Alma Schueck nee Braun Archives - bruckfamilyblog.com

POST 150: UPPER SILESIAN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS FROM RATIBOR [RACIBÓRZ, POLAND]

Note: In this post I discuss some primary source documents from Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland] and Upper Silesia I was recently made aware of. I also explain to readers how to access these online ancestral records digitized by the Upper Silesian Genealogical Society. Finally, I highlight a few “gems” I uncovered that date back to my earliest known Bruck ancestor from Ratibor.

POST 14, POSTSCRIPT: RATIBOR & THE BRAUER (BREWER) M. BRAUN “LINK” TO AMERICA

POST 149: A CHILDHOOD FRIEND’S EARLY ANCESTORS FROM UPPER SILESIA & RATIBOR [RACIBÓRZ, POLAND] (PART 1-BACKGROUND)

This story begins with an email my good friend Peter Albrecht von Preußen (Figure 1) sent me with a link to a Dropbox account with a stash of primary source documents from Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]. Regular readers will recognize this as the town in Upper Silesia (Figure 2) to which some of my Jewish ancestors had an association of over 100 years and where the erstwhile family establishment, the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel, was owned through three generations of my family, from around 1850 until 1926.

Having previously and on multiple occasions carefully examined three microfilm rolls of Jewish vital records from Ratibor (i.e., LDS Family History Center (FHC) Microfilms 1184447, 1184448, & 1184449) available through the Mormon Church’s familysearch website and having personally visited and spent many hours at the Archiwum Państwowe w Katowicach Oddział w Raciborzu, the State Archives in Katowice, Branch in Racibórz (Figure 3), scrutinizing civil registration records of vital events for my family, I had scant expectations of finding anything new. I had no reason to believe additional documents of vital events for Jews from Ratibor still exist. I could not have been more wrong.

Figure 3. Entrance to the “Archiwum Państwowe w Katowicach Oddział w Raciborzu,” the State Archives in Katowice, Branch in Racibórz

Below I will walk readers step-by-step through how to access the database I learned about that includes not only primary source documents about Jews from Ratibor and some adjoining towns but also the more extensive Catholic and Lutheran parish records from across Upper Silesia. I will also detail some of the most satisfying discoveries I made about some near and distant forebears, breakthroughs I honestly thought I would never realize. However, I’m going to start at the tail end and explain the origin of these primary source documents.

The source of the documents Peter sent me is the “Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne ‘Silius Radicum’,” or the Upper Silesian Genealogical Society “Silesian Roots.” Under an agreement signed on the 21^st of January 2015 with the State Archives in Katowice, the Society obtained permission to digitize genealogical records in the State Archive, a function not then being undertaken by the National Archives. The Society further obtained authorization to post the digitized records to their website.

The published books are classified according to the three main faiths, Roman Catholic, Evangelical, and Jewish within the historical area of Upper Silesia. The records generally cover the years 1800 to 1874 and are duplicates of records which were submitted to the court. At the time these records were created, the Standesämter, the civil registration offices, had not yet been established in Prussia, something which began in 1874.

The Ratibor-related files to which Peter Albrecht sent me the Dropbox link are listed in the following table:

Book Signature Number	Polish & English Names	No. of Pages

1693	*Racibórz akta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego—urodzenia 1851-1855.* Racibórz population records of the Jewish faith, births 1851 – 1855.	304
1694	*Racibórzakta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–urodzenia 1910* Racibórz population records of the Jewish faith, births 1910	12
1695	*Racibórzakta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–małżeństwa 1869-1870* Racibórz records of Jewish population, marriages 1869-1870	299
1696	*Racibórzakta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–małżeństwa 1872-1885* Racibórz records of the Jewish population, marriages 1872-1885	376
1697	*Racibórzakta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–urodzenia, małżeństwa 1852-1853* Racibórz population records of the Jewish faith, births + marriages 1852-1853	386
1698	*Racibórz(powiat)akta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–urodzenia, zgony 1841-1847* Racibórz (county) population records of the Jewish faith, births + deaths 1841-1847	17
1699	*Racibórzakta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–urodzenia, małżeństwa, rozwody, zgony 1815-1844* Racibórz Jewish population records – births + marriages + divorces + deaths 1815-1844	87
1700	*Racibórzakta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–urodzenia, małżeństwa, rozwody, zgony 1845-1847* Racibórz Jewish population records, births + marriages + divorces + deaths 1845-1847	18
1701	*Gorzyceakta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–urodzenia, małżeństwa, zgony 1843-1847* Gorzyce (Groß Gorschütz) Jewish population records, births + marriages + deaths 1843-1847	26
1702	*Kornowacakta ludności wyznania mojżeszowego–urodzenia, małżeństwa, zgony1845-1848* Kornowac (Kornowatz) Jewish population records – births, marriages, deaths 1845-1848	24
	TOTAL PAGES	1,549

For my purposes, Signature Books 1701 (Groß Gorschütz) and 1702 (Kornowatz) were of no interest.

While theoretically including records between 1800 and 1874, readers will notice significant gaps in what’s been digitized. Whether those records still exist or have yet to be scanned is unknown. Excluding Signature Books 1701 and 1702 which cover areas outside Ratibor, the table below shows the years for which birth, marriage, divorce, and death records are available for Ratibor through the Upper Silesian Genealogical Society’s website:

Ratibor Births

Ratibor Marriages

Ratibor Divorces

Ratibor Deaths

1815-1844 (Book 1699)

1841-1847 (Book 1698)

1845-1847 (Book 1700)

1851-1855 (Book 1693)

1910 (Book 1694)

1815-1844 (Book 1699)

1845-1847 (Book 1700)

1869-1870 (Book 1695)

1872-1885 (Book 1697)

1815-1844 (Book 1699)

1845-1847 (Book 1700)

1815-1844 (Book 1699)

1841-1847 (Book 1698)

1845-1847 (Book 1700)

Comparing the above to what’s available for Ratibor through the Mormon Church’s Family History Library, we find three films with Jewish records. Microfilm 1184447 includes cemetery deeds between 1888 and 1940; Microfilm 1184448 records deaths between 1865 and 1930; and Microfilm 1184449 documents births between 1815 and 1874 and marriages between 1814 and 1862. Clearly researchers would want to examine both databases since there’s only partial overlap. More on this below.

Before discussing the most informative documents found in the other Signature Books, let me describe the process step by step for accessing the primary source documents digitized by the Upper Silesian Genealogical Society:

Go to https://siliusradicum.pl/en/ksiegi-metrykalne/
On the portal page, readers can select one of four languages: English, German, Polish, or Czech;
While the “User Panel” allows you to sign in or register, the records can be accessed without doing so simply by scrolling down the page to the list of towns;
The towns for which Signature Books are available are listed alphabetically;
By way of example, select “ASC Jewish Community—Racibórz (Ratibor”;
Select “Browse online with Dropbox” towards the bottom of the page, and the ten Signature Books described above will be listed;
Select one, then scroll through the pages, and download relevant pages individually;
Once done perusing all the pages in a particular Signature Book, hit the “Back” button. Select “ASC gminy żydowskiej – Racibórz (Ratibor)” under “Copy to Dropbox” or “Download” and you’ll be taken back to the list of Signature Books. The first page of each Signature Book is a PDF page that describes its contents.

Towns in Upper Silesia besides Ratibor for which Jewish Signature Books have been digitized include Beuthen [today: Bytom, Poland]; Chorzow [today: Chorzów, Poland]; Dzietzkowitz [today: Dziećkowice, district of Mysłowice, Poland]; Gleiwitz [today: Gliwice, Poland]; Gollasowitz [today; Golasowice, Poland]; Kattowitz [Katowice, Poland]; Königshütte [today: Royal Huta, Poland]; Myslowitz [today: Mysłowice, Poland]; Pless [today: Pszczyna, Poland]; Rybnik [today: Rybnik, Poland]; and [Tarnowskie Góry, Poland];

For my purposes, Ratibor Signature Books, 1693, 1695, 1699, and 1700 were most informative.

I dub my great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Nathan Bruck (1770-1836) the paterfamilias of the Ratibor line of the Bruck family. As recently as Post 149, Part 1, I wrote it was indeterminately estimated he was born in 1762 or 1770 and died in 1832 or 1836. Thanks to a death register listing I found in Signature Book 1699, I now know his exact death date, the 29th of June 1836, when he was 66 years of age (Figure 4), meaning he obviously was born in 1770. This was the most exciting find in the Signature Books from Ratibor.

Figure 4. The death register listing found in Ratibor Signature Book 1699 showing my great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Nathan Bruck died on the 29th of June 1836 at the age of 66

I will devote an upcoming post to the scant but tantalizing clues I’ve collected about Jacob Nathan Bruck, including the number of children I can firmly document that he and his wife, Marianne Aufrecht, begat. Various ancestral trees I’ve found on ancestry.com and in MyHeritage claim that his first offspring was a daughter named Helene Bruck who was purportedly married to an Itzig Mendel Guttman Aufrecht. Serendipitously, I also found Helene Aufrecht, née Bruck’s, death register listing showing she died in 1838 at the age of 68 (Figure 5), meaning that like Jacob Bruck she too was born in 1770. They could conceivably have been twins but were more likely cousins. While it’s possible Jacob’s first daughter was indeed named Helene, something I’ve not yet found evidence of, Helene Aufrecht was assuredly not Jacob’s daughter and Itzig Aufrecht was certainly not Jacob’s son-in-law. Intriguingly, Helene gave birth to a child in 1815 at the improbable age of 45. (Figure 6)

Figure 5. The death register listing found in Ratibor Signature Book 1699 for Marianne Aufrecht, née Bruck, married to Itzig Mendel Guttman Aufrecht, showing she died on the 20th of May 1838 at the age of 68

Figure 6. Birth register listing showing that Helene Bruck and Itzig Mendel Guttman Aufrecht had a boy named Nathan born on the 2nd of September 1815 when Helene would have been 45 years old

I often remind readers that some information found on family trees in ancestry.com, MyHeritage, and Geneanet with respect to dates of vital events and names and numbers of offspring is notoriously unreliable. Unverified vital data is often cloned from existing trees by people seeking to build their own genealogical charts. I typically reject much of this data unless it’s backed up by primary source documentation, particularly as it relates to individuals born in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when records on Jews living then are sparse.

It is not my intention to review all the personally intriguing discoveries I made in perusing the digitized Silius Radicum records from Ratibor, since they are of scant interest to most readers. However, several things stand out that are worth briefly discussing.

Even if the Ratibor records in Silius Radicum themselves are unique, some of the data was previously known to me from similar documents in which the same data was recorded. For example, three of the paterfamilias Jacob Nathan Bruck’s oldest daughters were married, respectively, in 1814 (Wilhelmine Bruck), 1817 (Dorothea Babette Bruck), and 1822 (Fanny Bruck). I previously discovered this information on LDS Family History Center Microfilm 1184449 where a register documenting their marriages and family relationships was found. (Figures 7-8) On the typed Jewish Records Indexing-Poland database, much of the same information is recorded, presumably copied from the Mormon Church’s films. (Figure 9)

Figure 7. Page from LDS FHC Microfilm 1184449 showing that two of Jacob Nathan Bruck’s daughters got married, Wilhelmine on the 7th of March 1814 and Dorothea Babette Bruck on the 25th of February 1817

Figure 8. Another register page from LDS FHC Microfilm 1184449 showing that another of Jacob Nathan Bruck’s daughters, Fanny, got married on the 26th of November 1822

Figure 9. Page from the Jewish Records Indexing-Poland database listing the marriages of Jacob Nathan Bruck’s three eldest daughters

In Silius Radicum I discovered register pages for the same three marriages, with family relationships similarly noted. (Figures 10-11) However, the handwriting is noticeably different and the registers dissimilar in appearance, meaning the information was recorded in duplicate and likely stored separately. Clearly, the records that Silius Radicum digitized were never photographed by the Mormon Church. Obviously, this is noteworthy because it means the possibility exists that additional records for Jews from Ratibor and Upper Silesia may eventually materialize.

Figure 10. Register page from Signature Book 1699 listing the marriages of two of Jacob Nathan Bruck’s elder daughters, Wilhelmine in 1814, and Dorothea Babette Bruck in 1817, written in a different hand than the registers on FHC Microfilm 1184449

Figure 11. Another register page from Signature Book 1699 listing the marriage of Fanny Bruck in 1822, again written in a different hand

One of my ancestors from Ratibor through whom I’m related to most of my cousins in America because of his fecundity was the brewer Markus Braun (1817-1870). On LDS Family History Center Microfilm 1184449, the birth register shows he had twelve children with his first wife, Caroline Spiegel, then another two with his second wife, Johanna Goldstein, the last of whom was born after he died and named after him. Signature Book 1693, while only covering the years 1851 through 1855, includes copies of the actual birth certificates for several of Markus’ children with his first wife. In Signature Book 1700, I learned that Markus and Caroline were married on the 25th of August 1846 (Figure 12), and discovered they had a daughter named Sara, the first of 13 rather than only 12 children, on the 28th of October 1846 (Figure 13), shortly after they wed.

Figure 12. Register page from Signature Book 1700 indicating that Markus Braun and his first wife got married on the 25th of August 1846

Figure 13. Another register page from Signature Book 1700 showing that Markus Braun and Caroline Spiegel gave birth to their first child Sara on the 28th of October 1846, several months after they married

Again, the dates of birth of most of Markus’ children was previously known to me from Microfilm 1184449. What is new based on the Signature Books from Ratibor are the actual birth certificates for several of Markus and Caroline’s children and the discovery of a 13^th child with his first wife. This again proves that the documents digitized by Silius Radicum were not previously photographed by the Mormon Church and likely have not been closely studied by people investigating their ancestors from Ratibor.

One of the most extensive records I discovered was a 14-page marriage folio in Signature Book 1695 which includes Ratibor marriages from only 1869 and 1870. This brief period happens to coincide with when Alma Braun (1851-1919) (Figure 14), one of Markus’ daughters, got married to Adolph Schück (1840-1916) (Figure 15) on the 1^st of September 1870, and is their marriage file. One of my German cousins translated and interpreted the document for me. Suffice it to say, the pages contain an astonishing amount of ancestral information, including the precise date Markus Braun died, the 4^th of February 1870, at the age of 52; clearly, he died some months before Alma got married. Additionally, had I not already known this information, the file would have allowed me to work out family relationships which are recorded in detail.

Figure 14. Markus and Caroline Braun’s daughter Alma (1851-1919)

Figure 15. Adolph Schück (1840-1916) whom Alma Braun married on the 1st of September 1870; Adolph was the co-owner of the Zuckerfabrik, sugar factory, in Woinowitz, outside of Ratibor

As I mentioned above, there is some overlap between the Jewish records for Ratibor available online through familysearch and the newer stash found in Silius Radicum. For example, all the offspring of Jacob Nathan Bruck’s three eldest daughters married, respectively, in 1814, 1817, and 1822, are found in both databases. By contrast, for my great-great-grandparents Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) (Figure 16) and Charlotte Marle (1809-1861) (Figure 17), the Silius Radicum records only include eight of their nine known children; the ninth one can only be found on LDS Microfilm 1184449.

Figure 16. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863)

Figure 17. My great-great-grandmother, Charlotte Bruck, née Marle (1809-1861)

In closing, I admit that I do not know whether the Jewish and non-Jewish vital records the Upper Silesian Genealogical Society has digitized are widely known and/or used by ancestral researchers. I can only speak for myself and acknowledge that I was unaware of them. I hope for others who are in my situation that they may discover some hidden “gems” like I did.

POST 59: THE WOINOWITZ ZUCKERFABRIK (SUGAR FACTORY) OUTSIDE RATIBOR (PART III—HEIRS)

Figure 1. The Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik as it looked in the early 1900’s

Figure 2. The Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik in 2014, seen from roughly the same angle as Figure 1

Remark: I’ve relabeled the titles of the two previous posts dealing with the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik (Sugar Factory) (Figures 1-2), Posts 36 and 55, to make clear to readers this post is merely another part of a story that continues to evolve and grow. Woinowitz [today: Wojnowice, Poland], is located outside Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland], the town in Upper Silesia where my father, Dr. Otto Bruck, was born in 1907. Lately, I’ve acquired multiple new documents and photographs from family, friends, and archives about the factory and its heirs, and anticipate receiving more in coming weeks, possibly enough materials to expand the story to five or six separate posts.

In Post 36, including the Postscript, I provided some historical background and maps, including information on the original family owners of the sugar plant. I fully anticipated the original post, now Part I, would be a “one-and-done” publication. This unexpectedly changed when I was contacted earlier this year through my Blog by a Danish gentleman, Allan Grutt Hansen, with documentation on the compensation paid by the then-West German government in 1966 to his ancestors for the forced sale of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik by the Nazis around 1937. I detailed this surprising development in Post 55, now Part II of the tale. Suspecting the German government has indemnified what amounts to only one-sixth of the heirs propelled further forensic investigations and resulted in findings that provide the basis for this Blog post.

One additional point I want to emphasize to readers. I have “no skin in this game,” that’s to say, I am not entitled to any compensation that may eventually be meted out for the forced sale of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik. While I hope the rightful heirs eventually receive reparations for harm done to their ancestors and will strive to facilitate this outcome, this post is primarily a story describing the scientific technique I applied to uncover relevant ancestral evidence that may buttress the family’s claims.

Note: In this post, I identify the first-generation heirs of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik, and briefly return to the topic of compensation for the forced sale of the sugar plant. I also discuss the historic documents obtained since publication of Post 55, alluded to in that post, that lead to some unexpected discoveries.

Following publication of Post 55, now Part II of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik saga, I pursued other avenues of investigation to identify the first-generation heirs of the sugar factory and learn who, if any, among them was indemnified for the forced sale of the plant. With the help of living next-of-kin, I’ve compiled the following table of the two original owners and their immediate descendants, along with their vital statistics:

Figure 3. Adolph Schück (1840-1916), co-owner of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik

Figure 4. Sigmund Hirsch (1848-1920), Adolph Schück’s brother-in-law and partner in the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik

Figure 5. Dr. Erich Schück (1878-1938), an heir of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik, who supposedly committed suicide after the forced sale of the sugar plant

ORIGINAL OWNER	FIRST-GENERATION HEIR	RELATIONSHIP TO OWNER	EVENT	DATE & PLACE
ADOLPH SCHÜCK (Figure 3)			Birth	5 Jul 1840 Ratibor, Germany
			Death	3 Nov 1916 Ratibor, Germany
	Auguste Leyser née Schück	Daughter	Birth	26 Jan 1872 Ratibor, Germany
			Death	28 May 1943 Theresienstadt
	Elly Kayser née Schück	Daughter	Birth	7 Sep 1874 Ratibor, Germany
			Death	28 Apr 1911 Berlin, Germany
	Erich Schück (Figure 5)	Son	Birth	13 Apr 1878 Ratibor, Germany
			Death	18 Dec 1938 Berlin, Germany

SIGMUND HIRSCH (Figure 4)			Birth	18 Nov 1848
			Death	14 Oct 1920 Ratibor, Germany
	Helene Goldenring née Hirsch	Daughter	Birth	25 Mar 1880 Ratibor, Germany
			Death	12 Jan 1968 Newark, NJ
	Robert Hirsch	Son	Birth	31 Oct 1881 Ratibor, Germany
			Death	7 Oct 1943 Valparaiso, Chile
	Frieda Mamlok née Hirsch	Daughter	Birth	8 Feb 1883 Ratibor, Germany
			Death	29 Jul 1955 Montevideo, Uruguay

Figure 6. Allan Grutt Hansen (b. 1962) from Denmark, grandnephew of Erich and Hedwig Schück

Figure 7a. Front page of the 1966 restitution agreement for the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik showing the estimated value; the number of “shares”; the date of Hedwig Schück’s death; and the “Landkreis” where the case was administered

Figure 7b. Page from 1966 West German compensation agreement for the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik indicating how individual shares of 75,000 RM were “adjusted” to 142,500 RM and showing only 2,500 RM was disbursed to Hedwig Schück’s heirs

Several things are worth noting. First, I presume from the Woinowitz compensation package provided to me by Allan Grutt Hansen (Figure 6) that when the West German government indemnified Allan’s ancestors in 1966 they were aware of six possible heirs. This presumption is based on the total compensation calculated at the time, 450,000 Reichmark (RM), which was divided by six, with each “share” worth 75,000 RM. (Figure 7a) For reasons possibly having to do with how much was paid out in the 1930’s by the Nazi overlords to the factory’s owners, this 75,000 RM was multiplied by a factor of 1.9 theoretically entitling each heir to 142,500 RM (Figure 7b) (i.e., in January 2017, a 1937 Reichsmark would have been worth approximately $4.30). Second, the six first-generation heirs likely correspond to those identified in the table above. The original owners of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik, along with their wives, died well before the Nazis came to power and the sugar plant’s sale was forced. Third, we can see that apart from first-generation heir Helene Goldenring née Hirsch, all other first-generation heirs were deceased by 1966 when some compensation was paid out. Fourth, we know that Hedwig Schück née Jendricke’s descendants, as a result of her marriage to Dr. Erich Schück, received some minimal compensation, 2,500 RM split unequally four ways (Figure 7c); Hedwig’s relatives would have been second- and third-generation heirs. And, finally, based on conversations I’ve had with third- and fourth-generation heirs of the factory’s original owners, Adolph Schück and Sigmund Hirsch, it appears that five-sixth of the compensation was never meted out, despite concerted efforts by several of the descendants.

Figure 7c. Page from 1966 West German compensation agreement for the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik listing Erich and Hedwig Schück’s four heirs, and the fraction they each received of the 2,500 RM compensation doled out

Figure 7d. Page from 1966 West German compensation agreement showing that the case was adjudicated by the “Kreis Oldenburg (Holstein) Der Landrat,” the District Administrator for Oldenburg in the German State of Holstein

The package provided to me by Allan Grutt Hansen identifies the German office that handled the compensation case, namely, the “Kreis Oldenburg (Holstein) Der Landrat,” the District Administrator for Oldenburg in the German State of Holstein. (Figure 7d) After a few failed attempts to establish contact with the administrative office in Holstein that may have handled the proceedings, I was directed to the Bundesarchiv in Beyreuth, Germany, the Federal State Archives in the city of Beyreuth, in northern Bavaria. I’ve provided them with the list of all the possible heirs to the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik, requested they tell me about indemnification they may have received, and now await a reply; oddly, the archive can only research by individual names, not by the name of the Woinowitz factory, so it’s unclear what, if any, documentation I may eventually obtain.

Towards the end of Post 55, I told readers about having found the death register listings for Dr. Erich Schück and his wife Hedwig Schück née Jendricke in the online Landesarchiv Berlin database, the latter of which was the subject of Post 49. To remind readers, I found Hedwig’s date and place of death in the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik compensation package given to me by Allan Hurst Hansen; it showed she died on the 9th of June 1960 (Figure 7a) in the Wilmersdorf Borough of Berlin, making locating her in the Landesarchiv Berlin database relatively straight-forward. Finding her husband Dr. Erich Schück in the database was slightly more involved. I’d been told growing up he’d committed suicide sometime after the forced sale of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik. Operating under the assumption he’d moved to Berlin after selling the sugar plant, further assuming he’d lived in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, where his wife died in 1960, and finally theorizing he’d died in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s, I scoured the death register for Wilmersdorf and eventually discovered his name listed under the year 1938.

As explained in Post 49, finding names in the death register listing does not give you immediate access to the underlying death certificates; these must be ordered from the Landesarchiv Berlin, and since publication of the Post 55, I’ve received these documents.

Figure 8. Dr. Erich Schück’s death certificate highlighting his dates and places of birth and death, his cause of death, the attending physician, his birth certificate number, and his marriage date

Figure 9. Hedwig Schück née Jendricke’s death certificate highlighting her dates and places of birth and death, her birth certificate number, and her marriage date

The death certificates for Erich and Hedwig, as readers can observe for themselves, are typed, thus easily decipherable even though written in German. (Figures 8-9) I learned several interesting things from these certificates. In the case of Dr. Erich Schück, his death certificate identified his cause of death, “todesursache,” as “Kranzaderverkalkung, Zuckerkrankheit, Herzschlag,” that’s to say, as arteriosclerosis, diabetes and heart disease. As mentioned above, Dr. Schück’s relatives had always maintained he committed suicide. Notwithstanding the stated causes of death, I still believe his death was self-inflicted. Let me explain why. The attending doctor who signed his name to the death certificate was a Dr. Alfred Mamlok, who it so happens was Dr. Schück’s first cousin. Perhaps mindful of the need for decorum or financial necessity, Dr. Mamlok opted to state natural causes as the reason for his cousin’s death. We may never know.

Figure 10. Co-owner of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik Sigmund Hirsch with his wife Selma Hirsch née Braun with their three children, Frieda, Robert and Helene

I’d been aware for some time that Sigmund Hirsch, co-owner of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik, had three children with his wife Selma Hirsch née Braun, two daughters, Helene and Frieda, and one son, Robert. (Figure 10) I knew both daughters had been born in Ratibor but had never found any concrete evidence of when and where the son had been born, though I’d known for some time he’d died in Valparaiso, Chile in 1943. Then, recently, I again searched Robert Hirsch in ancestry.com, and came upon a promising lead for a person by that name who once lived in an unexpected place at some remove from Ratibor called Mittweida, Germany, promising only because it showed this person was born in Ratibor on the 31st of October 1881. (Figures 11a-b) The year comported with the timeframe his two siblings had been born, respectively, in 1880 and 1883. Still, uncertain what to make of this, I asked Mr. Paul Newerla, my historian friend from Ratibor, whether he could check in the civil register in Racibórz for the Robert Hirsch born in 1881, which he graciously agreed to do. Paul located this person’s birth certificate and confirmed that he was indeed Sigmund and Selma’s son, born, like his sisters, in Ratibor. (Figure 12) Another mystery solved. A side benefit of this request to my friend Paul is that he also found and sent me the birth certificate for Erich Schück, who it turns out was born in 1878 in Ratibor only three years before Robert Hirsch. (Figure 13)

Figure 11a. Mittweida, Germany (State of Saxony) 1904 Residence Register listing a Robert Hirsch born on the 31st of October 1881 in Ratibor (cover)

Figure 11b. Mittweida, Germany (State of Saxony) 1904 Residence Register highlighting the Robert Hirsch born on the 31st of October 1881 in Ratibor (register)

Figure 12. Robert Hirsch’s Ratibor 1881 birth certificate highlighting his parents’ names, Sigmund and Selma Hirsch née Braun (partners Sigmund and Adolph’s wives were sisters)

Figure 13. Erich Schück’s Ratibor 1878 birth certificate highlighting his parents’ names, Adolph and Alma Schück née Braun (partners Adolph and Sigmund’s wives were sisters)

Erich and Hedwig’s respective death certificates indicated their date and place of birth, but more importantly provided the certificate numbers of their birth certificates. (Figures 8-9) Erich was born on the 13th of April 1878 in Ratibor, Germany, while his future wife Hedwig Jendricke was born on the 6th of December 1890 in a place called Gollantsch, Germany [today: Gołańcz, Poland]; On the off chance that familysearch.org might have the birth records automated for Gollantsch, I checked their online catalog, and, amazingly, found Hedwig’s birth certificate matching the number shown on her death certificate. (Figures 14a-b)

Figure 14a. Hedwig Schück née Jendricke’s 1890 birth certificate from Gollantsch, Germany, matching Certificate Number 129 found on her 1935 Berlin marriage certificate

Figure 14b. Translation of Hedwig Schück née Jendricke’s 1890 birth certificate

Both Erich and Hedwig Schück’s death certificates indicate they were married on the 25th of June 1935 in Berlin-Charlottenburg. (Figures 8-9) This was a source of potential new information, so naturally I ordered their marriage certificate from the Landesarchiv Berlin; it arrived several weeks later, but unlike Erich and Hedwig’s death certificates, it was handwritten. (Figures 15a-c) I asked one of my German cousins for a translation, which he happily provided. The marriage certificate included one new piece of information whose significance I had no reason to fully appreciate at the time, namely, Hedwig’s “middle” name, “Lange.” Often, in the Landesarchiv Berlin marriage registers, a widowed or divorced spouse who remarries has her first husband’s surname recorded. Such was the case with Erich and Hedwig’s 1935 marriage certificate, which showed Hedwig’s first husband had been someone with the surname Lange (i.e, Hedwig Lange née Jendricke).

Figure 15a. Erich Schück and Hedwig Lange née Jendricke’s 1935 Marriage Certificate 622 (page 1)

Figure 15b. Erich Schück and Hedwig Lange née Jendricke’s 1935 Marriage Certificate 622 (page 2)

Figure 15c. Translation of Erich Schück and Hedwig Lange née Jendricke’s 1935 Marriage Certificate 622

Figure 16. My third cousin once-removed, Larry Leyser

It took my third cousin once-removed, Larry Leyser (Figure 16), to fully unravel the significance of this new piece of information. Briefly, some background. In recent years, Larry has had the opportunity to scan a large collection of family photos and documents from his deceased great-aunt now in the possession of his second cousin. As occasionally also happens with me, even with labeled photos, neither of us is immediately able to recognize all the names nor ascertain a possible family connection; the photos go into what I term my “back-burner” file for future contemplation. Once I shared the translation of Erich and Hedwig Schück’s marriage certificate with Larry, it triggered an “aha!” moment to the previously unknown “Lange” name. In Larry’s own back-burner file, he discovered four labeled photos of Hedwig Lange from 1930, including one of Larry’s father, Kurt Leyser, with two of Kurt’s first cousins. (Figures 17-18) Beyond now knowing what Hedwig Schück looked like, it confirms that Hedwig was known to her future second husband Erich while she was either still married to, divorced or widowed from her first husband. Also, it was known that Hedwig was an aspiring actress or singer, and two of the photos do indeed appear to have been professionally staged. (Figures 19-20) It is beyond amazing that Larry was able to relate photos of a previously unfamiliar Hedwig Lange to the broader story of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik.

Figure 17. Hedwig Lange née Jendricke on the 20th of September 1930

Figure 18. Hedwig Lange née Jendricke with three children, Larry Leyser’s father, Kurt Leyser, and two of Kurt’s cousins

Figure 19. May 1930 stage photograph of Hedwig Lange née Jendricke, an aspiring actress

Figure 20. May 1930 stage photograph of Hedwig Lange née Jendricke

Figure 21. Franz Kayser, one witness at Erich and Hedwig Schück’s 1935 marriage, in 1945 atop Rockefeller Center in New York City

Figure 22. Franz Kayser’s son, John Kayser, in 2014, in front of the apartment building in Berlin near where his parents lived at the time they fled to America in 1938, shown in Erich and Hedwig Schück’s marriage certificate as Kaiserdammstrasse 82 (not 22)

One final thing I found on Erich and Hedwig Schück’s marriage certificate of great personal interest were the names and addresses of two witnesses, specifically, “Franz Kayser” and “Fritz Leyser.” (Figure 15b) Readers should refer to the table at the outset of this post to see that Adolph Schück’s two daughters’ married names were, respectively, Leyser and Kayser. Franz Kayser (Figure 21), whom I met once as an adolescent in New York, was the father of my third cousin John Kayser (Figure 22), while Fritz Leyser (Figure 23) was Larry Leyser’s grandfather. It was astounding to find the surnames on one historic document from Berlin of three families, Schück, Leyser and Kayser (Figure 24), all connected to the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik outside Ratibor.

Figure 23. Larry Leyser’s grandfather, Friedrich “Fritz” Leyser, the second witness at Erich and Hedwig Schück’s 1935 marriage

Figure 24. Franz Kayser and Fritz Leyser, the two witnesses at Erich and Hedwig Schück’s 1935 marriage, as adolescents on horseback in the Tiergarten in Berlin

The point of telling readers about these discoveries is not to bore you senseless, but rather to emphasize that reconstructing one’s own family tree and finding relevant certificates and clues can be a painstaking process that sometimes requires taking baby steps to make progress. Occasionally, a single name or document can open a plethora of opportunities.

Figure 25. Dr. Alfred Mamlok with his wife Frieda “Henrietta” Mamlok née Hirsch

Figure 26. Dr. Alfred Mamlok’s grandson, Dr. Robert Mamlok

Figure 27. Dr. Alfred Mamlok’s son, Dr. Erich Mamlok (1913-1991), who attempted to obtain compensation on behalf of his family during the 1950’s for the forced sale of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik around 1937

Regular readers know how much I like uncovering “connections” in my forensic investigations, so beyond finding photos of Hedwig Lange-Schück, I discovered one other serendipitous association. I previously mentioned the physician who signed Dr. Erich Schück’s death certificate was his first cousin, Dr. Alfred Mamlok. (Figure 8) It so happens that Alfred Mamlok (Figure 25) was the son-in-law of Sigmund Hirsch, co-owner of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik. After publishing Post 55, Part II, of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik story, Larry Leyser put me in touch with Alfred Mamlok’s grandson, Dr. Robert Mamlok (Figure 26), living in Texas. I alluded to this at the outset. It turns out that Dr. Erich Mamlok (Figure 27), Dr. Alfred Mamlok’s son, coordinated with two other second- generation heirs of the sugar plant and corresponded extensively with the German government on the issue of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik compensation in the 1950’s but, apparently, they were never successful in being indemnified. The correspondence is in German, Polish, and Spanish, and eventually I hope to obtain a copy of the complete file from Robert Mamlok and translate it to learn why compensation was never meted out to his family. It’s odd that some of the sugar plant owners’ heirs failed in their efforts to be compensated during the 1950’s but that some heirs were eventually indemnified in 1966. I hope to eventually learn why.

POST 36, POSTSCRIPT: THE WOINOWITZ ZUCKERFABRIK (SUGAR FACTORY) OUTSIDE RATIBOR (PART I-MAPS)

Mr. Paul Newerla, retired lawyer and Racibórz historian, graciously shared with me maps of the “Ratiborschen fürstenthums” (Ratibor principality) and Kreis (district) Ratibor in the Śląsk (Silesia) region going back to 1750, well before the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik was built. The towns surrounding and/or adjacent the place where the sugar factory would eventually be located already existed. For the visually-oriented readers, I’m including maps from three time periods, 1750 (Figure 1), 1825 (Figures 2a-b), and 1923 (Figures 3a-b), with the towns and villages mentioned in the text circled. The 1923 map shows the location of the “Zucker” in relation to the nearby villages.

Figure 1. 1750 map of “Ratiborschen fürstenthums” (Ratibor principality) with towns and villages near where the Zuckerfabrik would eventually be built circled

Figure 2a. 1823 map of the Ratibor area with towns and villages near where the Zuckerfabrik would eventually be built circled

Figure 2b. Adjoining 1823 map with Ratibor circled

Figure 3a. 1923 map of the Kreis (district) of Ratibor with towns mentioned in text circled. Woinowitz was then known as “Weihendorf.” Location of “Zucker” is identified, along with railroad station of “Mettich”

Figure 3b. Adjoining 1923 map of the Kreis (district) of Ratibor with Ratibor circled

POST 36: THE WOINOWITZ ZUCKERFABRIK (SUGAR FACTORY) OUTSIDE RATIBOR (PART I-BACKGROUND)

REVISIONS MADE ON OCTOBER 21, 2018 BASED ON COMMENTS PROVIDED BY MR. PAUL NEWERLA

Note: This article is about the sugar factory located in Woinowitz, a small village outside Ratibor, that was co-owned by Adolph Schück and Sigmund Hirsch. These men were married to sisters, Alma and Selma Braun, great-great-aunts of mine and children of Markus Braun, owner of the M. Braun Brauerei in Ratibor. Below I briefly examine the history of the sugar factory in a regional context.

Figure 1. Postcard written in 1912 showing the M. Braun Brauerei, then owned by my great-grandfather, Hermann Berliner

Post 14 was about the Brauereipachter, tenant brewer, Marcus Braun, my great-great-grandfather who owned one of the oldest breweries in Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland]. (Figure 1) Markus had a dozen children by his first wife, Caroline Spiegel, then another two by his second wife, Johanna Goldstein. (see the table at the bottom of this post for details on Markus’s 14 children) Earlier, I told readers I am related to numerous cousins in America through Markus and Caroline Braun’s descendants. Two of Markus and Caroline’s children, Alma and Selma Braun, married men who were partners in the Zuckerfabrik, sugar factory, located in the village of Woinowitz [today: Wojnowice, Poland] (Figure 2), just outside Ratibor. Alma Braun (Figure 3) was married to Adolph Schück (Figure 4), and Selma Braun to Sigmund Hirsch.

Figure 2. Bi-lingual town sign for Woinowitz (Wojnowice, Poland) in 2014

Figure 3. Alma Schück née Braun (June 5, 1851-March 25, 1919)

Figure 4. Adolph Schück (July 5, 1840-November 3, 1916)

Figure 5. The still-standing Woinowitz sugar factory in 2014

The sugar factory still stands today (Figure 5), and part of my purpose in writing this post was to determine, if possible, the circumstances surrounding its closure, sale and/or possible confiscation during the Nazi era. In compiling this narrative, I again consulted Paul Newerla, retired lawyer and Racibórz historian, whom I’ve discussed in earlier posts (Figure 6); he has written extensively about the history of Racibórz and Śląsk (Silesia). His books and questions I asked him form the basis of much of what I write, although any mis-representations or mis-interpretations are entirely my responsibility.

Figure 6. Racibórz historian, Paul Newerla, and me in 2018 standing by the historic statue of John of Nepomuk, located in the middle of a parking lot

Figure 7. 1905 map of the Kreis (district) of Ratibor with towns mentioned in text circled

The fertile lands surrounding Ratibor produced a lot of sugar beet that were processed in at least four local sugar factories, the one in Ratibor proper, along with ones in Woinowitz [today: Wojnowice, Poland]; Groß Peterwitz [today: Pietrowice Wielkie, Poland]; and Bauerwitz [today: Baborów, Poland]. (Figure 7) All were built along the railway line running between Ratibor and Leobschütz [today: Głubczyce, Poland] constructed in 1856, that was extended to Jägerndorf [today: Krnov, Czech Republic] in 1895. The railway was critical for the transport of the sugar beet to the plants, and, subsequently, for the transport of the refined product to the various makers of the much sought-after chocolate and candy produced in Ratibor.

Figure 8a. A postcard of the Woinowitz sugar factory as it looked in the early 1900’s

Figure 8b. Same angle as Figure 8a. showing how the sugar factory looked in 2014

The sugar factory in Woinowitz (Figures 8a-b), which is the subject of this post, was built by the company Adolph Schück & Co. G.m.b.H. (“Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung”); the American equivalent of a G.m.b.H would be a limited liability company (LLC), meaning the owners (Gesellschafter, or members) of the entity are not personally liable or responsible for the company’s debts.

Mr. Newerla has been unable to discover exactly when the Woinowitz sugar factory was built. The railway between Ratibor and Leobschütz, which opened on November 1, 1856, already existed at the time the factory was built, and the nearest railway station at the time was “Woinowitz”; thus, the sugar factory was referred to by this name although it was closer to the town of Schammerwitz/Schammerau [today: Samborowice, Czech Republic]. Interestingly, Mr. Newerla discovered a postcard illustrating both the Woinowitz railway station, thus named, and the sugar factory, but with the postcard, perhaps aptly, labelled as “Schammerwitz.” (Figure 9)

Figure 9. Historic postcard showing the Woinowitz train station and sugar factory identifying their location as Schammerwitz

On November 20, 1895, the railway line from Ratibor was extended to Troppau [today: Opava, Czech Republic], with stops in Ratibor, Woinowitz, Kranowitz, Kuchelna, and Troppau. (see Figure 7) At this time, the Woinowitz railway stop was renamed Mettich [today: Lekartów, Poland] (Figure 10), but the sugar factory retained its original name; this station still exists today. (Figure 11) When the railway line was extended in 1895, a bus stop was built in Woinowitz, along the railway line. This bus stop then became Woinowitz, and the railway station Mettich, although referred to as “Bhf (station) Weihendorf” on a 1941 army map.

Figure 10. Historic postcard of the town of Mettich (today: Lekartów, Poland)

Figure 11. The Lekartów train station as it appears today

According to Paul Newerla, Adolph Schück’s sugar factory ceased production in the 1920’s, well before the Nazi era. Readers should know that from 1742 until 1871, Woinowitz was part of Prussia, and thereafter part of the German Reich until 1945; it was only after WWII that Woinowitz became a part of Poland.

As previously alluded to, in the 1920’s, there existed four sugar factories between Ratibor and Leobschütz: Ratibor, Woinowitz, Groß Peterwitz, and Bauerwitz. Mr. Newerla sent me a letterhead from the sugar factory in Groß Peterwitz, “Landwirtschaftliche Zuckerabrik-Aktien-Gesellschaft” (Figure 12), along with a postcard of this same factory identifying it by then as a “Flachsfabrik,” flax factory. (Figure 13) It seems that in 1925 the factory was prohibited from processing sugar by order of the Zuckerfabrik in Bauerwitz and was acquired by the “Oberschlesischen Flachs-Industrie G.m.b.H. zu Groß-Peterwitz,” and converted into a flax factory. The reasons for the closure of the sugar factory in Woinowitz are unknown, but the existence of four factories within 15 miles suggests they were unprofitable, and that consolidation was necessary.

Figure 13. Historic postcard identifying the former sugar factory in Groß Peterwitz as a flax factory

Figure 12. Letterhead from the sugar factory in Groß Peterwitz (today: Pietrowice Wielkie, Poland) “Landwirtschaftliche Zuckerabrik-Aktien-Gesellschaft”

According to Paul, there existed, in fact, six local sugar factories, factoring in a fifth one in Polnisch Neukirch [today: Polska Cerekiew, Poland], and a sixth in Troppau [today: Opava, Czech Republic]; the latter was part of Austria until 1918, then later belonged to Czechoslovakia.

Let me digress briefly to discuss the sugar factory located in Ratibor. It was built in 1870 by a Julius Zender along the Oder River, near the railway tracks. In 1896, this sugar factory became the “Ratiborer Zuckerfrabrik G.m.b.H.” with the largest number of shares being held by Karl Max Fürst von Lichnowsky (born Kreuzenort, Upper Silesia [today: Krzyżanowice, Poland], 8 March 1860 – died Kuchelna, 27 February 1928); the Lichnowsky’s were a Czech aristocratic family of Silesian and Moravian origin documented since the 14^th Century. At the time, the Ratiborer Zuckerfrabrik processed 20,000 tons of sugar beet a season and employed 500 people.

Karl Max, Prince Lichnowsky is relevant to our story because not only was he part owner of the Ratibor sugar factory, but he also owned shares in the sugar factory of Adolph Schück & Co. G.m.b.H. The Lichnowsky’s had aided in the construction of the railway line from Ratibor to Kuchelna and Troppau in 1895, so were later given permission to develop a train connection from Troppau to Grätz, where the Lichnowsky’s had a grand palace. When Kuchelna, Karl Lichnowsky’s headquarters, eventually became part of Czechoslovakia in 1920, Lichnowsky chose to retain his German citizenship.

Beyond Lichnowsky’s contribution to the expansion of local transportation, and advancement of the sugar industry in Silesia, he is better known as Ambassador to Britain beginning in 1912. Prior to the outbreak of WWI, Prince Lichnowsky was one of the few German diplomats who sought to prevent the war. He warned Kaiser Wilhelm II that in the event of war, England would align itself against Germany, as ultimately happened. Lichnowsky’s assessments were withheld from the Kaiser. After declaration of war, he was regarded as responsible for the unfavorable situation. He wrote several articles and pamphlets defending himself and reproaching the German politicians for not having pursued “realpolitik” (i.e., politics or diplomacy based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than explicit ideological notions or moral or ethical premises), which eventually resulted in his being expelled from the Prussian government in July 1918.

Figure 15. Dr. Erick Schück, the son of Alma & Adolph Schück, who managed the family businesses after his father and Sigmund Hirsch’s deaths

Figure 14. My third cousin once-removed, Larry Leyser

Regrettably, none of Paul Newerla’s research, which has included examination of the Lichnowsky family papers, has so far shed any light on the ultimate disposition of the sugar factory. As previously mentioned, Paul says the sugar factory was shuttered in the 1920’s. However, this differs from what Adolph and Alma Schück’s descendants were told. Larry Leyser is my third cousin once-removed (Figure 14), and his great-great-grandmother, Alma Braun, was married to Adolph Schück. Larry’s family claims that following Adolph’s death in 1916, and Sigmund Hirsch’s demise in 1920, one of Adolph’s son, Dr. Erich Schück (Figure 15), assumed control of and continued to run the sugar factory and other family businesses. During the Nazi era, Erich was approached by the Nazis, and given a low-ball offer on the business, which he rejected. Ultimately, the business was seized, the family lost everything, and Erich committed suicide.

However, an alternate story circulates, namely, that some unscrupulous member of the family sold the business and absconded with the proceeds. Blame here has squarely been placed on Sigmund Hirsch’s wife, Selma Braun; the problem with this theory is that Selma Braun pre-deceased her husband by four years, in 1916, when the sugar factory was assuredly still in operation and likely run by her husband after Adolph Schück’s death that same year. In the absence of any proof of sale document, one may never know exactly whether the sugar factory was confiscated or sold, and, if so, by whom.

Figure 16. The watchman in 2014 at the Woinowitz sugar factory

When my wife and I visited the existing factory in May 2014, we were immediately approached by a watchman who demanded to know what we were doing. (Figure 16) Paul Newerla, whom I’ve previously told readers is a retired attorney, assisted the current “owner” of the sugar factory purchase it from the Polish Government; how the government came to own the factory remains unclear. According to Paul, the owner has the “proper” papers. The factory was once the headquarters of a magazine, and is now used to store chemicals to treat crops.

Figure 17a. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17b. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17c. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17d. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17e. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17f. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17g. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17h. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17i. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17j. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 17k. One of Adolph Schück’s many obituaries

Figure 18. Undated photo of Alma & Adolph Schück at the Great Sphinx of Giza; possibly, Selma & Sigmund Hirsch are on horseback to their immediate left

Larry recently had the good fortune to access photos and documents from one of his cousins that he scanned and shared with me. Included within this trove were copies of eleven obituaries about Adolph Schück (Figures 17a-17k), who passed away on November 3, 1916 in Ratibor.

I asked another one of my cousins to summarize these, and they give us a good measure of Adolph. (Figure 18) Little is written about the sugar factory proper, except that Sigmund Hirsch was his partner. However, we learn that Adolph had been on Ratibor’s City Council from 1879 until 1901, and from 1890 onward was the Chairman of the City Council. He was also the speaker of its Budget Committee (Haushaltsausschuss); his business acumen lent itself well to carefully managing the city’s expenditures and keeping taxes in check for a long time.

Adolph was very active in the Jewish community. One obituary, from an association that aided the city’s destitute Jews, praised Adolph upon his death . On his 75^th birthday, a delegation from the City of Ratibor came to his home in Ratibor to present him with flowers. More than 40 people showed up on his birthday, half of whom had worked for him more than 25 years. (Figures 19a-b) He used this occasion to give all his employees cash bonuses. His workers acknowledged his lofty standards and hard work. When he died, the entire Ratibor City Council attended his funeral. One of the obituaries is unusual in that it was written by two of Adolph Schück’s servants, Albertine Kudella and Klotilde Fuss, suggesting Adolph’s staff held him in high regard.

Figure 19a. Employees of the Woinowitz sugar factory on a postcard mailed from there on November 20, 1909 by Sigmund Hirsch to his grandson, Fritz Goldenring (front)

Figure 19b. Text on back of postcard showing the Woinowitz sugar factory employees

Adolph and Alma Schück, as well as Sigmund and Selma Hirsch, were once all buried in the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor. (Figures 20 & 21)

Figure 20. Alma & Adolph Schück’s headstone in the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor

Figure 21. Selma & Sigmund Hirsch’s headstone in the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor

SIDEBAR

Figure 22. German transcription and translation of text on back of Figure 19b

Figure 19b, the backside of the postcard showing a lineup of employees who worked in the Woinowitz sugar factory, gives me an opportunity to make a connection to an individual discussed in Post 25, specifically, Fritz Goldenring who died in the Shanghai Ghetto on December 15, 1943. The postcard, dated November 20, 1909, was addressed to him, care-of his uncle Paul Goldenring living in Berlin. At the time, Fritz would have been seven years of age. The postcard was sent to Fritz by his maternal grandfather, Sigmund Hirsch, who thanked Fritz for the well-wishes on his birthday; Sigmund’s birthday was November 18, 1848. Readers can read the German transcription and the translation. (Figure 22)

____________________________________________

NAME	DATE & PLACE OF BIRTH	DATE & PLACE OF DEATH	COMMENT

MARKUS BRAUN CHILDREN WITH CAROLINE b. SPIEGEL
Leo Braun	July 4, 1847 Ratibor, Germany	UNKNOWN	Married Frida Burchardt on 9/8/1883 in Berlin.
Julie Braun	March 4, 1849 Ratibor, Germany	UNKNOWN	Married to Nathan Goldstein. Nathan & Julie Braun had three children: Gustav (b. 1/27/1869-d. _) Max Markus (b. 2/3/1871-d._) Ernst (b. 9/19/1873-d. 1941)
Adolf Braun	May 14, 1850 Ratibor, Germany	UNKNOWN	Immigrated to America & became US citizen.
Alma Braun	June 5, 1851 Ratibor, Germany	March 25, 1919 Ratibor, Germany	Married to Adolph Schück (b. 7/5/1840-d. 11/3/1916). Adolf & Alma Schück had three children: Auguste (“Guste”) (b. 1/26/1872-d. 10/5/1943) Elly (b. 9/7/1874-d. 4/28/1911) Erich Schück
Olga Braun	July 23, 1852 Ratibor, Germany	August 23, 1920 Ratibor, Germany	Married to Hermann Berliner (b. 5/28/1840-d. 9/3/1910). Hermann & Olga were buried in the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor. Hermann & Olga Berliner had three children: Margareth Auguste (b. 3/19/1872-d.__) Else (b. 3/3/1873-d. 2/18/1957) Alfred Max (b. 11/6/1875-d. 2/19/1921)
Fedor Braun	August 27, 1853 Ratibor, Germany	UNKNOWN
Jenny Braun	June 7, 1855 Ratibor, Germany	May 12, 1921 Breslau, Germany	Married to George Pinoff (b. 3/2/1844-d. 9/3/1914). George & Jenny are buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Wroclaw, Poland.
Selma Braun	July 11, 1856 Ratibor, Germany	July 11, 1916 Ratibor, Germany	Married to Sigmund Hirsch (b. 11/18/1848-d.10/14/1920), partner with his brother-in-law Adolph Schück in the sugar factory in Woinowitz. Sigmund & Selma were buried in the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor. Sigmund & Selma Hirsch had three children: Robert (b. _-d. 1943) Henrietta (b. 2/8/1873-d. 7/29/1955) Helene (b. 3/25/1880-d. 1/1968)
Julius Braun	July 11, 1857	UNKNOWN
Emma Braun	June 7, 1858 Ratibor, Germany	January 17, 1904 Ratibor, Germany	Married to Nathan Zweig (b. 5/1/1851-d. 8/12/1921). Nathan & Emma had two daughters who perished in the Holocaust: Elizabeth (b. 3/20/1885-d. 10/9/1944) Susanne (b. 3/2/1890-d. 7/18/1943).
Hermine Braun	May 23, 1859 Ratibor, Germany	September 20, 1921 Ratibor, Germany	Married to Siegfried Zweig (b. 8/25/1855-d. 1/7/1932). Siegfried & Hermine had a daughter and a son: Magdalena (b. 11/14/1886-d. _) Hans (b. 8/23/1889- d. 9/12/1929).
Hugo Braun	August 7, 1860 Ratibor, Germany	UNKNOWN	Married to Hildegard Köhler (b. 2/9/1875-d. _) on 5/30/1896. Hugo & Hildegard had two children: Anna-Marie Peter

MARKUS BRAUN CHILDREN WITH JOHANNA b. GOLDSTEIN
Eugenia Wanda Braun	April 21, 1869 Ratibor, Germany	October 25, 1918 Breslau, Germany	Never married
Markus Braun	May 23, 1870 Ratibor, Germany	UNKNOWN	Married to Eva Wondre (b. 11/10/1871-d._) on 12/11/1900.

POST 14: RATIBOR & THE BRAUER (BREWER) M. BRAUN “LINK” TO AMERICA

My father, Otto Bruck, arrived in America aboard the Queen Elizabeth in 1948, and eventually came to be known as Gary Otto Brook after he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. The first job my father had was working at Childs Restaurants near Times Square in Manhattan, which was one of the first national dining chains in the United States and Canada; it was a contemporary of the better-known Horn & Hardart and preceded McDonalds.

Figure 1-Franz Kayser with his nephew Walter Leyser (middle) and son John Kayser atop Rockefeller Center in 1945 (photo courtesy Larry Leyser)

After a summer stint as a tennis pro at Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel in 1949, my father went to work for one of his cousins, a gentleman by the name of Franz Mantheim Kayser (Figure 1), who then operated a small import firm. Franz and his then-wife, Catherine “Ulrike” Kayser nee Birkholz (Figure 2), had had one son born in 1938 in London, John Kayser. (Figure 3) After John Kayser’s mother passed away in 2005 in New Jersey, by then long married to another man, who had predeceased her, and known as Catherine Sterner, John asked whether I knew how we are related. At the time, I had absolutely no idea. John and I would return to the question in 2010. While the intervening years had given neither of us further insight, John thought our ancestral connection went back to Ratibor; he also told me his grandmother’s maiden name was “Elly Schueck,” which he thought might help unravel the mystery. So, armed with these seemingly opaque clues, I set myself to work.

Figure 2-John Kayser’s mother in 1992, then known as Catherine Sterner

Figure 3-John Kayser in 2014 in Berlin at the entrance to 22 Kaiserdam Strasse, near the apartment building his parents last lived before fleeing Germany in 1938

Figure 4-John Kayser’s great-grandfather, Adolph Schueck (photo courtesy Larry Leyser)

Until just this year, most microfilm records available from the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS), could only be ordered and viewed for a limited time at a local Mormon-operated Family History Center, or physically examined at the main LDS Library in Salt Lake City. Over the years, I had ordered the Jewish records from Ratibor on several occasions, and eventually created a partial database of births, marriages and deaths of people of possible interest to me. After John Kayser told me his grandmother’s maiden name and our possible connection to Ratibor, I reviewed the database I’d created and, lo and behold, I found Elly Schueck’s name; she had been born in Ratibor on September 7, 1874, and her parents’ names were Adolf Schueck and Alma Schueck, nee Braun. (Figures 4, 5, 6) For me, this cracked the code because my own great-grandmother on my grandmother’s side was born Olga Braun, so I concluded John and I have an ancestral link related to the Braun family. The database I had created from the Jewish microfilm records also included the birth information for John Kayser’s great-grandmother, Alma Braun, born on June 12, 1851 to Markus Braun and Caroline Braun, nee Spiegel. Wanting to confirm all of this, I re-ordered the Jewish microfilm for Ratibor.

Figure 5-John Kayser’s great-grandmother, Alma Schueck nee Braun (photo courtesy Larry Leyser)

Figure 6-Adolph & Alma Schueck with fellow travelers in front of the Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt (photo courtesy Larry Leyser)

After receiving the relevant microfilm, I focused on Markus Braun (1817-1870) and Caroline Braun, nee Spiegel. Ultimately, I identified twelve children they had together, born between 1847 and 1860, and established that John Kayser and I are third cousins (i.e., our respective great-grandmothers were sisters). As an aside, Caroline Braun likely died before Markus Braun because he re-married a woman named Johanna Braun nee Goldstein, with whom he had two more children, including a son named Markus, who appears to have been born in 1870 shortly after the father Markus Braun died.

Figure 7-Postcard of M. Braun Brewery (front)

Figure 8-Postcard dated July 28, 1912 written by my great-grandmother Olga Berliner nee Braun, sister of Alma Schueck nee Braun, to my great-aunt Franziska Bruck (back)

Figure 9-My great-grandfather, Hermann Berliner, Ratibor brewery owner

My father’s surviving personal papers include a postcard dated July 28, 1912 (Figures 7, 8) written by my great-grandmother, the aforementioned Olga Berliner, nee Braun, to her niece Franziska Bruck in Berlin, the famed florist mentioned in earlier Blog posts. The postcard illustrates the brewery first owned by M. Braun in Ratibor. There exists a virtually complete listing of historic German breweries entitled “Das historische Brauereiverzeichnis der ehem. Ostgebiete und Polen,” which translates as “The historical breweries of the former Eastern Territories and Poland,” at the following URL: http://www.klausehm.de/Pagepolenr.html. Ostgebiete refers to the areas of Silesia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, and East and West Prussia. For Ratibor, there once existed 32 breweries, including one owned by “M. Braun,” and two connected to my great-grandfather, Hermann Berliner (Figure 9), his wife Olga Berliner, nee Braun, and their son, Alfred Berliner.

Ratibor now Raciborz	1a	Brauerei M. Braun	1622
Ratibor now Raciborz	1b	Herm. Berliner, vorm. M. Braun`sche Braunbierbrauerei	1910
Ratibor now Raciborz	1c	Brauerei Herm. Berliner, Inh. Alfred & Olga Berliner	1920

According to this database, the brewery owned by the original “M. Braun” dated to 1622 and appears to have been the second oldest in Ratibor after the “Ratiborer Schloßbrauerei Freund & Co.,” dated to 1567. (Figures 10, 11) Hermann Berliner, who died in 1910, owned the brewery originally held by “M. Braun.” His wife passed away in 1920, followed shortly thereafter by the death of their son, Alfred, in 1921. It’s unclear whether the brewery continued to be owned by either Braun or Berliner descendants following the deaths of Hermann, Olga and Alfred Berliner within a relatively short 11-year period.

Figure 11-The “Ratiborer Schloßbrauerei Freund & Co.” established 1567, known today as the Browar Raciborz

Figure 10-1927-1928 plan map of Ratibor with town ‘s oldest brewery (dated 1567), the “Schloßbrauerei” circled

Figure 12-M. Braun Brauerei with name of brewery and H. Berliner circled

There are a few things to observe from a close look at the front side of the postcard. (Figure 12) The business sign above the carriages reads “vorm. (=original owner) M. Braun.” By the time the photo was taken, prior to 1912 (the year the postcard was written), the brewery was already owned by Hermann Berliner as the “Berliner Brauerei, Ratibor” caption on the postcard tells us. Also, the carriage on the left has the name “H. Berliner” on its side, more evidence the brewery was already operated by Hermann Berliner and his descendants at the time the photo was taken.

Coupling the information from the postcard with data gleaned from both the microfilm of Jewish records and ancestry.com, one finds a gentleman named “Moises or Moses Braun,” coincidentally married to a Fanny Bruck. A definite link to Markus Braun has not yet been established although the years his children were born between 1843 and 1855 strongly suggests he may have been Markus Braun’s older brother. Moses Braun’s occupation at the time his first two children were born, respectively in 1843 and 1844, is “brauereipachter” or “tenant brewer”; this means that Moses Braun rented the house or factory where he had a license to produce beer. Interestingly, by 1849, his occupation was “partikulier,” or someone who lived without working, perhaps as a result of rental income. By 1853, his occupation is shown as “makler,” or estate agent, possibly a real estate agent or middleman of sorts. By contrast, Markus Braun is always identified as a “kaufmann” or businessman at the time of his children were born; perhaps, this included tenant brewer. In fact, on his son Markus Braun’s marriage certificate from 1900, long after the father had died, the father’s occupation was definitively specified as “brewery owner.” I surmise that the brothers together or sequentially operated the brewery, and, eventually, Markus Braun’s daughter Olga and her husband Hermann, and, ultimately, their son Alfred, inherited the operation.

The exercise I went through to pinpoint the family connection between John Kayser and myself revealed something unexpected. Again, utilizing the Jewish microfilm records from Ratibor, I identified another branch of the family who are descendants of Elly Schueck’s (John Kayser’s grandmother) sister, Auguste “Guste” Schueck. (Figure 13) The significance of this is that various surnames I heard my father mention while growing up in New York also had links extending back to Ratibor. I was eventually able to track this branch to Cleveland, Ohio, and many of the photos included in this Blog post come from the collection of Larry Leyser, a third cousin, once-removed. (Figure 14)

Figure 13-John Kayser’s great-aunt, Auguste “Guste” Schueck, with her granddaughter, Doerte Zweig (photo courtesy of Larry Leyser)

Figure 14-Larry Leyser, my third cousin once-removed, and the great-grandson of Auguste “Guste” Schueck

Pressed on the matter, my father would never have been able to explain to me how all the various families that wound up in America after WWII were related to us nor would he have had any interest in doing so. Nonetheless, as an exercise in doing forensic genealogy, this has been endlessly entertaining finding the family connections to people living in America today whose roots go back to Ratibor, where the original brewer M. Braun first established his business in 1622. Going forward, I will touch on some of these people and their connections to my family, both in America as well as harkening back to Europe.