richardbrook@bruckfamilyblog.com, Author at bruckfamilyblog.com

POST 121-MY FATHER’S ENCOUNTERS WITH HITLER’S MENNONITE SUPPORTERS

NOTE: In this post I examine the history of the Mennonites in the Vistula River delta in northern Poland, and my father’s interactions with them when he was a dentist in Tiegenhof which at the time was part of the Free City of Danzig. I also discuss why the historically pacifistic Mennonites went from fleeing the Netherlands, Flanders, and modern-day northern Germany in the mid-16^th century to avoid religious persecution to becoming among Hitler’s staunchest supporters four centuries later.

POST 112, POSTSCRIPT: WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ’S BEQUEST TO HIAS

The Dutch and Flemish Mennonites have lived in the Żuławy Wiślane, the alluvial delta area of the Vistula River in the northern part of Poland (Figure 1), for over 400 years. They came to Poland in the 16^th century as refugees fleeing religious persecution in the Netherland, Flanders, and modern-day northern Germany.

Figure 1. Map of Poland showing Żuławy Wiślane, the alluvial delta area of the Vistula River in the northern part of the country

Mennonites are a branch of the Christian church, with roots in the radical wing of the 16^th century Protestant Reformation. Mennonites are part of the group known as Anabaptists who took their name from Menno Simons, a Roman Catholic priest who left the Church in 1536 and became a leader within the Anabaptism movement. Anabaptism is the doctrine that baptism should only be administered to believing adults, held by a radical Protestant sect that emerged during the 1520s and 1530s.

The first Mennonites came mainly from Swiss and German roots, with many of the important martyrs of the early church coming from the area around Zurich. The Low Countries regions of Friesland (i.e., province of the Netherlands located in the country’s northern part) and Flanders (i.e., the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium), as well as Eastern Frisia (i.e., a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany) and Holstein (i.e., the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany) became the center of the Mennonites. Religious persecution in the Low Countries under Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba (1507-1582) forced many Mennonites to leave in the 16^th century.

Historically, Mennonites have been known as one of the peace churches due to their commitment to pacifism. The majority of the early Mennonite followers, rather than fighting, fled to neighboring states where the ruling families were tolerant of their beliefs. In the 16^th century Poland was among the most tolerant kingdoms in Europe.

The Mennonites, like the Amish who separated from them in the late 1600’s, represent the strictest branches of Protestantism. The Amish are widely known for their plain dress and rejection of modern technology and conveniences. Unlike the Mennonites, they form an exclusive and tight-knit community. Mennonites generally are not culturally separatist.

Żuławy Wiślane, the region in now-northern Poland where the Mennonites settled, covers about 386 square miles or 1000 square km. Historically the area was an estuary of the Vistula (Figure 2), Poland’s longest river which empties into the Baltic Sea. The arduous process of reclaiming the land from the sea began in the 14^th century. This involved building hundreds of canals, miles of dikes, and networks of pumps and locks which allowed for the removal of water and the gradual drainage of the Żuławy territory. A good deal of this work was accomplished by the Mennonites who then built thriving communities across the Vistula delta.

Figure 2. Photo taken by my father in July 1934 of flooding along the Vistula River

According to an article in Wikipedia, entitled the “Vistula delta Mennonites,” the first Anabaptist reported in the area was in 1526 in Marienburg [today: Malbork, Poland] (Figure 3), a mere 15.6 miles south of Tiegenhof [today: Nowy Dwor Gdanski, Poland]. The first Mennonites from the Netherlands and Flanders arrived in Danzig [today: Gdansk, Poland] in the 1530’s. (Figure 4) As Poland’s principal seaport, Danzig played an important role in the grain trade with the Low Countries.

Figure 3. Picture taken by my father in the mid-1930’s of the fortress Ordensburg Marienberg [today: Malbork, Poland], founded in 1274 on the east bank of the river Nogat by the Teutonic Knights

Figure 4. Langgasse, the main street of Danzig [today: Gdansk, Poland] as it looked during the 1930’s, known today as “Ulica Długa”

Menno Simons, founder of the Mennonites, is reported to have visited Danzig in 1549, and by 1569 the first Mennonite Church was founded in the city. Soon about 1,000 Mennonites lived in the city. While Mennonites were allowed to freely practice their faith, the Danzig city council refused to grant them the status of citizens; this situation remained unchanged until the city itself was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1793 in the Second Partition of Poland. The Vistula delta and the Danzig suburbs had already become part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1772 after the First Partition of Poland, at which time more than 12,000 Mennonites lived in Prussian territory.

Only men who had served in the Prussian Army were allowed to purchase land; as conscientious objectors, Mennonites were subject to special charges, limiting their economic prospects. As a result, when Russian colonization agents sought to recruit settlers for the regions recently conquered from the Ottoman Empire following the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, about 6,000 Mennonites, mostly from the Vistula delta, left for Russian Ukraine. These people formed the roots of the Russian Mennonites. The first Mennonite settlement in Russia, the Chortitza Colony, was founded by these emigrees in 1789; I touched on this topic in Post 112. The Mennonites who remained in the Vistula delta, however, became more and more assimilated, with some even willing to bear arms.

I will return briefly to the story of the Mennonites in the Vistula delta but let me provide some insight to readers for why I decided to go into such depth into this Protestant religion. I wrote in Post 5 that during the time that my father lived and worked in Tiegenhof he was friends with two women who lived in the same apartment building where he also rented an apartment and had his dental practice. The captions on his pictures identified the women as “Idschi” and “Suse” (Figure 5), and it was only when I found both their names in my father’s 1932 Day Planner with their surname and birthdays that I realized they were related and that their family name was “Epp.” In 2013, I would eventually track down their niece and grandniece in Lubeck, Germany, and learn they were respectively the youngest and oldest sisters of a large Mennonite family who were originally from Żuławy. While the sisters had a passing resemblance to one another, their age difference made it difficult to determine whether they were related.

Figure 5. My father, Dr. Otto Bruck, in Tiegenhof during the 1930’s with three friends, Suse Epp, Frau Grete Gramatzki (the “Schlummermutter”), and Idschi Epp; I would learn that Suse and Idschi were respectively the oldest and youngest sisters of a large Mennonite family

Among my father’s pictures, there are multiple images of him shown socializing with Idschi and Suse Epp. A particularly interesting sequence of photographs (Figure 6) was taken in Stutthof, then part of the Free City of Danzig [today: Sztutowo, Poland], when my father had clearly been invited to an Epp family get-together. From Idschi and Suse’s grandniece, I learned that one of their brothers was also pictured. His name was Gerhard Epp. Much more on him later.

Figure 6. A sequence of photos taken by my father in Stutthof during a social get-together at Gerhard Epp’s home; Gerhard Epp was one of Suse and Idschi Epp’s middle siblings

In researching the history of the Mennonites in the Vistula delta for this Blog post, I happened upon a series of articles written by a Dr. Ben Goossen, a Harvard University professor who has written extensively about Hitler’s Mennonite supporters. I was particularly intrigued in learning why people who were traditionally pacifists would be attracted to Hitler. In an article from October 2021 entitled “Hitler’s Mennonite Voters,” Dr. Goossen explains:

“Two factors made Danzig’s Mennonites particularly susceptible to Hitler’s project. First, members saw themselves as part of a global religious denomination they viewed as vulnerable to atheist communism. Since the eighteenth century, thousands of Mennonites had emigrated from the Danzig area to Imperial Russia. Although nationalist pressure convinced Danzig’s Mennonites to abandon pacifist teachings, they retained ties to pacifist coreligionists abroad. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Mennonites in the Soviet Union faced hardships. Their relatives in Danzig welcomed Hitler’s anti-Bolshevism and his antisemitism. The Führer blamed Soviet atrocities on a fictional cabal he labeled as ‘Judeo-Bolshevism.’”

Another researcher, Alicia Good, in an article entitled “Unanswered Questions: Mennonite Participation in the Holocaust,” reinforces what Goossen tells us in this regard:

“Rempel makes the argument that the destruction of Mennonite church and community life in the Soviet Republic under Stalin was so destructive that not only did Mennonites abandon their peace theology, but they perceived Hitler’s invading forces as their liberators, thereby setting the stage for them to actively aid the Nazi agenda. Rempel describes the turbulence of the Russian Revolution: ‘Driven by fear and the predation of violent anarchists, many Mennonites in South Russia set aside their pacifist tradition and formed self-defense units to protect their homes and families against bandits and even the Red Army’ It was during this period that many Mennonites chose to leave behind their beliefs in nonviolence in order to fight a losing battle against the communists, who were perceived as a threat both because of their atheistic stance and their desire to abolish private ownership of property. Rempel infers that it was these initial violent actions which set a tragic precedent laying the foundations for the next generation of Mennonites to take up arms alongside the Nazis.”

According to Goossen, the second reason Danzig Mennonites were attracted to Nazism is that it appealed to their sense of aggrieved nationalism:

“Those who had given up pacifism and chosen not to emigrate adopted a strong German identity. They lamented Germany’s defeat in the First World War, and they reviled the 1919 Versailles Treaty, which became a nationalist punching bag. This treaty assigned guilt for World War I to Germany. It required steep reparations. And it split Danzig from Germany. The nineteen Mennonite congregations in eastern Germany, with 13,000 attendees, had once formed a united group. Versailles divided them between Germany, Poland, and the Free City (where 6,000 lived). Mennonite farmers further resented Danzig’s customs union with Poland.” (Goossen, 2021)

According to Dr. Goossen, during the 1930’s Mennonites became involved at every level of the Nazi Party in Danzig. For example, the second highest-ranking Nazi in Danzig, Otto Anders, was a Mennonite. Mennonite men joined the paramilitary Sturmabteilung (SA) and the Schutzstaffel (SS), while Mennonite women joined Nazi women’s organizations. While Mennonite men who became officers in the Nazi army typically left the church, rank-and-file members normally retained their church affiliation. Faith leaders in the church also became deeply Nazified, and according to Goossens, leaders from five of the seven Mennonite churches in the Free City of Danzig were party members.

Mennonites, who numbered only 1.5 percent of Danzig’s population, had an outsized effect in the Free City of Danzig. According to Dr. Goossen, in May 1933, Mennonites helped deliver Hitler the only country-wide majority he achieved in a free election; in the Free City of Danzig their ballots pushed the Nazis over the 50 percent threshold in the popular vote.

As Goossen further notes, “The historically pacifist Christian church disproportionately influenced Nazi rule in the Free City. During World War II, members became enmeshed in the Holocaust, staffing concentration camps, and using slave labor on their farms and in their factories. Prominent Nazis believed most Mennonites were ‘Aryan.’”

As to how Menno Simons, the founder of the Mennonites, might have felt about the alliance future generations of his followers made with Nazism, Goossen observes the following: “Four hundred years later, the Mennonites who helped to bring Nazism to Danzig were a theologically transformed group. Prior to the 1933 election, one preacher praised National Socialism to a ministerial assembly as ‘the only party which we as Mennonites can support.’ This viewpoint would have been anathema to this preacher’s own ancestors. Church historian C. Henry Smith, observing from across the Atlantic, rightly assessed that Danzig’s Mennonites strayed from their roots. ‘Menno Simons would find himself ill at ease, today, among his namesakes,’ Smith wrote, ‘were he to return to his familiar haunts around the Baltic.’ A time-travelling Menno Smith would soon be ‘in all likelihood, in a concentration camp.’”

Dr. Goossen has explained why Mennonites become Nazi collaborators. However, readers may wonder, as I did, what attracted or impressed the Nazis about Mennonites? It was certainly not the faith’s historic pacifism which the Nazis surely would not have emphasized. Turning again to Goossen, “The main strategy church officials deployed to ingratiate themselves with top Nazis involved claiming racial purity. Mennonites had supposedly kept their bloodlines ‘Aryan’ through centuries of intermarriage. German racial scientists had tested Mennonite populations in Danzig and agreed with this assessment. Faith leaders further sought to prove heritage by harvesting centuries-old data from church record books.” Simply put, the Nazis considered Mennonites to be unusually pure specimens of Aryanism.

Mennonites elevated racial status ultimately drew them into the Nazi’s orbit of crimes against humanity, as Goossen explains: “Hitler waged World War II as a race war. His soldiers conquered vast swaths of Eastern Europe to provide expanded ‘living space’ for the German people, whom the Nazis considered a ‘master race.’ The invaders and local collaborators seized property from Poles, Jews, and others. They distributed this plunder to members of the German racial elite and forced non-Germans into subservient positions. In Danzig, many Mennonites benefitted from robbery and slavery. For instance, SS officers at the Stutthof concentration camp, built in 1939, formed an entire labor commando with 500 inmates to serve a Mennonite arms manufacturer, Gerhard Epp.”

So, we come full circle to the first mention of Gerhard Epp (Figure 7), the brother of my father’s friends, the Mennonite sisters Suse and Idschi Epp. But it would not be the last as he was among the most prominent Mennonite collaborators.

Figure 7. Gerhard Epp with his first wife Margaretha Epp née Klaassen and their Great Dane “Ajax”

Let me digress and briefly tell readers a little about the Stutthof concentration camp, located 21 miles (34 km) east of Danzig in the German-annexed Free City of Danzig. Opened in September of 1939, it was under the command of Heinrich Himmler’s SS and was at the time situated near the world’s largest Mennonite population. Stutthof was the first German concentration camp set up outside German borders in World War II, and was the last camp liberated by the Allies on the 9^th of May 1945. It was originally set up as a concentration camp but was later utilized as a death camp equipped with a gas chamber and crematoria. Initially it housed Polish and Russian political prisoners, but soon became the destination for thousands of deported Jews. It is estimated that between 63,000 and 65,000 prisoners of Stutthof concentration camp and its subcamps died because of murder, starvation, epidemics, extreme labor conditions, brutal and forced evacuations, and a lack of medical attention. Some 28,000 of those who died were Jews. In total, as many as 110,000 people were deported to the camp during its existence, working under what were often brutal conditions.

Quoting again from Alicia Good as to how the Mennonites in the Żuławy region benefited from the proximity of the Stutthof concentration camp: “The Mennonite farmers and business owners in the Danzig region were not only aware of the existence of the concentration camp but they derived personal profit from its operations. Mennonite farms paid the camps to receive field laborers without payment for their labor and often for longer than the allotted 8-hour shifts to maximize profits. Mennonites who owned factories, such as Gerhard Epp (Figure 8), utilized the low-cost labor from concentration camps; Epp’s factory actually manufactured firearms for the Nazi war effort. Other Mennonite businesses profited by building and supplying the camps themselves. Since Mennonite attempts to show more sympathetic treatment of the workers was prohibited by the Nazis on the threat of the sympathizer being imprisoned in the camps, Mennonite arguments that their usage was to show mercy to the prisoners was unsustainable. Likewise, it cannot be reasonably claimed that the large Mennonite community did not know about the camps since they were actively profiting from this activity. Neither the presence of tens of thousands of people subjected to horrific conditions, nor the billowing smoke and ashes of the crematoria could have been denied by any Mennonites at Danzig or Stutthof who wanted to know the truth of what was happening in their backyard. Moreover, the presence of ethnically Mennonite names on the list of prison guards who were later convicted for their work at Stutthof demonstrates that at least some members of the Mennonite community themselves committed atrocities within the camp.”

Figure 8. Leadership of the Mennonite-owned Gerhard Epp firm

In another article written by Dr. Ben Goossen in 2020 entitled “The Real History of the Mennonites and the Holocaust,” there is further mention of Gerhard Epp. From this article, we learn more about him through Goossen’s story of Mennonite war refugee Heinrich Hamm’s antisemitic and anti-Bolshevik involvement with Nazism. Some background about Hamm provides the framework for a further discussion of Gerhard Epp.

Heinrich Hamm was born in czarist Russia in 1894. During WWI he was a medic, though abandoned pacifism and took up arms against the communists during the Russian Revolution. Following the Bolshevik victory, Hamm lost his farm near the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhe, famous these days for the site of fighting between the Russians and the Ukrainians around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Following Stalin’s rise to power, Hamm moved to Dnepropetrovsk, and remained there following the Nazi invasion of 1941. However, with Germany’s reversal of fortunes on the Eastern Front, by early 1944 Hamm and his family abandoned the Ukraine and eventually settled in Stutthof, which as previously mentioned had a large and long-standing Mennonite population. Hamm and his family were among the first Mennonite refugees relocated from the Ukraine to Nazi-occupied Poland.

As Goossen notes, it was in Stutthof that Hamm met Gerhard Epp: “In Stutthof, Hamm became friendly with a prominent Mennonite businessman named Gerhard Epp. Prior to the First World War, Epp had worked in Russia, and he remained greatly interested in Mennonite coreligionists from the Soviet Union. Epp offered Hamm a job in a large machine factory he owned and operated—the same establishment that Hamm would later mention in the memo he wrote for MCC [i.e., Mennonite Central Committee] (see below), claiming he was coerced into providing cheap labor for greedy German war profiteers.” (Figures 9a-b)

Figure 9a. The administrative office of Gerhard Epp’s factory in Stutthof where Heinrich Hamm worked from 1944 to early 1945; hundreds of inmates from the nearby Stutthof concentration camp performed slave labor for this Mennonite-owned establishment, which produced munitions for the war

Figure 9b. Gerhard Epp’s factory in Stutthof where munitions for the war effort were produced using hundreds of Jewish inmates form the nearby Stutthof concentration camp

Goossen later goes on to add, “Gerhard Epp served as a general contractor for camp [i.e., Stutthof], from which he leased hundreds of prisoners to produce armaments in his factory. Jews and other inmates were the true cheap labor. Hamm helped oversee their slavery and murder.”

Following the end of World War II, Mennonite leaders in Europe and North America sought to craft a narrative that emphasized how brutally and oppressively their denomination had been treated by the Nazis. The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the denomination’s premier aid organization of which Heinrich Hamm was an employee and spokesperson, reported in various memos to bodies like the United Nations that faith leaders were unaware of Nazi collaboration of refugees including the involvement of Heinrich Hamm. The following is drawn from a version of Hamm’s wartime experiences: “It is quite an erroneous idea to think that all Mennonites were brought to Poland to be settled on farms. I and my family came to a camp in Preussisch-Stargard in the Danzig area. Immediately representatives of various works and concerns came to fetch cheap labour. I had to work in a machine factory where I remained until the end of the war. Besides the four Mennonite families many Ukrainians, Frenchmen, and Poles worked there also. There was no difference in the way these various national groups were treated.” (Goossen 2020)

As Goossen goes on to note, “The efforts by Mennonite Central Committee to portray refugees like Heinrich Hamm as victims of Nazism were largely successful.” Declarations by the MCC officers as well as by the migrants themselves convinced agents of the United Nations that most Mennonites had not wound up in Germany of their own accord. As a result, the MCC succeeded in relocating most of their refugees under its care with United Nations assistance to places in West Germany or overseas, mostly in Canada and Paraguay.

Goossen has laboriously sifted through thousands of pages of historic documents scattered across half a dozen archives in four countries to piece together Hamm’s past and debunk his story; readers are referred to Dr. Goossen’s article for more details but suffice it to say that Hamm as an MCC employee and spokesperson knew very well how and why Mennonites had collaborated with the Nazis and how complicit they were in the murder of Jewish concentration camp detainees. As Goossen notes: “What is clear is that the Mennonite-owned factory in Stutthof was a place of terror. For hundreds of prisoners enslaved there, the factory’s Mennonite managers were responsible for much of that terror. It is also clear that after the war, Hamm tried to distance himself from this responsibility. He instead emphasized the suffering of his own family, which fled Stutthof in April 1945. As they crossed the Baltic under cover of night, a Soviet submarine torpedoed their ship. Hamm praised God for allowing the damaged vessel to make it to Denmark. The family remained in Denmark for the next eighteen months. Hamm emphasized his gratitude for the comfort he found during these lean times through worshipping with fellow Mennonite refugees and other Christians.” (Goossen 2020)

As I related in Post 5, my father’s friends, Idschi and Suse Epp, also escaped to Denmark as the Russians were approaching Tiegenhof. According to Gerhard Epp’s descendants whom I met in 2013 in Lubeck, Germany, Suse Epp died in Denmark in 1941 at the age of 71. Gerhard Epp’s daughter by his first wife who died in 1939 at the age of 44 was Rita Schuetze née Epp (Figure 10); at the time I met her in 2013 she was already suffering from severe dementia. However, Rita’s half-brother and Gerhard Epp’s stepson, Hans Joachim “Hajo” Wiebe (Figures 11-12), is twelve years younger than his sister and has a splendid memory; he shared some compelling family stories.

Figure 10. Gerhard Epp’s daughter, Rita Schuetze née Epp, by his marriage to his first wife Margaretha Epp née Klaassen

Figure 11. Gerhard Epp’s stepson and Rite Schuetze’s half-brother, Hans Joachim “Hajo” Wiebe, in 2013, source of identifications and Epp family stories

Figure 12. Hajo Wiebe in 2013 surrounded from left to right by his great-niece Paula Schuetze, his partner Gunda Nickel, and his niece Angelika Schuetze

Of particular interest is the story Hajo Wiebe related of the role that Gerhard and Rita Epp played in helping Prussian citizens and German soldiers escape towards the end of WWII as the Russians were encircling Stutthof. Danzig to the west and Elbing [today: Elblag, Poland] to the south had already been captured by the Russians, so the only way Germans could still flee the area was to make their way across the frozen “Frisches Haff,” or Vistula Lagoon (Figure 13), to a narrow, sandy spit (Vistula Spit); here, they could be picked up by German boats cruising the Baltic Sea looking for fleeing Germans, then taken first to the Hel Peninsula and eventually to Germany. Using Gerhard’s mechanical expertise, he and Rita drove in his Mercedes all around the area south of Stutthof destroying the flood control dams previous generations of Mennonites had built and inundated the naturally marshy area to slow the advance of the Russians, allowing Germans an opportunity to take flight. However, even with the area flooded, travel across the Vistula Lagoon was fraught with danger as Russian bombers were always strafing escaping Germans who stood out against the frozen landscape. The exact date of Gerhard and Rita’s own get-away on one of the last German ships leaving from the Vistula Spit is recorded in family annals as May 6, 1945.

Figure 13. Photo taken by my father during the 1930’s of a sleigh ride party in Tolkemit, Prussia [today: Tolkmicko, Poland], located on the Vistula Lagoon

In closing I would merely say that thanks to the recent work of scholars like Ben Goossen revelations are finally coming to light of the role Mennonites played in the crimes of National Socialism. These crimes run counter to the common belief about this Christian denomination that they are historically pacifists. What led me to uncovering the truth was my father’s friendship with two of Gerhard Epp’s sisters and a casual encounter my father had with Gerhard prior to the war.

REFERENCES

Good, Alicia. “Unanswered Questions: Mennonite Participation in the Holocaust.”

Goossen, Ben. “How to Catch a Mennonite Nazi.” Anabaptist Historians, 29 October 2020, https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2020/10/29/how-to-catch-a-mennonite-nazi/.

Goossen, Ben. “The Real History of the Mennonites and the Holocaust.” Tablet, 16 November 2020, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/heinrich-hamm-mennonite-holocaust.

Goossen, Ben. “How A Nazi Death Squad Viewed Mennonites.” Anabaptist Historians, 16 January 2021, https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2021/01/16/how-a-nazi-death-squad-viewed-mennonites/

Goossen, Ben. “Hitler’s Mennonite Voters.” Anabaptist Historians, 7 October 2021, https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2021/10/07/hitlers-mennonite-voters/

“Mennonites.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonites.

Neff, Christian and Richard D. Thiessen. “Wladyslaw IV Vasa, King of Poland (1595-1648).” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. March 2015. Web. 11 Aug 2022. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wladyslaw_IV_Vasa,_King_of_Poland_(1595-1648)&oldid=140874.

“The History of Polish Mennonites.” Gdanski Trips, https://www.gdansktrips.com/the-history-of-polish-mennonites/.

“Vistula delta Mennonites.” Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vistula_delta_Mennonites.

POST 120: FAMILY PHOTOS, DISCOVERING & DECODING THEM

Note: In this post, I discuss “stashes” of family photos I’ve uncovered, and the efforts I’ve undertaken with the help of near and distant relatives to identify people in some of those images even absent captions. In a few instances the photos are significant because they illustrate individuals renowned or notorious in history. In other cases, a good deal of sleuthing was required, including comparing the pictures of people in captioned versus uncaptioned images. On other occasions, I recognized portrayals of family members I knew growing up. And, in rare instances, I was able to determine a photographed person based on an educated guess.

POST 17: SURVIVING IN BERLIN IN THE TIME OF HITLER: MY UNCLE FEDOR’S STORY

POST 31: WITNESS TO HISTORY, “PROOF” OF HITLER’S DEATH IN MY UNCLE FEDOR’S OWN WORDS

POST 33: FINDING GREAT-UNCLE WILLY’S GRANDCHILDREN

POST 34: MARGARETH BERLINER, WRAITH OR BEING?

POST 41: DR. OTTO BERGER & OTHER “SILENT HEROES” WHO HELPED MY UNCLE DR. FEDOR BRUCK SURVIVE THE NAZI REGIME

POST 45: HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE: RECALLING MY PAULY ANCESTORS

POST 56: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE AND FAMILY BY THE PATERFAMILIAS, DR. JOSEF PAULY

POST 65: GERMANY’S LAST EMPEROR, WILHELM II, PICTURED WITH UNKNOWN FAMILY MEMBER

POST 99: THE ASTONISHING DISCOVERY OF SOME OF DR. WALTER WOLFGANG BRUCK’S PERSONAL EFFECTS

POST 100: DR. WALTER WOLFGANG BRUCK, DENTIST TO GERMANY’S LAST IMPERIAL FAMILY

The antisemitic and racist laws enacted by the Nazis short-circuited my father’s career as a dentist. Pursuant to his formal training at the University of Berlin, followed by an apprenticeship in Danzig (today: Gdansk, Poland), my father, Dr. Otto Bruck (Figure 1), opened his own dental practice in Tiegenhof in the Free City of Danzig (today: Nowy Dwór Gdański, Poland) in April 1932; by April 1937, my father was forced to flee Tiegenhof, and by March 1938 he had left Germany altogether, clearly seeing the handwriting on the wall. As an unmarried man with few family ties, this was an option open to him. My father would never again legally practice dentistry.

Figure 1. My father Dr. Otto Bruck as a dental apprentice in Danzig in 1931

My father considered the five years he spent in Tiegenhof to be the halcyon days of his life. Judging from the numerous photos of his days spent there, including those illustrating his active social life, his professional acquaintances, and recreational pursuits, I would be hard-pressed to argue otherwise.

I originally intended in this post to briefly discuss with readers the history of Polish Mennonites because Tiegenhof, the town where my father had his dental practice, was largely Mennonite when my father lived there. The Mennonites arrived in the Żuławy Wiślane region (i.e. “the Vistula fens,” plural from “żuława”), the alluvial delta area of the Vistula in the northern part of Poland, in the 17^th century. They came to escape religious persecution in the Netherlands and Flanders. I have instead decided to devote the subsequent Blog post to discussing the history of Polish Mennonites, and briefly explore how the Mennonites, who are committed to pacifism, inexplicably, became strong adherents of Hitler. I intend in the following post to use photos from my father’s collection to focus on one Mennonite family, the Epp family, with whom my father was acquainted and friends with. They have a dark history related to their connection to the Nazi regime.

Getting back on track. Curious whether the office building where my father had both his dental practice and residence still existed (Figure 2), in 2013 my wife Ann Finan and I visited Nowy Dwór Gdański. We quickly oriented ourselves to the layout of the town, and promptly determined that his office and residential building no longer stands. I would later learn that the structure had been destroyed by Russian bombers when Nazi partisans shot at them from this location.

Figure 2. The office building in Tiegenhof in the Free City of Danzig in October 1934 where my father had his dental practice and residence, which no longer exists. Note the swastikas festooning the building

During our initial visit to Nowy Dwór Gdański, we were directed to the local museum, the Muzeum Żuławskie. The museum docent the day we visited spoke English, so I was able to communicate to her that my Jewish father had once been a dentist in the town and had taken many pictures when living there of Tiegenhof and the Żuławy Wiślane region. I offered to make the photos available, which I in fact did upon my return to the States.

In 2014, my wife Ann and I were invited to Nowy Dwór Gdański for an in-depth tour and a translated talk. Naturally, during my presentation, I used many of my father’s photos. There was a question-and-answer period following my talk, and one Polish gentleman of Jewish descent commented on how fortunate I am to have so many photographs of my father, family, and friends. I agreed. In the case of this gentleman, he remarked he has only seven family pictures, which I think is often true for descendants of Holocaust survivors. In my instance, my father’s seven albums of surviving photos, covering from the 1910’s until 1948 when my father came to America, are the reason I started researching and writing about my family.

Given the importance pictures have played in the stories I research and write about, and the development of this Blog, I thought I would highlight a few of the more interesting and historically significant pictures in my father’s collection, as well as discuss other “stashes” of photos I’ve uncovered. Obviously, it’s impossible and would be of scant interest to readers to discuss all the photos.

My father was a witness to the rise of National Socialism from the window of his dental office in Tiegenhof. On May 1, 1933, my father photographed a regiment of “SA Sturmabteilung,” literally “Storm Detachment,” known also as “Brownshirts” or “Storm Troopers,” marching down the nearby Schlosserstrasse, carrying Nazi flags, framed by the “Kreishaus” (courthouse) on one side. (Figure 3)

Figure 3. Father’s photograph of Nazis marching down Schlosserstrasse in Tiegenhof on May 1, 1933, taken from his dental office

Again, a year later to the day, on May 1, 1934, my father documented a parade of veterans and Brownshirts following the same path down Schlosserstrasse led by members of the Stahlhelm (“Steel Helmet”), a veterans’ organization that arose after the German defeat of WWI. (Figures 4a-b) In 1934, the Stahlhelme were incorporated into the SA Sturmabteilung, the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party.

Figure 4a. A year later May 1, 1934, Nazi Storm Troopers and WWI veterans again marching down Schlosserstrasse in Tiegenhof

Figure 4b. WWI veterans, “Stahlhelme,” at the head of the Nazi parade on May 1, 1934, in Tiegenhof

Then again, the following year, on April 5, 1935, there was another Nazi parade. On this occasion Field Marshall Hermann Göring visited and participated in the march through Tiegenhof. The day prior, on April 4, 1935, Hermann Göring had visited the Free City of Danzig to influence the upcoming April 7^th parliamentary elections in favor of Nazi candidates. The visit to Tiegenhof the next day was merely an extension of this campaign to influence the Free City’s parliamentary elections. In the photos that my father took on April 5^th there can be seen a banner which in German reads “Danzig ist Deutsch wenn es nationalsozialistisch ist,” translated as “Danzig is German when it is National Socialist.” (Figures 5a-b) It appears that along with everyday citizens of Tiegenhof and surrounding communities, members of the Hitler Youth, known in German as Hitlerjugend, also lined the street in large number.

Figure 5a. Nazi Field Marshall Hermann Göring standing in his open-air limousine on March 5, 1935, as he parades through Tiegenhof

Figure 5b. A Nazi banner reading “Danzig ist Deutsch wenn es nationalsozialistisch ist” (translated as “Danzig is German when it is National Socialist”) hung across the street that Field Marshall Hermann Göring traveled down on March 5, 1935, as he paraded through Tiegenhof

Students of history know about Hermann Göring but for those who are unfamiliar with him, let me say a few words. He would evolve to become the second-highest ranking Nazi after the Führer. Unlike many of Hitler’s sycophants and lieutenants, Göring was a veteran of WWI, having been an ace fighter pilot, a recipient of the prestigious Blue Max award, and a commander of the Jagdgeschwader a fighter group that had previously been led by the renowned Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. Göring was drawn to Hitler for his oratorical skills and became an early member of the Nazi Party. He participated with Hitler in the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, during which he was wounded in the groin. During his recovery he was regularly given morphine to which he became addicted for the remainder of his life.

Göring oversaw the creation of the Gestapo, an organization he later let Heinrich Himmler run. He was best known as the commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, although after the Nazi victory over France, he was made Reichsmarschall, head of all the German armed forces. He amassed great wealth for himself by stealing paintings, sculptures, jewelry, cash, and valuable artifacts not only from Jews and people whom Nazis had murdered but also by looting museums of defeated nations.

Towards the end of the war, following an awkward attempt to have Hitler appoint him head of the Third Reich and thereby drawing Hitler’s ire, he turned himself in to the Americans rather than risk being captured by the Russians. He eventually was indicted and stood trial at Nuremberg. The once obese Göring, who’d once weighed more than three hundred pounds, was a shadow of his former self at his trial. Expectedly, he was convicted on all counts, and sentenced to death by hanging. His request to be executed by firing squad was denied, but he was able to avoid the hangman’s noose by committing suicide using a potassium cyanide pill that had inexplicably been smuggled to him by an American soldier.

My uncle, Dr. Fedor Bruck, has been the subject of multiple previous posts (i.e., Post 17, Post 31, Post 41). My uncle, like my father was a dentist. He was educated at the University of Breslau (today: Wrocław, Poland) and had his dental practice in Liegnitz, Germany (today: Legnica, Poland) until around 1933 when he was forced to give it up due to the “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” passed by the Nazi regime on the 7^th April 1933, two months after Adolf Hitler had attained power. My uncle’s life is of interest because he miraculously survived the entire war hidden in Berlin by friends and non-Jewish family members. His story has also been of interest because he counted among his friends a woman named Käthe Heusermann-Reiss, who had been his dental assistant in Liegnitz.

Following the loss of his business my uncle relocated to Berlin hoping the anonymity of the larger city would afford him the possibility to continue working under the auspices of another dentist, which it did for a time. Käthe Heusermann also moved to Berlin and opportunistically landed herself a job as a dental assistant to Hitler’s American-trained dentist, Dr. Hugo Blaschke. In this capacity, she was always present when Dr. Blaschke treated Hitler. Following the end of the war, she was interrogated by the Russians and asked to identify dental remains which had been recovered in a burn pit outside the Reichstag. The bridgework performed by Dr. Blaschke on Hitler was outmoded so Käthe was easily able to recognize Blaschke’s work and Hitler’s teeth, a fact Stalin kept hidden from the world. Following Russia’s capture of Berlin at the end of the war, my uncle who’d temporarily been hiding in Käthe’s apartment learned from her that Hitler had committed suicide. This dangerous information resulted in Käthe being imprisoned in the USSR for many years, and my uncle barely escaping the same fate. Surviving among my father’s photographs is a noteworthy picture taken in Liegnitz of my uncle and Käthe Heusermann. Though uncaptioned, I have been able to compare it to known pictures of Käthe to confirm it is her. (Figure 6)

Figure 6. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck in his dental office in Liegnitz, Germany with his dental assistant Käthe Heusermann-Reiss who would later go on to become the dental assistant for Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist. Following the war, she would identify Hitler’s dental remains, a fact the Russians hid for many years

As I have told readers in multiple earlier posts my father was an active sportsman, and an excellent amateur tennis player. Among my father’s belongings I retain multiple of the prizes he was awarded for his achievements, including many newspaper clippings documenting his results. In August 1936, my father attended an International Tennis Tournament in Zoppot, Germany (today: Sopot, Poland), located a mere 32 miles from Tiegenhof. During his attendance there, he photographed the great German tennis player, Heinrich Ernst Otto “Henner” Henkel (Figure 7), whose biggest success was his singles title at the 1937 French Championships. Interestingly, Henkel learned to play tennis at the “Rot-Weiss” Tennis Club in Berlin. My father was a member of the “Schwarz-Weiss” Tennis Club in Berlin, so perhaps my father and Henner played one another and were acquainted. Henner Henkel was killed in action during WWII on the Eastern Front at Voronezh during the Battle of Stalingrad while serving in the Wehrmacht, the German Army.

Figure 7. The famous German tennis player, Henner Henkel, in August 1936 at the International Tennis Tournament in Zoppot, Germany

As I mentioned above, my father left Germany for good in March 1938. He was headed to stay with his sister Susanne and brother-in-law, then living in Fiesole, a small Tuscan town outside Florence, Italy. During his sojourn in Italy, before eventually joining the French Foreign Legion later in 1938, my father visited some of the tourist attractions in Italy, including the Colosseum in Rome. One of the images that my father took there has always stood out to me because of the paucity of people around what is today a very crowded and visited venue. (Figure 8)

Figure 8. The Colosseum in Rome in August 1938

My father’s collection of photos number in the hundreds but I’ve chosen to highlight only certain ones because they illustrate a few personages or places that may be known to readers. My father’s collection is merely one among several caches of images I was able to track down through family and acquaintances. I want to call attention to a few pictures of family members that grabbed my attention from these other hoards.

In Post 33, I explained to readers how I tracked down the grandchildren of my grandfather’s brother, Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck (1872-1952). Based on family correspondence, I knew my great-uncle Willy wound up in Barcelona after escaping Germany in the 1930’s and theorized his children and grandchildren may have continued to live there. Official vital documents I procured during a visit there convinced me otherwise, that at least his son returned to Germany after WWII. I was eventually able to track down both of my great-uncle’s grandchildren, that’s to say my second cousins Margarita and Antonio Bruck, to outside of Munich, Germany. (Figure 9) I have met both, and they’ve shared their family pictures, which again number in the hundreds.

Figure 9. My second cousins Margarita and Antonio Bruck from near Munich, Germany in May 2022, source of many family photos

The cache included many images of family members, but there are two pictures I was particularly thrilled to obtain copies of. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (1895-1982), previously discussed, fought in WWI on the Eastern Front. (Figure 10) Among the family memorabilia I retain is a postcard he sent to his aunt Franziska Bruck on the 3^rd of September 1916 coincidentally from the Ukraine announcing his promotion to Sergeant. (Figures 11a-b) The ongoing conflict between the Ukraine and Russia makes me realize how long the Ukraine has been a staging area for wars.

Figure 10. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck in his WWI uniform

Figure 11a. The front side of a postcard my uncle Fedor mailed to his aunt Franziska Bruck during WWI from the Eastern Front in Ukraine on the 3rd of September 1916

Figure 11b. The backside of the postcard my uncle mailed from the Ukraine on the 3rd of September 1916

Regular readers may recall that my father was born in Ratibor, Germany (today: Racibórz, Poland), in Upper Silesia. The family hotel there, owned through three generations between roughly 1850 and the early 1920’s, was known as the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel. Among my second cousins’ photos is a rare image of the entrance to this hotel, which no longer stands. (Figure 12)

Figure 12. The entrance to the family hotel in Ratibor, Germany (today: Racibórz, Poland), Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel circa. 1914. The hotel is no longer standing

I introduced readers to two of my grandfather’s renowned sisters, my great-aunts Franziska and Elsbeth Bruck, way back in Post 15. Their surviving personal papers are archived at the Stadtmuseum in Spandau, the westernmost of the twelve boroughs of Berlin; these files have been another source of family photographs. Franziska Bruck was an eminent florist, and it is reputed that one of her clients was the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II (1859-1941). One undated photograph taken in my great-aunt’s flower shop shows Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886-1954), the last Crown Princess of Germany and Prussia, who was married to Kaiser Wilhelm II’s son, Wilhelm, the German Crown Prince. (Figure 13)

Figure 13. Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886-1954), the last Crown Princess of Germany and Prussia, married to Kaiser Wilhelm II’s son, visiting my great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s flower school in Berlin

My second cousins Margarita and Antonio Bruck introduced me to one of my third cousins, Andreas “Andi” Pauly, also living part-time in Munich, Germany. (Figure 14) The Pauly branch of my extended family, which originally hailed from Posen, Germany (today: Poznan, Poland) has been the subject of multiple blog posts, including Post 45 on Pauly family Holocaust victims and reflections in Post 56 by the paterfamilias, Dr. Josef Pauly (1843-1916), Andi Pauly’s great-grandfather. Josef Pauly and his wife Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (1844-1927) had eight daughters and one son born between 1870 and 1885; thanks to photos provided by Andi Pauly, not only was I able to obtain images of all nine children but also some of Pauly cousins I knew of by name.

Figure 14. My third cousin Andreas “Andi” Pauly, source of many family photos

Again, it is not my intention to boggle readers’ minds by showing all these photos but I want to focus on one particular picture I originally obtained from Andi Pauly that was the subject of Post 65. The photo was taken in Doorn, Netherlands on the 28^th of May 1926, and shows a then-unknown Bruck family member standing amidst a group that includes the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, his second wife, Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz (1887-1947), and her youngest daughter by her first marriage, Princess Henriette of Schönaich-Carolath (1918-1972), and the Royal Family’s entourage. (Figure 15) At the time I wrote Post 65, I was unable to determine who the Bruck family member was, nor whom the initials “W.B.” stood for.

Figure 15. Postcard of the last German Emperor Wilhelm II, his second wife Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz (1887-1947), and her youngest daughter by her first marriage, Princess Henriette of Schönaich-Carolath (1918-1972), taken in 1926 in Doorn, the Netherlands. A then-unknown member of the Bruck family is surrounded by the Royal Family’s entourage

Fast forward. In early 2021, I was astonished to receive an email from a Dr. Tilo Wahl, a doctor from Köpenick in Berlin, who stumbled upon my Blog and contacted me. He shared copies of the extensive collection of personal papers and photographs he had copied from the grandson of one of my esteemed ancestors, Dr. Walter Bruck (1872-1937), from Breslau, Germany (today: Wrocław, Poland) Again, this relative and my findings related to Dr. Walter Bruck have been chronicled in multiple earlier posts. The very same image discussed in the previous paragraph I had obtained from Andi Pauly was included among Dr. Bruck’s images. It was then I realized the unidentified Bruck family member standing with Kaiser Wilhelm II, his family, and his entourage was none other than Dr. Bruck’s second wife, Johanna Elisabeth Margarethe Gräbsch (1884-1963). (Figure 16) I discussed these findings in Post 100.

Figure 16. Same photograph as Figure 15 that Dr. Walter Bruck took of his wife Johanna and the Kaiser’s entourage in September 1925 with identifications (photo courtesy of Dr. Tilo Wahl)

Dr. Walter Bruck’s collection of papers and photos yielded images of multiple family members about whom I was aware, including one of Dr. Walter Bruck’s three siblings. However, one that stands out amongst all these photos was the one of Dr. Walter Bruck’s grandfather Dr. Jonas Julius Bruck (1813-1883). (Figure 17) Dr. Jonas Bruck is buried along with his son, Dr. Julius Bruck, in the restored tombs at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław, Poland. (Figure 18) Dr. Jonas Bruck was a brother of my great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863), the original owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor, Germany (today: Racibórz, Poland) I previously discussed.

Figure 17. Dr. Walter Bruck’s grandfather, Dr. Jonas Julius Bruck (1813-1883)

Figure 18. The restored gravestones of Dr. Jonas Julius Bruck, his son Dr. Julius Bruck, and their respective wives interred in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław, Poland

In various places, I found fleeting references that Dr. Walter Bruck and Johanna Elisabeth Margarethe Gräbsch had both previously been married. I eventually found historic documents, my gold standard, confirming this. Using educating guesses based on incomplete captions and estimating the timeframe a few pictures in Dr. Walter Bruck’s collection were taken, that’s to say during WWI and before, I was even able to find pictures of both of their previous spouses among his photos.

Dr. Walter Bruck’s album also contain multiple pictures of his daughter, Renate Bruck (1926-2013). She was married three times, with images of two of her husbands included. Thanks to Post 99 Renate’s twin daughters, whom I knew about but had no expectation of ever finding since they’d left England years ago, instead found me. From this, I learned that Walter Bruck’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren live in Sydney, Australia.

I suspect the story I’m about to relate may resonate with some readers, the topic of missing or incomplete captions on pictures of one’s ancestors. Let me provide some context. During the time that my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck was a dentist in Liegnitz, Germany he carried on an illicit affair with a married non-Jewish woman, Irmgard Lutze (Figure 19), with whom he had two children, my first cousins Wolfgang (Figure 20) and Wera Lutze. During the Nazi era time when it was prohibited and dangerous for an Aryan to have an affair with a Jew, the cuckolded husband nonetheless raised the children as his own. Therefore, they had the Lutze rather than the Bruck surname.

I knew both first cousins well, though both are now deceased. In any case, included among my cousin’s photographs was one that left me perplexed. It showed three generations, the eldest of whom was identified as “Tante Grete Brauer (mother’s sister).” (Figures 21a-b) The “Brauer” surname reverberated only because when perusing my great-aunt Elsbeth Bruck’s papers at the Stadtmuseum I discovered multiple letters written by Brauers. At the time I had no idea this represented another branch of my extended family.

Figure 19. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck standing next to Irmgard Lutze, the married Aryan woman with whom he fathered two children

Figure 20. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s now-deceased son and my first cousin, Wolfgang Lutze (1928-2014), in Hurghada, Egypt in October 2005

Figure 21a. Photo found among my first cousin’s pictures of my grandmother’s sister, Margarethe Brauer née Berliner (1872-1942) who was murdered in the Holocaust

Figure 21b. Caption on backside of Figure 21a.

As I discussed in Post 34, I would eventually work out that “Tante Grete Brauer” was my grandmother Else Bruck née Berliner’s sister, Margarethe Brauer née Berliner (1872-1942) who was murdered in the Holocaust. Prior to finding this isolated picture of my great-aunt, I was completely unaware of her existence. I’ve repeatedly told readers that my father had scant interest in family and rarely spoke of them to me growing up, so I was not surprised by this discovery.

I will give readers one last example of caches of family photos I’ve been able to recover by mentioning my third cousin once-removed, Larry Leyser (Figure 22), who very sadly passed away in 2021 due to complications from Covid. Over the years, Larry and I often shared family documents and photos. Several years ago, he borrowed and scanned a large collection of photos from one of his cousins named Michael Maleckar which he shared with me. As with any such trove, I found a few gems, including one of my own parents at a party they attended in Manhattan the early 1950’s. My father literally “robbed the cradle” when he married my mother as she was 22 years younger than him. This age difference is particularly pronounced in the one picture I show here. (Figure 23)

Figure 22. My third cousin once-removed, Larry Leyser, another source of many family photos

Figure 23. From left to right, my father (Dr. Otto Bruck), my mother (Paulette Bruck), my uncle (Dr. Fedor Bruck), and one of father’s cousins (Franz Kayser) at a party in Manhattan in the early 1950’s

I will merely say, in closing, that I am aware of other caches of family photos that unfortunately I have been unable to lay my hands on. I completely understand that some of my cousins are busy leading their lives and don’t share my passion for family history, so they are excused. One other thought. The longer I work on my family’s history, the more I realize how much I regret not talking with my relatives when they were alive about some of our ancestors as my stories would be broader and would then be grounded in truths rather veiled in so much conjecture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sussman, Jeffrey. Holocaust Fighters: Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers. Roman & Littlefield, 2021.

POST 114, POSTSCRIPT—EDWARD HANS LINDENBERGER, A DISTANT COUSIN: DID HE SURVIVE BUCHENWALD?—HIS FATE UNCOVERED

Note: In this postscript to Post 114, I discuss supplementary documents I obtained from The Arolsen Archives that tragically confirm precisely when and where my distant cousin Edward Hans Lindenberger died.

In Post 114, I posed the rhetorical question of whether my remote cousin Edward Hans Lindenberger, born on the 27^th of July 1925 in Bielitz, Poland [today: Bielsko-Biała, Poland], might somehow have survived the barbaric, brutal, and inhumane internment in a Nazi Konzentrationslager (abbreviated in German as KL or KZ). As I explained to readers in my original post, while researching various Holocaust databases, I discovered an online 10-page file on him in The Arolsen Archives. From this I learned or confirmed a few things, namely, that Edward Lindenberger had survived at least through the 27^th of January 1945; that he had been interned in KL Mittelbau-Dora, formerly a subcamp of KL Buchenwald; that his occupation in the KL was “mechaniker,” a mechanic; and that his father was the merchant, “Kaufmann. Mauricius L.,” and his mother “Alzbieta L. geb. Strausz.” I reviewed the contents of this file in my original post.

What the materials failed to indicate is what might have happened to Edward Lindenberger following his arrival in KL Mittelbau-Dora. As implausible as it seems, I held out hope that he might have outlasted the unsurvivable. Knowing he’d arrived there in January of 1945, likely transferred in pitiable condition from KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, but aware that US troops had freed the inmates who’d not been evacuated by the Nazis on the 11^th of April 1945, there seemed a very remote possibility he might have hung on long enough to be rescued. Historic accounts describing the final hectic days of inmates who’d been incarcerated in Mittelbau-Dora and the Nazis’ efforts at ensuring none survived made this improbable; still, I was determined to ascertain his fate, if possible. This is an ongoing attempt to document the fate and remember my ancestors, as unimportant as their lives may seem to some.

The Arolsen Archives website implied additional documentation on the Häftlingen, inmates, at the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps might be available. I sent them an email inquiring about such records with scant expectations that relevant materials might still exist. Thus, it came as a surprise when after several weeks The Arolsen Archives sent me 50 pages of supplementary materials, including six lists with Edward Lindenberger’s name!

The first ten pages of the file include a series of letters from 1974 and 1980. A letter dated the 7th of Febuary 1974 was sent from the Staatsanwaltschaft, the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Köln, Germany (Cologne, Germany) to the International Tracing Service of the Red Cross (ITRC), predecessor of The Arolsen Archives. (Figure 1) In this letter, the Public Prosecutor’s Office attached a typed list with the names of some prisoners who died at the Rottleberode subcamp (KZ-Außenlager Rottleberode – Wikipedia) of KL Mittelbau-Dora, requesting any documents related to these individuals. (Figure 2) The names were derived from Todesbücher, death books, presumably from Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora. In the case of Edward Lindenberger, his name was found in Totenbuch Nummer 7931, Death Book Number 7931; it included his name, a prisoner number, “Häftlingsnummer 105715 Jude,” and date of birth, 27^th of July 1925, confirming this was my distant cousin; this list established that Edward never reached his 20^th birthday as I surmised in Post 114. On this list, Edward is recorded as having died on the 29^th of March 1945 (more on this below).

Figure 1. Letter dated the 7th of February 1974 from the Public Prosecutor in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the International Tracing Service of the Red Cross, later The Arolsen Archives, to which was attached a list of Jews who died at a subcamp of KL Mittelbau-Dora named Rottleberode

Figure 2. One of several pages attached to the Public Prosecutor from North Rhine-Westphalia’s letter of the 7th of February 1974 with the list of internees who died in Mittelbau-Dora, including Edward Lindenberger’s name, date of birth, and date of death

During WWII, the Rottleberode subcamp (KZ-Außenlager Rottleberode – Wikipedia) in which Edward Lindenberger was interned was initially a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp from March 1944 until October 1944, at which time it became a subcamp of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, along with another subcamp in Stempeda. Following Edward’s arrival in Rottleberode (KZ-Außenlager Rottleberode – Wikipedia) he along with the other concentration camp inmates appear to have been tasked with assembling components of the Junkers Ju 88 and Junkers Ju 188 aircraft in an expanded gypsum cave that had been converted into an underground factory for the production of these aircraft and placed under the command of the SS. Conditions, as I explained in Post 114, were brutal.

A second undated handwritten list included among the documents sent to me by The Arolsen Archives revealed Edward Lindenberger’s name as one of the prisoners who died on the 29^th of March 1945 in Rottleberode (KZ-Außenlager Rottleberode – Wikipedia). (Figure 3) His prisoner number on this list, namely 105715, coincides with the number on the attachment to the letter dated the 7^th of February 1974, discussed above.

Figure 3. Undated handwritten list with Edward Lindenberger’s name, date of birth, date of death, showing he died in subcamp Rottleberode (top of the last column)

A third list, this one dated the 30^th of March 1945, confirmed that Edward Lindenberger died at 5am the preceding day of “Pleurit.de.” (Figures 4a-b) More on this below.

Figure 4a. The first part of a list dated the 30th of March 1945 with the names, dates of birth, dates of death, and cause of death of internees who died in the days preceding the 30th of March

Figure 4b. The second part of a list dated the 30th of March 1945 with Edward Lindenberger’s nams, date of birth, date of death, and time and cause of death

A fourth list with Edward Lindenberger’s name is dated the 17^th of January 1945, identical to the date he is presumed to have arrived at KL Buchenwald based on forms on file at The Arolsen Archives; this register gives his date and place of birth, and his occupation. Interestingly, his prisoner number on this list “114883” corresponds with the number he was assigned upon his arrival at Buchenwald, that’s to say, when he was still living. (Figure 5)

Figure 5. One page of a much longer list with Edward Lindenberger’s name dated the 17th of January 1945 when he is presumed to have arrived in KL Buchenwald, possibly transferred from Auschwitz-Birkenau

On a fifth list dated the 22^nd of January 1945 from Weimar-Buchenwald, Edward’s name appears among a group of 2740 Jews newly arrived in so-called “Lager II,” Camp 2. (Figures 6a-b)

Figure 6a. Cover page of a longer list dated the 22nd of January 1945 bearing the names of 2740 prisoners who arrived in so-called “Lager II,” Camp 2

Figure 6b. Edward Lindenberger’s name found on Page 16 of a list dated the 22nd of January 1945 with the names of 2740 prisoners who arrived in so-called “Lager II,” Camp 2

The final list with Edward Lindenberger’s name, titled “Häftlingsschreibstube K.L. Buchenwald,” Prisoner’s Office KL Buchenwald, has two dates, the 27^th of January 1945 and the 23^rd of January 1945. Insofar as I can determine, this appears to be a list of the inmates who were transferred from KL Buchenwald to KL Mittelbau during this period. (Figures 7a-b)

Figure 7a. Cover page of a list with two dates, January 23 and 27, 1945, with the names of inmates seemingly transported from KL Buchenwald to KL Mittelbau

Figure 7b. Page 4 of the list dated the 23rd and 27th of January 1945 bearing Edward Lindenberger’s name, possibly corresponding to the period when he was transferred from KL Buchenwald to KL Mittelbau

The final document included in the file of papers sent to me by The Arolsen Archives, amazingly, is tantamount to a “death certificate” for Edward Lindenberger. Given the literally millions of Jews the Nazis murdered, it is stunning they ever took the time to complete death certificates for any of their victims. I have only ever once previously come across such certificates for Jews who died in concentration camps, in the instance of Jews murdered in Theresienstadt in then-Czechoslovakia; those forms, however, appear to have been completed posthumously.

Edward Lindenberger’s death certificate is difficult to read, so I have transcribed and translated it for readers, as best as I can. (Figures 8a-c) It is informative in several respects. The date of Edward’s death is given as the 28^th of March 1945 in contrast with the date of the 29^th of March 1945 written on a few of the lists mentioned above. Edward’s time of death, 5am, again is specified; the fact the Nazis would note the hour he died, stunning as this is, speaks to Germans’ penchant for exactitude.

Figure 8a. The poor copy of the document that is tantamount to Edward Lindenberger’s “death certificate” derived from The Arolsen Archives indicating that he died at 5am on the 28th of March 1945 in the prisoner infirmary in KL Mittelbau of pleurisy

Figure 8b. The German transcription of Edward Lindenberger’s death certificate

Figure 8c. Translation of Edward Lindenberger’s death certificate

Edward Lindenberger’s Häftlings-Personal-Bogen (Detainee Personnel Sheet) discussed in Post 114, was the most informative record of those completed upon his arrival at KL Buchenwald. (Figure 9) On this form, above the printed word Konzentrationslager, is handwritten “Pol. Jude,” signifying Edward was a Polish Jew. As I stated in Post 114, the Nazis assigned each concentration camp inmate to a category, making it clear why he or she had been arrested. Assignment to a detention group, like nationality, led to a hierarchy in the camp, since the groups were subject to different rules, among these the amount of food or the hardship of the work. Therefore, prisoner category and nationality had an impact on one’s chances of survival. Readers will note that on his death certificate, the abbreviation “PJ” (i.e., Polnischer Jude) is used showing that Edward’s classification followed him to his death.

Figure 9. Edward Lindenberger’s “Häftlings-Personal-Bogen” (Detainee Personnel Sheet) upon which is written above “Konzentrationslager” “Pol. Jude” for Polish Jew

What is equally surprising is that his death certificate specified his cause of death, “Pleuritis dextra,” pleurisy. This corresponds to his cause of death cited on the list of deceased internees dated the 30^th of March 1945 as “Pleurit.de.” Pleurisy is a condition in which the pleura — two large, thin layers of tissue that separate your lungs from your chest wall — becomes inflamed. Also called pleuritis, pleurisy causes sharp chest pain (pleuritic pain) that worsens during breathing. A variety of conditions can cause pleurisy including a viral infection such as the flu; bacterial infection such as pneumonia; tuberculosis; rib fracture or trauma; etc. Given the arduous and unhealthy conditions to which camp internees were exposed one can only assume this was the cause of Edward’s illness.

The final thing I would note about the information on Edward’s death certificate is the title of the individual who signed the form:

“Der SDG im Häftlingskrankenbau

SS Uscha.”

From this we learn that Edward passed away in KL Mittelbau-Dora’s Häftlingskrankenbau, or prisoner infirmary. I was eventually able to determine that “SDG” (Sanitätswesen (KZ) – Wikipedia) is the abbreviation for “Sanitätsdienstgrad,” or “medical rank,” and that “SS Uscha.” is an SS-Unterscharführer, a Sergeant in the SS. Putting all this together, we learn that camp doctors in concentration camps were assigned so-called SS medical ranks, “SDG,” as auxiliary personnel. These auxiliary personnel acted as SS members in the prisoner infirmaries as nurses. These medical ranks typically had no or only short nursing assistant courses (i.e., paramedics), and practically no medical knowledge. It’s clear that even if the Nazis had had any interest in restoring Edward to health, the SDG that staffed the prisoner infirmary at Mittelbau would have been unable to competently perform this function.

In closing, I would remark on a few things. It’s unclear to me to what extent The Arolsen Archives retain records on concentration camp inmates who were interned and/or murdered in the various concentration camps. I typically access Yad Vashem and similar Holocaust databases to try and determine the fate of my Jewish ancestors whose fate is unknown to me or who I suspect may have been murdered during the Shoah, with mixed results. The extent of information I was able to track down on my distant cousin Edward Lindenberger came as a surprise. For readers in a similar situation, having perhaps found some mention of one’s ancestors in The Arolsen Archives, I suggest sending them an email inquiring whether additional information exists which has not been automated. The results of such inquiries may be sobering, but it may allow readers to find some closure. While it should come as no surprise to me, the further I delve into my family’s ancestry, sadly the more family members I learn were victims of Nazi atrocities.

POST 119: THE FRENCH CONNECTION, ERNST & FRANZ MOMBERT

Note: In this post, I supplement what I have learned about the French brothers who owned the fruit farm in Fayence in the Vars region of France. This is the last place where some of my family, including Ernst Mombert and my beloved aunt Susanne Müller née Bruck, took refuge before they were arrested by the Vichy French in late August 1942; from here, they were transported to Drancy, outside Paris, and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on September 7, 1942, a trip on which they likely killed themselves, or, upon arrival, were murdered. I also provide some historic and geographic context for some of the events that affected my family.

POST 23: MY AUNT SUSANNE’S FINAL JOURNEY

In Post 22, I explained to readers the circumstances that led my uncle and aunt Dr. Franz and Susanne Müller to depart Fiesole, Italy, a Tuscan village located outside Florence, around September 16, 1938, in favor of France. Adolph Hitler visited Florence on May 9, 1938, escorted by Italian Duce Benito Mussolini. On the heels of this visit and at the bequest of Hitler, Fascist Italy began to enact racial laws directed primarily against Italian and foreign Jews resulting in many leaving the country, including my aunt and uncle.

My uncle Dr. Franz Müller’s first marriage resulted in two children, Peter Müller-Munk and Karin Margit Müller-Munk. Peter, who dropped the umlaut in his surname upon his arrival in America in 1926, went on to become a world-renowned silversmith and industrial designer in Pittsburgh. Peter’s sister Margit Müller-Munk departed Germany, probably in around 1933 or 1934, and wound up getting married to Francois Mombert on December 4, 1934, in Fayence, in the Vars region of France.

The Mombert family originally hailed from Freiburg, Germany, and in Germany Francois was known as Franz, hereinafter referred to by his German name. The circumstances that led Franz and Margit to settle in Fayence was the result of Franz’s younger brother Ernst (known as Ernest in France) buying a fruit farm there. Archival records from the Archives Départementales du Var (www.archives.var.fr) in Draguignan, France, place Ernst’s acquisition of the property in December 1933 (Figure 1), which suggests that Ernst departed Germany soon after the Nazis seized power on January 30, 1933. It’s unknown why Ernst purchased property and settled in Fayence, since there’s no evidence he knew or had family living there. He could not envision the lengths to which the Nazis would eventually go to eradicate Jews, so probably felt that purchasing a property in a small town in France and eventually becoming a French national offered some security and would afford him some level of protection. As a related aside, there is no evidence Ernst Mombert ever obtained French citizenship.

Figure 1. Archival record from the “Archives Départementales du Var” in Draguignan, France placing Ernst Mombert’s acquisition of his fruit farm in Fayence on the 1st of December 1933

Little is known about Ernst Mombert. I came upon a fleeting reference to him in an obscure French publication entitled “quelques camps du sud-est 1939-1940,” “Some Camps in the Southeast (of France) 1939-1940,” by André Fontaine. I initially misconstrued who was being detained in these internment camps thinking they were established by the Vichy French to imprison Jews following Germany’s conquest of France in June 1940. While in fact many Jews were interned in these camps, they had been established by the French authorities for a different reason.

Some brief history. WWII began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The next day, France decreed a national mobilization. Internment sites for the nationals of the German Reich (i.e., German, Austrian, and Czech emigrants) were planned and requisitioned in every French département, the administrative divisions of France. By the 3^rd of September, the French Minister of the Interior sent a telegram to each prefecture concerning the “concentration of foreigners from the German empire.” Immediately notification about the planned roundups were circulated and posters put up in the town halls. All male nationals of the German Reich over 17 and under 50 years of age were required to report for incarceration. Male nationals from the department of Var were initially detained in le camp de la Rode near Toulon. Toulon is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base, located 74 miles southwest of Fayence, France. (Figure 2)

Figure 2. Generalized map showing the distance from Fayence, France, where Ernst Mombert owned his fruit farm, to Toulon, where he was initially incarcerated in “le camp de la Rode” in 1939

Judging from André Fontaine’s publication, it appears the gathering and detention of nationals of the German Reich took place in short order. Swept up in this roundup were many Jewish refugees, incredibly, a handful of French legionnaires, siblings of soldiers who were in the French Army, and even an Alsatian who had never been to Germany and spoke no German (i.e., Alsace–Lorraine is a historical region, now called Alsace–Moselle, located in France. It was created in 1871 by the German Empire after the region was seized during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It reverted to French ownership in 1918 following WWI). Very quickly, the legionnaires were released, and the Austrian and Czech nationals were separated from the Germans resulting in the Germans being more closely guarded. The irony is not lost on most readers that many of the German nationals that continued to be detained were Jewish refugees and anti-Nazis, many more anti-Nazi than the French.

André Fontaine includes a short description of Ernst Mombert, which I quote here mostly because of the physical characteristics he describes: “MOMBERT Ernst, philosophe de valeur. Il est très brun et atteint de strabism; il vient de Fayence où il a une plantation d’arbres fruitiers. Son frère Franz n’est pas au camp.” (1988:184) Translated: “MOMBERT Ernst, a noted philosopher. He is very darkly complected and is cross-eyed; he comes from Fayence where he has a fruit tree plantation. His brother Franz is not in the camp.”

The duration of the German nationals stays in the camp de la Rode in Toulon appears to have been a short one. André Fontaine reports that on September 16, 1939, a train carrying the prisoners departed Toulon in the direction of Camp des Milles, outside Aix-en-Provence. (Figure 3) The latter was a French internment camp, opened in September 1939, in a former tile factory near the village of Les Milles, part of the commune of Aix-en-Provence. I will have a little more to say about Ernst Mombert’s connection to Camp des Milles later.

Figure 3. Generalized map showing the distance from Toulon, where “le camp de Rode” was located, to Aix-en-Provence where Camp des Milles is situated and where Ernst Mombert was moved to around the 16th of September 1939

André Fontaine describes (1988:185-186) the detainees’ arrival in Camp des Milles: “Le 16 septembre 1939, on annonce le départ de Toulon: un camion prend les bagages à 18 h et le train part à 21 h. L’arrivée n’a lieu que le lendemain matin à Aix-en-Provence, soit après 15 h de train pour effectuer 90 km. Deux camions attendent à la gare. Les soldats ardéchois se montrent accueillants, serviables et souriants, surtout quand ils comprennent qu’un Allemand vient de les prendre comme les Millois pour des Arabes en raison de leur teint basané et de leur chéchia rouge; l’un d’eux s’exclame: ‘des Arabes de l’Ardéchiou !’

Arrivés à la tuilerie, ils trouvent la grande cour vide car les internés se sont barricadés ; ne leur a-t-on pas annoncé des prisonniers nazis !… Les officiers et les sous-officiers sont en train de déjeuner. A 14 h, c’est l’ouverture des bureaux où sont employés des internés. E.E. Noth, devenu homme de confiance, dit à propos de Kantorovicz : ‘Celui-là, c’est vraiment un réfugié !’

Lorsqu’un nouveau convoi est attendu, une forte effervescence règne dans le camp. Très tendus, les militaires recommandent aux internés de se méfier des arrivants, membres de la cinquième colonne : ‘Restez dans vos dortoirs, fermez les volets; la grande porte sera close.’ Ils doublent la garde, installent des chevaux de frise devant le poste de police. Au début les détenus se demandent quels nazis ils vont devoir affronter. Et à chaque détachement ils guettent derrière les volets et voient arriver au loin des pauvres hères, amaigris, courbés, pâles, assoiffés. Ils n’ont rien d’ennemis redoutables. Parfois même ils reconnaissent certains d’entre eux. Mais il est interdit de pousser les volets pour leur parler.”

Translated: “On September 16, 1939, the departure from Toulon was announced: a truck took the luggage at 6 pm and the train left at 9 pm. The arrival was only the next morning in Aix-en-Provence, after 15 hours of train to cover 90 km. Two trucks were waiting at the station. The soldiers from the Ardèche were welcoming, helpful, and smiling, especially when they understood that a German had just mistaken them, like the Millois, for Arabs because of their swarthy complexion and their red fez; one of them exclaimed: ‘Arabs from the Ardéchiou!’

When they arrived at the tile factory, they found the large courtyard empty because the internees had barricaded themselves; had they not been told that there were Nazi prisoners! The officers and non-commissioned officers were having lunch. At 2 p.m., the offices where the internees were employed opened. E.E. Noth, who had become a trusted man, said of Kantorovicz: ‘This one is really a refugee!’

When a new convoy was expected, the camp was in an uproar. The soldiers were very tense and advised the internees to be wary of the arrivals, who were members of the Fifth Column: ‘Stay in your dormitories, close the shutters; the main gate will be closed.’ They doubled the guard and set up frieze horses in front of the police station. At first the prisoners wonder which Nazis they will have to face. And with each detachment they watch behind the shutters and see poor, emaciated, bent, pale, thirsty men arriving in the distance. They are not fearsome enemies. Sometimes they even recognize some of them. But it is forbidden to push the shutters to talk to them.”

Just a few observations about Mr. Fontaine’s description of the German nationals’ arrival at Camp des Milles. The French clearly sought to have the current detainees believe the new arrivals were hard-bitten Nazis of the German Reich living “underground” in France as members of a Fifth Column even though the current detainees were also Germans; the truth is that many of the new arrivals were foreign refugees, including Jews who’d sought to escape the Nazis. One of the existing detainees even recognized one of the new arrivals as a real refugee, not a Fifth Columnist. Curiously, the new German arrivals were guarded by soldiers from the Ardèche department of southeastern France who had been mistaken as Arabs because of their swarthy complexion and the red fez hats they wore; the existing detainees had also mistaken them as Arabs.

Mr. Fontaine tells us that the nationals of the German Reich were held in various camps in the southeast of France including Fort Carre (Antibes); Camp de Forcalouier (Forcalquier); Volx Camp (near Manosque); Camp des Mées (Les Mées); Camp de Marseille (Marseille); Camp des Garrigues (north of Nimes); Le Brebant (in Marseille); Camp de Carpiagne (south of Marseille); and Camp de Loriol (department of Drôme). While not entirely clear, it appears that detainees from some but not all of these camps were transferred to the larger camp at Camp des Milles, the former tile factory. Such was clearly the case with Ernst Mombert. (see Figure 3)

I was particularly interested in learning when or if the German nationals were released from detention to try and get an understanding of when Ernst Mombert might have been liberated. A little more history is relevant.

The Battle of France began on May 10, 1940. The Battle of France, also known as the Western Campaign, the French Campaign, and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands during the Second World War. It ended just six weeks later, on June 25^th, when the French government capitulated to Nazi Germany after a disastrous, humiliating defeat. By that time, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg had also fallen to the Germans, leaving Adolf Hitler in complete control of Western Europe. On June 22^nd the French signed an armistice with the Germans, near Compiègne. The armistice provided for the maintenance of a quasi-sovereign French state and for the division of the country into an occupied zone (northern France plus the western coast) and an unoccupied southern zone referred to as Vichy France. France was made responsible for the German army’s occupation costs. The French army was reduced to 100,000 men and the navy disarmed in its home ports.

According to André Fontaine, almost all the former detention centers were dissolved in May 1940; this would roughly correspond with the beginning of the Battle of France. The former detainees incarcerated in Antibes, Camp des Milles, Les Mées, Manosque, Marseille, and Forcalquier were taken to the camp of Albi (Figure 4), where most were liberated, under the pretext they had been part of the French army. From supposed Fifth Columnists to members of the French Army is very much a stretch. Are we meant to understand that the German detainees were released and immediately mobilized into the French Army at the beginning of what is called the “Phoney War?” The Phoney period began with the declaration of war by the United Kingdom and France against Nazi Germany on the 3^rd of September 1939, after which little actual warfare occurred, and ended with the German invasion of France and the Low Countries on the 10^th of May 1940.

Figure 4. Generalized map showing the distance from Camp des Milles (Aix-en-Provence) to Albi, where Ernst Mombert may have been released from detention in around May 1940

Other former detainees fell into the hands of the Germans at the end of the Battle of France. If they were not of Jewish descent and volunteered to return to the Reich they were not mistreated. The Jews, however, were transferred to the Dachau concentration camp.

Again I quote André Fontaine (1988:205-206) on the fate of some of the other detainees: “L’émissaire d’Eleanor ROOSEVELT, Varian FRY, et son “Comité américain de Secours (CAR)” permettent l’émigration d’environ 1500 personnes et les Oeuvres juives “Hicem” beaucoup plus. Les Etats-Unis font appel aux grands savants comme les prix Nobel MEYERHOF et REICHSTEIN. Le Mexique accueille les communistes. Mais à partir du 3 août 1942, la “solution finale de la question juive” décidée par la conférence de Wannsee en janvier 1942 trouve son application après les déportations de la zone occupée dans tous les grands camps de la zone sud. Le Vernet (Ariège), Gurs, les Milles, Rivesaltes (Pyrénées orientales). Des rafles ont lieu dans villes et campagnes. Des milliers de familles entières de juifs étrangers (pauvres ou riches mais souvent érudits ou tout au moins de valeur) arrivés depuis 1936 sont transférés à Drancy (puis Auschwitz) et ce dans la France dite libre du maréchal PETAIN. On livre des enfants de deux ans, d’anciens militaires français; tous s’étaient placés sous la protection de la France, dite terre d’asile. On ne peut que déplorer ces faits sans s’empêcher de penser au mot de Romain ROLLAND : “Intelligence – Amour !“

Translated: “Eleanor ROOSEVELT’s emissary, Varian FRY, and his ‘American Rescue Committee (CAR)’ allowed the emigration of about 1500 people and the Jewish Works ‘Hicem’ many more. The United States called upon great scientists such as the Nobel Prize winners MEYERHOF and REICHSTEIN. Mexico welcomed the communists. But from August 3, 1942, the ‘final solution of the Jewish question’ decided by the Wannsee conference in January 1942 found its application after the deportations from the occupied zone in all the big camps of the southern zone. Le Vernet (Ariège), Gurs, les Milles, Rivesaltes (Pyrénées orientales). Roundups took place in towns and countryside. Thousands of entire families of foreign Jews (poor or rich but often educated or at least valuable) who had arrived since 1936 were transferred to Drancy (then Auschwitz) in the so-called free France of Marshal PETAIN. Children as young as two years old, former French soldiers, were handed over; they had all placed themselves under the protection of France, the so-called land of asylum. One can only deplore these facts without stopping oneself from thinking of Romain ROLLAND’s words: ‘Intelligence – Love!’”

Ernst Mombert did not meet his fate at Dachau. The circumstances and timing of Ernst Mombert’s liberation or escape from a detention center are unknown. What is clear is that he returned to his fruit farm in Fayence probably sometime in early to mid-1940, before he was again arrested in August 1942, this time by the French collaborators, the Vichy. Ernst was arrested at the same time as my Aunt Susanne in late August 1942, probably on the 26^th of August. According to a brief reference I found on the home page of “AJPN.org,” “Anonymous, Just, and Persecuted during the Nazi period in the communes of France,” “the roundup of foreign Jews by the Vichy police in the Alpes-Maritimes, the Basses-Alpes (54 people) and the Principality of Monaco” took place precisely on the 26^th of August 1946. (Figure 5) These roundups took place in one of the 18 administrative regions of France known as “Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur” which includes the department of Var and the commune of Fayence. (Figures 6a-b)

Figure 5. Screen shot from the “AJPN.org” website stating that “the roundup of foreign Jews by the Vichy police in the Alpes-Maritimes, the Basses-Alpes (54 people) and the Principality of Monaco” took place on the 26th of August 1942

Figure 6a. Map showing the 13 administrative regions of metropolitan France including “Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur” in the southeast of France

Figure 6b. The administrative region of “Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur” circled where the department of Var and the commune of Fayence are located

Ernst Mombert’s fate mirrors that of my Aunt Susanne. They were arrested on the same day, taken briefly to Draguignan (Figure 7), detained for some days at Camp des Milles (Aix-en-Provence) (Figure 8), transported to Avignon (Figure 9), then to Drancy (Figure 10), outside Paris, before being deported to Auschwitz on the 7^th of September 1942 (Figure 11); on Serge Klarfeld’s list of deportees their names appear on the same page. (Figure 12) There is perverse irony that Ernst Mombert having been held in Camp des Milles for being a citizen of the German Reich in 1939 and a supposed Fifth Columnist would again find himself interned here in 1942, this time for being Jewish, on the way to his ultimate fate.

Figure 7. Generalized map showing the distance from Fayence to Draguignan, the first place the train carrying Ernst Mombert and my Aunt Susanne stopped for half-an-hour after being arrested by the Vichy French on the 26th of August 1942

Figure 8. Generalized map showing the distance from Draguignan to Camp des Milles (Aix-en-Provence), Ernst and Aunt Susanne’s second stop on their way to Drancy, outside Paris, and ultimately to Auschwitz-Birkenau

Figure 9. Generalized map showing the distance from Camp des Milles (Aix-en-Provence) to Avignon, Ernst and Susanne’s third stop on their way to Drancy

Figure 10. Generalized map showing the distance from Avignon to Drancy, outside Paris, Ernst and Susanne’s final stop before being deported and murdered in Auschwitz

Figure 11. The original Nazi list of deportees to Auschwitz from the 7th of September 1942 with “Ernest Mombert’s” name (from Arolsen Archives)

Figure 12. Serge Klarfeld’s recreated list of Jewish deportees to Auschwitz from the 7th of September 1942 with the names of “Ernest Mombert” and my aunt “Suzanne Muller” on the same page; my aunt is incorrectly shown as having been born in “Ratisbonne” rather than “Ratibor”

Contemporary witness accounts from the day Ernst and Susanne were arrested in Fayence indicate that my aunt was in hiding when the Vichy French showed up. She might have been able to escape had she been willing to forsake the older inhabitants of the fruit farm that included Ernst and Franz Mombert’s mother, as well as my grandmother and uncle. By my count, seven people were living on Ernst’s property at the time, though some of the younger ones may have joined the French Resistance. Regardless, this is not who my aunt was, and she would never have allowed anyone to be deported in her stead, so she turned herself in. It is an enduring mystery why all the Jewish residents at the fruit farm were not arrested simultaneously, though it is self-evident they would all eventually have been murdered had the Nazis prevailed during WWII.

As I related in Post 22, my wife Ann and I visited Fayence in 2014, then again in 2015, to learn more about my family’s connection to the town. Ernst Mombert’s brother, Franz survived WWII. Ownership of the fruit farm his brother had owned passed to him on September 6, 1947. (Figure 13) In 2014, my wife and I showed up unexpectedly on the doorsteps of the current owner of the property, a Mme. Monique Graux, who has since passed away. She related that she and her husband had purchased the farmhouse, which dates from around 1740, in the early 1960’s from a gentleman who bought it from Franz Mombert but owned it just briefly. Franz Mombert’s first wife, Margit Mombert née Müller-Munk, died in Fayence on the 22^nd of March 1959, and sale of the property seems to have occurred after her death. Following disposal of the estate in Fayence, Franz remarried and moved to Switzerland, living first in Ascona (Figure 14), then to nearby Muralto (Figure 15), on the outskirts of Locarno. Franz passed away there on the 29^th of January 1988.

Figure 13. A French real estate record showing that exclusive ownership of the fruit farm in Fayence was transferred to Franz (Francois) Mombert on September 6, 1947, slightly more than five years after Ernst Mombert was deported to Auschwitz

Figure 14. The apartment building in Ascona, Switzerland where Franz Mombert lived with his second wife after he sold the fruit farm in Fayence in around 1960

Figure 15. The apartment building in Muralto, outside Locarno, Switzerland, where Franz and his second moved following their departure from Ascona

While Ernst was the only member of his immediate family who was a direct victim of the Nazis, there are Stolpersteine, concrete cubes bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution, for Ernst, Franz, and their parents in Giessen, Germany (Figure 16), the last place the Mombert family lived in Germany before emigrating to France. Interestingly, there also exists a memorial in the administrative region of Île-de-France, centered around Paris, bearing the names of “Ernest Mombert” and other victims of the Shoah, “a structure erected in honor of someone whose remains lie elsewhere.” (Figure 17)

Figure 16. The “Stolpersteine” for Ernst and Franz Mombert and their parents in Giessen, Germany, the last place they resided before emigrating to France

Figure 17. The memorial in the administrative region of Île-de-France, centered around Paris, bearing the names of “Ernest Mombert” and other victims of the Shoah

REFERENCES

AJPN.org. “Anonymous, Righteous and Persecuted during the Nazi period in the communes of France”

Fontaine, André. Quelques camps du Sud-Est, 1939-1940 [réfugiés allemands], Recherches régionales. Centre de documentation des Alpes-Maritimes, 1988, 29e année, n° 3, p. 179-206.

POST 118: SEVERAL POLISH DATABASES CONTAINING ANCESTRAL INFORMATION ON PRUSSIAN ANCESTORS

Note: A query from a reader about my ancestor Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck’s first marriage led me to obtaining Walter’s marriage certificate to his first wife, which in turn guided me to several Polish databases readers may find useful when researching their own Prussian ancestors. It is worth noting the data from some BUT not all these sources may also pop up when using ancestry.com. In the interest of thoroughness, readers may also want to check the ones cited in this post. I explain some of the challenges of using these sources.

POST 100: DR. WALTER WOLFGANG BRUCK, DENTIST TO GERMANY’S LAST IMPERIAL FAMILY

POST 101: DR. WALTER WOLFGANG BRUCK: HIS DAUGHTER RENATE’S FIRST HUSBAND, A “SILENT HERO”

POST 102: DR. WALTER BRUCK, HIS SECOND WIFE JOHANNA GRÄBSCH & HER FAMILY

POST 109 (PART 1): JOHANNA & RENATE BRUCK’S WARTIME TAGEBUCH (“DIARY”)—YEARS 1940-1941

In January of this year, I received an email through my Blog’s Webmail from a gentleman named Stephen Falk from Point Roberts, Washington. Mr. Falk contacted me after reading Blog Post 99 about my accomplished relative from Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland], Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck, subject of multiple earlier posts, wondering whether I was aware of Walter’s first wife, Margarethe “Grete” Skutsch (1872-1942). I confirmed that I knew about her. Stephen, it so happens, has the same relationship to Margarethe Skutsch, second cousin twice removed, as I do to Walter. In passing, Stephen mentioned that he was unaware that Walter had remarried and had fathered two children with his second wife.

Regular readers may recall that in Post 100 I discussed how I discovered Dr. Bruck had previously been married. Quoting what I wrote earlier:

“In researching when and where Walter’s older sister, Margarethe Prausnitz née Bruck, was born and died, I found an ancestral tree showing Walter had been married before he married Johanna Bruck née Gräbsch, the mother of his two children. This came as quite a surprise to me. According to this source, the name of Walter’s first wife was purportedly Margarethe STUTSCH.

I have repeatedly told readers that unless I can locate primary source documents, I am hesitant to believe what I find in other people’s trees. Case in point. While I was eventually able to confirm Walter had indeed previously been married, I learned his first wife’s maiden name was SKUTSCH not Stutsch, complicating my search. Sadly, I found that Margarethe Skutsch, born the same month and year as Walter, March 1872, was murdered in Theresienstadt in 1942.

I unearthed two primary source documents confirming Margarethe’s connection to Walter Bruck. The first was her Theresienstadt death certificate, very rarely completed post-mortem for Jews who died there, giving her married name. The second was the 1907 death certificate for Margarethe’s mother, Berta Skutsch née Grosser, at which Walter was a witness. A picture from around 1917 shows Margarethe and Walter seated at an outside picnic table with the Grand Duke of Oldenburg and his wife, indicating they were still married at the time. Walter’s biography which abruptly ends around 1894-95 gives no indication he was married before he left for America to attend the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, so the duration of his first marriage is unknown.”

In Part I of Post 109, I also made mention of a seemingly ongoing connection between Walter Bruck’s first and second wives following Walter’s death in 1937. Again quoting:

“Personally intriguing is the mention made on March 30, 1940, that Renate [Dr. Bruck’s surviving child by his second wife] went to visit ‘Tante Margarethe’ to wish her a happy birthday. The quotation marks indicate that while she was not a relative, she was still referred to as an aunt. There is no doubt this is Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck’s first wife who was Jewish, Margarethe Bruck née Skutsch. She was born on March 30, 1872, in Breslau [Wrocław, Poland], and murdered in the Theresienstadt Ghetto on the 22nd of September 1942. It is surprising that Johanna and Renate were in touch with Walter’s first wife, although, as this was certainly the case, it’s astonishing that Johanna made no mention in the diary when Margarethe was deported. Perhaps Johanna had already distanced herself from this Jewish ‘aunt’ by then?”

Soon after establishing contact with Stephen Falk, he informed me that he has a copy of Walter Bruck and Margarethe Skutsch’s marriage certificate (Figures 1a-d), which he graciously shared. From the certificate, which my good German friend Peter Hanke transcribed and translated for me, I learned several interesting things. (Figures 2a-b)

Figure 1a. Page 1 of Dr. Walter Bruck and Margarethe Skutsch’s 1896 wedding certificate with a notation in the upper right-hand corner dated the 8th of January 1924 indicating they were officially divorced on the 21st of December 1923

Figure 1b. Page 2 of Dr. Walter Bruck and Margarethe Skutsch’s 1896 wedding certificate providing the names of witnesses

Figure 1c. An attached sheet dated the 24th of January 1939 adding the name “Sara” to Margarethe Bruck née Skutsch’s name to indicate she was Jewish. Dr. Walter Bruck died in 1937 so there was no need to add the name “Israel” to his name

Figure 1d. A second sheet attached to Walter and Margarethe’s marriage certificate with a list of other Jewish people who had “Sara” or “Israel” added to their names

Figure 2a. Transcription of Walter and Margarethe’s 1896 marriage certificate including the sheets attached in January 1939

Figure 2b. Translation of Walter and Margarethe’s 1896 marriage certificate including the sheets attached in January 1939

As I correctly surmised from Walter’s biography which I discussed in Post 100, he was not yet married to his first wife when he departed for America in around 1894-95 to attend the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. According to his marriage document Walter and Margarethe married on the 20^th of October 1896 in Breslau, Germany. The certificate confirmed that by the time of their marriage in 1896, Walter had already converted to the Protestant religion. For a long time, I thought his conversion might have coincided with the death of Walter’s mother in around 1917, but clearly Walter anticipated the benefits professionally of being Protestant. As he and other Jews who converted would later learn, according to Nazi ideology he would always be considered “racially” Jewish. Walter died in 1937, perhaps by his own hand, so did not live long enough to have “Israel” added to his name, but as readers can see, Margarethe had the name “Sara” added to hers identifying her as Jewish (Figure 1c); sadly, as previously mentioned, she was deported to and murdered in Theresienstadt in 1942.

It is not uncommon for German marriage certificates to include the date of a divorce decree should a marriage be dissolved. As readers will note, a handwritten entry was added to Walter and Margarethe’s 1896 marriage document on the 8^th of January 1924 affirming they had been divorced since the 21^st of December 1923. (Figure 1a) The timing of the divorce is intriguing. In Post 102, I included a copy of Dr. Walter Bruck and Johanna Graebsch’s wedding announcement dated the 13^th of December 1923 (Figure 3), thus, eight days before Walter’s first marriage officially ended.

Figure 3. Walter Bruck and Johanna Gräbsch’s wedding announcement dated the 13th of December 1923, eight days before Walter’s divorce from Margarethe Skutsch became official

Judging from the entry to Johanna and Renate Bruck’s Tagebuch cited above, it appears that Walter’s second wife had a cordial relationship with his first wife at least until it became too dangerous for Johanna and Renate to associate with the Jewish-born Margarethe Bruck née Skutsch during the Nazi era. While the reasons for the dissolution of Walter and Margarethe’s marriage will likely never be known, perhaps their inability to have children may have been the cause? To date, I have found no evidence they ever had any together.

The marriage certificate contains additional ancestral information about Walter and Margarethe’s parents, information previously known to me, though for readers in a similar situation, such documents can often yield new ancestral data.

Stephen gave me a direct link to Walter and Margarethe’s 1896 wedding document. The source is the “Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu,” the State Archives in Wrocław, which has free, online genealogy collections as well as onsite family history collections. Prior to being contacted by Stephen, I had never accessed the Breslau online records, so will spend a little time broadly explaining to interested followers how to navigate the database. Readers should be forewarned that based on my limited exploration of the website I find it extremely user-unfriendly. Beyond the obvious challenge of negotiating a Polish website, even with the translator automatically turned on, there appear to be specific sequential steps to be followed to access the desired files.

Relatedly, my good friend Peter Hanke provided a link to a website entitled “Ahnenforschung in Schlesien—Liegnitz, Breslau, Lauban, Hirschberg,” Genealogy in Silesia—Liegnitz, Wroclaw, Lauban, Hirschberg that includes a portal page for specifically accessing the documents of the State Archives in Wroclaw (the Standesamt or the German civil registration offices for Breslau I, II, III, IV which were responsible for recording births, marriages, and deaths). (Figure 4) For ease, it helps to begin with the link to “Genealogy in Silesia” just mentioned.

Figure 4. Portal page from the “Ahnenforschung in Schlesien—Liegnitz, Breslau, Lauban, Hirschberg” link taking you to the vital records from the former Breslau registry offices

Before briefly explaining how to access the Wroclaw records, some background about the city of Breslau is helpful. By the end of the Middle Ages in around 1500, the city had already more than 25,000 inhabitants, something few of the more than 4,000 places in Silesia had reached by the end of WWII. By 1840, 100,000 people were already living in Breslau. From then on, a tremendous growth spurt ensued because of the construction of the railway and the beginning of industrialization. In 1900 the population had quadrupled to 400,000 as outlying areas were incorporated into the city. By 1939 there were 630,000 inhabitants in Breslau. Most readers with an ancestral link to Prussia likely have relatives with a connection to Breslau simply because it was the largest city in Silesia.

I was able to track down a map of Breslau as it looked in 1863 hoping I could locate the streets where Walter and Margarethe lived before they got married 33 years later. The marriage certificate tells us Walter resided at Schweidnitzerstraße 27 (Figure 5), and Margarethe at Zwingerplatz 2. Both locales are found on the 1863 map (Figure 6) although Hindenburgplatz, where Walter later owned a sumptuous home, was then an outlying area known only as “nach Kleinburg.” Peter Hanke also gave me a link to a website containing many high-resolution historic maps of Breslau, including Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse which bisected Hindenburgplatz (Figure 7); for readers interested in understanding the city’s layout through time, I include the link: http://igrek.amzp.pl/result.php?cmd=pt&locsys=1&uni=-706307&box=0.0001&hideempty=on

Figure 5. 1897 Breslau Address showing where Dr. Walter Bruck and his father Dr. Julius Bruck lived, Schweidnitzerstrasse 27

Figure 6. 1863 map of Breslau showing the locales where Schweidnitzer and Zwinger were located, locales, respectively, where Dr. Walter Bruck and Margarethe Skutsch lived when they were married in 1896

Figure 7. 1895 map of Breslau showing the relative locations of Schweidnitzer, Zwingerplatz, and Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse

Moving on, let me describe how to access Breslau’s birth, marriage, and death records from the “Ahnenforschung in Schlesien—Liegnitz, Breslau, Lauban, Hirschberg” website. As previously mentioned, Breslau had four Standesämter, or civil registration offices, referred to as “Standesamt BRESLAU I-IV” on the site’s portal page. The responsible registry office was based on one’s street address. Determining the responsible Breslau Standesamt for one’s ancestors without an address and address book is nigh near impossible.

That said, I like a challenge, and attempted to determine the civil registry office for Dr. Walter Bruck for the last year he was alive, specifically, 1937. Living on a street that was in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century known as Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse, during the Nazi era it was called “Straße der S.A.” “S.A.” stands for Sturmabteilung (SA) which was the paramilitary combat organization of the Nazi Party. The precise address of Dr. Bruck’s residence in 1937 was Hindenburgplatz 17 (Figure 8), bisected initially by Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse, and later by the renamed Straße der S.A. (Figure 9)

Figure 8. Dr. Walter Bruck’s listing and address from a 1937 Breslau Address Book showing he lived at Hindenburg Platz 17, a plaza bisected by Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse, renamed during the Nazi era to “Straße der S.A.”

Figure 9. 1939 map of Breslau showing that Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse was then called “Straße der S.A.,” which bisected Hindenburgplatz

The next step in determining the responsible civil registry office requires having an address book for the year in question, in this example, 1937. The following website (Category:Wroclaw Address Book – GenWiki (genealogy.net) has 104 Breslau Address Books intermittently spanning parts of two centuries and includes the year 1937. The fourth part of this Address Book shows the all-important street directory, which lists the relevant civil registry office under one of the columns. In the case of Hindenburgplatz 17 the responsible Standesamt was “4,” the responsible Evangelical parish was “10,” and the responsible Catholic parish under the column titled “parochia,” was “III.” (Figures 10a-b)

Figure 10a. Page from Section 4 of the 1937 Breslau Address Book which identifies the “Standesamt” (civil registry office) responsible for specific Breslau addresses and cross references the relevant Evangelical and Catholic parishes by number

Figure 10b. Closeup from Section 4 of the Breslau Address Book with Dr. Bruck’s home address, Hindenburgplatz 17, showing that it was served by Standesamt IV, and that the responsible Evangelical parish was “10” (St. John’s Church) and the Catholic one was “III” (St. Carolus-Kapelle)

Readers will rightly wonder which Evangelical and Catholic churches the parish numbers relate to. This information is also found in the fourth part of the address books, in subsection five entitled “V. Abschnitt. Kirchen und Friedhöfe,” Section V. Churches and Cemeteries. (Figure 11) So, in the above example, the Evangelical parish 10 refers to St. John’s Church, while the Catholic parish III would have been St. Carolus-Kapelle. Knowing that Dr. Bruck was a Protestant, I searched for the surviving church registers for the St. John’s Church, none of which are known to have survived WWII.

Figure 11. Section 4, Subsection V of 1937 Breslau Address Book entitled “V. Abschnitt. Kirchen und Friedhöfe,” Section V. Churches and Cemeteries, with the names of Breslau’s former Evangelical and Catholic parishes

Later, I will briefly discuss one Breslau parish record of personal interest I surprisingly found amongst surviving records for a different Evangelical parish, the church of St. Elisabeth’s.

For readers in fact interested in tracking down the responsible civil registry office as well as the parish for ancestors listed in the various Breslau address books, the following link provides a “how-to” guide on doing so: http://www.christoph-www.de/breslau%201.html; this how-to guide is entitled “Breslau für Familienforscher,” “Wrocław for Genealogists.” (Figure 12) Bear in mind that not all Breslau directories include a table in the fourth part of the book cross-referencing street addresses with civil registry offices and responsible parishes. In this case, readers should examine directories a year or more before or after the target year.

Figure 12. First page of “how-to” guide entitled “Wrocław for Genealogists”

Continuing. I will use “Standesamt BRESLAU IV” to illustrate how to access the Breslau birth, marriage, and death records. Once you’ve selected a specific civil registry office, you’ll be taken to another page where readers will find the following listings in Polish on the left side (Figure 13): Zespół1428-0 – Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (Zespół1428-0 – Registry Office); Seria1 – Księgi urodzeń (Birth records) (Figure 14); Seria2 – Księgi małżeństw (Marriage registers); and Seria3 – Księgi zgonów (Death books). You can either select birth, marriage, or death records, or “Show All the Listings” in the center part of the screen (i.e., at the time of this writing, there were “233 Results” available). Next, scroll down and select the specific year and records you’re interested in which will take you to another page; scroll down on this page, and select the hyperlinked URL. Images of the vital documents will show up which you can then scroll through systematically; if you know the specific month and/or day you’re looking for you can short-circuit the process. If you attempt to access the vital records from a place other than “Show All the Listings,” which it is possible to do, the hyperlinked URL won’t appear.

Figure 13. Cover page of “Standesamt Breslau IV” from which to access birth, marriage & death vital records

Figure 14. Page from which to access birth books for Standesamt Breslau IV

I want to draw readers attention to another source of information that will take you to maps and plans of the city of Breslau. By selecting “Standesamt Breslau I,” you’ll come to a page entitled “Team 1425-0—Civil Registry Office in Wrocław I” (Figure 15) Click where it says “430 Results,” and on the center of the next page select the box “Civil Registry Office in Wrocław.” (Figure 16) The next page yields “5504 Results” (Figure 17); on the left side you can select “Files of the city of Wrocław” which takes you to a different page with “489 Results” with the icons of Breslau maps through time. (Figure 18)

Figure 15. Page from which to begin accessing civil records, maps, and plans for “Standesamt Breslau I”

Figure 16. Page with “430 Results” from which to select “Civil Registry Of Wrocław”

Figure 17. Page with “5504 Results” from which to select “Files of the City of Wrocław” along the left side of screen

Figure 18. Page with ”489 Results” showing icons of old maps and plans of Breslau

Suffice it to say with all the digital information available through the “Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu,” one could spend many days studying the offerings; I’ve barely touched on what can be accessed but for interested genealogists the more narrowly you can focus your research with vital dates and addresses of one’s ancestors, obviously the easier things will go.

Before personally acquainting myself with the digital records available at the Wrocław Archives, I asked Stephen to check on specific vital documents where I knew the approximate date or year of the event. Initially, I had hoped to obtain the birth certificates for Walter and Johanna Bruck’s two daughters, Hermine born in 1924, who lived only a few months, and Renate born in 1926. Unfortunately, in Poland as in Germany there is a “protection period” before vital documents can be released to the general public. While the births of both Hermine and Renate took place when Breslau was part of Germany, the protection period is governed by Poland; Poland won’t release Hermine and Renate’s birth certificates, respectively, until 2024 and 2026, so 100 years after their births. In Germany, the protection period for birth certificates is 110 years. In the case of death records, Germany releases them after 30 years but in Poland one must wait 80 years.

Having learned that the protection period for marriage records in both Germany and Poland is 80 years, I had hoped I could uncover Walter Bruck and Johanna Gräbsch’s 1923 or 1924 marriage certificate, to no avail. Perplexingly, the marriage records for this period are not yet digitized. I’ll return to my search for information on Walter and Johanna’s marriage momentarily in discussing another Polish database readers can search for information on Prussian ancestors.

To remind readers, Walter and Johanna’s daughter Renate was married three times. Her first husband, whom I’ve previously wrote about in Post 101 was Matthias Eugen Walter Mehne; according to his daughter Bettina Mehne he was born in 1908 in Breslau. While many birth records from this year exist in the Wrocław Archives, Stephen could not find M.E.W. Mehne’s birth certificate so one can only assume it was among those destroyed during WWII.

Matthias Mehne’s address, Tauenzienplatz 1, means the responsible Standesamt was 4. The responsible Evangelical parish for this address was “2,” while the responsible Catholic parish was “VI.” In the case of the address associated with Matthias Mehne, the Evangelical parish would have been St. Mary Magdalene, while the corresponding Catholic parish would have been St. Dorothea (=Minoritenkirche). It’s unknown to me whether Matthias was an Evangelical or a Catholic, and while church records survive for both parishes, I was unable to find a baptismal or birth record for him amongst these records.

In the aforementioned how-to guide “Wrocław for Genealogists,” the surviving Evangelical and Catholic parish records are identified, and a hyperlink provided to some of them. Uncertain whether any would have relevant records for my ancestors, I started by examining the Evangelical records for the first Evangelical church, St. Elisabeth parish church (Elisabeth-Kirche zu Breslau | Breslau/Wroclaw, Staatsarchiv | Polen | Matricula Online (matricula-online.eu). Miraculously, I stumbled upon the marriage register listing for Johanna Gräbsch to her first husband, Dr. Alfred Renner, confirming they were married on the 6^th of May 1905. (Figure 19) While I had previously located their marriage certificate in ancestry.com, it fails to indicate they were married in St. Elisabeth’s Evangelical Church. Armed with this new information, I naively hoped that Johanna Gräbsch’s marriage to Walter Bruck in late 1923 or early 1924 might also have taken place in the same Evangelical Church, so I carefully scrolled through the rest of marriage register for St. Elisabeth’s, to no avail.

Figure 19. Page from Marriage Register for Breslau’s St. Elisabeth’s Church recording Johanna Gräbsch’s 1905 marriage to Dr. Alfred Renner

Given Dr. Bruck’s prominence in the city of Breslau during his lifetime, Stephen Falk made an excellent recommendation. He suggested I try and track down a contemporary newspaper that might have included an announcement of Dr. Bruck’s second marriage. I was quickly able to determine the largest Breslau newspaper of the time was the “Breslauer Zeitung” (i.e., “zeitung”=newspaper) but was uncertain whether historic copies of the tabloid can be found online. Consequently, I contacted my friend from Wrocław, Ms. Renata Wilkoszewska-Krakowska, Branch Manager, Museum of Cemetery Art (Old Jewish Cemetery), Branch of the City Museum of Wrocław. Renata graciously provided a link to another Polish database (https://www.dbc.wroc.pl/dlibra?language=en), the Lower Silesian Digital Library. (Figure 20)

Figure 20. Portal page for the “Lower Silesian Digital Library” from which to begin “Search”

The site includes some back issues of the Breslauer Zeitung, although none for the year Dr. Bruck remarried in either 1923 or 1924. As readers can see, in the very center of the Lower Silesian Digital Library portal page there is a search bar. Beyond looking for old Breslau newspapers, out of curiosity I also searched my family surname, and happened upon references related to three other eminent Bruck ancestors from Breslau, Dr. Julius Bruck (Dr. Walter Bruck’s father), Dr. Eberhard Bruck, and Dr. Felix Bruck. Readers with ancestral connections to Breslau can do similar searches. Occasionally, genealogists may even be rewarded by finding historic pictures of one’s predecessors.

I can’t conclude this Blog post without conceding the obstacles and challenges genealogists face in searching and finding information for ancestors who may hail from Silesia. The language barrier turns out to be the easiest to overcome. Readers should be able to figure out how to access the civil records from the Wrocław Archives, although the process of scrolling through all of them can be tedious, particularly when one does not have dates for any vital events in an ancestor’s life. Figuring out which Protestant or Catholic parish relatives may have lived in, and then hoping the church records for that parish still exist can also be exasperating. Knowing that the protection period for vital events has expired, and then being unable to find digitized copies of those records can be vexing. The list of challenges goes on, but my advice to genealogists is to persist. Experimenting by following some of the steps I’ve outlined should be helpful. Bear in mind that doing ancestral searches can at times involve a steep learning curve.

POST 112, POSTSCRIPT: WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ’S BEQUEST TO HIAS

Note: In this postscript to Post 112, I address the question of why Wolfram E. von Pannwitz’s friend, John Kroeker, may have arrived in America as a Stateless citizen, based on a reference sent to me by one of my German friends.

As a reminder to readers, the inspiration for Post 112 came from Mr. John Thiesen, a gentleman from Newton, Kansas. Among his family papers, he discovered that his grandfather John Kroeker arrived in America in July 1947 aboard the “Marine Marlin,” the same ship my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck and his friend Wolfram E. von Pannwitz took to come here; it is clear from these ancestral documents that Wolfram and Mr. Kroeker befriended one another on their voyage to America.

Mr. Thiesen contacted me through my Blog hoping I might shed some light on why his grandfather suddenly moved from Kansas to Providence, Rhode Island in 1953. Providence is the city where Mr. von Pannwitz lived for several years following his arrival in this country, a place he likely called home until around 1952. Based on passenger manifests I located for Mr. von Pannwitz on ancestry.com, by late 1952 or early 1953, he’d permanently relocated to New York City. I have been unable to determine whether John Kroeker’s move to Providence was related to his friendship with Wolfram.

Another question I’d previously been unable to answer was why John Kroeker arrived in America as a “Stateless” citizen. Since he was a Mennonite, it was clearly not related to the revocation of his German citizenry by the Nazis because of his Jewish ancestry. Possibly, it is connected to one of the multiple reasons for “statelessness” enumerated in the link above (e.g., lack of birth certificate; birth to stateless parents).

By chance, my German friend Peter Hanke stumbled on an article in German Wikipedia about John Kroeker’s father and John Thiesen’s great-grandfather, Jakob Kroeker, which may provide a clue as to why John Kroeker was Stateless.

According to German Wikipedia, Jakob Kroeker was born on the 12^th of November 1872 in Gnadental in the Odessa Oblast of the former Soviet Union [today: Dolynivka, Ukraine]. An “oblast” is an administrative division or region in Russia and the former Soviet Union, and in some of its former constituent republics; readers are reminded that Ukraine was formerly part of the Soviet Union. Given the ongoing war between Russia and the Ukraine, this post coincidentally provides an opportunity to discuss a little history and geography. (Figure 1)

Figure 1. The oblasts or administrative regions of Ukraine

Jakob Kroeker was born in a Mennonite colony in Gnadental in the Odessa Oblast, but by 1881 he and his parents had moved to the Crimean Peninsula to the Mennonite village of Spat [today: Havardiiske or Gvardeskoye, Simferopol Raion, Republic of Crimea, Ukraine] near Simferopol. (Figure 2) The Crimean Peninsula, on which the Republic of Crimea is located, became a part of post-Soviet Ukraine in 1991, upon the latter’s independence, by virtue of Ukraine’s inheritance of the territory from the Ukrainian SSR, of which Crimea was a part since 1954. In 2014, Russia annexed the peninsula and established two federal subjects there, the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol, but the territories are still internationally recognized as being part of Ukraine.

Figure 2. Map showing the distance between Dolynivka, Ukraine, where Jakob Kroeker was born in 1872, and Simferopol, Ukraine on the Crimean Peninsula, near where he and his parents moved in 1881

The land for the Mennonite village where Spat was established and where Jakob Kroeker’s parents moved to was purchased in 1881 from Mennonites living in the Molotschna Mennonite Settlement [today: Molochansk, Ukraine] (Figure 3); Spat was located near the train station of Sarabus [Sarabuz] (Figure 4), which is about 11 miles or 18 km from Simferopol. Molochansk is approximately 185 miles or 297 km NNE of Simferopol.

Figure 3. Map showing the distance between Simferopol, Ukraine and Molochansk, Ukraine; the Mennonites in the latter community sold Jakob’s ancestors the land on the Crimean Peninsula where Spat was built, the town where Jakob Kroeker grew up as a young man

Figure 4. The train station in Sarabuz (Sarabus) near Spat at the end of the 19th century

Let me briefly digress and provide an instructive history of how and why Mennonites came to be in this part of the former Soviet Union.

The Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, located in the province of Taurida, Russia [today: Zaporizhia Oblast in Ukraine], on the Molochnaya River, was the second and largest Mennonite settlement of Russia. Chortitza [today: Khortytsia Island], founded in 1789, was the oldest and next in size, located about 71 miles or 114 km NW of Molochansk. (Figure 5) Chortitza was established by Mennonites from Danzig [today: Gdansk, Poland] (Figure 6) and Prussia who had accepted the invitation of Catherine the Great. The basis for this invitation was the fact that the Russian government needed good farmers in the Ukraine on land they had just acquired through a war with Turkey.

Figure 5. Map showing the distance between the Mennonite communities of Chortitza (Khortytsia) founded in 1789 and Molochansk founded in 1804

Figure 6. Map showing the distance between Chortitza (Khortytsia), and Gdansk, Poland, where the Mennonite community who built Chortitza in 1789 originated

Mennonite families, which tended to be large, were traditionally farmers but had been forced to seek other occupations as land along the Vistula River near Danzig and in Prussia had become scarce. Further complicating matters were Prussian edicts issued between 1786 and 1801 during and following the reign of Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia making it difficult for Mennonites to acquire land, because of their refusal to serve in the military due to their pacifist religious beliefs. Thus, the invitation by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great to relocate from Prussia was attractive because Mennonites could purchase all the land they wanted on the vast steppes of the Tsar’s Russian empire.

From a personal point of view, the fact that the Mennonites who founded Chortitza in 1789 came from Danzig is fascinating. Readers who have followed my Blog since its inception in 2017 may recall that my father Dr. Otto Bruck apprenticed as a dentist in Danzig, and later had his own dental practice between 1932 and 1937 in a Mennonite village to the east called Tiegenhof in the Free City of Danzig [today: Nowy Dwor Gdanski, Poland].

The region where Tiegenhof is located is called Żuławy Wiślane (i.e. “the Vistula fens”), which refers to the alluvial delta area of the Vistula, in the northern part of Poland. Much of the farmland was reclaimed artificially by means of dykes, pumps, channels, and an extensive drainage system. The arduous process of retaking the land from the sea started in the 14^th century and was in large part undertaken by the hardworking Puritan community of Mennonites, who originally came from the Netherlands and Flanders to escape religious persecution.

In any case, the land on the Crimean Peninsula where the town of Spat was established and where Jakob Kroeker grew up was sold to his ancestors by Mennonites who lived in Chortitza but originally came from Danzig and Prussia.

Returning to Jakob Kroeker. Even as a teenager he found comfort in the Christian faith, which eventually drew him to a theological training. He got married to Anna Langemann in 1894, and moved to Hamburg, Germany where he began studying at the Baptist seminary which he completed in four years. John Kroeker’s birth in Hamburg is thus explained.

Jakob’s wife could not obtain the necessary health certificate to work abroad, so he became a traveling preacher for the German Mennonites throughout Russia. In around 1906, he moved to Molotschna, where the cultural center of the Mennonites of Russia was located, although by 1910 he emigrated with his wife and children to Germany, to Wernigerode am Harz. Until the outbreak of WWI, he made numerous trips to St. Petersburg and southern Russia, although with the onset of the war he was no longer allowed to leave Wernigerode without permission because of his Russian nationality. The fact that he was never interned by the Germans during the war was probably because he was an ordained minister of the Mennonites.

Following the end of the war, until a peace agreement was signed in 1921, Jakob Kroeker held Bible courses for Russian POWs; this is deemed by scholars to have provided the impetus for the great religious movement in Russia after the First World War. This prompted him to cofound the mission union Light in the East in 1920 with the aim of spreading Christian literature among the Russian population. In connection with this, he continued to travel extensively throughout the 1920’s and the early 1930’s until the Nazis came to power, which severely restricted his mission’s work opportunities.

Jakob Kroeker and his wife wound up having eleven children, including Wolfram E. von Pannwitz’s friend, John Kroeker. Jakob died in 1948 in Mühlhausen (Stuttgart) in the German State of Baden-Württemberg.

We know that Jakob Kroeker was born in what was formerly part of the Soviet Union, lived as a child and young man on the Crimean Peninsula, and that he eventually emigrated to Wernigerode am Harz in Germany in around 1910. During WWI he was generally prevented from traveling to Russia on account of his Russian nationality. While he traveled extensively following WWI, he seems to have lived continuously in Wernigerode until around 1945-46 when he moved near Stuttgart. There is no indication that he ever relinquished his Russian nationality in favor of German citizenship, so while he was never interned during the Nazi era, the Nazis may have considered him to be Stateless. Following WWII, most Germans, including Mennonites, still living in the Soviet Union left or were deported; since Jakob had once religiously tended to these expelled German Mennonites, he would have had no reason to return to Russia once his flock was gone. As a Russian citizen, this may explain why Jakob was classified as Stateless, and why his son John Kroeker arrived in America as such.

POST 110, POSTSCRIPT: DR. WALTER LUSTIG, DIRECTOR OF BERLIN’S “KRANKENHAUS DER JÜDISCHEN GEMEINDE” (HOSPITAL OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY) THAT SURVIVED THE NAZIS

Note: Having been told of the existence of a photograph of Dr. Walter Lustig by Mr. Daniel B. Silver, author of the book on Berlin’s Jewish Hospital that inexplicably survived the Nazi onslaught, in this postscript I describe how I managed to track down this image.

POST 110: DR. WALTER LUSTIG, DIRECTOR OF BERLIN’S “KRANKENHAUS DER JÜDISCHEN GEMEINDE” (HOSPITAL OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY) THAT SURVIVED THE NAZIS

Regular followers may recall that while working on Post 110, I contacted Mr. Daniel B. Silver, author of “Refuge in Hell: How Berlin’s Jewish Hospital Outlasted the Nazis” to share some new information I had uncovered about the hospital’s wartime director, Dr. Walter Lustig. During our exchanges, Mr. Silver mentioned in passing that following the publication of his book in 2003, he’d attended a traveling exhibit in around 2007 on Berlin’s Krankenhaus der Jüdischen Gemeinde, the Hospital of the Jewish Community. He recalled the exhibit was developed by students from the University of Potsdam who, while assembling materials, had uncovered a photograph of the elusive Dr. Walter Lustig, something Daniel Silver had been unable to find during his extensive research. He eventually obtained a copy of this image, although at the time I contacted him, he was unable to relocate it.

I write this postscript mostly as an example to readers who may find themselves in a similar predicament, wanting to obtain a photo or information about a widely known individual, such as Dr. Walter Lustig, that one has learned exists or instinctively thinks should exist. In my instance, I was armed only with information that a traveling exhibit had been put together by students from the University of Potsdam, located on the outskirts of Berlin, and set about trying to track down the image of Dr. Lustig I was told survives.

The obvious starting point was the University of Potsdam’s website to whom I sent two emails, followed up with phone calls by a friend and relative, respectively; in both instances I was advised to wait though nothing came of my patience. Next, through a contact form I found online for the still-in-existence Jüdisches-Krankenhaus, Jewish Hospital, I reached out to them hoping them might have a photo of Dr. Lustig. In this instance, I received the very gracious following reply:

“During the first half of the last century the hospital was still in the hands of the Jewish Community of Berlin. Only in the 1960s did the hospital become a foundation under civil law. Thus, we do not have any archival material from the time before. We suggest getting in touch with the Jewish Community of Berlin. They might still have documents in their archives from that time.”

The Jewish Hospital provided a link to the Jewish Community of Berlin, known in German as the Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin. I sent them an email in early February of this year, and as of this writing, have not received a reply.

Not yet quite willing to give up, I asked a different German cousin, a historian by training, if he could again try and contact the University of Potsdam, which I still believed was my best chance of tracking down the photo of Dr. Walter Lustig. I provided the background information, but before calling the university, my cousin did a Google query and stumbled upon a reference I’d failed to discover on my own that included a picture of the difficult-to-find Dr. Walter Lustig.

It turns out that as part of its Oral History Project, the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum interviewed a Ms. Ruth Bileski Winterfield, a Forced Laborer during WWII who was compelled to work as a secretary for Dr. Lustig at Berlin’s Jewish Hospital from March 1943 onwards. Included as part of the documentary information related to Ruth Bileski, the St. Louis Holocaust Museum included a photo of Dr. Walter Lustig, whose provenance is the Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin-Centrum Judaicum, New Synagogue Berlin Centrum Judaicum Foundation.

A little background explaining how Ruth Bileski wound up working for Dr. Lustig is relevant. As the “Aryanization” of Germany society ramped up during the Nazi era, among healthy Jews of employable age who chose to remain in Germany, increasing numbers of Jews were forced out of public employment and professions. As Daniel Silver notes, “Once unemployed, Jews were required to register with a special Jewish Labor Bureau and had to perform forced labor wherever they were assigned. By 1941, most able-bodied Jewish men and women, including teenagers, were at forced labor, primarily in the many war-related industrial plants in and around Berlin” (2003: 34)

While Ruth Bileski and her sister Eva were technically mischlinge, half-Jewish, under Nazi racial laws, they were treated as equivalent to full Jews, referred to as Geltungsjuden. Both were working at an I.G. Farben factory and were rounded up by the SS in the Fabrikaktion. To remind readers, the Fabrikaktion, literally “factory operation” or “factory raid,” took place in Berlin in February 1943 when Berlin Jews were picked up by the SS primarily at their places of work. Following their arrest Ruth and Eva were transferred to Rosenstrasse. Again, as a reminder, this was the site of what is called the Frauenprotest, literally “women’s protest” or “wives’ protest.” This is the name given to the successful demonstration in February and March 1943 by Aryan wives and relatives of detained Jewish spouses and part-Jewish children arrested in the Fabrikaktion, an action that eventually resulted in the interned Jews and half-Jews being released.

Upwards of 35,000 Berlin Jews were rounded up during the Fabrikaktion, most of whom were deported to Theresienstadt or Auschwitz and murdered there. The only ones who given a reprieve because of the Rosenstrasse Frauenprotest, a reprieve always intended by the Nazis to be temporary, were some 5-6,000 intermarried Jews and their offspring. Ruth and Eva Bileski were among this group.

During their detention at Rosenstrasse, a Gestapo officer came to the door one day looking for someone who could type. While Ruth Bileski had secretarial training, she chose to remain silent, but her sister Eva offered her up. She was taken out of the room and made to wait all day before being reincarcerated with no explanation. The following day the Gestapo repeated the process again looking for a typist; Ruth’s sister anew volunteered her against her wishes, but on this occasion, she was put to work typing lists of people who were being detained in the building. She typed for thirty-six straight hours before falling asleep at the typewriter. Following the completion of this odious task, she was questioned by a Gestapo office about her secretarial skills, and eventually offered up to Dr. Lustig as his secretary at the Jewish hospital. In no position to make demands, Ruth nonetheless told her jailers she would not go anywhere without her sister. To her surprise her sister was allowed to accompany her. (Silver 2003: 134-136) Like many Jews and half-Jews who were released following the Rosenstrasse Frauenprotest, Ruth and Eva Bileski survived the Nazi Holocaust. Readers interested in learning more about Ruth’s time at Berlin’s Jewish Hospital should listen or peruse the script of the oral interview the St. Louis Holocaust Museum conducted.

Not having obtained permission from either the Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin-Centrum Judaicum or the St. Louis Holocaust Museum to use Dr. Walter Lustig’s image in this Blog post, I provide the link here so readers can view the photograph for themselves. As readers can observe, the photo of Dr. Walter Lustig shows him seated and dressed in a white laboratory coat. His distant cousin, Mr. Roger Lustig, whom I contacted while writing Post 110 thought no photos existed of Dr. Lustig because he was self-conscious of his short stature. Obviously, seated as he is, it is difficult to make out his height which may explain why he allowed this photo to be taken.

As a brief aside and conclusion, in Post 107, I mentioned that Ms. Kathy York née Powell’s grandmother Dr. Maria Wundsch née Pauly worked as a chemist at the Jüdische Krankenhaus, the Jewish Community Hospital, when Dr. Walter Lustig was the Director. Kathy thought letters from her grandmother’s experiences there might exist, but recent contact with one of her cousins who retains many of her family’s ancestral documents regrettably has not yet turned up these missives.

REFERENCE

Silver, Daniel B. Refuge in Hell: How Berlin’s Jewish Hospital Outlasted the Nazis. Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

POST 117: DR. WALTER WOLFGANG BRUCK—DENTIST TO NOBLES, ARISTOCRATS, & NOTED SCHOLARS AND ACADEMICIANS

Note: In this Blog post, I introduce readers to the visitors and clients who signed one of two guestbooks maintained by my ancestor Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck, an array of nobiliary and accomplished patrons representing many duchies and disciplines.

POST 100: DR. WALTER WOLFGANG BRUCK, DENTIST TO GERMANY’S LAST IMPERIAL FAMILY

Figure 1. Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck (1872-1937) shown wearing the medals that Dr. Wahl purchased at auction in 2013 from Walter’s grandson, Nicholas Francis David Newman (1960-2015)

Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck (1872-1937) (Figure 1), acclaimed dentist and distant relative of mine from Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland], has been the subject of multiple Blog posts. Thanks to a German doctor from Köpenick, Berlin, Dr. Tilo Wahl, who photographed or purchased at auction many personal letters, photos, medals, and memorabilia belonging to my esteemed ancestor and generously shared scans of them with me, I have had a trove of materials to mine for Blog stories. The current post is another result of a closer examination of Dr. Bruck’s private papers.

Figure 2. Aerial photograph of Dr. Bruck’s home and dental practice **at Reichspräsidentenplatz 17, also called** Kaiser Wilhelm-Platz, destroyed during WWII

During the late 1920’s and the early 1930’s Dr. Bruck and his family lived in Breslau, Germany in a luxurious home at Reichspräsidentenplatz 17, also called Kaiser Wilhelm-Platz (Figure 2), with the owner of record at the time being Walter Bruck. Following the death of Paul von Hindenburg, the German general and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934, Reichspräsidentenplatz was renamed by the Nazis to Hindenburgplatz. The renaming of the square was reflected in Breslau address books from 1935 onwards. By 1937, however, Walter’s wife Johanna Bruck was now shown as the owner of record even though Walter continued to live there until he died on the 31^st of March 1937. The change in ownership from Walter to Johanna Bruck was a measure to avoid expropriation of the estate by the Nazis as Walter was considered “Jewish,” whereas his wife was deemed to be “Aryan.”

From surviving pictures and two guestbooks belonging to Dr. Bruck that Dr. Wahl physically acquired we know that Dr. Bruck and his wife Johanna Bruck née Gräbsch often entertained and had overnight guests. The visitors seemingly were expected to sign the larger of the guestbooks upon their departure. (Figures 3a-b) This register is 35 pages long with the first guest signature written on the 13^th of July 1900 and the last one on the 14^th of January 1934. Though the visitors included known family members the bulk of the autographs and entries appear to have been recorded by friends, acquaintances, and colleagues, many of whom were renowned and accomplished individuals. Possibly later I will write a post about this first guestbook and tell readers about some of the names I recognize or have been able to uncover information about.

Figure 3a. Cover of the larger of Dr. Bruck’s two guestbooks

Figure 3b. First page of Dr. Bruck’s larger guestbook

However, this Blog post will deal with the much shorter second guestbook, what I’ll characterize as the register for “special” guests. I presume that most of the people who signed this register were clients of Dr. Walter Bruck rather than guests of my ancestor, although one cannot preclude the possibility that some of these acclaimed individuals were provided with accommodations. Names and several business cards are found on seven pages of this guestbook. (Figures 4a-g) My friend Peter Hanke graciously deciphered the names, and, astonishingly, found web links to most of the people. There are 42 separate entries representing 40 different individuals. In the case of a few individuals the written name was insufficient to positively identify the person; only one signature could not be construed. The earliest signature is recorded in January-February of 1923, and the last one on the 7^th of October 1932, making the time span this guestbook covered much shorter than the first one.

Figure 4a. Cover of Dr. Bruck’s guest register containing the names of “special” visitors

Figure 4b. Page 1 of Dr. Bruck’s register for “special” guests

Figure 4c. Page 2 of Dr. Bruck’s register for “special” guests

Figure 4d. Page 3 of Dr. Bruck’s register for “special” guests

Figure 4e. Pages 4-5 of Dr. Bruck’s register for “special” guests

Figure 4f. Page 6 of Dr. Bruck’s register for “special” guests

Figure 4g. Page 7 of Dr. Bruck’s register for “special” guests

Given the illustrious cadre of clients Dr. Bruck treated, it is impossible in a few words to render justice to their enormous accomplishments. Still, there are a few things that stand out in the roles some played in historic events of their day or as relatives to individuals known to readers. I will identify the signators whose names could be made out and highlight a few things of possible interest.

1. Edwin G[ra]f Henckel von Donnersmarck: Januar—Febr[uar] 1923

(Count Edwin Henckel of Donnersmarck, January-February 1923)

Figure 5. Edwin Henckel von Donnersmarck (1865-1929)

Edwin Henckel von Donnersmarck (1865-1929) (Figures 4b & 5) was a German-Polish count, landowner, mining entrepreneur, and member of the Prussian House of Representatives.

2. Herzog Albrecht Eugen von Württemberg: Febr[uar] 1923

(Duke Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg, February 1923)

Figure 6. Duke Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg (1895-1954)

Albrecht Eugen Maria Philipp Carl Joseph Fortunatus Duke of Württemberg (1895-1954) (Figures 4b & 6) was a German officer and prince of the Royal House of Württemberg. Albrecht Eugen belonged to the Catholic line of the House of Württemberg. At the beginning of WWI, he was drafted into the Württemberg Army where he served four years as captain of the 1^st Württemberg Grenadier Regiment; he fought in Flanders, France, and Italy. With the death of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg in 1921, Albrecht Eugen inherited the lordship of Carlsruhe in Silesia, where he worked as a farmer and forester.

During WWII, Albrecht Eugen Herzog von Württemberg again did military service in the Wehrmacht, but not at the front, but in staff service, without a rank as a general staff officer. Because members of the House of Württemberg were known as opponents of the Nazi regime, Albrecht Eugen remained in the rank of captain and was not promoted. He was involved in missions in France, Romania, and the Soviet Union. In 1943 he was forced to resign from the Wehrmacht due to the “Prince’s Decree” (German: Prinzenerlass) This refers to a secret decree issued by Adolf Hitler in the spring of 1940. In it, he prohibited all princes that were soldiers in the Wehrmacht who came from the princely and royal houses that had ruled until 1918 from participating in combat operations in WWII. On the 19^th of May 1943, Hitler completely expelled all members of formerly ruling princely houses from the Wehrmacht.

By January 1945, Albert Eugen was forced to flee from Carlsruhe (now spelled Karlsruhe) in the current German state of Baden-Württemberg, as Russian troops besieged the area. His castle there with its extensive library of over 30,000 volumes was destroyed by the Red Army.

On the 24^th of January 1924, Albrecht Eugen Duke of Württemberg married the Bulgarian Princess Nadezhda (1899-1958), a daughter of Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. Like her husband, she too signed Dr. Bruck’s guestbook and was probably also one of his patients. (see signature 19)

3. Otto Lummer, Direktor des Physikalischen Instituts der Universität Breslau, Geh[eimer] Reg[ierungs-] Rat, Dr. ing. h.c. etc.—März 1923

(Otto Lummer, Director of the Institute of Physics of the University of Breslau, Privy Government Councilor, Doctor of Engineering, h.c. etc., March 1923)

Figure 7. Otto Richard Lummer (1860-1925)

Otto Richard Lummer (1860-1925) (Figures 4b & 7) was a German physicist. Among multiple other inventions, with Eugen Brodhun (1860-1938) he developed the photometer cube. A photometer cube or photometer is an instrument for measuring photometric quantities such as luminance or luminous intensity. In astronomy, it is used to measure the brightness of celestial bodies, while in photography, as readers know, the photometer is used as an exposure meter.

4. P. fon Riechterstein und Boguslaury Lomobusci

UNKNOWN

5. Prof[essor] Dr. Julius Pohl

(Professor Dr. Julius Pohl)

Julius Heinrich Pohl (1861-1942) (Figure 4b) was an Austrian-German pharmacologist and biochemist. From 1897 to 1911 he was Professor of Pharmacology at the German University of Prague and then Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Breslau until 1928.

6. Herzogin von Pless

(Duchess of Pless)

Figure 8. Mary Theresa Olivia Cornwallis-West, called “Daisy von Pless” (1873-1943), in 1898

This signature belongs to Mary Theresa Olivia Cornwallis-West, called “Daisy” (1873-1943) (Figures 4b & 8), who was born in Ruthin Castle, Wales, Great Britain. She became the Princess of Pleß [today: Pszczyna, Poland], the Countess of Hochberg, and the Baroness of Fürstenstein [today: Wałbrzych, Poland]. She was considered the first high-society lady of the European aristocracy. Quoting about her from a website entitled “hostedby.pl”:

Figure 9. Current map showing the distance from Pless, Germany [today: Pzczyna, Poland] to Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]

“Duchess Maria Teresa Olivia Hochberg von Pless, born on June 28, 1873, known as Daisy, was a English aristocrat connected with the palace in Pszczyna, Poland [German: Pless] (Figure 9) and castle in Książ, Wałbrzych [German: Waldenberg] (Figure 10), eldest daughter of Colonel William Cornwallis-West, the owner of the castle Ruthin and estate Newlands, and Mary Adelaide from the home of Fitz-Patrick. She spent all her happy childhood in the Ruthin Castle in North Wales and in a manor house in Newlands. She was closely associated with the court of King Edward VII and George V, relative to the major aristocratic houses of Great Britain. Her brother George was the stepfather of Winston Churchill. She was considered one of the most beautiful aristocrats of her time. Her involvement with the House of Hochberg resulted from an invitation to a masked ball hosted by the Prince of Wales where she met her future husband, Hans Heinrich XV, Prince of Pless, eleven years her elder.

Figure 10. Current map showing the distance from Waldenberg, Germany [today: Wałbrzych, Poland], where the castle of Fürstenstein [today: castle in Książ] is located, to Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]

On the 8^th of December 1891, (one year after first meeting him) the eighteen-year-old Daisy married wealthy Prince Hans Heinrich XV Pless Hochberg. The wedding took place at London’s Westminster Abbey, and the witness was Edward, Prince of Wales. The wedding was very impressive (the Hochberg Family was the third richest family in Germany and the seventh richest in Europe), echoed in the wide world with the political and aristocratic guests from all parts of Europe. After the wedding ceremony Daisy and her husband went on their honeymoon around the world. After that she came to the Ksiaz, where she felt at this point like a princess from a fairy tale: she had her own castle, own service, beautiful costumes, rich husband and… was terribly far from her native home in England.”

Daisy hosted lavish parties at her family’s immense estates in Silesia and at the magnificent castles of Fürstenstein and Pleß. Invitations to her affairs were highly sought. She was friends with the outstanding men of her time, including the last German Emperor Wilhelm II. Despite her fairytale existence and trying to become a good subject of her new country, Daisy von Pless felt a British sense of superiority over Germany, which she considered “uncivilized.”

At the beginning of WWI, Daisy von Pless left Fürstenstein Castle for political and family reasons. As an Englishwoman, she was constantly subjected to political hostility and accusations of treason. From August 1914, she worked as a Red Cross nurse on hospital trains in France and experienced the end of the war in 1918 in an Austrian hospital in Serbia.

She did not return to Silesia until 1921. On December 12, 1922, Daisy divorced her husband in Berlin and received a severance payment, which lost value due to inflation. She first lived in the English community of La Napoule near Cannes and in Munich until she moved back to Waldenburg for financial reasons. The entire property of the von Pless family was expropriated in 1939, and in 1940 she had to move out of the castle when a new Führer’s headquarters was expanded there. She visited the Groß-Rosen concentration camp nearby several times and sent food there to demonstrate her revulsion with the Nazi regime. In 1943, lonely due to chronic diseases and social isolation, she died impoverished in Waldenburg. Her coffin was reburied in an unknown place before the Red Army invaded in 1945.

7. H XXX Reuss – 16. April 1923

(Prince Heinrich XXX of Reuss, 16^th of April 1923)

Figure 11. Prince Heinrich XXX of Reuss (1864-1939) and Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen on their wedding day, the 28th of September 1898, in Breslau

This signature belongs to Prince Heinrich XXX of Reuss (1864-1939). (Figures 4b & 11) On September 28, 1898, in Breslau, he married Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen (i.e., located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia (Figure 12)). He was born in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha [German: German Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha] (Figure 13) which was a dual monarchy in Germany. This means that one ruler ruled over two countries, in this case the duchies of Coburg and Gotha.

Figure 12. Contemporary map of the States of Germany

Figure 13. Map of the German Reich (1871-1918) showing the various states that united to form the German Empire (by Deutsches_Reich1.png: kgbergerderivative work: Wiggy! (talk) – Deutsches_Reich1.png, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7223281)

8. Hansheinrich [Hans Heinrich] Fürst von Pless [?]

(Hans Heinrich Prince of Pless)

Figure 14. Hans Heinrich XV, Prince of Pless, Count of Hochberg (1861-1938), in 1916

Hans Heinrich XV, Prince of Pless, Count of Hochberg (1861-1938) (Figures 4b & 14) was a German nobleman and mining industrialist and married to Daisy von Pless (1873–1943) (see signature 6). They and their three children often lived at Fürstenstein Castle, the largest castle in Silesia. It is located on the northern edge of the town of Wałbrzych [German: Waldenberg] in the Książ district in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland (see Figure 10). Prince Pleß had a close relationship with Kaiser Wilhelm II, who regularly spent the hunt season in autumn at Pleß Castle. The emperor also commissioned the prince with confidential missions. During WWI, Pleß Castle was the seat of the imperial headquarters for months.

After the end of the war and the re-establishment of the Polish state, Hans Heinrich remained in Upper Silesia. The attempt to sell the entire property before July 12, 1922, the official takeover of Upper Silesia by Poland after WWI, failed. Thus, Hans Heinrich XV became a Polish citizen, although he was often on trips abroad or lived on the estates located in Germany.

9. Bolko Graf von Hochberg—18. April 1923

(Bolko Count of Hochberg, 18^th of April 1923)

Figure 15. Hans Heinrich XIV Bolko Graf (Count) von Hochberg (1843-1926)

Hans Heinrich XIV Bolko Graf (Count) von Hochberg (1843-1926) (Figures 4b & 15) was a German diplomat, conductor, and composer. He was born at Fürstenstein Castle [German: Waldenberg; Polish: Wałbrzych] (see Figure 10) and came from the noble family of the Counts of Hochberg who resided at Fürstenstein Castle.

10. Per aspera ad astra – R. Pfeiffer—30.4.23

(“Through hardships to the stars,” R[udolf] Pfeiffer: 30^th of April 1923)

This signature belongs to Rudolf Carl Franz Otto Pfeiffer (1889-1979) (Figure 4b) who was a German classical philologist (i.e., a person who studies classical antiquity usually referring to the study of Classical Greek and Latin literature and the related languages; it also includes Greco-Roman philosophy, history, archaeology, anthropology, art, mythology, and society as secondary subjects)

Per aspera ad astra is a Latin phrase meaning “through hardships to the stars” or “Our aspirations take us to the stars.” The phrase is one of the many Latin sayings that use the expression ad astra, meaning “to the stars.”

11. Hermine Kaiserin Wilhelm II.—23.IV.23

(Hermine Empress Wilhelm II, 23^rd of April 1923)

Figure 16. Hermine Kaiserin Wilhelm II (1887-1947) with Kaiser Wilhlem II and her youngest daughter by her first marriage in Doorn, Netherlands

Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz (German: Hermine, Prinzessin Reuß zu Greiz (1887-1947) (Figure 4c) was the second wife of Germany’s last Emperor, Wilhelm II. (Figure 16) They were married in 1922, four years after he abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia. He was her second husband; her first husband, Prince Johann of Schönaich-Carolath, had died in 1920. I have previously explained Dr. Bruck’s relationship with Kaiser Wilhelm II and his second wife in Post 100.

12. Geheimrat Professor Dr. Max Koch—25. Juni 1923

(Privy Councilor Professor Dr. Max Koch, 25^th of June 1923)

Maxwell “Max” Koch (1854-1925) (Figure 4c) was a German-born Australian botanical collector.

13. Dr. jur. Bernhard Grund, den 17. Juli 1923—Präsident der Handelskammer

(Dr. jur. Bernhard Grund, President of the Chamber of Commerce)

Friedrich Wilhelm Bernhard Grund (1872-1950) (Figure 4c) was a German lawyer, entrepreneur, and DDP (Deutsche Demokratische Partei or German Democratic Party) politician. Grund was variously a member of the Prussian House of Representatives (1913 to 1918), the Prussian Constituent Assembly (1919 to 1921), and the Prussian Landtag until his resignation on 22 October 1924. Since the 15th century, the term Prussian Landtag has referred to various political institutions in Prussia.

14. Dr. Felix Porsch–Erster Vicepräsident des Preuß[ischen] Landtags—15.3.1924

(Dr. Felix Porsch, First Vice-President of the Prussia Landtag, 15^th of March 1924)

Dr. Felix Porsch (1853-1930) (Figures 4c & 17) was a German lawyer and politician of the Centre Party. The latter gained its greatest importance between 1871 and 1933 (i.e. the period between the founding of the German Empire and the end of the Weimar Republic). It was the party of Catholics and political Catholicism in the strongly Protestant-dominated German Empire.

15. Fürstin Hatzfeldt—24. Mai 1924 [Trachenberg bei Breslau] (Figure 18)

(Princess Hatzfeldt, Trachenberg [today: Żmigród, Poland] near Breslau, 24^th of May 1924)

Hatzfeld, also spelled Hatzfeldt (Figure 4c), is the name of an ancient and influential German noble family. It is not clear who exactly was this princess.

Figure 18. Current map showing the distance from Trachenberg [today: Żmigród, Poland] to Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]

16. H. v. Frisch—Universitätsprofessor—Direktor d[es] Zool[ogischen] Instituts u[nd] Museums—2.VI.1924

(H. von Frisch, University Professor—Director of the Zoological Institute and Museum, 2^nd of June 1924)

Karl von Frisch (1886-1982) (Figures 4c & 19) was a German-Austrian ethologist (i.e., someone who studies animal behavior) who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973, along with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz. His work centered on investigations of the sensory perceptions of the honeybee, and he was one of the first to translate the meaning of the waggle dance. Waggle dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honeybee. By performing this dance, successful foragers can share information with other members of the colony about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nectar and pollen, to water sources, or to new nest-site locations.

17. M[ax] Friederichsen, Universitätsprofessor Dr. phil, Direktor des Geographischen Instituts—3.6.1924

(M[ax] Friederichsen, University Professor, Dr. Phil., Director of the Geographical Institute, 3^rd of June 1924)

Maximilian Hermann Friederichsen (1874-1941) (Figure 4c) was a German professor of geography. Between 1923 until 1937 he worked at the University of Breslau. He was forced into retirement because of his wife’s Jewish ancestry on account of the Nazi “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.”

18. Dr. Fritz Reiche, Universitätsprofessor für theoretische Physik—5.6.1924

(Dr. Fritz Reiche, University Professor for theoretical physics, 5^th of June 1924)

Dr. Fritz Reiche (1883-1969) (Figure 4c) was a German theoretical physicist who emigrated to the United States in 1941. I will not try to unintelligibly explain to readers the disciplinary studies Reiche was involved in. There is, however, one fascinating account from a book written by a Robert Jungk entitled “Heller als tausend Sonnen,” “Brighter Than A Thousand Suns,” worth mentioning. The book describes the history of the atomic bomb and its carriers. According to this book, shortly before his departure to the United States in March 1941, Max Reiche was approached by the physicist Friedrich Georg Houtermans asking him to deliver a secret message to physicists in America about the atomic bomb. Anticipating that the Nazis would urge the German physicists to build an atomic bomb, the German theoretical physicist Werner Karl Heisenberg, one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics, was supposedly trying to slow-walk the process. Reiche delivered this message to Rudolf Ladenburg, whom he knew from Berlin and Breslau, who forwarded the message to Washington. However, according to a play entitled “Copenhagen” by Michael Frayn, a three-person play based on the historic meeting of the two physicists Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr and his wife Margrethe in 1941 in German-occupied Copenhagen, there are strong doubts as to whether Heisenberg and his working group were really trying to thwart the construction of the atomic bomb. Perhaps, future historic documents may reveal the truth?

19. Nadejda [Nadezhda] Herzogin von Württemberg—18.VII.1924

(Nadezhda, Duchess of Württemberg, 18^th of July 1924)

Figure 20. Nadejda [Nadezhda] Herzogin von Württemberg (1899-1958)

Nadezhda (1899-1958) (Figures 4d & 20) who spent her childhood mainly in Sofia and Euxinograd, Bulgaria as well as on the estates of her father came from the House of Saxe-Coburg (see Figure 13). After WWI she had to leave Bulgaria with her family and went into exile in Coburg. In 1924 she married Duke Albrecht Eugen (see signature 2) with whom she had five children. From 1925 to 1930 the couple lived in Carlsruhe (now spelled Karlsruhe) in the current German state of Baden-Württemberg (see Figure 12).

20. Universitätsprofessor Dr. Ludolf Malten—Direktor des Philologischen Seminars

(University Professor Dr. Ludolf Malten, Director of the Philological Seminary)

Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolf Malten (1879-1969) (Figure 4d) was like Rudolf Pfeiffer (see signature 10) a German classical philologist and religious scholar. As previously mentioned, philology is the literary study of Latin and Ancient Greek, the two languages considered “classical.” In 1919 Malten became a professor at the University of Königsberg in East Prussia. In 1922 he moved to the University of Breslau, where he remained until the end of WWII. After his escape from Breslau in 1945 as the Red Army was approaching, Malten went to the University of Göttingen where he spent the remainder of his career.

21. ?????

UNKNOWN

22. Professor Puppe—Direktor des Gerichtsärztlichen Instituts—Geheimer Medizinalrat

(Puppe, Director of the Judicial Medical Institute- Privy Medical Councilor)

Georg Puppe (1867-1925) (Figure 4d) was a German forensic and social physician. He basically founded the field of social medicine which essentially deals scientifically and practically with the state of health of the population and its determinants, the organization of health care, social security, and the political determinants of health, as well as the effects and costs of medical care. According to some experts, social medicine is a bridge between medicine and other disciplines, such as law, sociology, social work, psychology, statistics, and economics.

23. Professor R[obert] Wollenberg—Direktor der Univ[ersitäts] Nervenklinik—Geheimer Medizinalrat

(Professor R[obert] Wollenberg, Director of the Univ[ersity] Nerves Clinic – Privy Medical Councilor)

Figure 21. Robert Wollenberg (1862-1942)

Robert Wollenberg (1862-1942) (Figures 4d & 21) was a German psychiatrist and neurologist. Between 1921 and 1930, when he retired, he worked at the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Breslau.

24. Sieghard Prinz zu Schoenaich-Carolath—1925

(Sieghard Prince of Schoenaich-Carolath, 1925)

Figure 22. The seemingly not so happily married couple, Sieghard Prince of Schoenaich-Carolath (1886-1963) and his wife Gräfin Elisabeth zu Castell-Rüdenhausen (1906-1977)

Sieghard (1886-1963) (Figures 4d & 22) was a Prince from the Schoenaich-Carolath family, a Lower Lusatian noble family that came to Silesia as a branch in the 16^th century; the Silesian branch was elevated to the rank of Imperial Count in 1700 and to the Prussian princely status in 1741. Lower Lusatia is a region and former territory in the south of the state of Brandenburg, northern Saxony, and western Poland. Its principal city is Cottbus. He got married in May 1936 to Gräfin (Countess) Elisabeth zu Castell-Rüdenhausen (1906-1977), from whom he divorced in 1956.

25. Friedrich Christian Herzog zu Sachsen—10.III.1925

(Friedrich Christian Herzog of Saxony, 10^th of March 1925)

Figure 23. Friedrich Christian Herzog Prince of Saxony (1893-1968)

Friedrich Christian Albert Leopold Anno Sylvester Macarius Prince of Saxony Duke of Saxony (1893-1968) (Figures 4e & 23) was the second eldest son of King Frederick August III of Saxony, the last King of Saxony, and his wife Louise of Tuscany. Friedrich Christian Herzog was the younger brother of Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony (see signature 29), born a mere eleven months later.

26. Fürst [Rudolf ?] Kinsky, Wien—[BUSINESS CARD—Figure 4e]

(Prince [Rudolf?] Kinsky, Vienna)

Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau (originally Wchinsky, Czech Kinští z Vchynic a Tetova) is the name of a Bohemian noble family, which is known in documents since 1237. Historically, the family acquired important properties in the Kingdom of Bohemia, a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe and the predecessor of the modern Czech Republic. By 1929, roughly 50 percent of Prince Rudolf’s (1859-1930) extensive Bohemia properties had been expropriated. The remaining Czech possessions were lost after WWII due to nationalization because of the Beneš Decrees, though some former possessions in the Czech Republic were returned to the family after 1990. The Kinskys provided numerous important statesmen in the Kingdom of Bohemia and in the Habsburg Monarchy. The historical capital of Bohemia was Prague, since 1918 the capital of Czechoslovakia and now the Czech Republic.

27. Friedrich Christian Herzog zu Sachsen—17.III.1925

(Sieghard Prince of Schoenaich-Carolath, 17^th of March 1925)

(see signature 25 & Figure 4e)

28. Prof. Dr. Eugen Kühnemann—Geheimer Regierungsrat—9. Mai 1925

(Prof[essor] Dr. Eugen Kühnemann, Privy Councilor, 9^th of May 1925)

Figure 24. Dr. Eugen Kühnemann (1868-1946)

Dr. Eugen Kühnemann (1868-1946) (Figures 4e & 24) was a German philosopher and literary scholar.

29. Kronprinz Georg Herzog zu Sachsen—19.8.1925

(Crown Prince Georg Herzog of Saxony, 19^th of August 1925)

Figure 25. Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony (1893-1943)

Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony (1893-1943) (Figures 4e & 25), the last Crown Prince of Saxony, was the heir to the King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus III, at the time of the monarchy’s abolition on 13 November 1918. After the abolition of the monarchy and the abdication of the emperor and the federal princes, George became a Roman Catholic priest. As I implied under Duke Albrecht Eugen von Württemberg (see signature 2), during the time of the National Socialists, former royal members were unpopular, so Georg Herzog devoted himself to consulting at this time. He died of a heart attack while swimming at the age of 50. Georg was the older brother of Friedrich Christian Herzog of Saxony (see signatures 25 & 27).

30. Carl Budding—Deutscher Staatsvertreter bei der Gemischten Kommission und dem Schiedsgerichte für Oberschlesien

(Carl Budding, German State Representative to the Mixed Commission and Arbitration Court for Upper Silesia)

Figure 26. Karl (Carl) Johann Ferdinand Budding (1870-1945)

Karl (Carl) Johann Ferdinand Budding (1870-1945) (Figures 4e & 26) was a lawyer, Reichskommissar (Reich Commissar) in Silesia, and the District President of West Prussia between 1925 and 1936.

31. Alois Fürst zu Löwenstein—3.2.1926

(Alois Fürst of Löwenstein, 3^rd of February 1926)

Figure 27. Aloys Fürst of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1871-1952)

Aloys Fürst of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1871-1952) (Figures 4e & 27) was a member and from 1908 head of the southern German noble family Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, a centrist politician and from 1920 to 1948 president of the Central Committee of German Catholics. Adolf Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933 made it impossible for the Central Committee to continue working. In 1934, for the planned German Katholikentag, German Catholic Day, Prussian Prime Minister Hermann Göring demanded an oath of allegiance to the Third Reich, which Aloys zu Löwenstein refused to provide resulting in cancellation of the event; it would not again take place until 1948.

32. Prinzessin Felicie von Thurn u[nd] Taxis—30.XI.1926 (Figures 4f & 28)

(possibly: Luise Mathilde Felicie Marie von Thurn und Taxis (1887-1949), 30^th of November 1926)

Figure 28. Luise Mathilde Felicie Marie of Thurn and Taxis (1887-1949)

33. Prinz v. Hatzfeldt Trachenberg—11.4.1927

(Prince v. Hatzfeldt Trachenberg, 11^th of April 1927)

Figure 29. Prince Hermann von Hatzfeldt, Duke of Trachenburg (1848-1933) in around 1910

Prince Hermann von Hatzfeldt, Duke of Trachenburg (1848-1933) (Figures 4f & 29) was a German nobleman, member of the House of Hatzfeld, civil servant, Prussian politician, and major general from Silesia.

Hermann Friedrich Anton was the 3^rd Prince of Hatzfeldt of Trachenberg (see Figure 18). He was born at the family castle in Trachenberg and raised Catholic. In 1874 he succeeded his deceased father, who was excommunicated in 1847, as head of the Hatzfeldt-Trachenberg line. On the 1^st of January 1900 he was awarded the hereditary title “Duke of Trachenberg” in primogeniture. From 1894 to 1903 he was President of the Province of Silesia. In 1872 he married Natalie Gräfin von Benckendorff (1854–1931), who is presumed to be signature 34.

34. Prinzessin von Hatzfeldt Trachtenberg—11.4.1927 (see signature 15)

(Princess Hatzfeldt, Trachenberg [today: Żmigród, Poland] near Breslau, 11^th of April 1927)

(see signature 33 & Figure 4f)

35. v[on] Gröning—Universitätskurator—Regierungspräsident z. D.—12.4.1927 (v[on] Gröning, University Trustee-Governor (retired), 12^th of April 1927)

Albert Heinrich von Gröning (1867-1951) (Figure 4f) was a German administrative lawyer in Prussia. From 1926 Gröning was curator of the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-University and state commissioner for the Technical University of Breslau.

36. Prinzessin Biron [?] von Curland—10.10.1927

(Princess Biron of Curland, 10^th of October 1927)

Figure 30. Herzeleide Prinzessin von Preussen (Prinzessin Biron von Curland) (1918-1989)

Countess Herzeleide of Ruppin (1918-1989) (Figures 4f & 30) was born on Christmas Day 1918, shortly after the defeat of the German Reich and the collapse of the monarchy. For this reason, she was given the name Herzeleide, which in German means “heartbreak.” Her grandfather was Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor, and her father was Prince Oskar of Prussia, the 5^th son of Wilhelm II. On August 15, 1938, Herzeleide married Prince Karl Biron von Courland, and was thereafter known as Herzeleide Prinzessin von Preussen (Prinzessin Biron von Curland).

Biron of Curland is a Courland noble family, originating from Latvia (Courland in Latvia is Kurzeme), that also settled in Silesia and Bohemia. Branches of the family still exist today. Courland (Latvian Kurzeme) (Figure 31) is one of the four historical landscapes of Latvia, along with Semgallen (Zemgale), Central Livonia (Vidzeme) and Latgale (Latgale).

Figure 31. The four historical landscapes of Latvia, including Courland

37. Wanda, Fürstin Blücher von Wahlstatt—26.IX.1928

(Wanda, Princess Blücher of Wahlstatt, 26^th of September 1928)

Gräfin Wanda Ada Hedwig Blücher von Wahlstatt (Prinzessin Radziwill) (1877-1966) (Figure 4f) was married to Gebhard Leberecht Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt (1836-1916), a Prussian nobleman and member of the Prussian House of Lords. Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher was the 3^rd Prince Blücher von Wahlstatt, a family of the Mecklenburg nobility (see Figure 13). He was one of the great feudal landowners of Silesia.

38. Blandine Gravinaoth [?]—23.IV.1929

(Blandine Gravina, 23^rd of April 1929)

Figure 32. Blandine Gravina (1863-1941) in the upper left with her family and Richard Wagner, her mother Cosima’s second husband, in 1881

Blandine Gravina (1863-1941) (Figures 4f & 32) was a daughter of Cosima Wagner and Hans von Bülow and a granddaughter of Franz Liszt. Blandine’s parents divorced in 1870, and her mother Cosima married Richard Wagner later that same year. Richard Wagner, known to many readers, is considered one of the most important innovators of European music in the 19th century.

39. Eudoxie Prinzessin von Bulgarien—31.XII.1929

(Eudoxie Princess of Bulgaria, 31^st of December 1929)

Figure 33. Princess Eudoxia of Bulgaria (1898-1985) in 1932

Princess Eudoxia of Bulgaria (1898-1985) (Figures 4f & 33) was a Bulgarian princess who played the role of the First Lady of Bulgaria for some time until her brother Boris married Princess Joan of Savoy. Eudoxia’s sister was Princess Nadezhda (see signature 19), and her brother-in-law was Duke Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg (see signature 2).

Princess Eudoxia was born in Sofia, Bulgaria as the eldest daughter of King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and his first wife, Princess María Luisa de Borbón-Parma. Princess Eudoxia never married or had children and lived with her sister Nadezhda’s in-laws in Germany.

40. Adolf G[ra]f Arnim-Muskau

(Adolf Count Arnim-Muskau)

Adolf Friedrich Heinrich Graf von Arnim-Muskau (1875-1931) (Figure 4f) was a German sports official. From 1913 to 1919 he was a member of the International Olympic Committee.

41. M[agnus] Freih[er]r v[on] Braun—Reichsernährungsminister—7.10.1932 –[BUSINESS CARD—Figure 4g]

(M[agnus] Baron v[on] Braun, Reichminister of Agriculture, 7^th of October 1932)

Magnus Freiherr von Braun (1878-1972) was a German lawyer and politician. In the last two governments of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) he served as Minister of Agriculture (1932-32). One of his sons was the armaments and missile manager Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), the very well-known German and later American rocket engineer who pioneered weapons and space travel.

42. Dr. iur. [Dorotheus] Kracker von Schwartzenfeldt—Kaiserlich Deutscher Gesandter a.D. (fragt ergebenst an, ob er Dienstag den 5. d[es] M[onats] zu irgend einer Zeit …..) z[ur] Z[ei]t Breslau, Tauentzienstr. 71

[BUSINESS CARD—Figure 4g]

(Dr. iur. [Dorotheus] Kracker von Schwartzenfeldt, Imperial German Envoy (retired)) (humbly inquires whether he will be available on Tuesday, the 5^th of March at any time. . .)

This business card belonged to Dr. iuris Dorotheus Kracker von Schwartzenfeldt (1869-1953). He was the Kaiserlicher Legations-Sekretär und Geschäftsträger in Bogotá (Imperial Legation Secretary and Chargé d’Affaires in Bogotá) and had previously worked for the last German Emperor Wilhelm II in Doorn, Netherlands, after the Kaiser abdicated the throne following WWI.

As mentioned at the outset, the entries in Dr. Bruck’s guestbook for “special” visitors and/or dental patients covers the period from January-February 1923 until October 1932. Among the signatures, you will notice multiple names that include former hereditary titles. To remind readers, the nobility system of the German Empire ended in 1919 when it was abolished. Today, the German nobility is no longer conferred by the Federal Republic of Germany, and constitutionally the descendants to German noble families do not enjoy legal privileges. Former hereditary titles, however, are permitted as part of the surname (i.e., the nobiliary particles von and zu), and these surnames can then be inherited by a person’s children. The continued use of hereditary titles by Dr. Bruck’s visitors should not surprise anyone given the brief time since their use had been abolished in 1919.

Beyond the former members of the nobility that signed Dr. Bruck’s guest register, one will also notice an array of accomplished individuals in the fields of law, politics, science, academia, and more. This speaks to the rarified environment in which Dr. Bruck worked and socialized.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NAME (relationship)	VITAL EVENT	DATE	PLACE	SOURCE OF DATA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Figure 2. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife Margarethe von Koschembahr as a child in around 1863 with her mother, Amalie von Koshembahr née Mockrauer (1834-1918)

Figure 3. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (1860-1946) around the time she and Wilhelm got married in 1884

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

Figure 4. Page from a much larger history on the von Koschembahr family describing how the “von Koschembahr” surname was merged with the “Bruck” surname, then subsequently dropped

Figure 5. 1939 photo of Gisela von Koschembahr, Wilhlem Bruck von Koschembahr’s granddaughter and Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr’s eldest daughter, believed to be the author of the von Koshchembahr family history

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NAME (relationship)	VITAL EVENT	DATE	PLACE	SOURCE OF DATA

Wilhelm Bruck (self)	Birth	23 February 1849	Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]	Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
	Marriage (to Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr)	14 September 1884	Berlin, Germany	Berlin, Germany marriage certificate
	Death	15 February 1907	Berlin, Germany	Berlin, Germany death certificate
Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (wife) (FIGURE 11)	Birth	28 November 1860	Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Germany]	Ancestry.com “Germany, Select Births & Baptisms, 1558-1898 (database on-line)”
	Marriage (to Wilhelm Bruck)	14 September 1884	Berlin, Germany	Berlin, Germany marriage certificate
	Death	19 October 1946	Boston, Massachusetts	Von Koschembahr Family History pages uploaded to Mathilde’s profile on ancestry.com by “LynnKabbelWeissgerber”
Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (son) (FIGURE 12)	Birth	28 July 1885	Berlin, Germany	Berlin, Germany birth certificate
	Marriage (to Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch)	21 March 1914	Dresden, Germany	1939 “Declaration of Intention” Immigration & Naturalization form; 1914 wedding photo
	Death	3 October 1961	Westchester, New York	U.S., Find-A-Grave
Charlotte Bruck (daughter)	Birth	17 August 1886	Berlin, Germany	3 May 1906 Berlin, Germany marriage certificate to Walter Edward Stavenhagen
Charlotte Bruck (daughter)	Death	5 June 1974	West Haven, Connecticut	“Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012”
Marianne Johanna Bruck (daughter) (FIGURE 13)	Birth	31 July 1888	Berlin, Germany	Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Marianne Johanna Bruck (daughter) (FIGURE 13)	Death	21 September 1975	Munich, Germany	Kurt Polborn (grandson) ancestry tree
Friedrich Wilhelm Bruck von Koschembahr (son)	Birth	15 December 1889	Berlin, Germany	Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Friedrich Wilhelm Bruck von Koschembahr (son)	Death	14 March 1963	Haag, Germany	“Report of Death of American Citizen Abroad, 1835-1974”
Heinz Leopold Bruck (son)	Birth	17 July 1892	Berlin, Germany	Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Heinz Leopold Bruck (son)	Death	April 1915	Ypres, Belgium	Kurt Polborn (grandson) ancestry tree