stavenhagen’s diary
Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck (wife)	Birth	17 August 1886	Berlin, Germany	Marriage Certificate
	Marriage (to Walter Edward Stavenhagen)	3 May 1906	Berlin, Germany	Marriage Certificate
	Divorce (from Walter Edward Stavenhagen)	19 May 1910	Berlin, Germany	Notation on Marriage Certificate
	Death	5 June 1974	Stamford, Connecticut	Connecticut Death Index
Moritz Paul Stavenhagen (father)	Birth	3 October 1842	Neubrandenburg, Germany	Paul Moses Stavenhagen Facts & Events (from Achim Bucher); Marriage Certificate; Death Certificate; Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s Birth Certificate
	Marriage (to Fanny Ann Stevenson)	19 April 1873	Kensington, London, England	London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921
	Death	9 January 1905	Calais, France	Death Certificate
	Probate	15 June 1905	London, England	England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1858-1966, 1973-1995
Fanny Ann Stavenhagen née Roche adopted Stevenson (mother)	Birth	10 June 1853	Campagne-Les-Guines, France	Birth Certificate; William Henry Stevenson’s 24 February 1884 Last Will
	Marriage	19 April 1873	Kensington, London, England	London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921
	Death (buried in Nottingham, England)	8 September 1939	Nottingham, England	England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1858-1966, 1973-1995
Margarethe Marianne Just née Stavenhagen (sister)	Birth	14 February 1874	Calais, France	Birth Certificate; 1939 England & Wales Register
	Marriage (to Aron Albert Just)	23 August 1897	Calais, France	Marriage Certificate
	Death (buried in Nottingham, England)	1 July 1945	Nottingham, England	UK, Burial and Cremation Index, 1576-2014
Paul Henry Stavenhagen (brother)	Birth	22 May 1875	Calais, France	Birth Certificate; German Minority Census, 1939
	Marriage (to Alice Violet Willmott)	17 January 1906	Leytonstone, Essex, England	Essex, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1935
	Death	30 December 1946	Hamburg, Germany	England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976
	Probate	27 August 1952	London, England	England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1858-1995
Emilie Fanny Stavenhagen (sister)	Birth	8 June 1881	Calais, France	Birth Certificate; 1939 England & Wales Register
	Death (buried in Nottingham, England)	11 November 1973	Newark, England	Death Certificate
Herbert Frederick Stavenhagen (brother)	Birth	11 August 1885	Calais, France	Birth Certificate; 1911 England & Wales Census
	Marriage (to Anneliese Scheidt)	5 March 1932	Cologne, Germany	Marriage Certificate
	Death	23 March 1960	Cologne, Germany	Death Certificate

POST 95: DISCOVERING THE FATE OF MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER’S NIECE, CHARLOTTE BRUCK

Note: In this post, I discuss the sad fate of Charlotte Bruck, my great-grandfather Fedor Bruck’s niece, a victim in this case not of the Holocaust but of a psychiatric disorder.

Figure 1. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863), first generation owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]

Figure 2. My great-great-grandmother Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861)

My great-grandfather, Fedor Bruck (1834-1892), was one of at least nine offspring of Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) (Figure 1) and Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861). (Figure 2) For context, Samuel Bruck and Fedor Bruck (Figure 3) were, respectively the first- and second-generation owners of the Bruck family hotel in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland], the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel. (Figure 4) The youngest of Samuel and Charlotte Bruck’s children and Fedor Bruck’s youngest sibling was Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907). (Figure 5)

Figure 3. My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck (1834-1892), second generation owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel

Figure 4. Front entrance to the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel around 1920-1930

Figure 5. My great-granduncle Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907), youngest sibling of Fedor Bruck, married to the baroness Margarethe “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946) whose surname he took

Figure 6. Baroness Margarethe “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946)

Wilhelm married a baroness named Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (Figure 6), and because of the prestige the von Koschembahr name endowed, he adopted her surname, initially in hyphenated manner as Bruck-von Koschembahr; eventually upon some family members arrival in America the Bruck surname was dropped. Wilhelm Bruck and Margarete von Koschembahr had five children, including Charlotte “Lotte” Bruck (Figure 7), niece of my great-grandfather Fedor Bruck and subject of this post.

Figure 7. Charlotte Bruck (1886-1974), daughter of Wilhelm Bruck and Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1914 or 1915 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

As a brief aside, Charlotte’s older brother and the oldest of Wilhelm and Margarete’s children was Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) (Figure 8), who emigrated to America in October 1938 with his wife and ten of their thirteen children (Figure 9), one of whom is still living. While I am in contact with descendants of virtually all other branches of my family whom I have written about in my family history blog, I have not yet established contact with this wing of my extended family. If precedent is any indication, descendants of the von Koschembahrs may in time stumble upon my blog and contact me.

Figure 8. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) & his wife Hilda née von Zeidlitz and Neukirch (1891-1954) with their thirteen children in Lugano, Switzerland in the 1930’s; Gerhard was the oldest of Charlotte Bruck’s siblings who dropped the “Bruck” portion of his surname prior to arriving in America

Figure 9. New York Times article dated October 2, 1938 mentioning Gerhard von Koschembahr’s arrival in America with his wife and ten of their thirteen children

With upwards of 900 people in my family tree, which I use primarily to orient myself to the people whom I discuss in my Blog, I have never previously written about Wilhelm Bruck (von Koschembahr). Still, because Charlotte Bruck is in my tree, one genealogist stumbled upon her name and contacted me asking whether I know the fate of Charlotte’s first husband, Walter Edward Stavenhagen. The inquiry, it so happens, came from Charlotte’s granddaughter, Brenda Jay Dunn née Lorenzen (Figure 10), and I explained I have been unable to discover Walter’s fate. Not unexpectedly, Jay told me much more about Charlotte’s family than I could tell her and provided family photographs, which is always immensely satisfying.

Figure 10. Jay Dunn née Lorenzen, Charlotte Bruck and her first husband Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s granddaughter, in 2018 in La Jolla, California

Prior to being contacted by Jay Dunn through ancestry on June 24, 2018, I had already uncovered multiple documents related to Charlotte Bruck, although my understanding of her three marriages and life was rather disjointed. Rather than try and inaccurately reconstruct what I already knew at the time, let me briefly highlight major events in her life.

Charlotte (Lottchen, Lotte, Lottel) Bruck got married for the first time on the 3^rd of May 1906 in Berlin to the Protestant landowner Walter Edward Stavenhagen (Figures 11a-b) who owned an estate in Eichwerder in the district of Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland]. Though both of Charlotte’s parents were of Jewish descent, on her wedding certificate, Charlotte is identified as Protestant, indicating she and/or her parents had converted. Following her marriage to Walter at age 19, they moved to Soldin, and Charlotte gave birth to two sons there: Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (1907-1997) and Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (1909-1947). (Figures 12-13a-b)

Figure 11a. Page 1 of Charlotte Bruck and Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s May 3rd, 1906 marriage certificate indicating they were married in Berlin and were Protestant

Figure 11b. Page 2 of Charlotte Bruck and Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s May 3rd, 1906 marriage certificate with Charlotte and Walter’s original signatures

Figure 12. Charlotte and Walter’s two young sons, Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (1907-1997) and Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (1909-1947) (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Figure 13a. Birth certificate of Hans Joachim Stavenhagen, Jay Dunn née Lorenzen’s father, showing he was born on the 13th of February 1909 in Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] (document courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Figure 13b. Translation of Han’s Joachim Stavenhagen’s birth certificate (document courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Charlotte first became ill following the birth of her second son, possibly the result of postpartum depression or a bi-polar disorder. Charlotte’s mother, Margarethe von Koschembahr Bruck (Figure 14), came and removed her from Walter Stavenhagen’s estate in 1909, whereupon she was briefly hospitalized in Schierke, located in the Harz Mountains of northern Germany. In a diary entry dated the 19^th of November 1909, Charlotte’s maternal grandmother, Amalie Mockrauer von Koschembahr (1834-1918) (Figures 15-16), describes her granddaughter’s circumstances at the time:

Figure 14. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s mother, Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1938 at age 78

Figure 15. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s grandmother, Amalie von Koschembahr née Mockrauer, with Charlotte’s mother, Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1863

Figure 16. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s grandmother, Amalie von Koschembahr née Mockrauer, around 1904 at age 70

GERMAN ENTRY

“Ich bin furchtbar traurig über das Fehlschlagen von Lottchens Friedensversuch. Nachdem sie in Eichwerder (nördlich Mysliborz) mit den besten Vorsätzen und mit festem Muthe eintraf, sich in ihr Schicksal und ihre Pflichten zu fügen, benahm sich Walter abermals unglaublich lieblos, rücksichtslos und roh, so, daß es nach kurzer Zeit für Lotte unmöglich war Stand zu halten. Soweit mir berichtet wurde, ist alles geschehen, um es dem Mann leicht zu machen in Frieden zu leben, allein es war vergeblich. Krank und gebrochen mußte meine arme Lottel ihre Heimath für immer verlassen, nur begleitet von ihrem kleinen Fritzchen, den armen kleinen Hans gab der Mann nicht heraus. Mein armes Gretchen holte ihr Kind, Marianne und Kurt, die von großer Liebe und Treue sind, begleiteten sie. Lotte flüchtete nach Schierke (Ort im Harz), wohin ihr Gretchen nachfolgen mußte, da Lotte sehr krank ist. Welcher Schmerz ist es doch schon wegen der kleinen mutterbedürftigen Kinder! Welche große Sünde hat der bösartige Mann auf sich geladen! Mein lieber allmächtiger Gott hilf uns in dieser Noth!

Das alles muß ich so still für mich mittragen, denn mit Tilla kann ich mich nicht aussprechen – sie hat eine andere Anschauung vom Unglück der Menschen – sie kann froh darüber sein, während ich zwar ergeben aus Gottes Hand alles nehme, aber tief traurig an meine unglücklichen Kinder denke. Seitdem Martha von Schmidt der Tod von uns genommen hat, habe ich Niemanden, mit dem ich ein tröstliches Wort austauschen kann. Ach, wieviel Schwaches giebt es auf der Welt – der Kampf hört hier nicht auf und so sehnt man sich nach der ewigen Reise. –Mit Tilchen kann ich mich darüber deshalb nicht verstehen, weil sie glaubt das Unglück, welches der Herr schickt, soll die Menschen bessern und seine Gnade und Liebe erkennen lassen.”

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

“I am terribly saddened by the failure of Lottchen’s attempt at peace. After she arrived in Eichwerder (today north of Myślibórz, Poland) with the best of intentions and with firm courage to submit to her fate and duties, Walter again behaved in an unbelievably unloving, inconsiderate, and crude manner, so that after a short time it was impossible for Lotte to stand firm. As far as I was told, everything was done to make it easy for the man to live in peace, but it was in vain. Sick and broken, my poor Lottel had to leave her home forever, accompanied only by her little Fritzchen (Note: Charlotte’s older son Frederick); poor little Hans was not released by the man. My poor Gretchen (Note: Charlotte’s mother, Margarethe von Koschembahr) fetched her child, and Marianne and Kurt (Note: Charlotte’s younger sister and brother-in-law, Marianne & Kurt Polborn), who are of great love and loyalty, accompanied her. Lotte fled to Schierke (a place in the Harz Mountains in northern Germany), where Gretchen had to follow her, since Lotte was very ill. What a pain it is already because of the little children in need of a mother! What a great sin the wicked man has brought upon himself! My dear Almighty God help us in this distress!

I have to bear all this so quietly for myself, because I cannot talk to Tilla (Note: Tilla, Tilchen, was Margarethe von Koschembahr’s sister, Mathilde von Koschembahr) – she has a different view of people’s misfortune – she can be happy about it, while I humbly take everything from God’s hand, but think deeply sad about my unhappy children. Since death took Martha von Schmidt (Note: a friend of Amalie von Koschembahr, Charlotte’s grandmother) from us, I have no one with whom I can exchange a comforting word. Oh, how much weakness there is in the world – the struggle does not end here and so one longs for the eternal journey. I can’t get along with Tilchen because she believes that the misfortune the Lord sends should make people better and recognize His grace and love.”

Walter and Charlotte’s marriage certificate has a notation in the upper right-hand corner confirming they were divorced in Berlin on the 19^th of May 1910. (Figure 17) Atypical of the time, Charlotte was granted custody of both of her boys because spousal abuse was suspected, as the diary entry above suggests.

Figure 17. German notation in the upper right-hand corner of Charlotte and Walter Stavenhagen’s marriage certificate noting they got divorced on the 19th of May 1910

According to family history, following her hospitalization in the Harz Mountains, Charlotte lived with her mother in Dresden, Germany until she remarried Karl Eduard Michaelis in 1913, a marriage which lasted only two years. At around this time, Charlotte again showed signs of mental illness, so her family sent her to America in 1915, to a hospital located in Minnesota; her two sons accompanied her to America. Her stay there was relatively brief because she soon moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where she met her third husband, Ernest Gustav Lorenzen (1876-1951), through the German Society there, whom she married around 1916. Ernest Lorenzen was a law professor at Yale University; he would eventually adopt both of Charlotte’s sons by Walter Stavenhagen, and they would take the Lorenzen surname. The 1920 U.S. Federal Census indicates Ernest and Charlotte living with her two sons in New Haven, Connecticut, (Figures 18-19) although by 1930, only Ernest and Charlotte’s older son Frederick lived together. (Figure 20) By 1940, Frederick was married with two daughters and his younger brother was living with them. (Figure 21)

Figure 18. 1920 U.S. Federal Census showing Ernest Gustav Lorenzen living in New Haven, Connecticut with his wife Charlotte and his two adopted sons, Frederick and Hans

Figure 19. Charlotte Bruck with her two sons, Frederick and Hans (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Figure 20. By 1930 the U.S. Federal Census shows Ernest Gustav Lorenzen living only with his older adopted son, Frederick

Figure 21. The 1940 U.S. Federal Census indicates that Frederick Lorenzen has established his own household in Stamford, Connecticut with his wife and two daughters, and that his younger brother Hans (John) is living with them

Jay Dunn shared a remarkable letter with me dated 1940 written by the Superintendent of the Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut where Charlotte Lorenzen née Bruck was permanently institutionalized as of around April 1939 until her death in June 1974. To me, this letter is noteworthy for two reasons. One, it is incredibly detailed as to Charlotte’s mental condition and institutionalization over the years, information I would assume would be confidential. And two, the letter was written at the request of Charlotte’s younger son, Hans Joachim Lorenzen, known in America as John Jay Lorenzen; it seems that John’s future father-in-law, William Sweet, sought a medical opinion as to the possibility of Charlotte’s mental condition being hereditary prior to his daughter Brenda’s marriage to John.

According to the 1940 letter, following Charlotte’s treatment in Minnesota and her relocation to New Haven, she appears to have been well until around 1921, then suffered another relapse from which she again improved by 1922; after 1925, however, she was institutionalized through the remainder of her life. While originally diagnosed with Manic Depressive Psychosis by 1928 she had become delusional. Over time, Charlotte’s original diagnosis was altered to Dementia Praecox, Paranoid Type, whose prognosis was not as good. Today, Dementia Praecox would more generally be referred to as schizophrenia. The Superintendent from the Fairfield State Hospital concluded as follows in his response to John Jay Lorenzen:

“Summing it up then in another manner I might say that if you consider yourself a normal individual in good physical health with no emotional problems which cannot be readily solved, I would not hesitate to contemplate marriage and would not entertain any undue fears that my children might inherit the illness of my parent. Unless one can definitely assure oneself that his heredity is too heavily tainted, I think one would do himself an injustice if he did not make every reasonable effort to live the kind of normal life to which everyone of us is certainly entitled.”

Ernst Lorenzen divorced Charlotte sometime after she was permanently institutionalized, and eventually got remarried. Charlotte’s older son Frederick (Figure 22-23) became a successful lawyer in New York and paid for his mother’s care throughout her life. Jay Dunn’s father, John Jay Lorenzen (Figure 24), obtained an MBA from Harvard around 1933, worked for a time as a stock broker for Smith Barney, then started a cola company called Zimba Kola (Figures 25-26) with a college friend. He was drafted in 1943, became an officer in the Navy (Figure 27), and was sent to the Pacific where he fought valiantly alongside General MacArthur in the battles of Okinawa and Leyte Gulf. He survived the war, only to commit suicide in 1947, likely from depression caused by PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. Though Charlotte Bruck and her sons came to America well before Hitler rose to power, her fate and that of her younger son were indeed sad tales.

Figure 22. Frederick Lorenzen as a teenager (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Figure 23. Frederick Lorenzen at his brother’s wedding on the 26th of September 1940 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Figure 24. Hans Joachim Lorenzen, known in America as John Jay Lorenzen, on his wedding day on the 26th of September 1940 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Figure 25. Zimba Kola bottle from the cola company John Jay Lorenzen established

Figure 26. Jay Dunn as a three-year-old child holding a bottle of Zimba Kola (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

Figure 27. John Jay Lorenzen in his Navy uniform at age 33 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

One final fascinating anecdote. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr, Charlotte’s oldest brother mentioned above, like his father, also married a baroness, Hilda Alexandra von Zeidlitz and Neukirch (1891-1954). (Figures 28-29) Hilda’s mother, Cornelia Carnochan Roosevelt, married on the 3^rd of February 1889 to Baron Clement Zeidlitz, was a distant relative of President Theodore Roosevelt. (see Figure 9) It is likely that Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr was able to “disguise” his Jewish ancestry by dropping the Bruck surname. Thus, because of Gerhard’s wife’s connection to the Roosevelts, they sponsored Gerhard’s entrance into America in 1938 with his family at a time when many Jewish families trying to reach America by ship were turned away. The most notorious ship turned away from landing in the United States in the lead up to WWII was the German liner St. Louis carrying 937 passengers, almost all Jewish; the ship was forced to return to Europe, and more than a quarter of the refuges died in the Holocaust.

Figure 28. Wedding photo of Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr and Hilda Alexandra von Zeidlitz, married on the 21st of March 1914 (photo courtesy of Kurt Polborn)

Figure 29. Headstone of William C. Roosevelt, alongside which Gerhard (Bruck) von Koschembahr and his wife Hilda Roosevelt von Koschembahr are interred

VITAL STATISTICS FOR CHARLOTTE BRUCK & HER IMMEDIATE FAMILY

NAME	EVENT	DATE	PLACE	SOURCE

Charlotte Bruck (self)	Birth	17 August 1886	Berlin, Germany	Marriage Certificate
	Marriage to Walter Edward Stavenhagen	3 May 1906	Berlin, Germany	Marriage Certificate
	Divorce from Walter Edward Stavenhagen	19 May 1910	Berlin, Germany	Notation on marriage certificate
	Marriage to Karl Eduard Michaelis	20 August 1913	Dresden, Germany	Marriage Certificate
	Divorce from Karl Eduard Michaelis	~1915	Dresden, Germany	“Stavenhagen-Bruck-Von Koschembahr Family History” (Jay Dunn)
	Marriage to Ernest Gustav Lorenzen	~1916		1940 letter from Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut describing Charlotte’s mental history
	Death	5 June 1974	Stamford, Connecticut	Connecticut Death Index
Wilhelm Bruck (father)	Birth	23 February 1949	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	Berlin marriage certificate
	Marriage	14 September 1884	Berlin, Germany	Berlin marriage certificate
	Death	15 February 1907	Berlin, Germany	Berlin death certificate
Margarethe Mathilde von Koschembahr (mother)	Birth	28 November 1860	Lissa, Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Poland]	von Koschembahr family tree
	Marriage	14 September 1884	Berlin, Germany	Berlin marriage certificate
	Death	19 October 1946	Boston, Massachusetts	von Koschembahr family tree
Amalie Mockrauer (grandmother)	Birth	9 September 1834	Leschnitz, Germany [today: Leśnica, Poland]	15 April 1855 Baptism Certificate
	Marriage (to Leopold von Koschembahr)	26 September 1855	London, England	England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index
	Death	5 August 1918	Dresden, Germany	Dresden death certificate
Walter Edward Stavenhagen (first husband)	Birth	1 September 1876	Calais, France	1900 Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany Census
Walter Edward Stavenhagen (first husband)	Marriage	3 May 1906	Berlin, Germany	Marriage Certificate
Karl Eduard Michaelis (second husband)	Birth	4 January 1884	Berlin, Germany	Birth Certificate
	Marriage	20 August 1913	Dresden, Germany	Marriage Certificate
	Death (died as Carl Edward Midgard)	12 October 1953	Seattle, Washington	Washington Death Certificate
Ernest Gustav Lorenzen (third husband)	Birth	21 April 1876	Kiel, Germany	US Passport Application
	Marriage	~1916		1940 letter from Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut describing Charlotte’s mental history
	Death	12 February 1951	San Francisco, California	California Death Index
Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (son)	Birth	28 February 1907	Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland]	US Social Security Death Index
	Marriage (to Dorothy P. Walker)	30 June 1931	Portland, Maine	Maine Marriage Index
	Death (died as Frederick W. Lorenzen)	30 December 1997	Stamford, Connecticut	US Social Security Death Index
Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (son)	Birth	13 February 1909	Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland]	Soldin, Germany Birth Certificate
	Marriage (to Brenda Sweet)	17 September 1940	Staten Island, New York	New York Marriage License Index
	Death (died as John Jay Lorenzen)	24 Jun 1947	Greenwich, Connecticut	Connecticut Death Record

POST 94: MY GREAT-GREAT-UNCLE & AUNT JOSEF & ROSALIE PAULY’S NINE CHILDREN THROUGH TIME

“You know how the time flies

Only yesterday was the time of our lives

We were born and raised in a summer haze

Bound by the surprise of our glory days”

Adele “Someone Like You”

Note: In this post, I present photos of Josef and Rosalie Pauly’s nine children, my great-great-uncle and aunt’s offspring, showing them as young children, adolescents, young adults, middle aged, and elderly. Naturally, there are gaps in the photo sequences for some of the children.

Post 56: Reflections on Life and Family by The Paterfamilias, Dr. Josef Pauly

Post 57: Disappeared Without A Trace, Maria Pohlmann Née Pauly

Post 57, Postscript: Disappeared Without A Trace, Maria Pohlmann Née Pauly—Mystery Solved!!

Post 58: Finding Therese “Thussy” Sandler Née Pauly, My Great-Great-Uncle and Aunt’s Youngest Child

Post 89: Evidence of My 18th & 19th Centuries Marle Ancestors

I have often thought to myself that upon one’s birth, one is metaphorically handed an hourglass measuring the sands of time slowly or rapidly draining out. Regular readers may recall that in Post 89, I discussed my great-great-great-grandparents, Wilhelm Wolf Marle and his wife Rosalie (“Reisel”) Marle née Grätzer, whose headstones survive in the former Jewish Cemetery in Pless, Germany [today: Pszczyna, Poland]. (Figures 1-2) Given my musings about the passage of time, I was mildly surprised to see that an hourglass is carved into Rosalie Marle’s headstone signifying how quickly time passes. (Figure 2) Clearly, I can take no credit for the originality of this metaphor.

Figure 1. My great-great-great-grandfather Wilhelm Marle’s (1772-1846) tombstone in Pszczyna, Poland, formerly Pless, Germany

Figure 2. My great-great-great-grandmother Rosalie Marle née Graetzer’s headstone showing the hourglass carved into it signifying how quickly time flies

Josef Pauly (Figure 3) and Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (Figures 4-5), my great-great-uncle and aunt, had nine children all born in Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Poland] between 1871 and 1885. (Figure 6) In perusing my digital collection of photographs, I realized I have photos of all of them capturing how they looked through the years. Not unexpectedly, there are gaps in the photo sequences for some of the children, which my third cousin, Andi Pauly, more closely aligned to this branch of my family, was partially able to fill. I think it is unusual to have a “continuous” sequence of photos for one’s relatives who were born in the 19^th century and died in the 20^th century, and for this reason I thought I would array these photos for readers to see. I certainly find it to be true that I can recognize photos of some of my ancestors from specific periods in their lives but not necessarily from other intervals in their lives; interestingly, I occasionally even find this to be true of photos of myself.

Figure 3. My great-great-uncle Dr. Josef Pauly (1843-1916)

Figure 4. My great-great-aunt Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (1844-1927)

Figure 5. My great-great-aunt Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer with one of her newborns, likely one of her firstborn daughters, judging from Rosalie’s age (photo courtesy of Danny Sandler)

Figure 6. Photo of Josef and Rosalie Pauly’s six oldest daughters as children and infants, from left to right, Anna, Paula, Helene, Elisabeth, Margarethe, and Maria, probably taken ca. 1878 (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Below, readers will find a table with the vital statistics of Josef and Rosalie Pauly’s nine children. This is followed by the sequence of photos I have for each of them showing how differently they looked at various stages of their lives. The second-born child, Paula Pincus née Pauly, died youngest at age 49, while the last born, Therese Sandler née Pauly, was the longest lived at age 84. Three of the daughters, Helene Guttentag née Pauly, Elisabeth Herrnstadt née Pauly, and Margarethe Neisser née Pauly, died during the Holocaust, two by their own hands.

VITAL STATISTICS FOR JOSEF & ROSALIE PAULY’S CHILDREN

NO.	NAME	EVENT	DATE	PLACE

1	Anna Rothholz née Pauly (Figures 6-7)	Birth	14 March 1871	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	20 May 1892	Berlin, Germany
		Death	21 June 1925	Stettin, Germany
2	Paula Pincus née Pauly (Figures 6, 8-9)	Birth	26 April 1872	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	16 November 1891	Berlin, Germany
		Death	31 March 1922	Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
3	Helene Guttentag née Pauly (Figures 6, 10-14)	Birth	12 April 1873	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	5 February 1898	Berlin, Germany
		Death (suicide)	23 October 1942	Berlin, Germany
4	Elisabeth Herrnstadt née Pauly (Figures 6, 15-17)	Birth	2 July 1874	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	11 May 1895	Cunnersdorf, Germany
		Death (murdered)	27 May 1943	Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia
5	Margarethe Neisser née Pauly (Figures 6, 17-22)	Birth	16 January 1876	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	5 September 1898	Stettin, Germany
		Death (suicide)	12 October 1941	Berlin, Germany
6	Maria Pohlmann née Pauly (Figures 6, 23-26)	Birth	21 July 1877	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	30 September 1901	Posen, Germany
		Death	18 July 1946	Freiburg, Germany
7	Edith Riezler née Pauly (Figures 17, 27-32)	Birth	4 January 1880	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	28 May 1923	Berlin, Germany
		Death	5 February 1961	Munich, Germany
8	Wilhelm Pauly (Figures 33-38)	Birth	24 September 1883	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	3 January 1914	Breslau, Germany
		Death	1961	Tsumeb, Namibia
9	Therese Sandler née Pauly (Figures 39-46)	Birth	21 August 1885	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	31 August 1912	Posen, Germany
		Death	25 November 1969	Buenos Aires, Argentina

Anna Rothholz née Pauly (1871-1925)

Paula Pincus née Pauly (1872-1922)

Figure 9. Paula Pincus née Pauly in the early- to mid-1890’s

Helene Guttentag née Pauly (1873-1942)

Figure 11. Helene Guttentag née Pauly in 1888

Figure 12. Helene Guttentag née Pauly in her 20’s

Figure 13. Helene Guttentag née Pauly in middle age (photo courtesy of Danny Sandler)

Figure 14. Helene Guttentag née Pauly in 1938 in Berlin, four years before she committed suicide after being told by the Nazis to report for deportation

Elisabeth Herrnstadt née Pauly (1874-1943)

Figure 16. Elisabeth Herrnstadt née Pauly in the early- to mid-1890’s

Figure 17. Elisabeth Herrnstadt née Pauly as a young adult (middle) with two of her younger sisters, Margarethe (left) and Edith (right) (photo courtesy of Agnes Stieda)

Margarethe Neisser née Pauly (1876-1941)

Figure 19. Margarethe Neisser née Pauly as a young girl (photo courtesy of Danny Sandler)

Figure 20. Margarethe Neisser née Pauly as a young adult (photo courtesy of Agnes Stieda)

Figure 21. Margarethe Neisser née Pauly in middle age (photo courtesy of Agnes Stieda)

Figure 22. Margarethe Neisser née Pauly later in life

Maria Pohlmann née Pauly (1877-1946)

Figure 24. Maria Pohlmann née Pauly in the early 1890’s

Figure 25. Maria Pohlmann née Pauly on her wedding day the 30th of September 1901

Figure 26. Maria Pohlmann née Pauly in 1906

Edith Riezler née Pauly (1880-1961)

Figure 28. Edith Riezler née Pauly as a young girl

Figure 29. Edith Riezler née Pauly as young adult (photo courtesy of Agnes Stieda)

Figure 30. Edith Riezler née Pauly as an adult (photo courtesy of Danny Sandler)

Figure 31. Edith Riezler née Pauly as an adult (photo courtesy of Agnes Stieda)

Figure 32. Edith Riezler née Pauly in 1936 (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Wilhelm Pauly (1883-1961)

Figure 34. Wilhelm Pauly as a young boy (photo courtesy of Danny Sandler)

Figure 35. Wilhelm Pauly in 1901 at his sister Maria Pohlmann née Pauly’s wedding

Figure 36. Wilhelm Pauly in 1914 in his WWI uniform (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Figure 37. Wilhelm Pauly with his wife Melanie Pauly née Schöneberg in the 1910’s (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Figure 38. Wilhelm Pauly in 1952 (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Therese Sandler née Pauly (1885-1969)

Figure 40. Therese Sandler née Pauly as a young girl (head leaning on her father) in a group photo with her parents, six older siblings, and an unidentified man (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Figure 41. Therese Sandler née Pauly in 1901 at her older sister Maria Pohlmann née Pauly’s wedding

Figure 42. Therese Sandler née Pauly in a cabinet photo taken in Berlin (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Figure 43. Therese Sandler née Pauly in a traditional Bavarian Oktoberfest Beer Dirndl dress (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Figure 44. Therese Sandler née Pauly wearing an elaborate hat (photo courtesy of Andi Pauly)

Figure 45. Therese Sandler née Pauly photo from her 1938 “Reisepass,” or passport, that allowed her to leave Germany during the Nazi era (photo courtesy of Pedro Sandler)

Figure 46. Therese Sandler née Pauly after she immigrated to Argentina (photo courtesy of Danny Sandler)

POST 93: GUIDE TO THE MORMON CHURCH’S FAMILIAL MICROFILMS: USING THEM TO UNRAVEL MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER’S LINEAGE

Note: This post tiers off the previous one where I discussed a Hermann Berliner with links to Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland], like my identically named great-grandfather; Ratibor is where my father was born and where many of my Jewish Silesian ancestors hail from. In trying to initially determine whether I was dealing with the same person, I accessed the Mormon Church’s online Jewish microfilm records found at familysearch.org to work out the solution. This post, thus, allows me to provide readers with a brief guide on how to access these records, as well as point out that even among primary source documents, which for me are the “gold standard,” errors can be found.

Post 92: Beware Identical Ancestral Names, The Case of My Maternal Great-Grandfather Hermann Berliner

Genealogists today have the advantage of being able to access online from the comfort of home many microfilm records from towns across the globe that once could only be ordered, paid for, and have mailed to a local Mormon Family History Library. These microfilms can be accessed for free by registering and creating a personal account at “familysearch.org.” (Figure 1)

Figure 1. “FamilySearch.org” page where free account is created

I will walk readers through the simple steps for retrieving these digital records, using Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] as an example, the town in Upper Silesia where my father and many of his relatives were born and/or lived. After readers have created their free ancestry account, they should go to the portal page for “familysearch.org.” On the pulldown menu under “Search,” readers should select “Catalog” (Figure 2) which will take them to a page entitled “FamilySearch Catalog.” (Figure 3) Under “Place,” readers should type the name of the town they are seeking records from. In my case, I typed in Ratibor, although if I type in the current Polish name of the town, “Racibórz,” the results on the next screen will be slightly different. My suggestion, at least when researching towns formerly in Germany, is to type the former German town name as well as the current Polish town name; a simple Google search will give you the name of towns over time.

Figure 2. “FamilySearch.org” portal page with pull-down “Search” menu

Figure 3. “FamilySearch Catalog” page where “Place” one is searching is entered

The “Catalog Print List” enumerates the records available for the town you have selected. For Ratibor, I was interested in “Jewish Records,” which yields “Matrikel, 1814-1940,” birth, marriage, and death registers for Ratibor from between 1814 and 1940. (Figure 4) A few things should be noted. First, the “Matrikel” are simply registers maintained by the Jewish synagogues. Second, they do not give you access to the underlying birth, marriage, and death certificates, assuming these still exist. Third, the “Matrikel” are not a complete register of all Jewish births, marriage, and deaths between 1814 and 1940. Because of the “Kulturkampf,” discussed in Post 12, after the early 1870’s, most birth, marriages, and deaths were no longer registered by religious denominations in Germany but were recorded as civil events. Oddly, the names of Jews who died following the “Kulturkampf” and were interred in the former Jewish cemetery in Ratibor or elsewhere in Germany are registered both in the Jewish microfilm records as well as in the civil ledgers.

Figure 4. Search Results for Ratibor listing Jewish records, “Matrikel, 1814-1940”

Selecting “Matrikel, 1814-1940” yields a list of available digital films, in the case of Ratibor, LDS microfilms 1184447, 1184448, and 1184449. (Figure 5) On the far right, readers should see a camera icon on which they should click to be taken to the digital film. If a microfilm reel icon or key shows up above the camera icon, the microfilm is not generally available online and can only be viewed at the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Figure 5. “Matrikel, 1814-1940” Microfilms for Ratibor, numbered 1184447 (“Friedhofsusrkunden 1888-1940” (Cemetery Documents)), 1184448 (“Tote 1865-1930) (Deaths)), and 1184449 (“Geburten 1815-1874 Heiraten 1814-1862” (Births & Marriages))

I first accessed the microfilms for Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] almost 40 years ago on a visit to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Years later, I would order and pay for these films to be sent to a local Mormon Family History Library, so I could leisurely examine and take notes on them. I created a table summarizing what I had found on births, deaths, and marriages for members of my extended family. However, given that the registers were handwritten in German and often indecipherable, my log was incomplete. Only more recently have I made the effort to have a German relative or friend translate previously unreadable words or phrases. This is considerably easier since individual microfilm pages can now easily be downloaded from the Mormon Church’s website for closer study. (Figure 6) Thus, I am constantly refining and learning new things from these microfilm, as I will illustrate below.

Figure 6. “FamilySearch Catalog” print list for Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 containing births (1815-1874) and marriages (1814-1862)

My maternal great-grandfather Hermann Berliner (1840-1910) is known to me through a single picture I have of him. (Figure 7) He was married to Olga Berliner née Braun (1852-1920), and the two were interred together in the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor. Together they had three children, my grandmother Else Bruck née Berliner (1873-1957), her older sister Margareth Braun née Berliner (1872-1942), who was murdered in the Holocaust, and a younger brother Alfred Max Berliner (1875-1921), who died young in Ratibor.

Figure 7. My maternal great-grandfather Hermann Berliner (1840-1910)

The Hermann Berliner who was the subject of Post 92 had a son, Ernst Berliner, born in 1878, which initially confused me into thinking my great-grandfather sired another child with a different woman, Sara Riesenfeld, although I eventually concluded they were two different Hermann Berliners. My great-grandfather was a “brauereimeister,” a master brewer (Figure 8), and likely inherited the brewery business from his father-in-law, Markus Braun, while the “other” Hermann Berliner was a Bank Director.

Figure 8. Page from an 1889 Ratibor Address Book listing my great-grandfather Hermann Berliner and identifying him as a “brauereimeister,” a master brewer

The birth register for Ratibor records the occupation or profession of the father. Even though I consider these registers primary source documents, my “gold standard” so to speak, they are not error-free. Consider the birth register listing for my grandmother Else Berliner. Her father is misidentified as a “maurermeister,” a master mason (Figure 9), when I know him to have been a master brewer. My German friend offered a possible explanation for this error. Upon my grandmother’s birth, her father’s profession may have been conveyed verbally, and the recorder may have misunderstood or incorrectly recorded what was said.

Figure 9. My grandmother’s birth register listing from Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 showing she was born on 3 March 1873, and misidentifying her father’s profession as “Maurermeister,” master mason

I discussed in Post 92 the process I followed in determining I was dealing with two different Hermann Berliners. Throughout the remainder of this post, I will focus on my great-grandfather, and how I figured out who his parents were. While this information was always in hand, it was only recently that a German friend translated a few key words that enabled me to understand what I had in hand.

Ratibor LDS microfilm roll 1184448 contains the death register for my great-grandfather Hermann Berliner, his wife and son, and his parents. The column headers and titles from the death register are italicized in German and translated in the table below; included is the information for Hermann (Figure 10) and his wife, Olga Berliner (Figure 11); Hermann’s father, Abraham Berliner (Figure 12); Hermann’s mother, Philippine Berliner (Figure 13); and Hermann’s son, Alfred Berliner (Figure 14):

*Sterbmonat* *ev. Jahr*	*Sterbetag.*	*Namen*	*Beerdigungsort*	*Angehörige*	*Bemer-* *kungen*
Month of death Protestant Year	Day of death	Name	Place of burial	Relative	Remarks (relationship of deceased)
*1868*		*Abr. Berliner*	*Neisse*	*Stadtrath Berliner*	*Vater*
1868		Abr. (Abraham) Berliner	Neisse [today: Nysa, Poland]	City councilor Berliner	Father
*1907 März*	31	*Philippine Berliner*	*Leobschütz*	*Stadtr. Berliner*	*Mutter*
1907 March	31	Philippine Berliner (née Glogauer)	Leobschütz [today: Głubczyce, Poland]	City councilor Berliner	Mother
*3 September*	*1910*	*Hermann Berliner* *(Name in Hebrew)*	*Ratibor*	*Alfred Berliner* *Frau Bruck* *Frau Berliner*	*Vater* “ *Gatte*
1910 September	3	Hermann Berliner	Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland]	Alfred Berliner Else Bruck née Berliner Olga Berliner (née Braun)	Father “ Husband
*1920/5680 August*	23	*Frau Olga Berliner*	*Ratibor*	*Frau Herm. Zweig* *Fr. Else Bruck* *Alfred Berliner*	*Schwester* *Mutter* “
1920 August [5680 Hebrew year]	23	Mrs. Olga Berliner (née Braun)	Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland]	Mrs. Hermine Zweig née Braun Mrs. Else Bruck (née Berliner) Alfred Berliner	Sister Mother “
*1921/5680* *Februar*	19	*Alfred Berliner* *(Name in Hebrew)*	*Ratibor*	*Frau Lotte Berliner*	*Gatte*
1921 February [5680 Hebrew year]	19	Alfred Berliner	Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland]	Mrs. Lotte Berliner (née Rothe)	Husband

Figure 10. Hermann Berliner’s death register listing from FHL Microfilm 1184448 (Ratibor) showing he died on 3 September 1910 in Ratibor

Figure 11. Olga Berliner’s death register listing from FHL Microfilm 1184448 (Ratibor) showing she died on 23 August 1920 in Ratibor

Figure 12. Hermann Berliner’s father, Abraham Berliner, death register listing from FHL Microfilm 1184448 (Ratibor) showing he died in Ratibor, supposedly in 1868, but was buried in Neisse [today: Nysa, Poland]

Figure 13. Hermann Berliner’s mother, Philippine Berliner, death register listing from FHL Microfilm 1184448 (Ratibor) showing she died on 31 March 1907 in Ratibor but was buried in Leobschütz

Figure 14. Hermann Berliner’s son, Alfred Berliner, death register listing from FHL Microfilm 1184448 (Ratibor) showing he died on 19 February 1921 in Ratibor

A few comments on the table above. Part of my difficulty in recognizing Hermann Berliner’s parents is that his forename was not recorded in the death register. Instead, he was identified as “Stadtrath Berliner,” City Councilor Berliner, clearly a prominent citizen of Ratibor. “Frau Bruck,” that is to say “Else Bruck,” was my grandmother. Finally, because the relationship of the witnesses to the deceased was identified in the last column, I was eventually able to work out all their names and, in the case of wives, figure out their maiden names.

From the death register, I know that Hermann and Olga Berliner, and their son Alfred Berliner all died and were interred in Ratibor. In the case of Hermann’s parents, however, I learned his father Abraham Berliner was buried in Neisse (Figure 12), Germany [today: Nysa, Poland] and his mother Philippine Berliner was interred in Leobschütz, Germany [today: Głubczyce, Poland]. (Figure 13) Consequently, I next turned my attention to the LDS microfilm rolls, respectively, for Neisse and Leobschütz to see if I could learn anything more about Hermann’s parents.

LDS microfilm 1184444 includes the Jewish deaths in Neisse, Germany for the period when Abraham Berliner died. Given that Abraham died in Ratibor, supposedly in 1868, I had no reason to think his death was also registered in Neisse, yet it was. The only Abraham Berliner listed in the Neisse index of deaths died on the 21^st of June 1858 (Figure 15), NOT in 1868 as LDS Microfilm Roll 1184448 indicates. Given the precise death date in the Neisse register, I am inclined to believe 1858 is the correct year of Abraham’s death and this is in fact Hermann Berliner’s father. Readers may wonder why the Neisse death register is typed rather than handwritten. Occasionally, original registers are degraded so that for the data to be preserved, the original information must be transcribed.

Figure 15. Hermann Berliner’s father, Abraham Berliner, death register listing from FHL Microfilm 1184444 (Neisse) showing he died not in 1868 but on 21 June 1858

In 2018, when I visited the archives in Ratibor for the third time, where the civil birth, marriage, and death records are stored from the time of the “Kulturkampf,” I found Hermann Berliner’s death certificate. (Figure 16) This not only confirmed his death date, but also showed where he was born in 1840, the town of Zülz, Germany [today: Biała Prudnicka, Poland]. So, along with Neisse and Leobschütz, this provided yet a third venue to search for microfilms. (Figure 17)

Figure 16. Hermann Berliner’s death certificate from the “State Archives in Katowice Branch in Racibórz (Ratibor)” showing he died on 3 September 1910; that he was born in Zülz, Germany; that his wife was born “Philippine née Glogauer”; and that his father was named “Ismar Berliner”

Figure 17. 1893 map of Silesia with the towns mentioned in the text of Ratibor, Germany (today: Racibórz, Poland); Leobschütz, Germany (today: Głubczyce, Poland); Neisse, Germany (today: Nysa, Poland); and Zülz, Germany (today: Biała, Poland) circled

Hermann’s death certificate also gives his mother’s maiden name, Philippine Glogauer. As previously noted, she was buried in Leobschütz, Germany [today: Głubczyce, Poland]. Like her husband, Abraham Berliner, whose death was recorded in both Ratibor and Neisse, Philippine Berliner’s death was registered in both Ratibor and Leobschütz. Unlike vital records from Ratibor, some from Leobschütz have been digitized and are available on ancestry.com; I was able to find Philippine Berliner’s death certificate here. (Figure 17) Suffice it to say, her death certificate “pushes” Hermann Berliner’s lineage back yet another generation, naming his father-in-law as Isaac Glogauer. Philippine’s death certificate shows that like her husband and son she too was born in Zülz, Germany [today: Biała Prudnicka, Poland]. Family History Library Zülz Microfilm 1271493 registers births for all three of them, as well as the birth of one of Hermann Berliner’s younger siblings Julchen Berliner in 1842; Hermann Berliner had additional younger siblings, but they were born elsewhere in Silesia.

Figure 18. Hermann Berliner’s mother, Philippine Berliner née Glogauer, death certificate showing she supposedly died on 31 March 1907 in Leobschütz at age 93 (she actually died in Ratibor but was interred in Leobschütz)

In closing, I would urge readers to focus not on the names of my family members whom I discuss but rather on the process of how I recovered data on their vital events, Readers may be able to follow a similar path to extract comparable information for their ancestors. As you do so, you too may discover that primary source documents are not without errors but that they may still be an improvement over vital data found in family trees developed by genealogists who copy and perpetuate inaccurate information.

VITAL STATISTICS FOR HERMANN BERLINER & HIS IMMEDIATE RELATIVES

NAME (relationship)	VITAL EVENT	DATE	PLACE	SOURCE OF DATA

Hermann Berliner (self)	Birth	28 May 1840	Zülz, Germany [today: Biała Prudnicka, Poland]	Family History Library (FHL) Zülz Microfilm 1271493 (births) (FIGURE 19)
Hermann Berliner (self)	Death	3 September 1910	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	State Archives in Katowice Branch in Raciborz death certificate (FIGURE 16); FHL Ratibor Microfilms 1184447 (burials) (FIGURE 20) & 1184448 (deaths) (FIGURE 10); tombstone from former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor
Olga Braun (wife)	Birth	23 July 1852	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Olga Braun (wife)	Death	23 August 1920	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	FHL Ratibor Microfilms 1184447 (burials) (FIGURE 20) & 1184448 (deaths) (FIGURE 11); tombstone from former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor
Margareth Berliner (daughter)	Birth	19 March 1872	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
	Marriage (to Siegfried Brauer)	14 July 1891	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	State Archives in Katowice Branch in Raciborz marriage certificate
	Death	24 November 1942	Theresienstadt Ghetto, Czechoslovakia	Yad Vashem Victims’ Database
Else Berliner (daughter)	Birth	3 March 1873	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births) (FIGURE 9)
	Marriage (to Felix Bruck)	11 February 1894	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	State Archives in Katowice Branch in Raciborz marriage certificate
	Death	18 February 1957	Manhattan, New York	New York, Hebrew Burial Records (HFBA), Silver Lake and Mount Richmond Cemeteries, 1899-1991
Alfred Max Berliner (son)	Birth	6 November 1875	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	State Archives in Katowice Branch in Raciborz marriage certificate; tombstone from former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor
	Marriage (to Charlotte Rothe)	17 January 1909	Meseritz, Germany [today: Międzyrzecz, Poland]	Meseritz, Germany marriage certificate from ancestry.com
	Death	19 February 1921	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184448 (deaths); Ratibor death notice (FIGURE 21); tombstone from former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor
Abraham Berliner (father)	Birth	8 June 1818	Zülz, Germany [today: Biała Prudnicka, Poland]	FHL Zülz Microfilm 1271493 (births) (FIGURE 22)
	Death	21 June 1858	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland	FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184448 (deaths) (FIGURE 12); FHL Neisse Microfilm 1184444 (deaths) (FIGURE 15)
	Burial	1858	Neisse, Germany [today: Nysa, Poland]	FHL Neisse Microfilm 1184444 (deaths)
Philippine “Zipperle” Glogauer (mother)	Birth	25 March 1814	Zülz, Germany [today: Biała Prudnicka, Poland]	FHL Zülz Microfilm 1271493 (births) (FIGURE 23); FHL Leobschütz Microfilm 1184434 (deaths) (FIGURE 24); Leobschütz death certificate from ancestry.com (FIGURE 17)
	Death	31 March 1907	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland	FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184448 (deaths) (FIGURE 13); FHL Leobschütz Microfilm 1184434 (deaths) (FIGURE 23); Leobschütz death certificate from ancestry.com (FIGURE 18)
	Burial	1907	Leobschütz, Germany [today: Głubczyce, Poland]	FHL Ratibor Microfilm 1184448 (deaths) (FIGURE 13); Leobschütz death certificate from ancestry.com (FIGURE 18)

Figure 19. Hermann Berliner’s birth register listing from FHL Microfilm 1271493 (Zülz) showing he was born on the 18 May 1840, that his father was Abraham Berliner, and that he was married to Philippine née Glogauer

Figure 20. Olga & Hermann Berliner’s cemetery records listing from Microfilm 1184447 (Ratibor) showing, respectively, they were buried three days after their deaths

Figure 21. Alfred Berliner’s “Death Notice” confirming he died in Ratibor on 19 February 1921

Figure 22. Abraham Berliner’s birth register listing from FHL Microfilm 1271493 (Zülz) indicating he was born on 8 June 1818

Figure 23. Hermann Berliner’s mother, Philippine Glogauer, birth register listing from FHL Microfilm 1271493 (Zülz) showing she was born on 25 March 1814 as “Zipperle” and that her father was named Isaac Glogauer, matching the name shown on her 1907 death certificate

Figure 24. Hermann Berliner’s mother, Philippine Berliner née Glogauer, death register listing from FHL Microfilm 1184434 (Leobschütz) showing she supposedly died on 31 March 1907 in Leobschütz at age 93 (she actually died in Ratibor but was interred in Leobschütz)

POST 92: BEWARE IDENTICAL ANCESTRAL NAMES, THE CASE OF MY MATERNAL GREAT-GRANDFATHER HERMANN BERLINER

Note: In this post, I discuss a man named Ernst Berliner born in 1878 in Ratibor, Germany to a Hermann Berliner, coincidentally the same name as my great-grandfather. Initially I thought Ernst might be a previously unknown great-uncle, a younger brother of my grandmother, Else Bruck née Berliner.

Post 34, Postscript: Margareth Berliner, Wraith or Being? Death in Theresienstadt

Post 34, Postscript 2: Margareth Berliner, Wraith or Being? More Discoveries

Figure 1. In the early 1950’s in New York City, my father Dr. Otto Bruck holding me in his lap, seated next to his mother Else Bruck née Berliner, and brother, Dr. Fedor Bruck

This story started simply when I queried ancestry.com for the surname “Berliner.” This was my grandmother Else Bruck’s maiden name, who was born on the 3^rd of March 1873 in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]. I knew her as a child growing up in New York City, although she died when I was only six years old. (Figure 1) Not surprisingly, she never spoke to me about her siblings and ancestors. Had she done so, I would not in any case have remembered since none of my relatives ever reinforced this knowledge.

My search yielded an intriguing result, the name “Ernst Berliner.” This was an unexpected discovery because according to ancestry.com he was born on the 7^th of March 1878 in Ratibor, where many of my father’s family were born. Given my familiarity with Berliners living there at around this time, I was uncertain whether or how he might be related to my grandmother. While Ernst Berliner’s birth certificate was not available online, from the records I could locate, it showed he had lived in Frankfurt am Main before WWII; had been a Bank Director there prior to the war; emigrated to England; had his German nationality annulled following his departure from Germany (Figure 2) and was registered in England as a World War II Alien Internee upon his arrival there (Figure 3); was registered as a “German Persecutee” in 1950 (Figure 4); died in Willesden, Middlesex, England on the 15^th of February 1956; and according to the “Index of Wills and Administration” from the National Probate Calendar had his estate administered on the 29^th of May 1956. (Figure 5) He left his personal effects to a married woman named Barbara Friedlaender, a domestic helper. The England Death Register only shows that Ernst died in the first quarter of 1956 but provides specific information in which English register his death certificate can be found. (Figure 6)

Figure 2. Evidence of the Nazi Regime’s annulment of Ernst Berliner’s German nationality, showing he was born on the 7th of March 1878 in Ratibor, that he was a Bank Director, and last lived in Frankfurt (Main) prior to leaving Germany

Figure 3. England’s “Alien Exemption from Internment” card for Ernst Berliner dated the 8th of November 1939, showing his date and place of birth and occupation

Figure 4. Frankfurt, Germany “Registration of Foreigner and German Persecutee, 1939-1947,” dated the 4th of May 1950, listing Ernst Berliner

Figure 5. Page from England’s “National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration)” showing Ernst Berliner died in Willesden, London, England on the 25th of February 1956, had his will administered on the 29th of May 1956, and left his personal effects to Barbara Friedlaender

Figure 6. Page from England’s “Civil Registration Death Index,” showing Ernst Berliner died in the first quarter of 1956, and indicating the register where his death certificate can be found

With this data in hand, I turned to the United Kingdom’s (UK) General Register Office online database and ordered Ernst Berliner’s death record in April 2020. Previous UK death certificates I have ordered sometimes name the father, and I was hoping this would again be the case. During these Covid-19 times, it took more than three months for the official document to arrive. But, when it arrived, I realized it included negligible new information and named neither his father nor any next-of-kin. (Figure 7) The person who caused Ernst Berliner’s body to be cremated, identified as Erica Weiss, I later learned was someone who probably worked in his household as a domestic helper.

Figure 7. Ernst Berliner’s death certificate obtained from the United Kingdom’s “General Register Office,” confirming he died on the 25th of February 1956 in Willesden, London, England

Realizing there was little to be learned from the “backend” of Ernst’s life, I turned my attention to obtaining his birth certificate. Given Ernst’s year of birth in 1878, I knew the record would be among the civil records found at “Archiwum Państwowe w Katowicach Oddział w Raciborzu,” State Archives in Katowice Branch in Raciborz. I asked my historian friend from Racibórz, Poland, Mr. Paul Newerla, whether he could obtain a copy of Ernst Berliner’s birth certificate. Even though the State Archives is currently shuttered to the public on account of the Covid pandemic, Paul was able to contact their office and quickly obtain a copy of the document in question. (Figures 8a-b) The record identified Ernst’s father as Hermann Berliner, and, initially, I was stunned and excited by the discovery, thinking I had uncovered a previously unknown sibling of my grandmother. This would not have been unprecedented. In Post 34 and the postscripts, I discussed my grandmother’s older sister, Margareth “Grete” Brauer née Berliner, who I learned about from a single picture of her found among my cousin’s collection of family photographs (Figure 9); my great-aunt Grete Brauer was murdered in the Theresienstadt Ghetto on the 24^th of November 1942 and was never mentioned to me growing up so I naturally assumed the same might have been true of a previously unknown great-uncle.

Figure 8a. Ernst Berliner’s birth certificate obtained from the “State Archives in Katowice Branch in Raciborz,” proving he was born on the 7th of March 1878 in Ratibor to a Herman Berliner, coincidentally the same name as my great-grandfather

Figure 8b. Translation of Ernst Berliner’s birth certificate

Figure 9. My great-aunt Margareth “Grete” Brauer née Berliner (1872-1942), murdered in the Theresienstadt Ghetto in 1942

My grandmother was born in 1873, her older sister Grete in 1872, and her younger brother Alfred Max Berliner in 1875; the timing of Ernst’s birth in 1878 would not have been illogical. However, upon obtaining a translation of Ernst Berliner’s birth certificate, I discovered that his mother had not been my great-grandmother Olga Berliner née Braun but had instead been a Sara Riesenfeld.

I was next left to contemplate whether my great-grandfather Hermann Berliner (Figure 10) might have divorced his first wife and remarried this Sara. I swiftly concluded based on two pieces of evidence this was unlikely to have occurred. The Hermann Berliner who was married to Sara Riesenfeld was identified on their child’s birth certificate as a “hausierer,” an old-fashioned professional title meaning “street vendor,” or “door-to-door salesman.” I know that my great-grandfather was a “brauereimeister,” a master brewer, although I considered the possibility he might have changed professions after 1878. The more compelling evidence that I was looking at two different Hermann Berliners is that my great-grandparents Hermann and Olga were once interred together in the now destroyed Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor; I have a picture of their former headstone. (Figure 11)

Figure 10. My great-grandfather Hermann Berliner (1840-1910)

Figure 11. Headstone from the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor for my great-grandparents, Hermann Berliner and Olga Berliner née Braun (1852-1920)

Not entirely satisfied with the evidence I had mustered, I continued to look for further proof I was dealing with two different people by the same name. An 1889 Ratibor Address Book lists only one Hermann Berliner (Figure 12), so this was inconclusive.

Figure 12. Page from an 1889 Ratibor Address Book listing my great-grandfather Hermann Berliner and his mother Pauline Berliner, identifying her as “Witwe,” a widow

I returned my attention to Ernst Berlin, and ultimately found in MyHeritage a “1939 Register of England and Wales,” with his name and the members of his household then residing in London. (Figure 13) His wife “Grete” (i.e., misidentified as “?Rete”) and her date of birth, 6^th of June 1880 (i.e., she was actually born in July), were listed. I quickly discovered she was born in Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland] as Grete Moskowicz. Like her husband and many other Jews, she had her German nationality annulled following her departure from Germany (Figure 14) and was registered in the United Kingdom as a World War II Alien Internee upon her arrival there. She died in London on the 7^th of April 1940, and her probate hearing was held on the 25^th of July 1940 (Figure 15); Ernst, shown to be a retired bank director, inherited. I have found no evidence that Ernst and Grete had any children.

Figure 13. “1939 Register of England and Wales” for Ernst Berliner and his household members, listing his wife and domestic helpers, and their dates of birth

Figure 14. Evidence of the Nazi Regime’s annulment of Grete Berliner née Moskowicz’s German nationality, showing she was born on the 6th of June 1880 (July is the correct month) in Breslau and last lived in Frankfurt (Main) prior to leaving Germany

Figure 15. Page from England’s “National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration)” showing Grete Berliner died in Willesden, London, England on the 4th of April 1940, had her will administered on the 25th of July 1940, and left her personal effects to her husband Ernst Berliner, a retired banker

I next turned my attention to family trees on ancestry.com and MyHeritage. With respect to these, I have often expressed my deep-seated concern that because these are not typically based on primary source documents, the data contained within them is often wrong. Compounding the problem is that genealogists developing their own trees often replicate errors from earlier trees. Still, I have begun to apply a principle I have learned from listening to an investment service to which I am subscribed that maintains the statistical data cited for stocks and companies may be “directionally correct but precisely wrong.” Applied to ancestral data, this means that while vital data of people included in trees may not always be precisely accurate, the relationship among the people may be correct.

Having had limited success finding additional information on Hermann Berliner, I turned my attention to his wife Sara Riesenfeld. Indirectly, I found a surprising amount of information on both in one family tree developed by a “Peter Lax,” confirming Ernst’s father was indeed a different Hermann Berliner than my great-grandfather (Figure 16); this tree identifies another of Hermann and Sara’s sons named Hans born on the 17^th of February 1891 in Breslau. I also found the 1913 marriage certificate for a third son, Arthur Berliner, born on the 8^th of September 1880, also in Breslau. (Figure 17a-b) According to Yad Vashem, both Arthur and Hans were murdered in the Shoah. There is quite a time span between the birth of Hermann and Sara Berliner’s three sons, 1878 to 1891, so the possibility of additional children exists. Still, based on the information in hand, it seems only Ernst survived the Holocaust.

Figure 16. Screen shot of Peter Lax’s family tree with information on Sara Riesenfeld (Ernst Berliner’s mother); circled is the incorrect date of her birth, shown as the 12th of January 1949 when it is in fact the 1st of December 1849, and the name of her father, “Israel Jacob Riesenfeld”

Figure 17a. Ancestry.com cover page for the marriage of Ernst Berliner’s younger brother Arthur Berliner to Amalie Luise Bernhardt on the 30th of April 1913 in Breslau, Germany

Figure 17b. Arthur Berliner’s 1913 marriage certificate with the names of his parents, Hermann Berliner and Sara Riesenfeld, circled

Peter Lax’s tree, with more than 100,000 names in it, allows me to illustrate the point I was alluding to above that even the seemingly best documented trees contain errors. Case in point, Mr. Lax’s tree indicates Sara Riesenfeld was born on the 12^th of January 1849 in Biała, Opolskie, Poland [formerly: Zülz, Germany], and identifies her father as “Israel Jacob Riesenfled (181601860).” (Figure 16) Consulting the Family History Library Microfilm Roll No. 1271493, found online at familysearch.org, with Jewish birth records from Zülz, Germany (Figure 18) for January of 1849, I could not initially locate Sara’s birth register listing. However, I eventually found her birth register listing under December of 1849. (Figure 19) Inadvertently, Peter Lax transposed “1/12/1849” (i.e., European designated date of 1^st of December 1849) as “12/1/1849” (i.e., English designated date of the 12^th of January 1849). This is another cautionary tale of consulting primary source documents where they exist to verify vital data.

Figure 18. 1893 map of Silesia with the towns of Ratibor, Germany (today: Racibórz, Poland); Beuthen, Germany (today: Bytom, Poland); and Zülz, Germany (today: Biała, Poland) circled

Figure 19. Birth register listing for Sara Riesenfeld circled identifying her father as Israel Riesenfeld and her date of birth as “1/12” (i.e., 1st of December 1849) (Source: Family History Library’s microfilm roll 1271493 for Zülz, Germany, pages 80 and 231 of 380 pages on this roll)

One specific piece of information included in Peter Lax’s family tree was the purported place and date of birth of Ernst Berliner’s father, Hermann, on the 1^st of June 1852 in Beuthen, Silesia [today: Bytom, Poland]. (Figure 20) I again turned to the Family History Library online microfilms to confirm this, and successfully found and had transcribed and translated Hermann Berliner’s birth register listing. (Figures 21a-b) Hermann’s birth register listing includes the names of his parents, Hirschel Berliner and Jalünder Rohel née Silbermann, both of whom I later found in the “Jewish Records Indexing-Poland” and “JewishGen Worldwide Burial Registry,” “JOWBR.” This allowed me to “push back” their ancestral tree another generation.

Figure 20. Screen shot of Peter Lax’s family tree with information on Hermann Berliner (Ernst Berliner’s father), showing his date and place of birth, the 1st of June 1852 in Bytom, Poland (formerly: Beuthen, Germany)

Figure 21a. Birth register entry for Hermann Berliner circled, identifying his parents as Hirschel Berliner and Jalünder Rohel née Silbermann and his date of birth as 1st of June 1852 (Source: Family History Library microfilm roll 1335074 for Beuthen, Germany, page 31 of 476 pages on this roll)

Figure 21b. German transcription and English translation of Hermann Berliner’s birth register entry

Having confirmed that Hermann Berliner, father of Ernst Berliner born on the 7^th of March 1878 in Ratibor, was not my grandmother’s father prompted me to trace my great-grandfather’s lineage with reference to primary source documents. In the ensuing post, I will present this information. Regular readers know that without primary source documents in hand, I am most hesitant to accept ancestral and vital data found on other trees. Regarding my ancestral tree, I am much more interested in having well-sourced data and pictures on fewer people than unproven information going back multiple generations. While I assume there exists an ancestral connection between my grandmother Else Bruck née Berliner and Ernst Berliner and his ancestors, I have not yet ferreted out this relationship.

VITAL STATISTICS FOR ERNST BERLINER & HIS IMMEDIATE RELATIVES

NAME (relationship)	VITAL EVENT	DATE	PLACE	SOURCE OF DATA

Ernst Berliner (self)	Birth	7 March 1878	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	Ancestry.com; State Archives in Katowice Branch in Raciborz birth certificate
Ernst Berliner (self)	Death	25 February 1956	Willesden, Middlesex, England	UK “Index of Wills and Administration, National Probate Calendar”; UK General Register Office death certificate
Grete Moskowicz (wife)	Birth	6 July 1880	Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]	Multiple ancestry.com documents
Grete Moskowicz (wife)	Death	7 April 1940	Willesden, Middlesex, England	UK “Index of Wills and Administration, National Probate Calendar”
Hermann Berliner (father)	Birth	1 June 1852	Beuthen, Germany [today: Bytom, Poland]	Family History Library Microfilm Roll 1335074 (Beuthen, Germany)
Hermann Berliner (father)	Death		Kattowitz, Germany [today: Katowice, Poland]	Peter Lax Family Tree
Sara Riesenfeld (mother)	Birth	1 December 1849	Zülz, Germany [today: Biała, Poland]	Family History Library Microfilm Roll 1271493 (Zülz, Germany)
	Marriage	5 February 1876	Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]	Peter Lax Family Tree
	Death		Kattowitz, Germany [today: Katowice, Poland]	Peter Lax Family Tree
Arthur Berliner (brother)	Birth	8 September 1880	Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]	Eastern Prussian Provinces marriage certificate
	Marriage (to Amalie Luise Bernhardt)	30 April 1913	Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]	Eastern Prussian Provinces marriage certificate
	Death	29 November 1941	Fort IX, Kaunas, Lithuania	Yad Vashem
Hans Berliner (brother)	Birth	17 February 1891	Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]	Peter Lax Family Tree
Hans Berliner (brother)	Death	Between 1941 and 1944	Minsk Ghetto, Belarus	Yad Vashem; Peter Lax Family Tree

POST 91: THE KANTOROWICZ BRANCH OF MY FAMILY, FROM PRUSSIA TO CAHUENGA PASS

Note: This post is about the Kantorowicz branch of my family, many of whom originated in Posen, Prussia [today: Poznan, Poland], some of whom made their way to America or South America prior to WWII. It tiers off the previous post and delves into that part of the Kantorowicz family tree I reconstructed using photographs provided by Bettina Basanow née Meyer, discussed in Post 90, and her third cousin to whom she introduced me, Enid Sperber née Kent.

At the risk of immediately disengaging some readers by discussing a branch of my extended family that is of no interest to them, I encourage people to focus less on the specific individuals and more on the process by which I was able to reconstruct a part of the Kantorowicz family tree; these are steps fellow travelers may be able to replicate in researching their own families.

Figure 1. My great-great-uncle Dr. Josef Pauly (1843-1916)

Figure 2. Dr. Josef Pauly’s wife, Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (1844-1927)

Let me provide some brief orientation. The Kantorowicz family, like the Pauly family I have often written about, both originated in Posen, Prussia [today: Poznan, Poland]. The patriarch of the Pauly family, Dr. Josef Pauly (1843-1916) (Figure 1) was married to Rosalie Mockrauer (1844-1927) (Figure 2), and together they had nine children, all of whom I have also written about. Josef Pauly’s sister was Rosalinde Pauly (1854-1916) (Figure 3), who was married to Max Kantorowicz (1843-1904). (Figure 4) I first came across Max and Rosalinde Kantorowicz in a group picture showing them attending the 1901 marriage of Josef and Rosalie Pauly’s daughter, Maria Pauly. (Figure 5) Using the Pauly Stammbaum, family tree, I was able to visualize connections between their families and my own, all of us related by marriage.

Figure 3. My first cousin three times removed, Rosalinde Kantorowicz née Pauly (1854-1916)

Figure 4. Rosalinde Kantorowicz née Pauly’s husband, Max Kantorowicz (1843-1904)

Figure 5. Group photo of Maria Pauly and Axel Pohlmann’s wedding in 1901 (mislabeled as 1902) which Max and Rosalinde Kantorowicz attended (their faces circled)

In Post 90, I told readers how my third cousin, Andi Pauly, gave a me copy of a letter his father Klaus had received in 1989 from Porto Alegre, Brazil from a Gertrud “Traute” Meyer née Milch (Figure 6), who was the granddaughter of Max Kantorowicz; attached to this letter were poor quality xerox photos of Max and his extended family. I also explained that through the auspices of my social media-savvy cousin, Danny Alejandro Sandler, I was eventually able to establish contact with Traute Meyer’s daughter, Bettina Basanow née Meyer (Figure 7), who has lived in Denver for the past 50 years.

Figure 6. Gertrud “Traute” Meyer née Milch (1911-2010)

Figure 7. Bettina Schukr née Meyer, daughter of Gertrud “Traute” Meyer née Milch

Upon establishing contact with Bettina, I quickly asked her if she could send me higher quality examples of photos her mother had sent Klaus Pauly in 1989. Bettina graciously obliged and even included supplementary photos. One low resolution photo she sent shows five of Max Kantorowicz’s siblings, each identified by name. (Figure 8) While I made a mental note of the picture, I did not fully appreciate its significance at the time.

Figure 8. Low-resolution picture sent by Bettina Schukr of five of Max Kantorowicz’s siblings identified by name, Bernhard, Edmund, Joseph, Hermann, and Franziska

Fast forward. As I have mentioned on multiple occasions, I add people to my family tree primarily to orient myself to those I write about in my blog. As I was updating my tree and contemplating writing about the Kantorowicz branch, I checked both ancestry.com, and MyHeritage for Max’s siblings. Imagine my surprise when I came across a very high-resolution copy of the identical picture Bettina Basanow had sent of Max’s five siblings (Figure 9); unlike Bettina’s picture, however, the version on MyHeritage did not identify them by name. With a nice photo in hand and named relatives, I decided to add Max’s siblings to my tree. While I thought this would be the end of things, in fact it turned out to be merely the beginning.

Figure 9. Identical high-resolution picture of five of Max Kantorowicz’s siblings, found on MyHeritage

Figure 10. Max Kantorowicz’s granddaughter, Vera Peters née Kantorowicz (1907-1994), descendants of whom I searched for in America, to no avail

I sent Bettina the better picture of Max Kantorowicz’s siblings, thinking she might be interested. At the same time, I also mentioned having once searched for descendants of Max Kantorowicz’s granddaughter, Vera Peters née Kantorowicz (1907-1994) (Figure 10), in California, to no avail. This prompted Bettina to suggest I contact a lifelong friend of hers, Enid Sperber née Kent, living in Los Angeles, who she thought might have had some contact with this branch of the family. Bettina explained that Enid was the daughter of William “Bill” Kent and Irene Tedrow, neither whose names resonated. In time, this would change, and I would make many more connections, and learn that Bettina and Enid are more than just friends, they are third cousins. But I am getting ahead of myself.

When Bettina suggested I contact Enid Sperber, she mentioned in passing that Enid had been an actress, her most famous role being as Nurse Bigelow in “M*A*S*H” (Figure 11) Her mother, Irene Tedrow, was also a well-known American character actress in stage, film, television, and radio. (Figure 12) Not being a “stargazer,” I merely made a mental note of this interesting fact while vaguely remembering there exists an ancestral program that allows interested genealogists to determine how many degrees of separation exist between them and people of fame. I am uncertain the specifics of how this program works, having never personally used it.

Figure 11. Enid Sperber née Kent, Bettina Schukr née Meyer’s third cousin, in her role as Nurse Bigelow in the TV hit show “M*A*S*H”

Figure 12. Enid’s mother, Irene Kent née Tedrow (1907-1995), also a well-known American character actress in stage, film, television, and radio

I was easily able to retrieve through a casual Google query a detailed history about the prominent Kantorowicz family from Posen and the liqueur factory established there in 1823 by a 17-year old Hartwig Kantorowicz. I downloaded and shared this history with Enid. Much has been written and can be found on the Kantorowicz family at this link, which it is not my intention to repeat here. What I was able to learn from the in-depth history, however, is that Hartwig Kantorowicz (1806-1871) who established the liqueur factory and his wife, Sophie Asch (1815-1863), supposedly had 13 children, 12 sons, only seven of whom survived. Based on what I have been able to learn, I think eight rather than seven survived into adulthood. More on this below.

Shortly after Enid and I began emailing, she sent pictures of paintings of Hartwig Kantorowicz’s parents, Joachim B. Kantorowicz (1783-1846) (Figure 13) and Rebecca Korach (1783-1873). (Figure 14) I considered myself exceptionally fortunate to obtain images of Jewish ancestors born in the late 18^th Century. Given that their son Hartwig established a family business in Posen and was so prominent, surprisingly, I have so far been unable to find a photo of him. I even asked the Archiwum Państwowe w Poznaniu, The State Archives in Poznań, and they too have none.

Figure 13. Painting of Enid Kent’s great-great-great-grandfather, Joachim B. Kantorowicz (1783-1846) (photo courtesy of Enid Sperber née Kent)

Figure 14. Painting of Enid Kent’s great-great-great-grandmother, Rebecca Korach (1783-1873) (photo courtesy of Enid Sperber née Kent)

Enid’s ancestral lineage was not entirely clear to me until she sent more pictures and provided more names. Like many other immigrants, the family’s name was Americanized upon their arrival here. Her father, born “Wilhelm Eduard Kantorowicz” (Figure 15) in Posen, changed his name to “William Edward Kent (1901-1974),” while her uncle, “Peter Curt Kantorowicz” (Figure 16), with his Hollywood good looks, was known as “Peter Curt Kent (1905-1969).” Enid also sent a picture of her grandfather, Hans Kantorowicz (1867-1934), with his two sons, Wilhelm and Peter. (Figure 17)

Figure 15. Enid Kent’s father in 1955, born Wilhelm Eduard Kantorowicz and known in America as William Edward Kent (1901-1974) (photo courtesy of Enid Sperber née Kent)

Figure 16. Enid Kent’s uncle in 1934, born Peter Curt Kantorowicz and known in America as Peter Curt Kent (1905-1969) (photo courtesy of Enid Sperber née Kent)

Figure 17. Enid’s grandfather, Hans Kantorowicz (1867-1934), with Enid’s father Wilhelm (left) and uncle Peter as children (photo courtesy of Enid Sperber née Kent)

However, it was a picture Enid sent of her great-grandfather, Wilhelm Kantorowicz (1836-1894), with an unknown man named Siegfried (Figure 18), taken in 1860, that, in combination with a detailed family tree (Figure 19a) she provided, made it possible to ultimately work out her ancestry. It turns out, Siegfried and Wilhelm Kantorowicz were older brothers of the Max Kantorowicz previously discussed. I draw readers attention to the highlighted section of Figure 19a where their three names, along with the names of five other siblings shown in Figure 8 are all listed. (Figure 19b) From various sources, I now have pictures of all eight of Hartwig Kantorowicz and Sophie Asch’s children shown on the family tree.

Figure 18. Enid’s great-grandfather, Wilhelm Kantorowicz (1836-1894), and great-granduncle, Siegfried Kantorowicz (1834-1868), Max Kantorowicz’s two older brothers (photo courtesy of Enid Sperber née Kent)

Figure 19a. Enid Kent’s detailed family tree

Figure 19b. Section of Enid Kent’s tree with the circled names of Hartwig Kantorowicz (1806-1871) and Sophie Kantorowicz née Asch’s (1815-1883) eight surviving children, all whose pictures are shown in earlier figures

The tree and pictures also allowed me to work out the ancestral connection between Enid and Bettina. Initially, Enid was under the impression that she and Bettina were not related to one another but had established a bond because both their families had escaped the Nazis. While, Bettina thought they were second cousins once removed. As the following schematic table shows, they are in fact third cousins.

Enid Sperber née Kent (b. 1945)

Bettina Bassanow née Meyer (b. 1940)

Father:

William Edward Kent (1901-1974)

(born Wilhelm Eduard Kantorowicz)

Mother:

Gertrud Meyer née Milch (1911-2010)

Grandfather:

Hans Kantorowicz (1867-1934)

Grandmother:

Else Milch née Kantorowicz (1875-1963)

Great-Grandfather:

Wilhelm Kantorowicz (1836-1894)

Great-Grandfather:

Max Kantorowicz (1843-1904)

Great-Great-Grandfather:

Hartwig Kantorowicz (1806-1871)

I am grateful for some intimate family photos Enid sent that she has given me permission to use, three of which I share with readers in this post. One is a heart-warming picture of Enid and her younger brother Roger Kent (1949-2018) as children standing with her parents in front of the paintings of Enid’s great-great-great-grandparents, Joachim B. Kantorowicz and Rebecca Korach. (Figure 20) And, the other two are throwbacks to a much simpler time that, as a former archaeologist, very much appeal to me. One shows Enid’s uncle Peter Curt Kent standing in front of his gas station, “‘Pete’ Kent,” in Cahuenga Pass (Figure 21a) and, the third, the gas station itself (Figure 21b), where the Hollywood Freeway now runs. In sharing this image, Enid noted that her Uncle Peter was never known to her or her brother as “Pete.”

Figure 20. Intimate family photo taken in 1955 of Enid and her brother Roger as children with their parents, Irene and William Kent, in front of the paintings of their ancestors, Joachim B. Kantorowicz, and his wife, Rebecca Korach

Figure 21a. Enid’s Uncle Peter in front of the gas station he once owned in Cahuenga Pass (photo courtesy of Enid Sperber née Kent)

Figure 21b. Photo of Pete Kent’s gas station in Cahuenga Pass (photo courtesy of Enid Sperber née Kent)

Let me switch directions now. As previously mentioned, Hartwig Kantorowicz’s wife was Sophie Asch. In sharing her detailed family tree, Enid drew my attention to her great-great-grandmother’s links to a Sephardic Jew named Joseph Kalahora, purportedly born around 1495 in Kalahora, Spain. (Figure 22) A point of clarification. The narrow definition ethnically of a Sephardic Jew is a Jew descended from the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula in the late 15th century, immediately prior to the issuance of the Alhambra Decree of 1492 by order of the Catholic Monarchs in Spain, and the decree of 1496 in Portugal by order of King Manuel I; as students of history know, these orders resulted in the expulsion of most Jews from the region in the late 15^th Century.

Figure 22. Enid’s family tree with the names mentioned in the text circled

Curious as to the possible linkage between Sephardic Jews and Eastern Europe, I did a Google query. I landed upon several articles discussing the origins of the Calahor(r)a (Kalahora) Family, including a post by Joel W. Davidi, an independent research historian and genealogist, writing in 2009 on his blog, “The Jewish History Channel (now known as Channeling Jewish History),” about this remarkable family in Poland. Below is a summary of what I learned.

The Calahora-Kalahora were a family of physicians, pharmacists, community leaders and Jewish scholars in Poland from the second half of the 16th Century until the 20th Century. The first known member of the family, Dr. Solomon Kalahora, was purportedly a pupil of the physician Brasavola in Ferrara, Italy, who settled in Kracow, Poland [also written as Kraków or Crakow] in the 16^th century. Around 1570, he was appointed the court physician to the Polish King Sygmund August (1520-1572), an appointment that was continued by the subsequent King Stephen Bathory (1533-1586) in 1578. The Kalahora name would undergo many transformations, including Kolhari, Kolchor, Kolchory, Kalifari, Calaforra, Kalvari, Landsberg Posner, Zweigenbaul, Rabowsky, Olschwitz and Milsky. Though the Kalahoras came to Poland from Italy, the name reflects their Iberian roots, the Spanish town of Calahorra, where the family originated.

The patriarch Solomon Kalahora had six sons; one of them, Israel Solomon (1560-1640), the Rabbi of Lenchista, founded the Poznan branch of the family. One of Israel Samuel’s sons was Matityahu Calahora, who according to the contemporary Polish historian, Wespazjan Kochowski (1630-1700), was a “well-known physician with an extensive practice in Christian and even clerical circles.” Matityahu’s life came to a violent end when he became embroiled in a religious dispute with a Dominican friar named Havlin. The Russian-Jewish historian Simon Dubnow describes the event, gruesome in its details:

“The priest invited Calahora to a disputation in the cloister, but the Jew declined, promising to expound his views in writing. A few days later the priest found on his chair in the church a statement written in German and containing a violent arraignment of the cult of the Immaculate Virgin. It is not impossible that the statement was composed and placed in the church by an adherent of the ‘Reformation or the Arian heresy’ both of which were then the object of persecution in Poland. However, the Dominican decided that Calahora was the author, and brought the charge of blasphemy against him. The Court of the Royal Castle cross-examined the defendant under torture, without being able to obtain a confession. Witnesses testified that Calahora was not even able to write German. Being a native of Italy, he used the Italian language in his conversations with the Dominican. Despite all this evidence, the unfortunate Calahora was sentenced to be burned at the stake. The alarmed Jewish community raised a protest, and the case was accordingly transferred to the highest court in Piotrkov. The accused was sent in chains to Piotrkov, together with the plaintiff and the witnesses. But the arch-Catholic tribunal confirmed the verdict of the lower court, ordering that the sentence be executed in the following barbarous sequence: first the lips of the ” blasphemer ” to be cut off ; next his hand that had held the fateful statement to be burned; then the tongue, which had spoken against the Christian religion, to be excised; finally the body to be burned at the stake, and the ashes of the victim to be loaded into a cannon and discharged into the air. This cannibal ceremonial was faithfully carried out on December 13, 1663, on the marketplace of Piotrkov. For two centuries the Jews of Cracow followed the custom of reciting, on the fourteenth of Kislev, in the old synagogue of that city, a memorial prayer for the soul of the martyr Calahora.”

The grandson of Matiyahu’s brother Solomon was Aryeh Leib Kalifari (Figure 22); he was a preacher in Posen and the founder of the Landsberg and Posner families. After the son of a prominent citizen from a village near Posen was murdered around 1735, the Christian population there at once charged Jews with the crime, including Aryeh Leib. He became the second member of his family to be martyred when he was arrested and tortured by Catholic authorities during a blood libel. He died in prison after rebuffing an offer to spare his life if he converted.

While difficult to discern, the above names all appear in the family chart Enid Kent shared with me showing her great-great-great-grandmother’s ancestral links to the Sephardic Kalahora family. (Figure 22)

One final thing of note I came across. There exists a large mural painting by Julius Knorr (1810-1860) that is on permanent display today in Poznan’s Town Hall. Entitled “Marktplatz in Posen,” a section of this mural depicts a Rabbi Akiva Eger who is flanked on his left by Rabbi Yaakov Kalvari (originally Calahora), a member of his Rabbinic court and a descendant of the Calahora Sephardic family, The painting was done during the lifetime of Rabbi Akiva Eger and was first displayed in 1838. (Figure 23)

Figure 23. Section of a large painted mural by Julius Knorr (1810-1860) on permanent display today in Poznan’s Town Hall, entitled “Marktplatz in Posen”; it depicts a Rabbi Akiva Eger flanked on his left by Rabbi Yaakov Kalvari (originally Calahora), a member of his Rabbinic court and a descendant of the Calahora Sephardic family

REFERENCES

Davidi, Joel W. “Calahora, a remarkable Sephardic family in Poland.” The Jewish History Channel now known as Channeling Jewish History.15 January 2009. <https://ha-historion.blogspot.com/2009/01/>

Dubnow, Simon Markovich. History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Pinnacle Press, 2017

Nawrocki, Stanisław. “History of Kantorowicz Family and their Factory.” Chronicle of the City of Poznan. No.4/ 1996

POST 90: THE LONG & WINDING ROAD LEADING TO JEWISH RELATIVES FROM BRAZIL

Note: In this brief post, I relate the story of tracking down with the help of a distant cousin the descendants of relatives who immigrated to Brazil in the leadup to WWII.

Figure 1. Andi Pauly, keeper of many Pauly family pictures, documents, and letters

Figure 2. Klaus Pauly, Josef & Rosalie Pauly’s grandson, who developed the detailed Pauly Family Tree (“Stammbaum”)

This story begins in 2016 when I first met my third cousin, Andreas “Andi” Pauly, in Munich. (Figure 1) By this time, I already had a hard copy of the Pauly family tree that his father, Klaus Pauly (Figure 2), had developed. Given the enormous amount of information recorded in this densely packed tree, it would be some time before I would work out and understand all the connections, and augment and make corrections to it.

Klaus Pauly developed the tree before email was widely available and before it was possible to create trees using online computer applications. For family members who had escaped the Holocaust and emigrated from Germany before WWII, Klaus was relegated to exchanging letters with faraway surviving relatives and waiting weeks for a reply. During our initial meeting in 2016, Andi Pauly brought along a letter his father had received in 1989 from a relative living in Porto Alegre, Brazil outlining her lineage and including poor quality xerox photos of her ancestors and descendants. It was only months later that I thought to ask Andi for a copy of the letter. I have my own tree on ancestry.com that I use primarily to visualize connections to people whom I write about in my Blog. When possible, I like to attach photos to people in my tree. Ergo, my request for a copy of the 1989 letter with the embedded photos.

With the correspondence, xerox photos, and family tree in hand, along with the copy of the envelope and mailing address showing where the letter had originated, I determined it had been sent by a woman named Gertrud “Traute” Meyer née Milch (1911-2010). (Figures 3-5) Using Klaus Pauly’s Stammbaum, family tree, I determined she was the granddaughter of Rosalinde Kantorowicz née Pauly, sister of Josef Pauly. Regular readers will recognize the Pauly family name as I have often written about them. Josef Pauly (1843-1916) (Figure 6), the patriarch and Andi’s great-grandfather, was married to Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (1844-1927) (Figure 7), and together they had nine children, eight of them daughters.

Figure 3. Poor quality xerox photo sent to Klaus Pauly in 1989 by Gertrud “Traute” Meyer née Milch shown with three of her children, from left to right, Bettina, Irene, and Luiz in Vacaria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in the early 1940’s

Figure 4. Poor quality family photo sent to Klaus Pauly in 1989 by Gertrud “Traute” Meyer née Milch (third from left) showing her parents, four siblings, and her brother-in-law in Cortina, Italy in 1924 on the 60th birthday of her father, Ludwig Milch (far left)

Figure 5. Traute Meyer’s generalized family “tree” sent to Klaus Pauly in 1989, with her name circled

Figure 6. My great-great-uncle Dr. Josef Pauly (1843-1916)

Figure 7. Dr. Josef Pauly’s wife, Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (1844-1927)

Because the Pauly and Meyer families had long ago lost contact, I was on my own trying to find Traute Meyer’s descendants. Initially, I sent a letter to the Meyer family at the Porto Alegre, Brazil address appearing on the 1989 letter hoping in vain the home might still be family-owned. After months of no reply, I turned to Facebook using my wife’s little-used account. I came across a few possible descendants but received no replies from any I tried to contact. Neither my wife or I are users of social media, so my efforts were half-hearted and eventually I desisted. My approach to doing forensic genealogy is to take the path of least resistance setting aside gnarly issues for another day in the hopes of ultimately obtaining more information. In earlier posts, I have mentioned to readers the difficulty in learning about Jewish families who relocated to South America since few records from there have been digitized.

Fast forward. In time, I would turn my attention to determining the fates and destinations of Josef and Rosalie Pauly’s nine children. The youngest of them, Therese “Tussy” Sandler née Pauly (1885-1969), was one of the last of their children whose destinies I was able to work out. (Figure 8) After traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina in August 1937, then returning to Germany in November of that year, Tussy, her husband Ernst, and their two boys departed Germany for good in the nick of time in September 1938, settling in Buenos Aires. This is all I could learn from ancestry and MyHeritage, and Andi Pauly could add nothing to what might have happened to his great-aunt and her family following their arrival in South America.

Figure 8. Therese “Tussy” Pauly (1885-1969), the youngest of Josef and Rosalie Pauly’s nine children, in about 1895

When I launched my family history Blog in April 2017, I communicated a desire not only to relate tales of some of my Jewish ancestors who lived through interesting or noteworthy times, but also expressed the hope that relatives or descendants of the people I had written about might discover my Blog. In this latter regard, I have been rewarded on several occasions.

Figure 9. Pedro Sandler (b. 1949), one of Tussy Sandler née Pauly’s grandsons, who discovered and contacted me through my blog

Figure 10. Danny Alejandro Sandler, Pedro’s son and one of Tussy Sandler née Pauly’s great-grandsons, who has sent me multiple family photos and documents related to his ancestors (photo taken in November 2019)

In April 2019, I had the good fortune of being contacted by Tussy Sandler’s grandson, Pedro Sandler (Figure 9), and great-grandson, Danny Alejandro Sandler (Figure 10), who had stumbled upon my Blog. Both now live in Florida, having immigrated there years ago. At first, my exchanges with Tussy’s descendants involved learning when and where their relatives lived and died and sharing what I have learned about their family and putting them in touch with Andi Pauly. The relationship quickly evolved into sharing family documents and photos (Figures 11-14) and enlisting my and Andi’s help with identifications. As an aside, of Josef and Rosalie Pauly’s nine children, only Therese Pauly’s descendants practice Judaism today.

Figure 11. Inside of Therese Sandler née Pauly’s “Reisepass,” or German passport, showing it was issued on the 29th of August 1938, in Berlin

Figure 12a. Ernst and Therese Sandler amidst a group of 27 people in a photo likely taken in the 1910’s in Germany (Photo courtesy of Pedro Sandler)

Figure 12b. Close-up of Ernst Sandler (1870-1945) (Photo courtesy of Pedro Sandler)

Figure 12c. Close-up of Therese Sandler (1885-1969) (Photo courtesy of Pedro Sandler)

Figure 13a. Photo montage of seven of Josef and Rosalie Pauly’s nine children as adolescents (Photo courtesy of Pedro Sandler)

Figure 13b. Close-up of Therese Pauly as a young girl (Photo courtesy of Pedro Sandler)

Figure 14. Dr. Josef Pauly’s wife, Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer, holding one of her newborns (Photo courtesy of Danny Alejandro Sandler); compare to Figure 7

Though Therese’s descendants originally hail from Argentina, one day I asked Pedro Sandler whether he knows anyone in the Jewish community in Brazil. Pedro had mentioned in passing that both his father and uncle had been very involved in Jewish life in Buenos Aires, so I was hoping he might know someone in the Jewish community in Brazil. My question was akin to encountering a visitor in a foreign land, telling them I come from San Diego, and having them ask me whether I know their friend from there. Clearly, there was no logic to my question. But as far-fetched as my query seems, Pedro in fact has a good friend living in Brazil whose wife’s parents knew Traute Meyer! The coincidence was remarkable.

Many months passed, then one day I asked Danny Sandler whether he or his father had ever managed to locate any of Traute Meyer’s offspring, and he told me that he had. I was surprised. Soon thereafter, Danny put me in touch with Bettina Basanow née Meyer (Figure 15), one of Traute Meyer’s four children. (Figure 16) While I had spent my time looking for her family in Brazil, Bettina has lived in the Denver area for more than 50 years, although her three siblings stayed in Brazil. (Figures 17-18) It should be noted that, unlike myself, Danny is active on social media so tracking down Bettina was relatively straight-forward.

Figure 15. Bettina Schukr née Meyer, daughter of Gertrud “Traute” Meyer née Milch, shown in Figure 3 as a baby seated on her mother’s lap

Figure 16. Bettina’s mother, Gertrud “Traute” Meyer née Milch (1911-2010), also seen in Figure 3 holding her three oldest children, Bettina, Irene, and Luiz

Figure 17. Bettina’s sister, Irene Castro née Meyer (1937-2018), also shown in Figure 3 with her mother and two younger siblings

Figure 18. Bettina’s younger brother Geraldo (left) and older brother Luiz as they look today (Geraldo was not yet born when Figure 3 was taken)

I quickly got in touch with Bettina, and we have established a warm rapport. Regular readers know that finding distant relatives brings me pleasure not only for the stories they tell but also for old family photographs they send. Bettina shared some interesting family anecdotes and copies of some of the same pictures her mother had sent Klaus Pauly in 1989, completing a circle so to speak, but also sent new images as well. (Figures 19-20)

Figure 19. Bettina’s grandfather, Ludwig Milch (1864-1926), shown in Figure 4 on his 60th birthday

Figure 20. Bettina’s grandmother, Else Milch née Kantorowicz (1875-1963), as a young lady, seen also in Figure 4

In the ensuing post, I will tell readers the story of Bettina’s third cousin to whom she introduced me and to whom I’m also distantly related. Bettina’s cousin also generously shared family photos and pictures of paintings of distant ancestors. This has led to expanding my family tree in most interesting ways, as readers will learn.

In closing I would say that while telling the tale of finding Traute Meyer’s descendants appears rather linear, I would never have located them without numerous intermediate steps and the help of a younger cousin better versed in social media.

POST 89: EVIDENCE OF MY 18th & 19th CENTURIES MARLE ANCESTORS

Note: In this post, I discuss evidence of the Marle branch of my extended family from the late 18^th Century-early 19^th Century, which survives in the “Archiwum Panstwowe Oddzial Pszczyna,” State Archives Pszczyna [Poland] Branch, as well as in the Jewish cemetery that still exists there.

Figure 1. My father, Dr. Otto Bruck, and uncle, Dr. Fedor Bruck, winter 1934-35 in the Riesengebirge (Karkonosze), in southwestern Poland

My father, Dr. Otto Bruck (1907-1994) (Figure 1), had an indifferent if not dismissive attitude towards his ancestors and next of kin apart from his beloved sister Susanne Müller née Bruck (1904-1942), murdered in Auschwitz. By contrast, my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (1895-1982) (Figure 1), the oldest of my father’s siblings, was deeply interested in his forefathers. Upon my uncle’s death in 1982, my aunt gave me a copy of an abbreviated family “tree” my uncle had developed. (Figure 2) This includes the earliest mention I can recollect of the Marle branch of my family, specifically, “Wilhelm MARLE” who was married to “Reisel G. (=GRAETZER).” My uncle’s schematic tree provided no vital dates for the Marles.

Figure 2. A schematized family tree developed by my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck with the earliest mention of the Marle branch of my extended family

In time, I would learn from a German cousin that Wilhelm and Rosalie Marle’s headstones survive in the extant Jewish Cemetery in Pszczyna, Poland, formerly Pless, Prussia. During my and my wife’s 2014 visit to Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland], our English-speaking Polish friend, Malgosia Ploszaj, took us the to their graves, approximately 35 miles distant. (Figure 3) Malgosia, who hails from nearby Rybnik, Poland, formerly Rybnick, Prussia, is ardently interested in the history of Jews in Silesia and works with local volunteers to restore and raise fallen Jewish headstones throughout the area. In 2014, only Wilhelm Marle’s headstone had been restored and reset, but subsequently, his wife’s headstone has also been raised. I include pictures here of their beautifully rehabilitated tombstones.

Figure 3. May 2014 photo of me standing by the raised headstone of Wilhelm Marle in the surviving Jewish Cemetery in Pszczyna, Poland

[Just a quick footnote. I have variously found Wilhelm Marle’s wife’s forename spelled as “Reisel,” “Roesel,” “Rosel,” “Raizel,” and “Rosalie.” I will primarily use “Rosalie” as this name appears on her tombstone.]

Let me very briefly digress to provide some context. The subject of Post 88 was my third great-aunt, Antonie Pauly née Marle, an illegitimate daughter of the Rosalie Marle née Graetzer buried in Pszczyna; as previously discussed, Antonie was humorously if not sarcastically referred to as the “Queen of Tost,” even though she was born in Pszczyna not Toszek, Poland as Tost is today known.

Because Wilhelm and Rosalie Marle’s headstones are the very earliest known to me of any ancestors and relate to individuals born in the late 18^th Century, I was particularly interested in learning more about them. Thus, I recently asked my friend, Ms. Madeleine Isenberg, affiliated as a volunteer with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, whether she could translate the Hebraic text on Wilhelm (Figures 4-6) and Rosalie Marle’s (Figures 7-9) headstones. Madeleine is fluent in Hebrew and is ardently interested in deciphering and interpreting Hebrew texts on headstones. Madeleine provided a beautiful translation and interpretation of the text on both tombstones.

Figure 4. Wilhelm Marle’s (1772-1846) tombstone

Figure 5. Transcription of text on Wilhelm Marle’s headstone

Figure 6. Translation of text on Wilhelm Marle’s headstone [courtesy of Madeleine Isenberg]

Figure 7. Rosalie Marle née Graetzer’s (1779 or 1780-1849) tombstone

Figure 8. Transcription of text on Rosalie Marle née Graetzer’s headstone

Figure 9. Translation of text on Rosalie Marle née Graetzer’s headstone [courtesy of Madeleine Isenberg]

A few points of clarification. “Kohen” is the Hebrew word for “priest,” thus, a member of the priestly class having certain rights and duties in the synagogue.

As to the reference that Wilhelm Marle’s father was a “chaver,” Madeleine explained that in today’s Hebrew, it would simply mean “friend,” but that at one time it was a sort of title. If a person studied at a yeshiva to gain the certification of a rabbi, it was with the intention he might serve a community as a rabbi or teacher. However, Madeleine found another “classification” of chaver in a paper entitled “Regulations of The Synagogue ‘Altneuschule’ In Prague In Their Historic Context” which I quote:

“In 18^th Century Germany, there were two degrees of rabbinical ordination: the higher degree, using the title ‘moreinu’—our teacher or guide—given to scholars who devoted all their time to Torah study even after marriage and intended to serve the Rabbinate or as a Yeshiva teacher. The lower degree—chaver—was given to students before marriage who intended to take up a trade other than the Rabbinate.” (Gevaryahu & Sicherman 2010)

The German translation of “chaver” on Wilhelm Marle’s headstone is “Kaufmann,” merchant or businessman, indicating that he did not intend to become a rabbi or teacher.

As mentioned, the translation of Wilhelm and Rosalie Marle’s headstones was recently obtained. However, in December 2017, I was contacted through my family tree on ancestry.com by Professor Sławomir Pastuszka from Jagiellonian University in Kraków looking for information on the Marle family. While I was able to provide Professor Pastuszka with some new material, I was the primary beneficiary of our exchanges.

Professor Pastuszka’s data comes from the Archiwum Panstwowe Oddzial Pszczyna, State Archives Pszczyna Branch, located in Pszczyna proper, which is unavailable online. I will briefly summarize and provide some historic context for the information about Wilhelm and Rosalie Marle. Wilhelm Wolf Marle was born on the 14^th of November 1772 in Pless to Isaac (Figure 10) and Magdalena (Figure 11), both of whom died before 1811 and are buried in the Mikołów Jewish Cemetery in Mikołów, Poland [formerly Nikolai, Prussia], a well-preserved Jewish cemetery; Mikołów is located about 19 miles or 30km north of Pszczyna. (Figure 12) The texts on most of the headstones in Mikołów are in Hebrew so without an interpreter it would be difficult for the average visitor to locate Wilhelm Marle’s parents’ headstones. (Figure 13)

Figure 10. Wilhelm Wolf Marle’s father, Isaac Marle, listed in a 1780 census of Pless [photo courtesy of Sławomir Pastuszka]

Figure 11. Wilhelm Wolf Marle’s parents, Isaac Marle and Magdalena, listed in a 1784 census of Pless [photo courtesy of Sławomir Pastuszka]

Figure 12. 1893 map of Silesia with Pless [today: Pszczyna, Poland], Nikolai [today: Mikołów, Poland], Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland] and Rybnick [today: Rybnik, Poland] circled

Figure 13. Headstone of unknown individual from the Mikołów Jewish Cemetery in Mikołów, Poland [photo courtesy of K. Bielawski] in Hebrew text

The Marle families was one of the oldest Jewish families in Pless. According to censuses in the Pszczyna Archive, respectively from 1811 (Figure 14) and the 24^th of March 1812 (Figure 15), Wilhelm Wolf Marle was also referred to as “Wolf Marle Schlesinger.” According to Sławomir, “Schlesinger” is a word in Schläsisch, or Silesian German, referring to “the Silesian.” Silesian German or Lower Silesian is a nearly extinct German dialect spoken in Silesia. It is part of the East Central German language area with some West Slavic and Lechitic influences. In German, Schläsisch is Schlesisch.

Figure 14. Wilhelm Marle listed in an 1811 Pless census as “Wolff Marle Schlesinger” [photo courtesy of Sławomir Pastuszka]

Figure 15. Wilhelm Marle again registered in a Pless census dated the 24th of March 1812 as “Wolff Marle Schlesinger”; this same entry also gives his date of birth (14 November 1772); his wife “Roesel’s” date of birth (19 March 1780); their date of marriage (15 August 1799); and the names & dates of birth of their four children at the time [photo courtesy of Sławomir Pastuszka]

Wilhelm Marle married Rosalie Graetzer on the 15^th of August 1799. Records show Rosalie was born in Tost, Prussia [today: Toszek, Poland] on the 19^th of March 1780, daughter of Meyer and Goldine, both from Tost, Prussia. Her headstone states she was 70 years old when she died in October 1849, suggesting she may actually have been born in 1779 rather than 1780.

Other census records indicate Wilhelm Marle was variously a trader [1813], a shopkeeper [1814], and a merchant [1817,1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, 1839, 1842], and that in 1841, he owned a spice shop, an iron shop, and a money exchange.

On January 28, 1802, Wilhelm Marle took over a plot of land from his father with a tenement house located at Deutsche Vorstadt 4, worth 266 Thalers and 20 silver pennies. He sold the property on November 23, 1833. The house still stands today. (Figure 16) In 1814, Wilhelm bought a house at No. 18 on Market Square for 2500 Thalers from Heinrich Theiner, which his son Isaak Marle inherited upon his death. This house also still stands today. (Figure 17)

Figure 16. Tenement house once owned by Wilhelm Marle at Deutsche Vorstadt 4, today at ul. Wojska Polskiego 9, in Pszczyna, as it looked in 2015

Figure 17. House once owned by Wilhelm Marle at No. 18 Market Square, today at Rynek 18, in Pszczyna, as it looked in 2019

The cause of Wilhelm Marle’s death in 1846 was pulmonary edema.

Let me briefly digress to provide some historic context to enable readers to understand when and under what conditions Jews were provided with some civil equality in Prussia. On March 11, 1812, the Prussian King Frederick William III issued an edict that under the first article declared all legally resident Jews of Prussia to be citizens. Article 2 considered Jews to be natives [Einländer] and state citizens of Prussia provided they adopt strictly fixed surnames; that they use German or another living language not only in keeping their commercial records but also in the drawing of contracts and legal declarations of intention; and that they use only German or Latin script for their signatures. Articles 7 and 8 provided that all occupations were open to Jews including academic positions. Article 9, however, postponed the question of Jewish eligibility to state offices. In sum, the Edict provided some civil equality for Jews in exchange for their assumption of fixed surnames, their adoption of German “or another living language” in their professional activities and compliance with other civil duties, including military conscription.

Wilhelm and Rosalie’s dates of birth come from the census record of Pless Jews dated the 24th of March 1812, who, after the emancipation edict, became full citizens of Prussia. Professor Pastuszka emphasized these records contain many errors and dates are not always correct, but this is the only source where complete dates appear.

It was only after the issuance of the Edict of 1812 that Wilhelm Marle could run for office and be elected as one of the first two councilors of the Jewish confession in Pless.

Officially, as implied, Jews in the Kingdom of Prussia had to adopt surnames in 1812, before which they used “nicknames.” The last name “Marle” was originally a nickname used by Wilhelm’s father Isaac. In some documents Sławomir found Wilhelm listed as “Wolf Isaac,” meaning he was “Wolf son of Isaac.” Wilhelm’s mother “Magdalena,” did not have a maiden name. The only Pless census in which her name appears is the one from 1784 at which time she is shown to be 48 years old. (Figure 11)

After the Edict of 1812, women without maiden names typically adopted their father’s first name as a surname. For example, in Pless, a widow listed in the 1811 census named “Pessel Ephraim,” Pessel daughter of Ephraim, was known after her marriage in 1812 to “Abraham Grunthal” as “Pessel Grunthal née Ephraim.” On other occasions women used as their nicknames the nicknames of their fathers, as in the case of Rosalie Marle née Graetzer. Rosalie Graetzer’s mother, “Goldine,” does not appear to have had a surname. While not likely, if I can obtain a picture of her tombstone from the Mikołów Jewish Cemetery, I may be able to confirm this.

Let me move on to the subject of Wilhelm and Rosalie Marle’s children, and the evidence Professor Pastuszka was able to muster about them. Naturally, a few caveats are in order. As previously mentioned, Wilhelm and Rosalie married in 1799. The census of the 24^th of March 1812 lists four of their children, namely, Goldine (b. 2^nd April 1804), Moritz (b. 12^th May 1806), Charlotte (b. 2^nd October 1809, and Handel (b. 28^th August 1812). (Figure 15) However, because no registers of births and deaths of Jews in Pless exist from before 1813, predating the Edict of 1812, we do not know how many additional children Wilhelm and Rosalie may have had between 1799 and 1812 who died at birth or in infancy.

In Pless censuses postdating the one of 1812, Professor Pastuszka found evidence of five additional children, specifically, Isaac Marle (b. 14^th October 1814), Rosel Marle (b. 12^th July 1817), Antonie Therese Marle (b. 1^st February 1820), Fanny Marle (b. 14^th March 1821) and Ernestine Marle (26^th October 1822). A family tree archived in the Pinkus Family Collection at the Leo Baeck Institute (Figure 18), available online, coincides almost exactly with the names and number of Wilhelm and Rosalie’s children from the census data, with one exception, Handel Marle, born in 1812 who died a little more than a year later. Not surprisingly, there are notable differences in the years of birth of Wilhelm and Rosalie and their eight surviving children.

Figure 18. Family tree for Wilhelm Marle & Rosalie Graetzer from the Pinkus Family Collection at the Leo Baeck Institute identifying 8 of their 9 children Professor Sławomir Pastuszka found in Pless censuses from the 18th-19th centuries

The compiled vital data for Wilhelm, his wife, and their nine known children is summarized in the table below, along with the source of the information. Whereas I consider the census records Professor Pastuszka retrieved from the Archiwum Panstwowe Oddzial Pszczyna to be primary source documents, I do not deem the vital data in the family tree from the Pinkus Family Collection to be such. Clearly, the more reliable vital data comes from the Pszczyna Archive.

VITAL STATISTICS FOR WILHELM WOLF MARLE, HIS WIFE & AND THEIR NINE KNOWN CHILDREN

NAME (relationship)	VITAL EVENT	DATE	PLACE	SOURCE OF DATA

Wilhelm Wolf Marle (self) [In Pless censuses from 1811 and 24^th of March 1812, he was named Wolf Marle Schlesinger]	Birth	14 November 1772	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Pless Census of 24^th of March 1812 (Pszczyna Archives)
	Marriage to Rosalie Grätzer	15 August 1799	Tost, Germany [today: Toszek, Poland]
	Death	31 October 1846	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Headstone in the Jewish cemetery in Pszczyna, Poland
Rosalie Graetzer (wife) (Figure 19)	Birth	19 March 1780	Tost, Germany [today: Toszek, Poland]	Headstone in the Jewish cemetery in Pszczyna, Poland
	Marriage to Wilhelm Marle	15 August 1799	Tost, Germany [today: Toszek, Poland]
	Death	26 October 1849	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Headstone in the Jewish cemetery in Pszczyna, Poland
Goldine Marle (daughter)	Birth	2 April 1804	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Pless Census of 24th of March 1812 (Pszczyna Archives)
	Marriage to Simon Pincus Oppler	10 December 1823	Rosenberg, Germany [today: Olesno, Poland]	Jewish Records Indexing-Poland (LDS Microfilm 1184449)
	Death	1853	Kreuzburg, Germany [today: Kluczbork, Poland]	Pinkus Family Collection, Marle Family Tree
Moritz (Moses) Marle (son)	Birth	12 May 1806	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Pless Census of 24th of March 1812 (Pszczyna Archives)
Moritz (Moses) Marle (son)	Death	1866	Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]	Pinkus Family Collection, Marle Family Tree
Charlotte Marle (daughter) (Figure 20)	Birth	2 October 1809	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Pless Census of 24th of March 1812 (Pszczyna Archives)
	Marriage to Samuel Bruck	18 January 1831	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]
	Death	17 August 1861	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]
Handel Marle (son)	Birth	28 August 1812	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]
Handel Marle (son)	Death	29 November 1813	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]
Isaak Marle (son)	Birth	15 October 1814	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Headstone in the former Jewish cemetery in Ratibor, Germany; Pinkus Family Collection, Marle Family Tree
	Marriage to Friederike Traube	11 April 1842	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	LDS Microfilm 1184449
	Death	14 May 1884	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	Headstone in the former Jewish cemetery in Ratibor, Germany; Pinkus Family Collection, Marle Family Tree
Rosalie Marle (illegitimate daughter of Rosalie Graetzer) (married to Jonas Bruck)	Birth	12 July 1817	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Headstone in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław
	Death	6 June 1890	Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]	Headstone in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław
Antonie Marle (daughter) (married to Zadig Pauly) (Figures 21a-b)	Birth	1 February 1820	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]	Pinkus Family Collection, Marle Family Tree
	Death	17 September 1893	Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Poland]	Pinkus Family Collection, Marle Family Tree
Fanny Marle (daughter) (married to Salomon Mühsam)	Birth	14 March 1821	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]
Fanny Marle (daughter) (married to Salomon Mühsam)	Death	17 November 1909	Berlin, Germany	Schlesische Jüdische Familien ancestry tree
Ernestine Marle (daughter)	Birth	25 October 1822	Pless, Prussia [today: Pszczyna, Poland]
	Marriage Registration to Gustav Graeffner	30 June 1851	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	LDS Microfilm 1184449
	Marriage to Gustav Graeffner	13 July 1851	Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]	Pinkus Family Collection, Marle Family Tree
	Death	7 June 1898	Obernigk, Germany [today: Oborniki Śląskie, Poland]	Pinkus Family Collection, Marle Family Tree

Figure 19. Painting of Rosalie Marle née Graetzer (1780-1849)

Figure 20. My great-great-grandmother Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861)

Figure 21a. Painting of Antonie Pauly née Marle (1820-1893)

Figure 21b. Photo of Antonie Pauly née Marle (1820-1893)

Figure 22. Wilhelm Marle & Rosalie Marle née Graetzer’s tombstones [photo courtesy of Sławomir Pastuszka]

REFERENCE

Gevaryahu, Gilad J. J. & Dr. Harvey Sicherman. “Regulations of The Synagogue “Altneuschule’ In Prague In Their Historic Context.” January 20, 2010

POST 88: DE-STIGMATIZING ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS AMONG THE UPPER CLASSES: THE CASE OF MY THIRD GREAT-AUNT, ANTONIE PAULY NÉE MARLE

Note: This short post is about Antonie Pauly née Marle, my third great-aunt or my great-great-great-aunt, regarding whom I made an interesting discovery. This finding touches on a quaint but satirical practice members of the upper class might once have employed to de-stigmatize public disapproval of an illegitimate child.

Regular readers will recall I have often written about my Pauly relatives. In Post 56, I wrote about the paterfamilias Josef Pauly (Figure 1), using his personal memoirs. With his wife Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (Figure 2), he bore nine children, eight of whom were daughters and all of whom have been the focus of earlier posts. The subject of this publication is Josef Pauly’s mother, Antonie Pauly née Marle (Figures 3-4), who was born in Pless, Germany [today: Pszczyna, Poland] and married to Zadig Pauly. (Figures 5-6) For most followers, I expect the discussion about my third great-aunt to be of limited interest, thus I encourage readers to focus not so much on who she was but on how and what we learn about the time in which she lived.

Figure 3. Painting of Dr. Josef Pauly’s mother, Antonie Pauly née Marle (1820-1893)

Figure 4. Photo of Antonie Pauly née Marle

Figure 5. Photo of Dr. Josef Pauly’s father and Antonie’s husband, Dr. Zadig Pauly (1810-1884)

Figure 6. Another picture of Dr. Zadig Pauly

Figure 7. Section of the Pauly “Stammbaum,” family tree, with the notation below Antonie Marle’s name, identifying her as the illegitimate daughter of a Prince from Pless, Prussia and misidentifying her year of birth as 1850

One of my younger cousins recently asked me about the notation below Antonie Marle’s name in the Pauly Stammbaum, family tree. (Figure 7) Being unable to decipher the writing and understand the German abbreviations, I turned to two friends who often assist me in interpreting and making sense of German documents and texts. Their translations were roughly identical, but one explication was amusing in its revelation. Let me explain.

The circled section of the Pauly family tree in Figure 7 reads as follows in German:

Antonie MARLE

1850-93, Posen

Unehel. Kd. v. Fürst Pless [=uneheliches Kind von Fürst Pless]

(daher: Königen v. Tost)

In English:

Antonie MARLE

1850-93, Poznan, Poland

Illegitimate child of Prince Fürst from Pless [today: Pszczyna, Poland] (Figure 8)

(therefore: “Queen of Tost”)

Figure 8. Section of 1893 map of Silesia with the town of Pless circled where Antonie Pauly née Marle was born in 1820

One correction I want to note before delving into the significance of the notation below Antonie Marle’s name in the Pauly family tree. Antonie’s year of birth is incorrectly noted on the Pauly Stammbaum as 1850, when in fact she was born in 1820. The correct information can be found on a Marle family tree in the Pinkus Family Collection archived at the Leo Baeck Institute showing Antonie’s parents and seven surviving siblings. (Figure 9) Further confirmation of Antonie’s date of birth comes from a Polish gentleman who contacted me through my family tree on ancestry and has accessed various census records from the 18^th and 19^th centuries from the archives in Pless registering births there. And, finally, the third source for Antonie’s year of birth can be found in the on-line Posen “Einwohnermeldezettel,” residential registration form, for Zadig Pauly and Antonie Marle. (Figure 10)

Figure 9. Marle family tree in the Pinkus Family Collection archived at the Leo Baeck Institute with Antonie Marle’s name and vital data circled

Figure 10. Posen “Einwohnermeldezettel,” residential registration form, for Zadig Pauly and Antonie Marle, indicating she was born in 1820

Both friends who transcribed and translated the notation on Antonie Marle agree that the sobriquet, “Queen of Tost,” was meant in jest, for amusement. Tost, known today as Toszek, Poland, is 50 miles or 80km north of Pszczyna, Poland.

One friend suggested Antonie’s father might have been Henry, Duke of Anhalt-Köthen (30 July 1778, Schloss Pless-23 November 1847, Köthen), who would have been only 42 years of age when Antonie was born, thus a theoretical possibility; Henry was a German prince in the House of Ascania, ruler of the non-sovereign principality of Anhalt-Pless.

My second friend suggested something I am more inclined to believe because of its mischievous implications. This gentleman is an experienced genealogist and in his years of doing ancestral research he has on multiple occasions come across family claims that a child was the illegitimate son or daughter of a Prince or noble; upon further investigations my friend found all these declarations to be fiction, complete fabrications. While there seems no reason to doubt that Antonie Marle might have been the result of an illicit affair, it is more plausible to believe it was the outcome of a tryst with a commoner or person of equal social standing. What I find so quaint is that her family could so easily thumb their nose at society’s mores by claiming Antonie was the illegitimate child of an affair with a monarch or sovereign, thus enveloping her in a mantle of respectability and superiority. No doubt, this fiction was an option only available to members of the upper classes.

Why Antonie Marle’s moniker was the “Queen of Tost” rather than the “Queen of Pless,” where she hailed from, is unclear, though possibly her biological father was from there. This is mere conjecture, and something we will likely never know.

POST 87: “COLORIZED” PHOTOS OF PAULY FAMILY MEMBERS

Note: This post is inspired by a Polish gentleman who sent me “colorized” photos of members of the Pauly branch of my extended family using an image I included in Post 45.

Given the emotionally taxing subject matter of some of my family history posts, occasionally I like to intersperse stories that are more whimsical or lighthearted in nature. The current post is one such example. It was inspired by a Mr. Marek Bieńkowski from Włocławek, Poland. This gentleman is not subscribed to my Blog, nor, to the best of my knowledge, are we in any way related. Taking a photo inserted in Post 45 showing multiple members of the Pauly branch of my family, Mr. Bieńkowski “colorized” images of 19 of the 31 people in this picture. I estimate the picture was taken in the early 1890’s in Posen, Prussia [Poznan, Poland], and, to date, I’ve been able to identify 23 of the 31 subjects using an incomplete caption on the back of the photo and comparing the individual images to others where the people are identified by name. The original photo with the heads of the figures circled and numbered is included here (Figure 1), and the table below summarizes the vital data of the known people.

Figure 1. Pauly family get-together, probably in the early 1890’s, with heads of the 31 attendees circled and numbered

NO.	NAME	EVENT	DATE	PLACE

1	Anna Rothholz née Pauly (Figures 2a-b)	Birth	14 March 1871	Posen, Germany
		Death	21 June 1925	Stettin, Germany
		Marriage	20 May 1892	Berlin, Germany
2	Josef Pauly (Figures 3a-b)	Birth	10 August 1843	Tost, Germany
		Death	7 November 1916	Posen, Germany
		Marriage	1869
3	Paula Pincus née Pauly (Figures 4a-b)	Birth	26 April 1872	Posen, Germany
		Death	31 March 1922	Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
		Marriage	16 November 1891	Berlin, Germany
4	UNKNOWN WOMAN (Figures 5a-b)
5	Julie Neisser née Sabersky (Figures 6a-b)	Birth	26 February 1841	Wöllstein, Germany
5	Julie Neisser née Sabersky (Figures 6a-b)	Death	11 April 1927	Berlin, Germany
6	Ernst Neisser (Figures 7a-b)	Birth	16 May 1863	Liegnitz, Germany
		Death (Suicide)	4 October 1942	Berlin, Germany
		Marriage	5 September 1898	Stettin, Germany
7	Margarethe Neisser née Pauly (Figures 8a-b)	Birth	16 January 1876	Posen, Germany
		Death	10 December 1941	Berlin, Germany
		Marriage	5 September 1898	Stettin, Germany
8	Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer	Birth	3 January 1844	Leschnitz, Germany
		Death	28 November 1927	Berlin, Germany
		Marriage	1869	Unknown
9	Rosalinde Kantorowicz née Pauly (Figures 9a-b)	Birth	22 January 1854	Tost, Germany
9	Rosalinde Kantorowicz née Pauly (Figures 9a-b)	Death	3 November 1916	Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
10	UNKNOWN MAN (Figures 10a-b)
11	Charlotte Mockrauer née Bruck (Figures 11a-b)	Birth	8 December 1865	Ratibor, Germany
		Death	10 January 1965	Stockholm, Sweden
		Marriage	18 March 1888	Ratibor, Germany
12	UNKNOWN WOMAN (Figures 12a-b)
13	UNKNOWN BOY
14	Therese Sandler née Pauly	Birth	21 August 1885	Posen, Germany
14	Therese Sandler née Pauly	Death	25 November 1969	Buenos Aires, Argentina
15	Gertrud Kantorowicz “Gertrude Pauly (Pseudonym)”	Birth	9 October 1876	Posen, Germany
15	Gertrud Kantorowicz “Gertrude Pauly (Pseudonym)”	Death (Murdered)	20 April 1945	Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia
16	Maria Pohlmann née Pauly	Birth	21 July 1877	Posen, Germany
		Death	Unknown
		Marriage	30 September 1901	Posen, Germany
17	Gertrud Wachsmann née Pollack	Birth	10 July 1867	Görlitz, Saxony, Germany
		Death (Murdered)	22 October 1942	Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia
		Married	17 October 1893	Görlitz, Saxony, Germany
18	Heinrich Sabersky (Figures 13a-b)	Birth	July 1845	Grünberg, Germany
18	Heinrich Sabersky (Figures 13a-b)	Death	January 1929	Berlin, Germany
19	Helene Guttentag née Pauly (Figures 14a-b)	Birth	12 April 1873	Posen, Germany
		Death (Suicide)	23 October 1942	Berlin, Germany
		Marriage	5 February 1898	Berlin, Germany
20	Adolf Guttentag (Figures 15a-b)	Birth	4 December 1868	Breslau, Germany
		Death (Suicide)	23 October 1942	Berlin, Germany
		Marriage	5 February 1898	Berlin, Germany
21	Wilhelm Pauly (Figures 16a-b)	Birth	24 September 1883	Posen, Germany
21	Wilhelm Pauly (Figures 16a-b)	Death	1961	Unknown
22	UNKNOWN MAN (Figures 17a-b)
23	Elly Landsberg née Mockrauer	Birth	14 August 1873	Berlin, Germany
		Death (Murdered)	15 May 1944	Auschwitz, Poland
		Marriage	1892	Posen, Germany
24	Edith Riezler née Pauly	Birth	4 January 1880	Posen, Germany
24	Edith Riezler née Pauly	Death	1963	Unknown
25	UNKNOWN MAN (Figures 18a-b)
26	UNKNOWN WOMAN
27	Elisabeth Herrnstadt née Pauly	Birth	2 July 1874	Posen, Germany
		Death (Murdered)	27 May 1943	Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia
		Marriage	11 May 1895	Cunnersdorf, Germany
28	Arthur Herrnstadt	Birth	15 March 1865	Hirschberg, Germany
		Death	21 October 1912	Stettin, Germany
		Marriage	11 May 1895	Cunnersdorf, Germany
29	Adolf Wachsmann (Figures 19a-b)	Birth	3 January 1859	Ratibor, Germany
		Death	Unknown	Unknown
		Married	17 October 1893	Görlitz, Saxony, Germany
30	UNKNOWN MAN (Figures 20a-b)
31	UNKNOWN MAN

** Numbers in the left-hand column correspond with the numbered, circled heads in Figure 1. Names in red refer to people whose images have been colorized.

Mr. Bieńkowski seemingly used the automated feature of an image-editing program to smooth and sharpen the individual photos. All subjects have blue eyes but given that only 8 to 10 percent of the world’s population have eyes this color, clearly this is unrealistic. Some of the colorized images are remarkably real and look like their originals, others are eerie since the proportions are imprecise and imbue the subjects with a wax-museum quality.

Figure 2b. Anna Rothholz née Pauly (colorized)

Figure 4b. Paula Pincus née Pauly (colorized)

Figure 6b. Julie Neisser née Sabersky (colorized)

Figure 8b. Margarethe Neisser née Pauly (colorized)

Figure 9a. Rosalinde Kantorowicz née Pauly

Figure 9b. Rosalinde Kantorowicz née Pauly (colorized)

Figure 11a. Charlotte Mockrauer née Bruck

Figure 11b. Charlotte Mockrauer née Bruck (colorized)

Figure 13b. Heinrich Sabersky (colorized)

Figure 14b. Helene Guttentag née Pauly (colorized)

As mentioned, based on the estimated age of the younger subjects and their known dates of birth, I gauge the original picture was taken in the early 1890’s. While color photography is almost as old as black-and-white, the process did not become widely available until much later, certainly after the Lippmann color process was unveiled in 1891. The only color photo I have of any of the subjects is of my great-aunt Charlotte Mockrauer née Bruck when she turned 100 in 1965 and her eyes appear to be brown. (Figure 21) Additionally, I have color paintings of two of the 31 subjects in the original photograph, specifically, Julie Neisser née Sabersky (Figure 22) and Wilhelm Pauly (Figure 23). In these paintings, Julie Sabersky clearly has brown eyes, and a much older Wilhelm Pauly has blue eyes.

Figure 21. Color photo of my great-aunt Charlotte Mockrauer née Bruck (subject 11 in Figure 1) with my uncle Fedor Bruck when Charlotte turned 100 in 1965; her eyes appear brown

Figure 22. Color painting of Julie Neisser née Sabersky (subject 5 in Figure 1), where her eyes appear brown

Figure 23. Color painting of Wilhelm Pauly (subject 21 in Figure 1) showing his blue eyes

Figure 24. Liselotte “Lilo” Dieckmann née Neisser (1902-1994) who typed a biography in which she mentioned and described her grandmother, Julie Neisser née Sabersky

Regular readers know how I like making connections between seemingly unrelated things. In the previous post, Post 86, Suse Vogel née Neisser’s 1947 letter describing the last days of her father and aunt’s lives in October 1942 in Berlin was sent to her first cousin, Liselotte Dieckmann née Neisser in St. Louis. (Figure 24) Liselotte was an extremely accomplished woman and a Professor of German at St. Louis University. She wrote a short biography in English of her life, which I obtained a copy of from Nicki Stieda, Suse’s Vogel’s granddaughter. On the opening page, Liselotte discussed her grandmother without naming her. Being familiar with the Neisser family tree, I quickly ascertained she was discussing Julie Neisser née Sabersky, who is seated alongside one of her sons, Ernst Neisser, in Figure 1. Liselotte’s description of her grandmother, quoted below, comports with my preconceived notion of the strong matriarch I imagine she was:

“My Father Max Neisser, born in 1869, professor of bacteriology at the University of Frankfurt, came from Silesia which was then a Prussian province and is now part of Poland. By the time I was born in 1902, his mother [editor’s note: Julie Neisser née Sabersky], widowed for many years, lived with her brother [editor’s note: Heinrich Sabersky] whom she had well-tamed in Berlin where we visited her often. She was a fine lady, with beautiful blue eyes, who sat straight as a ruler at the edge of her chair. She was a woman of great vitality—no doubt, almost to her end in 1926, the ruling member of her family. My cousins and I owe to her a sense of family closeness rarely found among cousins. Her sons and one daughter had eight children together, with whom I am still in close touch, insofar as they are still alive.”

Julie’s regal bearing caught my attention well before I knew who she was. Interestingly, Julie’s brother, Heinrich Sabersky, mentioned in the paragraph above who is also in the group picture, similarly caught my attention because of his warm demeanor. Among my third cousin Agnes Stieda née Vogel’s personal photographs is a different one with Julie and Heinrich Sabersky seated amidst a group of ten people; this photo includes three Pauly sisters, Margarethe, Helene and Edith, all three of whom are in the larger group picture that is the subject of this post, two of whose photos are also colorized. (Figures 25-26)

Figure 25. Group photo of ten people including siblings Heinrich and Julie Sabersky (seated) and three Pauly sisters, Elisabeth Pauly (to left of Heinrich Sabersky), Margarethe Pauly (behind Heinrich Sabersky), and Edith Pauly (behind Julie Sabersky)

Figure 26. Three Pauly sisters from left to right: Margarethe Pauly, Elisabeth Pauly, and Edith Pauly

To my mind, the major take away of receiving the unsolicited colorized images of people from 130 years ago is that it personalizes them and makes them seem less abstract. This comports with one of the goals of my Blog to make my ancestors come to life in a tangible way, while conceding it may not be entirely realistic.