Eva Bruck Archives - bruckfamilyblog.com

POST 74: DRAWING A CONNECTION TO TWO LIVING BRUCKS: “WHERE’S THE SMOKING GUN?”

Note: In this post, I discuss how I’m related to two living Brucks I’ve known for half-a-dozen years, and how I inadvertently stumbled on the answer and responded to their question, “Where’s the smoking gun?”

Post 33: Finding Great-Uncle Willy’s Grandchildren

Post 73: Ratibor Gymnasium (High School) Student Register, 1819-1849—More Clues About My Bruck Family

Figure 1. My great-uncle Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck, Guillermo as he was known in Spain, in May 1950 in Barcelona

This story begins in 1951. Soon after I was born, my parents received a congratulatory note from my father’s uncle, Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck, then living in Barcelona, Spain. (Figure 1) As a boy, I would later meet my great-uncle’s daughter Eva in New York when she came to visit the family but never realized who she was. (Figure 2) Though I met her only once, I remember her fondly because she gave me an old silver coin I still cherish (i.e., readers will recall I’ve been a lifelong coin collector). Because of my father’s rather dismissive attitude towards family, except for his beloved sister Susanne murdered in Auschwitz, naturally he lost contact with most of his relatives. Thus, when I began my forensic investigations into my family, I was left to reconstruct and find family descendants on my own, years after my father was gone and might have helped.

Figure 2. My great-uncle Willy’s daughter, Eva Bruck, second from the left, with my aunt on the left, and my parents on the right, when she came to visit the family in New York in 1967

Aware some family members had wound up in Barcelona, I began my search there vaguely cognizant my great-uncle Willy may have had grandchildren. To remind readers, I discussed the search for my great-uncle and his descendants in Posts 32 and 33. Since this remains one of my all-time favorite family quests, I will briefly remind readers how I met the two Brucks, first cousins to one another, as what can only be characterized as serendipity. I thought perhaps my great-uncle’s grandchildren, my second cousins that’s to say, might live in Barcelona. I started by checking the White Pages for Barcelona and found nary any Brucks there. I expanded my search to all of Spain and discovered 14 listings. I immediately did the calculus, and said to myself, “No problem, I’ll write to all of them!” And, this is in fact what I did in late 2013.

Many weeks passed with no responses. Then, early one Saturday morning, I received a call from a gentleman in Haifa, Israel by the name of “Michael Bruck.” I had no known relatives there so was intrigued why this namesake was calling. He quickly explained I’d written to his first cousin Ronny Bruck in Alicante, Spain inquiring about my great-uncle Willy. Aha! Michael is the family genealogist, so Ronny forwarded him my letter, ergo his call. I must share one other alluring aspect of this story that corroborates what Branch Rickey, the brainy former General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, once said: “Luck is the residue of design.” That’s to say, luck doesn’t just happen, you create the circumstances to get lucky. For those who may be familiar with the postal service in Spain, they’ll know it’s notoriously unreliable. The letter I sent to Ronny inquiring about my great-uncle Willy not only arrived safely, but it arrived in his mailbox on his 65^th birthday, making him believe some unknown cousin from America was sending him well-wishes! The stars were obviously properly aligned.

Figure 3. The photo of my great-uncle Wilhelm Bruck (1872-1952) included in the 14 letters I wrote to Brucks in Spain in 2013

All my letters to the Brucks residing in Spain had included a photo of my great-uncle, and Michael immediately noted the family resemblance (Figure 3), even though he’d never come across Wilhelm Bruck’s name in connection with his own research. In 2014, my wife and I had already planned to spend 13 weeks in Europe visiting places associated with my family from northeastern Poland to southern Spain, so I suggested we all meet in Spain. Meeting there was not possible, so Ronny suggested Germany instead, and Michael and his wife joined us from Israel. Thus, in 2014, we met in person at the home of my first cousin. (Figures 4-5) Despite our in-depth respective knowledge of our family trees, over the years, Michael and I could never pinpoint how closely or distantly we are related.

Figure 4. My fourth cousins once removed, Ronny and Michael Bruck, in August 2014 in Hilden, Germany

Figure 5. From left to right: my first cousin, Wolfgang Lutze, myself, and Ronny and Michael Bruck in August 2014 in Hilden, Germany

Fast forward to the present. My previous post told the story about obtaining the complete roster of students who were enrolled in the Ratibor Gymnasium, high school, between its opening in 1819 and 1849; Ratibor is the town in Upper Silesia where my father was born in 1907, and where many Brucks hail from. Among the first-year students who attended the Ratibor Gymnasium upon its opening were two brothers, Isaac and Samuel Bruck. (Figures 6a-b) As I told readers in Post 73, Samuel Bruck is my great-great-grandfather, and is known to me. (Figure 7) His brother Isaac was completely unfamiliar to me, so I casually checked on ancestry.com and MyHeritage, to no avail. Not expecting to find anything through a Google search, I nonetheless checked Isaac’s name there. Imagine my surprise, then, when I was “kicked” into a query that had been posted by Michael Bruck in 2012 on Genealogy.com inquiring about him. (Figure 8)

Figure 6a. Page from the Ratibor Gymnasium “Album” 1819-1849 listing Isaac Bruck and Samuel Bruck’s names, in succession, “bracketed” together, with the profession of their dad, “arrendator,” leaseholder, noted

Figure 6b. Page from the Ratibor Gymnasium “Album” 1819-1849 showing Isaac Bruck and Samuel Bruck’s ages at the time they were enrolled in the Ratibor Gymnasium in 1819

Figure 7. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863)

Figure 8. Question Michael Bruck posted on Genealogy.com on the 6th of December 2012 inquiring about Isaac Bruck

As followers can read, Michael asked the genealogical community for information on Isaac Bruck and his wife Caroline Stolz from Ratibor; he went on to say that their daughter Marie Friederike Bruck married David Isaac there on the 29^th of June 1857, and that Friederike was Michael’s great-great-grandmother. Upon seeing Michael’s message, it immediately became clear how we’re likely related. While I qualify the previous statement, there is absolutely no question in my mind how Michael, Ronny, and I are related. We are fourth cousins once removed. Let me briefly review the evidence, again by reference to primary source documents as in the previous post.

To remind readers what I said in Post 73, in the Ratibor Gymnasium Album, the names “Isaac Bruck and Samuel Bruck” occur in succession and are “bracketed” together with their unnamed father’s profession identically described as “Arrendator,” leaseholder. (Figures 6a-b) From a condensed family tree developed by my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck reproduced here (Figure 9), I know that Samuel’s father was Jacob Nathan Bruck and that by association, so too is Isaac’s father. To me, the names in association with one another and their father’s profession being the same is “the smoking gun,” the answer to the question Michael and Ronny once posed.

Figure 9. Copy of a condensed family tree developed by my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck showing Samuel and Jonas Bruck as the sons of Jacob Bruck and Marianne Aufrecht

The marriage register listing of Michael’s great-great-grandmother Marie Friederike Bruck to David Isaak dated the 19^th of June 1857 survives and can be found on LDS Microfilm Roll 1184449. (Figure 10)

Figure 10. The marriage register listing for Isaac(k) Bruck and Caroline Stolz’s daughter, Marie Friederike Bruck, when she wed David Isaak on the 29th of June 1857, drawn from LDS Microfilm Roll 1184449

Below is a transcription and a translation of the marriage register listing for Isaac(k) Bruck’s daughter and her husband.

*Register No.*	*Datum* *1857*	*Vor & Zuname* *Bräutigam*	*Gewerbe* *Wohnhaft*	*Name der Braut*	*& ihrer Eltern* *Gewerbe* *Wohnhaft*
(Register Number)	(Date 1857)	(First & last name of the groom)	(Occupation, Residence)	(Name of the bride)	(& her parents’ occupation & residence)
GERMAN
*113*	*29.6*	*David ISAAK, 32 Jahre, Sohn d[es] zu Wrirtzen verstorb[enen] Handelsmanns Hirsch ISAAK & der dort lebenden Ehefrau Cheinchen geb. CASPER*	*Handlungskommis, Berlin*	*Marie Friederike BRUCK, Ratibor, 24 Jahre*	*zu Altendorf verstorb[ener] Sattlermeister / p. Kaufm[ann] Isaak BRUCK & Ehefrau Caroline geb. STOLZ, Ratibor*

ENGLISH
113	29 June	David ISAAK, 32 years old, son of the merchant Hirsch ISAAK, who died in Wrietzen, and his wife Cheinchen née CASPER, who lives there	Clerk, assistant or commercial employee, Berlin	Marie Friederike BRUCK, Ratibor, 24 years old	Died in Altendorf, master saddler / p. businessman Isaak BRUCK & wife Caroline née STOLZ, Ratibor

As readers can see, in the far-right column, Marie Friederike’s parents are identified, Isaak (spelled with a “k”) Bruck and Caroline Stolz, with a notation that Isaak died in Altendorf, a suburb of Ratibor (Figure 11), obviously before his daughter got married in 1857.

Figure 11. 1893 map of Ratibor showing the proximity of Altendorf where Isaak Bruck is reputed to have died

The town where the groom comes from is incorrectly spelled “Wrietzen,” when it should have read “Wriezen.” It’s a town in the district Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany.

Figure 12. Schematic “tree” showing where the “Isaak” surname was changed to “Bruck” and how Michael Bruck is related to Isaak Bruck

One final point. Some may wonder, as I did, why Michael and Ronny’s surnames are Bruck when this originates in their matrilineal line. (Figure 12) Michael explained that some of David and Marie Friederike Isaac’s children were in the clothing business in Berlin and owned several shops there in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries; on account of persistent anti-Semitism, they started to use their mother’s maiden name. One of David and Marie Friederike’s sons, Max Isaac and his wife, formally applied to the Berlin authorities to use the Bruck name permanently on the 3^rd of November 1919, evidence of which survives. (Figure 13)

Figure 13. Untranslated copy of a primary source document chronicling the surname change from “Isaac” to “Bruck” in 1919

It’s satisfying to have figured out how Michael, Ronny, and I are related, albeit in the scheme of things, it’s not seemingly a near ancestral link. That said, I maintain close ties with Michael and Ronny, and we regularly communicate. Furthermore, Ronny, by dint of his familiarity with Sütterlin, the German saw-toothed script briefly taught in schools there, has translated numerous family documents penned in this writing. This has enormously furthered my family research.

POST 35: FATE OF SOME JEWISH GUESTS WHO STAYED AT THE VILLA PRIMAVERA (FIESOLE, ITALY), 1937-1938

UPDATED MAY 18, 2021

(UPDATES IN RED)

“I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger.” (David Berger in his last letter, Vilna 1941, quoted from www.yadvashem.org brochure)

NOTE: This post examines the fate of some of the Jewish residents and guests who stayed at the Villa Primavera in Fiesole, Italy, between roughly March 1937 and September 1938, the period during which my aunt Susanne Müller née Bruck co-managed the property as a bed-and-breakfast with a Jewish emigrant formerly from Austria and Germany, Ms. Lucia von Jacobi. Investigating what became of the guests who stayed at the Villa Primavera during this time wound up upending my preconceived notion that the boarders were all Jewish emigrés permanently fleeing Germany.

Surviving historic records archived at the “Archivio Storico Comunale,” the “Municipal Historic Archive,” in Fiesole, place my aunt Susanne and my uncle Dr. Franz Müller’s arrival there in about March 1936, and their departure in mid-September 1938. Beginning approximately a year after their arrival, that’s to say, in March 1937, and continuing until they left for France in mid-September 1938, registration logs from the Villa Primavera record numerous guests. I was surprised at the large number of visitors who stayed there, mostly Jewish, and just assumed my aunt and uncle hosted them as they tried to escape Europe and Nazi persecution. While I eventually came across a reference indicating my aunt and Ms. Jacobi had run the Villa Primavera as a bed-and-breakfast, explaining the multiple boarders, this did not initially alter my view that the Jewish guests had already permanently fled Germany, Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland, never to return.

Figure 1. “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” (Stay of Foreigners in Italy) form for my great-aunt Franziska Bruck

To remind readers, during Italy’s Fascist era, all out-of-town visitors to Fiesole and elsewhere were required to appear with their hosts at the Municipio, or City Hall, provide their names and those of their parents, declare their occupation, state when and where they were born, show their identity papers, give their passport numbers, divulge their anticipated length of stay, and complete what was called a “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia,” or “Stay of Foreigners in Italy.” (Figure 1) As readers will rightly conclude, collecting this information represented a vast invasion of privacy, although forensic genealogists can glean an enormous amount of useful ancestral data. While virtually all the Soggiorno forms state the reason for the guest’s visit as “turismo,” tourism, I concluded this was a “cover” for their real purpose, planning their escape to America or elsewhere. There can be little doubt in examining the Soggiorno forms that most guests were educated and accomplished people of means, likely with good personal and professional contacts elsewhere in the world who could sponsor them and help them obtain travel visas. That said, this did not ensure that Jews were able to obtain such outside help or even intended to leave Europe.

Figure 2. My aunt Susanne Müller née Bruck, murdered in Auschwitz in September 1942

Figure 3. My great-aunt Franziska Bruck, suicide victim of the Holocaust in January 1942

Figure 4. My first cousin twice-removed, Auguste “Gusti” Schueck, murdered in the Theresienstadt Ghetto in May 1943

With the Soggiorno forms and Fiesole registration ledgers in hand, using ancestry.com, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem Holocaust victims’ databases, as well as general Internet queries, I set out to try and determine the fate of as many of the guests of the Villa Primavera as possible. With respect to my own family, I already knew what had happened to them, in particular that my beloved aunt Susanne (Figure 2) and my great-aunt Franziska Bruck (Figure 3) had both died in the Holocaust; similarly, I already knew that one of my first cousins twice-removed, Auguste “Gusti” Schueck (Figure 4), had died in the Theresienstadt Ghetto in Czechoslovakia on May 28, 1943. But, I was very curious whether other individuals who had passed through the Villa Primavera suffered a similar fate or managed to find sanctuary elsewhere. The findings upended my preconceived notion that the guests at the Villa Primavera were on a one-way journey out of Europe at the time they stayed in Fiesole.

Below is a table, alphabetically-arranged, of the Jewish residents and boarders who stayed at the Villa Primavera between March 1937 and September 1938, with comments as to their destiny, where discovered. Below the table, I highlight a few individuals, discussing some interesting things I’ve learned about them, including pictures, where found.

NAME (NATIONALITY)	DATE & PLACE OF BIRTH	DATE & PLACE OF DEATH	COMMENT

Argudinsky née Fleischer, Elisabetta (UNKNOWN)	11/24/1873 Reichenbach, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Bachrach née Bachmann, Elvire (SWISS)	9/15/1872 Karstein	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Baerwald née Lewino, Charlotte Victoria (GERMAN)	8/6/1870 Mainz, Germany	3/16/1966 St. Gallen, Switzerland	Destiny: Immigrated to America, died in Switzerland (Figure 5)
Berend, Eduard (GERMAN)	12/5/1883 Hannover, Germany	1973 Marbach, Germany	Destiny: Left Germany in 1939, returned after WWII
Bergmann née Neufeld, Amalie (GERMAN)	4/16/1881 Posen, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Brieger née Elias, Else (GERMAN)	2/19/1888 Posen, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Bruck née Berliner, Else (GERMAN)(Figure 6)	3/3/1873 Ratibor, Germany	2/16/1957 New York, NY	Destiny: Immigrated to America
Bruck, Eva (GERMAN) (Figure 7)	8/19/1906 Barcelona, Spain	8/15/1977 Ainring, Germany	Destiny: Immigrated to Spain, died in Germany (Figure 8)
Bruck, Franziska (GERMAN)	12/29/1866 Ratibor, Germany	1/2/1942 Berlin, Germany	Destiny: Suicide victim of the Holocaust
Bruck, Otto (GERMAN) (Figure 42)	4/16/1907 Ratibor, Germany	9/13/1994 New York, NY	Destiny: Immigrated to America
Cohn née Pollack, Caroline (GERMAN)	Unknown	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Cypres, Jacques (BELGIAN)	10/29/1904 Antwerp, Belgium	Unknown	Destiny: Immigrated to America (Figure 9)
Donath, Ludwig (GERMAN)	3/6/1900 Vienna, Austria	9/29/1967 New York, NY	Destiny: Immigrated to America
Donath née Camsky, Maria Josefa (GERMAN)	8/20/1902 Vienna, Austria	4/21/1975 Vienna, Austria	Destiny: Immigrated to America, returned to Austria after her husband’s death
Elias, Dr. Carl Ludwig (GERMAN)	9/19/1891 Berlin, Germany	1942 Auschwitz, Poland	Destiny: Murdered in Auschwitz
Fleischner née Schoenfeld, Gabriele Ann Sophie (AUSTRIAN)(Figures 10a &b)	10/12/1895 Vienna, Austria	9/22/58 Massachusetts	Destiny: Immigrated to America, died Gabriele Anna Fleischner-Lawrence
Fleischner, Dr. Konrad George (AUSTRIAN)(Figures 11a& b)	10/12/1891 Vienna, Austria	9/1963 Massachusetts	Destiny: Immigrated to America, died Conrad Lawrence
Goldenring, Eva (GERMAN)	10/29/1906 Berlin, Germany	12/1969 Wilmington, DE	Destiny: Left Germany for France & Spain; eventually immigrated to America
Goldenring, Fritz (GERMAN)	9/11/1902	12/15/1943 Shanghai, China	Destiny: Left for Shanghai where he died in the Shanghai Ghetto
Goldenring née Hirsch, Helene (GERMAN)	3/25/1880 Ratibor, Germany	1/12/1968 Newark, NJ	Destiny: Left for Chile & eventually immigrated to America
Grödel, Emilie (GERMAN)	Unknown	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Hayoth HAYDT, Dr. Eugen (GERMAN)	4/19/1906 Metz, France	Unknown 1/17/1973 Sydney, Australia	Destiny: Unknown Arrived in Sydney, Australia on 2/6/1939 aboard the ship “NIEUW HOLLAND”; Died as Alvin Eugene Werner Haydt or A.E.W Haydt
Hayoth HAYDT née Winternitz, Lilly (GERMAN)	8/12/1908 Vienna, Austria	Unknown 2/4/1997 Sydney	Destiny: Unknown Arrived in Sydney, Australia on 2/6/1939 aboard the ship “NIEUW HOLLAND”
Heilbronner, Dr. Paul Milton (GERMAN) (Figures 12 & b)	11/22/1904 Munich, Germany	4/6/1980 Santa Barbara, CA	Destiny: Immigrated to America, died as Paul Milton Laporte
Heilbronner née Wimpfheimer, Sofie (GERMAN) (Figures 13a & b)	3/18/1876 Augsburg, Germany	3/26/1965 Los Angeles, CA	Destiny: Immigrated to America, died as Sofie Broner
Herz, Dr. Phil. Emanuel Emil (GERMAN)	4/5/1877 Essen, Germany	7/8/1971 Rochester, NY	Destiny: Immigrated to America (Figure 14)
Herz née Berl, Gabriele (GERMAN)	4/26/1886 Vienna, Austria	1957 Rochester, NY	Destiny: Immigrated to America
Hirschfeldt née Wolff, Katharina (GERMAN)	4/16/1866 Berlin, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Jacobi née Goldberg, Lucia von (GERMAN)	9/8/1887 Vienna, Austria	4/24/1956 Locarno, Switzerland	Destiny: Fled to Switzerland where she died after WWII
Kleinmann née Lewensohn, Gretchen (GERMAN)	12/31/1894 Hamburg, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Kleinmann, Dr. Phil & Med. Hans (GERMAN)	9/28/1895 Berlin, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Kleinmann née Luvic, Sophie (GERMAN)	11/27/1863 Memel, East Prussia	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Kuhnemund née Goldschmidt, Helene Ida (GERMAN)	3/15/1901 Berlin, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Leven née Levÿ, Johanna (GERMAN)	6/25/1866 Koenigshoeven, Germany	7/2/1942 Theresienstadt Ghetto, Czechoslovakia	Destiny: Murdered in Theresienstadt Ghetto
Leyser née Schueck, Auguste (GERMAN)	1/26/1872 Ratibor, Germany	10/5/1943 Theresienstadt Ghetto, Czechoslovakia	Destiny: Murdered in Theresienstadt Ghetto
Locker, Dine Martha (POLISH)	Unknown	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Maass, Margarete (GERMAN)	2/16/1880 Friedberg, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Unknown
Matthias, Julius (GERMAN)	5/15/1857 Hamburg, Germany	5/16/1942 Hamburg, Germany	Destiny: Died in Germany during WWII
Müller, Dr. Franz (GERMAN) (Figure 15)	12/31/1871 Berlin, Germany	10/1/1945 Fayence, France	Destiny: Left for Italy & France, where he died
Müller née Bruck, Susanne (GERMAN) (Figure 42)	4/20/1904 Ratibor, Germany	~9/7/1942 Auschwitz, Poland	Destiny: Murdered in Auschwitz
Nienburg née Niess, Emmy (GERMAN)	8/16/1885 Berlin, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Appears to have died in Germany after WWII
Oppler née Pinoff, Gertrude (GERMAN)	1/13/1876 Görlitz, Germany	3/9/1952 Frankfurt, Germany	Destiny: Died in Germany after WWII; (granddaughter of Marcus Braun, subject of Post 14)
Rosendorff, Friederike Elfriede (GERMAN)	11/28/1872 Berlin, Germany	Unknown	Destiny: Appears to have died in Germany after WWII
Sakheim née Plotkin, Anuta (PALESTINIAN)(Figure 16)	2/15/1896 Lodz, Poland	8/1939 Tel Aviv, Palestine	Destiny: Suicide
Schoop, Paul (SWISS)	7/31/1907 Zurich, Switzerland	1/1/1976 Van Nuys, CA	Destiny: Immigrated to America
Steinfeld née Blum, Jenny (GERMAN)	10/24/1865 Deutsch Eylau, West Prussia	8/27/1942 Berlin, Germany	Destiny: Suicide victim of the Holocaust

Figure 5. Report of Charlotte Victoria Baerwald’s Death in Switzerland in March 1966

Figure 6. My grandmother Else Bruck née Berliner in 1925

Figure 7. Eva Bruck in Barcelona in May 1950

Figure 8. Eva Bruck’s Death Certificate from Ainring, Germany, August 1977

Figure 9. Manifest of Alien Passengers showing Belgian Jew Jacques Cypres’s arrival from Porto, Portugal to NYC in July 1941

Figure 10a. Gabriele Fleischner’s 1940 Naturalization Record

Figure 11a. Konrad Fleischner’s 1940 Naturalization Record

Figure 12a. Paul Heilbronner’s 1939 Naturalization Record

Figure 13a. Sofie Heilbronner’s 1944 Naturalization Record

Figure 14. Emanuel Emil Herz’s 1938 Swiss Emigration form

Figure 15. My uncle Dr. Franz Müller on his 70th birthday in December 1941 in Fayence, France

Figure 16. Anuta Sakheim who committed suicide in Palestine in August 1939

Figure 17. My aunt Susanne & her husband Dr. Franz Müller in 1938 at the Villa Primavera in Fiesole, Italy

Figure 18. Lucia von Jacobi in 1936-37, at the Villa Primavera in Fiesole, Italy

In the case of several people associated with the Villa Primavera, including my aunt and uncle (Figure 17), Lucia von Jacobi (Figure 18), and Charlotte Baerwald, their intent had been to stay in Fiesole “per sempre,” forever. In the case of most guests, however, their anticipated length of stay typically varied between a few weeks and two months.

Eduard Berend

Eduard Berend (Figure 19) was an eminent editor of the works of Jean Paul (1763-1825), a German Romantic writer. After fighting in WWI, Berend pursued an academic career, but on account of anti-Semitism, he was rejected as a teacher at three German universities. In 1927, the Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Prussian Academy of Sciences, eventually commissioned him with the historic-critical edition of the works of Jean Paul. By 1938, he had completed 20 of the 32 planned volumes, works that established Jean Paul as one of the most important writers of German classicism, alongside Goethe and Schiller. Still, he was dismissed by the Prussian Academy in 1938. Soon thereafter he was sent to the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen, and was only released on the condition that he leave Germany immediately.

Prior to WWII, Eduard Berend had developed an unlikely friendship with a Heinrich Meyer, a Goethe scholar at the Rice Institute in Houston with Nazi sympathies. Desperate, Berend turned to Meyer for help in December 1938. In spite of Henrich Meyer’s Nazi leanings, which landed him in prison in Texas in 1943 and ultimately got him fired, Meyer secured an affidavit for Berend to leave Germany for Switzerland where he even supported Berend financially. After the war, Berend continued his work on Jean Paul. He went back to Germany in 1957, and by the time of his death in 1973, had completed twenty-eight volumes.

Figure 20. The “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” 1937 form for Eduard Berend showing his 1934 passport number

Figure 21. Eduard Berend’s 1939 Passport

The passport on which Eduard Berend traveled to Switzerland in 1939 was different than the one on which he traveled to Fiesole in May 1937, comparing the number on the Soggiorno form (Figure 20) with that on his 1939 passport, found on the Internet. (Figure 21)

Franziska Bruck

I was able to procure a copy of my great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s death certificate from the Landesarchiv Berlin. (Figure 22) The certificate states the gruesome way in which she killed herself on January 2, 1942, “selbstmord durch erhängen,” suicide by hanging, no doubt after being told to report to an old-age transport for deportation. (Figure 23)

Figure 23. My great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s Stolperstein in Wilmersdorf, Berlin

In previous posts, I’ve explained to readers that beginning in 1937-38, all German Jewish men had to be called “Israel,” and all German Jewish women had to be called “Sarah”; these names were added to official birth, marriage and death certificates. Readers will note that on my great-aunt’s death certificate, the name “Sara” has been added.

My great-aunt Franziska spent two months at the Villa Primavera between September and November 1937. I’ve often wondered what her fate might have been had she not returned to Berlin. I can only surmise that like many Jews, she was either in denial as to what might happen upon her return, or her options for leaving Germany were limited.

Ludwig & Maria Donath

Figure 24a. Ludwig Donath’s 1940 Naturalization Record

Figure 25a. Maria Donath nee Camsky’s 1940 Naturalization Record

Figure 25b. Maria Donath nee Camsky in 1940

Figure 26. Character actor Ludwig Donath

Ludwig Donath (Figures 24a & b) and his wife, Maria Donath née Camsky (Figures 25a & b), were among the last German Jewish guests at the Villa Primavera, staying for no more than a month in July-August 1938. Ludwig Donath was a famous character actor (Figures 26 & 27) who’d had a distinguished career on the stages of Vienna and Berlin, before leaving Nazi Germany in 1933. He and his wife arrived in Hollywood via Switzerland and England, departing from Liverpool for New York in February 1940. Donath appeared in many American films, with at least 84 credits to his name, and was often typecast as a Nazi in films from 1942. (Figure 28) He was briefly blacklisted in the 1950’s for alleged left-wing connections, but resumed steady television work in 1957 for the remainder of his life.

Figure 27. Character actor Ludwig Donath

Figure 28. Character actor Ludwig Donath in the role of Adolf Hitler

Carl Ludwig Elias

Carl Ludwig Elias was born in 1891 to a distinguished art critic, Dr. Julius Elias, who was instrumental in promoting French Impressionism in Germany. Likely because of his father’s connections with the art world, an oil portrait of “Carl Ludwig Elias 7 ¼” by Lovis Corinth was painted in 1899. (Figure 29) Carl Ludwig was a lawyer in Berlin and immigrated to Norway when the Nazis came to power. Nonetheless, after the Nazis invaded Norway in December 1940, he was captured and deported with 500 other Jews from Denmark to Auschwitz in 1942, where he was murdered.

Helene Goldenring

Helene Goldenring visited the Villa Primavera on two occasions, for about a month between May-June 1937, and, again, between December 1937 and January 1938 for two months. Both of her children, Eva and Fritz Goldenring, who’ve been discussed in earlier posts, were also guests on separate occasions. Helene’s name appears in a Berlin phone directory as late as 1940 (Figure 30), indicating she returned to Germany after her sojourns in Fiesole. At some point, she seems to have joined her brother, Dr. Robert Hirsch, in Chile, before eventually immigrating to America in 1947 after his death, where she reunited with her only surviving child, Eva. (Figure 31)

Figure 31. Helene Goldenring and her daughter Eva after they reunited in America, Easter 1960

Eugen & Lillian Haydt

In May 2021, I was contacted by Ms. Tamara Precek, a most delightful Czech lady who has resided in Barcelona, Spain for the past 20 years. She is researching the Winternitz families that lived in Prague around 1850, of whom Lillian Haydt née Winternitz is descended. Tamara asked me to send her the “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” forms for Eugen (Figure 43) and Lillian (Figure 44), suspecting I had misread their surnames. Indeed, I had mistaken HAYDT as “Hayoth.”

Figure 43. The “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” form for Eugen Haydt

Figure 44. The “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” form for Lillian Haydt née Winternitz

Tamara has recently been able to learn what happened to them after their brief stay at the Villa Primavera. They managed to immigrate to Australia, arriving there on the 6^th of February 1939 aboard the ship “NIEUW HOLLAND.” Dr. Eugen Haydt changed his named to Albin (Alvin) Eugene Werner (Warner) Haydt (A.E.W. Haydt) but was still generally known as Eugene Haydt. He was a tradesman, and died on the 17^th of January 1973; his wife may have worked with him, and passed away on the 4^th of February 1997. They appear not to have had any children.

Ms. Precek even found a picture of the apartment building where they resided in Sydney. (Figure 45)

Figure 45. Apartment building in Sydney where Eugen and Lillian Haydt lived after they immigrated to Australia in 1939

Lucia von Jacobi

Ms. Jacobi co-managed the Villa Primavera as a bed-and-breakfast with my aunt Susanne. She fled Fiesole in 1938 in favor of Switzerland, leaving everything behind, including her personal papers, which were miraculously found in Florence and saved by a German researcher in 1964, Dr. Irene Below (see Blog Post 21 for the full story).

Johanna Leven

Johanna Leven stayed at the Villa Primavera for the first two months of 1938, but clearly returned to Germany after her stay. She was eventually deported from Mönchengladbach, Germany to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in then-Czechoslovakia, where she perished in 1942. (Figure 32)

Julius Matthias

Julius Matthias was among the oldest guest to have stayed at the Villa Primavera, being almost 80 when he visted there between March and April 1937. After his days in Fiesole, he returned to Hamburg, Germany, where he died on May 16, 1942, seemingly of natural causes (i.e., senility, broncho-pneumonia). His death certificate (Figure 33) states he was a non-practicing Jew, although this fact would not have prevented him from being deported to a concentration camp. His death certificate assigned him the name “Israel” to identify him as a Jew.

Paul Schoop

Paul Schoop was born in 1907 in Zurich, Switzerland, one of four accomplished offspring (with Max Schoop (b. 1902); Trudi Schoop (b. 1903); Hedwig “Hedi” Schoop (b. 1906)) of a prominent family. Paul’s father, Maximilian Schoop, was the editor of Neue Zurcher Zeitung and president of Dolder Hotels. Paul (Figure 34) came to America in September 1939, and eventually joined his three siblings in Van Nuys, California. He was an accomplished composer, concert pianist and conductor, first in Europe and later in America. Paul’s brother-in-law was Frederick Maurice Holländer (Figures 35a & b), the famed composer and torch song writer, who’d once been married to one of Paul’s sister, Hedi Schoop. (Figures 36a & b)

Figure 35a. Paul Schoop’s famous brother-in-law, Friedrich Maurice Holländer’s 1935 Naturalization Form

Figure 35b. Friedrich Maurice Holländer in 1935

Figure 36a. Paul Schoop’s sister, Hedwig “Hedi” Holländer nee Schoop’s 1935 Naturalization Form

Figure 36b. Poor quality photo of Hedwig “Hedi” Holländer nee Schoop in 1935

I surmise the reason the Schoop children came to America is because of greater economic and professional opportunities rather than on account of Nazi persecution.

Jenny Steinfeld

Jenny Steinfeld’s tale is a poignant one. Her name appears with that of her son, Paul Steinfeld, on an April 1937 manifest of boat passengers bound from Bremen, Germany to New York. (Figure 37) A scant five months later, between September and November 1937, she is a guest at the Villa Primavera, clearly having come back from America. Jenny eventually returns to Berlin, and on August 27, 1942 commits suicide there, yet another victim of Nazi persecution. (Figure 38) As with my great-aunt Franziska, who too returned to Berlin from Fiesole, one wonders why Jenny walked back into the maws of death.

Figure 38. Page from the Memorial Book for Jewish Victims of Nazi Persecution for Jenny Steinfeld

This post deals only in passing with my immediate and extended Bruck family. For this reason, it involved considerably more forensic research, as most of the guests at the Villa Primavera were previously unknown to me. Still, learning more about these people was important to me. In some small way, as the Holocaust victim David Berger wrote in 1941, I hope I have honored and recognized a few other Jewish victims of Nazi persecution so they are not forgotten.

SIDEBAR

Figure 40. My first cousin once-removed, Kay Lutze, with Anja Holländer in Amsterdam, Netherlands in October 2017

Regular readers will know the enjoyment I derive making connections between people and events related to my family. One of my German first cousins, once-removed, Kay Lutze, is friends with an Anja Holländer, living in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Figure 39) Anja is related to Frederick Maurice Holländer, the brother-in-law of Paul Schoop, who stayed at the Villa Primavera. In assembling this involved Blog post, I recollected this fact and also that Anja claims a relationship to my Bruck family. I asked Kay whether he knew the relationship, and he could only tell me that the mother of a Holländer named LUDWIG HEINRICH HOLLÄNDER was a Bruck. Curious about this, I researched this man on ancestry.com, and, indeed, discovered various historic documents that confirm the distant relationship of the Holländer family to my Bruck family. Ludwig’s mother was HELENE HOLLÄNDER née BRUCK (1812-1876), who I think is my great-great-great-great-aunt; Helene was married to a BENJAMIN HOLLÄNDER (1809-1884). I discovered his death certificate (Figures 40a & b), along with that of their son Ludwig (1833-1897). (Figures 41a & b)

Figure 40a. Benjamin Holländer’s Death Certificate (1809-12 May 1884) identifying his wife as Helene Bruck (misspelled as “Boch”)

Figure 40b. Translation of Benjamin Holländer’s Death Certificate

Figure 41a. Ludwig Heinrich Holländer Death Certificate (4 Feb 1833-12 March 1897) identifying his mother as Helene Bruck

Figure 41b. Translation of Ludwig Heinrich Holländer’s Death Certificate

As we speak, I am trying to learn how Anja is related to Friedrick and Helene Holländer née Bruck. Watch this space!

Figure 42. My father, Dr. Otto Bruck, and his sister, Susanne Müller née Bruck, at the Villa Primavera in 1937 or 1938

POST 33: FINDING GREAT-UNCLE WILLY’S GRANDCHILDREN

Note: This Blog post details how and where I located my great-uncle Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck’s grandchildren, that’s to say, my second cousins.

Related Post: Post 32: Finding Great-Uncle Willy

In the previous post, I described to readers how I went about finding my grandfather’s younger brother, Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck (1872-1952), as well as his wife, son and daughter-in-law. Starting with the knowledge that my great-uncle wound up in Barcelona, Spain and sent a congratulatory card from there to my parents in 1951, shortly after I was born, I began there. From the FamilySearch’s “International Genealogical Index” I knew my great-uncle Willy’s wife, Antonie Bruck née Marcus, had pre-deceased him by ten years in Barcelona, dying there in 1942; clearly, 1942 was the latest they would have arrived in Spain, and likely sooner. I assumed my great-aunt and -uncle had gone to Barcelona to escape the Nazis, although the circumstances of how they were able to immigrate to Spain was a complete mystery.

In Post 32, I explained how I obtained the Certificados de Defunción, death certificates, for my great-uncle Willy (Figure 1), and his son Edgar-Pedro (Figure 2) during a visit in 2014 to two bureaus in Barcelona, the Cementiris de Barcelona, S.A. and the Registro Civil de Barcelona; other than learning that payments for keeping them and their wives interred were current, the Cementiris refused to give me names of next of kin. Instead, they suggested I write a letter explaining my interest in contacting them, and they would forward my request asking if the next of kin were willing to share their contact information. In fact, I tried this approach upon my return to the States in 2014, ultimately to no avail, although I strongly suspect the Cementiris never contacted my relatives.

Figure 1. Death certificate for my great-uncle Wilhelm (Guillermo) “Willy” Bruck (April 29, 1952)

Figure 2. Death certificate for Edgar Pedro Bruck (October 5, 1988)

Figure 3. Tombstone at the “Cementiri de Montjuic” in Barcelona of Wilhelm & Antonia Bruck and Edgar & Mercedes Bruck

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. As previously explained, following my visit to the Cementerio de Montjuïc in Barcelona to visit the tomb of my great-uncle Willy and his family (Figure 3), I returned to the Registro Civil de Barcelona hoping to obtain documents for additional family members. I had the good fortune to encounter a very helpful English-speaking lady there who spent several hours researching records for possible relatives. She eventually gave me copies of various birth, marriage and death certificates for five individuals, the relationship and significance of which would take me several months to figure out. I didn’t realize it at the time, but one of these documents was the key to locating my great-uncle Willy’s grandchildren. Just to be clear, none of these certificates provided names of next of kin.

Figure 4. Boxes of personal papers of two of my renowned great-aunts, Franziska & Elsbeth Bruck, archived at the Stadtmuseum in Spandau, Germany

Figure 5. My great-uncle Willy in May 1950, Barcelona

Figure 6. Wilhelm Bruck’s daughter, Eva, in May 1950, Barcelona

Readers may recall from Post 15 that the personal papers of two of great-uncle Willy’s renowned sisters, Franziska Bruck and Elsbeth Bruck, are archived at the Stadtmuseum in Spandau, a suburb of Berlin. Earlier in 2014, my wife and I spent two days there examining and photographing all the documents and pictures. (Figure 4) Among my great-aunt Elsbeth’s papers, I discovered multiple pictures that her brother Willy had sent from Barcelona of himself (Figure 5), his children, Eva (Figure 6) and Edgar Pedro, his daughter-in-law Mercedes and her family (Figure 7), and his grandson Antonio. (Figure 8) The captions on these pictures allowed me to partially piece together the family tree. I was able to match some pictures to a document I’d obtained at the Registro Civil de Barcelona, notably the Certificado de Matrimonio, marriage certificate, for Edgar Pedro Bruck Marcus and Mercedes Casanovas Castañé, married June 24, 1945. (Figures 9a-c & 10) I was also able to relate the Certificados de Nacimiento, birth certificates, to their two children, Antonio Bruck Casanovas, born 1946 (Figure 11), and Margarita Bruck Casanovas, born 1948. (Figure 12) To remind readers, in Spain, at birth, an individual is given two surnames, that of his mother and father. Again, none of these documents allowed me to determine whether great-uncle Willy’s grandchildren were still alive, or where they might be living.

Figure 7. Wilhelm Bruck & his extended family on June 9, 1946 in Barcelona at the baptism of Antonio Bruck, archived at the Stadtmuseum in Spandau, Germany

Figure 8. Antonio Bruck on a “bichito” (small creature) on Ascension Day 1949 in the company of his Aunt Eva & Grandfather Wilhelm

Figure 9a. Marriage certificate for Edgar Pedro Bruck Marcus and Mercedes Casanovas Castañé (Page 1), married June 24, 1945

Figure 9b. Marriage certificate for Edgar Pedro Bruck Marcus and Mercedes Casanovas Castañé (Page 2), married June 24, 1945

Figure 9c. Marriage certificate for Edgar Pedro Bruck Marcus and Mercedes Casanovas Castañé (Page 3), married June 24, 1945

Figure 10. Marriage of Edgar Pedro Bruck Marcus & Mercedes Casanovas Castañé on June 24, 1945, surrounded by family

Figure 11. Antonio Bruck Casanovas’s birth certificate (April 8, 1946)

Figure 12. Margarita Bruck Casanovas’s birth certificate (December 13, 1948)

Figure 13. Antonio Bruck Casanovas’s birth certificate with a notation in the upper-left corner stating he was married in “Haag, R.F.A.” in 1982 that allowed me to locate my second cousins in Germany

The break-through in finding my great-uncle Willy’s grandchildren came during Thanksgiving 2014. My wife was out-of-town with her family, so I set myself the task of re-examining the documents I’d been given at the Registro Civil de Barcelona. When reviewing the birth certificate for Antonio Bruck Casanovas, I noticed something I’d previously overlooked, specifically, a notation that had been added in the upper-left-hand corner on October 26, 1983 indicating he’d gotten married to a woman named Ingeborg Prieller née Wieser in 1982 in a place called “Haag-R.F.A.” (Figure 13) Having no idea where Haag is, and what “R.F.A.” stood for, after researching these places, I quickly determined that Haag is in Bavaria, and that “R.F.A.,” is Spanish for “República Federal de Alemania,” the German Federal Republic. This was the first concrete evidence I had that one of my great-uncle Willy’s grandchildren had at least for some period lived in Germany and might still be there.

I made this discovery on a Sunday, I clearly remember. I immediately searched to find out whether this small town of approximately 6,500 inhabitants has a Rathaus, a town hall, where I could inquire about Antonio Bruck. I learned they do, and without delay sent them an email inquiring about my second cousin, laying out what I knew. Incredibly, by the following morning, the Rathaus confirmed the information I had uncovered on Antonio Bruck’s birth certificate was correct and that he still lived in Haag; this was the good news, the bad news was they couldn’t give me his contact information. Fortunately, the gentleman at the Rathaus offered to call Antonio and explain that a cousin from America was trying to reach him. By Tuesday, my second cousin Antonio had sent me an email explaining his consternation at being phoned by Haag’s Rathaus, asked to appear in person at their offices, and told I was trying to get in touch with him. Antonio wasted no time contacting me. So, only two days after figuring out that one of my second cousins was living in Germany, we’d miraculously established contact.

Let me briefly digress and touch on something that may be of passing interest to some readers. Given my persistence, it’s likely I would eventually have figured out another way to get in touch with my second cousins, although there’s no guarantee of this. The 1983 marriage notation on Antonio’s 1946 birth certificate simplified my search. What makes this notation on Antonio’s Spanish birth certificate notable is that he was married in Germany, but this information was somehow conveyed to the Spanish authorities in Barcelona. In my years of doing forensic genealogy, I’ve come across multiple examples where marriages and even divorces are noted on German birth certificates, but this is the only instance I’ve come across where such a notation crosses country borders, this in the time before the European Union. For people doing research on their ancestors, it pays to look for notations on vital documents, particularly on German birth certificates, that may inform when and where their relatives got married. While Antonio’s birth certificate includes this information, the birth certificate of his sister Margarita, also married in Germany, contains no such reference.

Figure 14. A picture Antonio sent me of he and his grandson Emil shortly after we got acquainted

Figure 15. International Genealogical Index showing Wilhelm & Antonie Bruck married in Hamburg on April 2, 1904

Once Antonio and I connected, we began a lively exchange of emails. (Figure 14) I learned a lot more about my great-uncle Willy and his family and widened my circle of previously unknown relatives who I eventually contacted. From the International Genealogical Index, I already knew that my great-aunt and -uncle had married in Hamburg on April 2, 1904 (Figure 15). Once Antonio confirmed that Wilhelm and Antonie’s children, Edgar and Eva, had been born respectively, in 1905 and 1906, in Barcelona, I wrote to the woman who’d helped me at the Registro Civil de Barcelona, asking for copies of their birth certificates. She remembered me, and in February 2015, sent me their Certificados de Nacimiento. (Figures 16a-b & 17a-b)

Figure 16a. Edgar Pedro Bruck Marcus Birth Certificate (Page 1) (February 6, 1905)

Figure 16b. Edgar Pedro Bruck Marcus Birth Certificate (Page 2) (February 6, 1905)

Figure 17a. Eva Bruck Marcus Birth Certificate (Page 1) (August 19, 1906)

Figure 17b. Eva Bruck Marcus Birth Certificate (Page 2) (August 19, 1906)

Figure 18. Wilhelm & Antonie Bruck on April 5, 1904, the year they got married

It turns out, Antonio’s grandfather had been an electrical engineer for AEG, Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft, a company established in Berlin 1893 that went defunct in 1996. Among other things, AEG was involved in the installation and generation of electrical power and transmission lines, and, as technical director at AEG, my great-uncle was sent to Barcelona in 1905 to supervise the set-up of electrification and street illumination in Barcelona. (Figure 18) As noted, Wilhelm and Antonie’s two children were born in Barcelona, where the family stayed until 1910 (Figures 19 & 20), whereupon they returned to Berlin.

Figure 19. The villa in Barcelona where Wilhelm Bruck and his family lived between 1905 and 1910

Figure 20. Wilhelm & Antonie Bruck and their children Edgar & Eva on the rooftop terrace of the villa where they lived in Barcelona

The family’s association with Spain no doubt saved their lives during the rise of the National Socialists. It appears after Hitler’s ascendancy to power in 1933, the family returned to Barcelona at least until the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, although the family’s chronology during this period is at best confusing. It seems that Wilhelm and Antonie returned to Germany for a short period, because in 1937 they were given the choice by the Nazis of attending a re-education school to learn to become “better” Germans or leaving the country; they decided to relocate to Antwerp, Belgium.

At the outset of the Spanish Civil War, Edgar left for Geneva, Switzerland, but, unable to find work there, went to Paris soon after. Between 1937 and 1941 he was in France, living in Paris and Bordeaux, before eventually being incarcerated at the French detention center of Condom. Since France and Germany were at war, and Edgar was a German national, he was arrested. Seemingly, it was only the persistent efforts of Wilhelm that got Edgar released, whereupon he rejoined his family in Barcelona in 1941. It’s likely that once the Spanish Civil War ended on April 1, 1939, Wilhelm and Antonie returned to Barcelona from Antwerp.

Figure 21. Wilhelm Bruck & Antonie Marcus’s Marriage Certificate (April 2, 1904) with 1940 notations adding names of “Sara” and “Israel” to denote they were Jewish

Let me briefly digress again and draw the readers attention to a very common notation added to the birth and/or marriage certificates of German Jews during the Nazi period. (Figure 21) As previously mentioned, my great-uncle Willy and his wife Antonie Marcus were married in Hamburg, Germany on April 2, 1904. Below is the translation of their marriage certificate:

N.172

Hamburg, the 2nd of April 1904

In front of the below signed registrar appeared today because of their marriage:

1.) the chief engineer Wilhelm Bruck, known because of his birth certificate, lutheran religion, born on the 24th of October 1872 in Ratibor, living in Barcelona, son of the in Ratibor deceased innkeeper Fedor Bruck and his wife Friederike born Mokrauer, living in Berlin.

2.) Antonie Marcus, known because of her birth certificate, lutheran religion, born on the 13th of July 1876 in Altona, living in Hamburg, Heimhuderstreet 60/2, daughter of the in Altona deceased merchant Hirsch (called Harry) Marcus and his wife Adele born Hertz, living in Hamburg.

And on the right-hand side is written:

Nr.172

Hamburg, the 11th of march 1940

Antonia Bruck born Marcus, living in Barcelona Calle Balmes, has received the additional Christian name “Sara”.

Nr. 172

Hamburg, the 29th of April 1940

Wilhelm Bruck, living in Barcelona, has received the additional Christian name “Israel”.

In the next two additions on the right-hand side is written that those two additional names “Sara” and “Israel” are no longer valid

from the date of 22nd of July 1948

The certificate states that Wilhelm and Antonie were Lutherans though both were considered Jewish by the Nazis. As such, in March and April 1940, respectively, the Nazis gave them the additional names of “Sara” and “Israel,” identical names given to all female and male Jews during this period, names rescinded in writing after WWII. The Nazis even recorded the street in Barcelona on which my great-aunt and -uncle lived, Calle Balmes, presumably useful information had they ever invaded Spain. As an aside, according to my second cousins, because they were Lutherans, a major branch of Protestant Christianity, neither was able to attend “normal” schools in predominantly Catholic Spain so, instead, they were schooled at the “Lycée Français.” For this reason, in 1955 Edgar and his family returned to Germany so his children could attend regular public schools

Figure 22. Dr. Anna Rothholz, one of my third cousins, in May 2015, Munich

Antonio put me in touch with additional relatives living in Munich and Berlin. One woman was a Dr. Anna Rothholz, a third cousin I eventually learned. (Figure 22) Anna, in turn, referred me to other third cousins, including the Pauly family. This was of particular interest, as a woman named Lisa Pauly helped my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck survive in Berlin during WWII. One deceased Pauly cousin developed a very detailed “Stammbaum,” family tree, which I was given, but unfortunately this still does not explain how Lisa Pauly is related to the Bruck family.

Figure 23. Eva Bruck’s Death Certificate from Ainring, Germany (August 15, 1977)

I’ve mentioned in previous posts my father’s penchant for being dismissive of family. Not only did he lose touch with most, but he lost track of how they passed away. Case in point, I was always told Wilhelm’s daughter, Eva, whom I met in 1967 in New York, had committed suicide. In fact, she died of laryngeal cancer in 1977 in Ainring, Germany. (Figure 23) There is an interesting anecdote related to her death. She had wanted to be interred with her family at the Cementerio de Montjuïc in Barcelona, but an administrative hang-up prevented this. The Spanish kept telling the family the Germans should just ship the body to Spain, but the Germans refused to do this without something in writing, something the Spaniards never provided. Thus, Eva was buried in Germany against her wishes.

Figure 24. With my two second cousins, Margarita and Antonio (right) May 2015, Munich

My wife and I eventually met my second and third cousins on a trip to Germany in May 2015. (Figure 24) Margarita, Antonio and I all brought family pictures, including of people we were unable to identify, but, between us, we eventually figured out who most were; they would later scan and send all the family pictures they inherited from their father and aunt. One particularly interesting identification was of Wilhelm’s wife, Antonie, who entirely unbeknownst to me, had worked in my great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s flower school in Berlin. (Figure 25) Stories of other people shown in the family pictures will be the subject of future posts, as they led me to other discoveries.

Figure 25. At my great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s flower school in Berlin showing Franziska (second from right) and Antonie Bruck (far right)

POST 32: FINDING GREAT-UNCLE “WILLY”

Note: This post describes how I tracked down my deceased great-uncle Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck, my grandfather Felix Bruck’s younger brother.

Figure 1a. Remembrance poem my great-uncle Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck wrote in honor of his brother, Felix “Lixel” Bruck, my grandfather, on the occasion of his marriage on February 11, 1894 (cover)

Figure 1b. Remembrance poem my great-uncle Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck wrote in honor of his brother, Felix “Lixel” Bruck, my grandfather, on the occasion of his marriage on February 11, 1894 (inside)

Figure 1c. Remembrance poem my great-uncle Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck wrote in honor of his brother, Felix “Lixel” Bruck, my grandfather, on the occasion of his marriage on February 11, 1894 (back)

Figure 2. Willy Bruck’s daughter, Eva Bruck, between her first cousins, Otto Bruck (my father) & Fedor Bruck (my uncle), on the occasion of her visit to New York in 1967

In 1951, some months after I was born in New York, my parents received a congratulatory card from my father’s uncle, Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck, my grandfather Felix Bruck’s surviving younger brother. (Figures 1a, 1b & 1c) Regrettably, this card, mailed from Barcelona, Spain, has not survived. At the time I began looking into my family, I knew very little about this great-uncle; it turns out his only daughter, Eva Bruck, visited New York in 1967 (Figure 2), although her connection to our family was never explained to me at the time. Still, I remember her clearly. Having been a coin collector my entire life, Eva immediately endeared herself by bringing me an Austrian 15 Kreuzer silver coin from 1686, an item still in my possession.

Figure 3. My aunt Susanne, who was murdered in Auschwitz, standing over her first cousins, Edgar & Eva Bruck,, in Berlin on October 25, 1924 when all performed together

Eva had a very distinctive look so when I carefully re-examined my father’s pictures from Ratibor and Berlin when he and Eva were younger, she was easily recognizable. I was also able to identify her brother, Edgar Bruck, in these same images. (Figure 3)

As previously mentioned, my father took scant interest in his family and often quipped, “thank heavens we don’t have family!” When he spoke of his relatives or friends, he often used a French or German sobriquet, such as “la Socialiste,” “la Vielle,” or “Die Schlummermutter,” never mentioning surnames for these people. Given my father’s rather casual attitude about family, it’s not surprising he lost touch with them, and why I never met or knew how many aunts and uncles he had. For that matter, I was never even told how many siblings my father had, as readers may recall from my visit to the Polish State Archives in Raciborz (Post 12), where I learned of an older brother named Walter who died in infancy.

From the Ratibor microfilm records and the Polish State Archives in Raciborz, I discovered my grandfather had seven siblings and learned their dates of birth; since I track only five of the siblings into adulthood, it’s likely two died in infancy. Finding out what became of the surviving brothers and sisters during the Nazi era and uncovering whether any had children or grandchildren became a priority when I started the forensic investigations into my father’s family.

Figure 4. A page from FamilySearch’s “International Genealogical Index (IGI)” with vital statistics on Wilhelm Bruck & his wife Antonie Marcus

Figure 5. Wilhelm Bruck & Antonie Marcus’s marriage certificate, showing they were married on April 2, 1904, in Hamburg, Germany

I started with my great-uncle Willy, Wilhelm Bruck. The Ratibor birth records showed he was born on October 24, 1872, while a page in FamilySearch’s “International Genealogical Index (IGI),” indicated he died on May 18, 1952, in Barcelona, and was married to an Antonie Marcus on April 2, 1904 in Hamburg, Germany; Antonie was born on July 13, 1876 in Hamburg, Germany and died in Barcelona (as Antonia) on October 10, 1942. When I began my search into my great-uncle Willy, this is all I knew. (Figures 4 & 5)

Figure 6. The only photo of of my great-uncle Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck (1872-1952) I had at the time I started investigating him

Aware of my great-uncle Willy’s connection to Barcelona, I searched the city’s White Pages for people with the surname Bruck hoping to find some of his descendants. I was a bit surprised when none showed up, although when I broadened my search to all of Spain, I found 14 people with the surname Bruck. At that instant, I decided to write to all fourteen individuals, enclosing the only photo I had at the time of my great-uncle Willy. (Figure 6)

I’ve often used this approach, writing “cold letters” to people I think may have information about my father’s family and friends. Typically, I get a response rate of about 50 percent, often absent information, although, in this instance, only two people responded. The first response was predictably negative. The second, however, was different. Early one Saturday morning, I received a call from Haifa, Israel from a gentleman named Michael Bruck; this immediately caught my attention because I was unaware of any Bruck relatives in Israel. It turns out, Michael is the first cousin of someone I’d written to in Spain, a man named Ronny Bruck. Early in January 2014, Ronny received my letter, coincidentally, on his 65^th birthday. Thinking an unknown Bruck relative in America was sending him birthday well-wishes, he instead found my odd request asking about my deceased great-uncle Willy. Ronny forwarded my letter to his first cousin Michael in Israel, the family genealogist, ergo the call.

Figure 7. Distant cousins, Ronny (from Alicante, Spain) & Michael Bruck (from Haifa, Israel) in July 2014 in Hilden, Germany, on the occasion of our first meeting

While both Ronny and Michael recognized a family resemblance between my great-uncle Willy and their ancestors, to this day we have not connected our respective branches of the family; whenever we come upon a new family tree, we immediately share it hoping to eventually find a “link.” Regardless, both Ronny and Michael have been of enormous assistance in my family research. Ronny learned Sütterlin for only one year in school, and has translated countless historic birth, marriage and death records written in this obsolete German script; Michael helped me track down one of my father’s first cousins who immigrated to Haifa after WWII, an arduous search that will be the subject of a future post. While we can’t pinpoint our family ties, I consider Michael and Ronny nothing less than intimate kin. (Figure 7)

Figure 8. Synagogue Librarian for La Javurá organization, Ms. Alba Toscana,, in Valencia, Spain in July 2014 standing next to my wife, Ann Finan, at the Mercado Central

Having basically reached a dead-end on my great-uncle Willy, I turned to the Los Angeles Jewish Genealogical Society for help contacting someone in Spain’s Jewish community thinking they might be able to assist. They put me in touch with the Synagogue Librarian for La Javurá, Ms. Alba Toscana, in Valencia, Spain (Figure 8), who suggested I contact the Comunidad Israelita de Barcelona or CIB, and they, in turn, sent me to the Cementiris de Barcelona, S.A. I emailed them in February 2014, and, within a day, they responded and confirmed that my great-uncle Willy was indeed buried in Barcelona, at the Cementerio de Montjuïc, with his wife, son and daughter-in-law; they also provided specifics on where all were entombed. The Cementiris, however, was unwilling to provide a copy of any of the death certificates for family members unless I presented myself in person and paid for the documents on the spot.

Figure 9. Entrance to Cementiris de Barcelona

Figure 10. Entrance to Ministerio de Justicia Registro Civil de Barcelona, where copies of death certificates are obtained

Figure 11. Letter from Cementiris de Barcelona with burial information on my great-uncle Willy & his wife Antonia

Fortunately, my wife and I already had plans in summer of 2014 to visit the places connected to my family’s diaspora, including Barcelona, so when we arrived there in July we presented ourselves to the Cementiris. (Figure 9) Payment was made in this office, then we had to trek across town to a separate office, the Ministerio de Justicia Registro Civil de Barcelona (Figure 10), where actual death certificates are obtained. The Cementiris provided a letter telling me when my great-uncle Willi and his wife died, and where they are entombed in the Cementerio de Montjuïc. (Figure 11) I also received a separate document stating that payment for keeping the remains interred was current. As readers may know, it is a common practice in Spain and elsewhere in the world for relatives to pay to keep their ancestors buried, otherwise, the human remains are disinterred and placed in a charnel house after a certain number of years. The Cementiris, however, would not provide information on any living family members. Spain is a notoriously difficult place to obtain official documents and names of living and even deceased relatives because of its recent history of fascism; initially I was only able to obtain the death certificates for my great-uncle Willy (Figure 12), known here as Guillermo Bruck Mockrauer, and his son, Edgar-Pedro Bruck Marcus. (Figure 13)

Figure 12. Death certificate for my great-uncle Willy (“Guillermo”) showing he died on May 18, 1952

Figure 13. Death certificate for great-uncle Willy’s son, Edgar-Pedro, indicating he died on October 5, 1988

A side note on Spanish names is relevant. In Spain, at birth, an individual is given two surnames, that of his mother and father. Thus, my great-uncle Willy’s father’s surname was Bruck and his mother’s maiden name was Mockrauer, so he was known in Spain as “Guillermo (Spanish for Wilhelm) Bruck Mockrauer.”

Figure 14. Entrance to Cementerio de Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain, where my great-uncle Willy, his wife, son, & daughter-in-law are all interred

Armed with information on where my great-uncle Willy or “Guillermo” was interred, my wife and I set out to pay a visit to the Cementerio de Montjuïc. (Figure 14) I already knew Guillermo and his wife, who predeceased him by 10 years, were buried together, along with their son, Edgar and his wife, Mercedes. Interestingly, neither Willy’s son nor daughter-in-law’s names are inscribed on the headstone; this I had learned from the Cementeris before visiting the cemetery. (Figure 15)

Figure 15. Headstone at the Cementerio de Montjuïc where my great-uncle Willy, his wife Antonia, his son Edgar, and his daughter-in-law Mercedes are interred. Only Willy & Antonia’s names are inscribed on the poor-quality tombstone

Following our visit to the Cementerio de Montjuïc, I returned to the Registro Civil de Barcelona hoping to obtain official documents for additional family members I surmised had been born or died in Barcelona. I had the good fortune to land upon an English-speaking administrator who was enormously helpful; she asked me to come back after working hours, spent some hours on the computer, and provided me with some invaluable birth and death certificates that eventually enabled me to track down my great-uncle Willy’s grandchildren. It took some effort to decipher the significance of these documents. It was only after I returned home and correlated these documents with letters and pictures found among the personal papers of two of my renowned great-aunts, archived at the Stadtmuseum in Berlin, that I was fully able to connect the dots. This will be the subject of the following Blog post.