Schule für Blumenschmuck Archives

POST 126: MY GREAT-AUNT FRANZISKA BRUCK, FLORIST TO THE LAST GERMAN KAISER

Note: In this post, I present more information on my great-aunt Franziska Bruck (1866-1942), a well-known florist in Berlin in the first third of the twentieth century. Some of this new information is drawn from a recent entry made on German Wikipedia.

POST 15, POSTSCRIPT: BERLIN-FRANZISKA & ELSBETH BRUCK: “ARTIFACTS” FROM FRANZISKA’S BLUMENSCHULE (FLOWER SCHOOL)

Probably not unlike the ancestors of many readers, there are multiple accomplished personages in my lineage. Some can even be found in Wikipedia. Such is the case with my great-aunt Franziska Bruck (Figure 1), an innovative and renowned florist in Berlin in the first third of the twentieth century until the Nazis came to power. Recently, the author of the German Wikipedia entry asked me to review the scripts she drafted on Franziska (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franziska_Bruck) and her equally renowned sister Elsbeth Bruck, the subject of my next post. While some of the background was drawn from my publications, I learned new things on both great-aunts which I present to readers in amended form in this and the ensuing post. Because Wikipedia prefers its writers to remain anonymous, I’m not naming this German lady at her request.

Figure 1. My favorite picture of my great-aunt Franziska Bruck (1866-1942), prominent Berlin florist in the first third of the twentieth century

I’ve discussed my great-aunt Franziska Bruck in two prior publications, Post 15 and Post 15, Postscript. Let me very briefly recap. Franziska was born on December 29, 1866, in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland], and was the second daughter of Fedor and Friederike Bruck, owners of the family hotel there, the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel. Little is known of Franziska’s early years in Ratibor. Her father, Fedor Bruck, passed away in 1892 when she was 26 years old, so as one of the three oldest children, it is likely that along with her mother, and older brother and sister, they together ran the Bruck’s Hotel in Ratibor for a time. Eventually, however, Franziska, along with her mother Friederike and her youngest sister Elsbeth, left for Berlin in 1902, leaving the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor to be managed by my grandparents, Felix and Else Bruck. (Figure 2)

Figure 2. My grandparents, Felix Bruck (1864-1927) and Else Bruck née Berliner (1873-1957), who once ran the family hotel in Ratibor, Germany the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel

In Berlin she opened a flower shop on Potsdamer Straße continuing her lifelong passion for nurturing flowers. In October 1912, she opened a Schule für Blumenschmuck, a school for flower decorations catering to “Damen höherer Stände,” ladies of the upper classes who she trained to become florists and gardeners over a rigorous ten-month period. (Figure 3) As Wikipedia notes, “The fact that Bruck’s school was highly regarded was . . . demonstrated by a visit by the last German Crown Princess Cecilie, who personally informed herself on site about ‘the work of the homeworkers.’” Germany’s last Kaiser, Wilhelm II, and his wife are said to have been among my great-aunt’s customers.

Figure 3. My great-aunt Franziska Bruck (middle) overseeing the creation of floral decorations in her flower shop

Family photographs exist of Crown Princess Cecilie visiting my great-aunt’s Schule für Blumenschmuck which I have featured in previous posts. (Figures 4-5) However, unbeknownst to me is that the special event was documented by a specially produced photo postcard showing my great-aunt with the Crown Princess and her lady-in-waiting. (Figure 6) The distinguished publishing house Gustav Liersch & Co. in Berlin created the postcard; they were known for among other things producing postcards with portraits of high-ranking personalities made by well-known photographers.

Figure 4. Princess Cecilie, the last German Crown Princess (as the wife of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, the son of Emperor Wilhelm II, Germany’s last Kaiser) visiting my great-aunt’s flower school; my aunt is standing to the left of Princess Cecilie

Figure 5. Painting of Princess Cecilie, the last German Crown Princess

Figure 6. Picture postcard produced by the distinguished publishing house Gustav Liersch & Co. in Berlin of Princess Cecilie’s visit to Franziska Bruck’s flower school believed to have been taken place in around 1916

A February 1915 article, in a German journal entitled “Die Bindekunst,” featured Franziska Bruck and mentioned she had gotten her start in Berlin 10 years earlier, so roughly in 1905. She introduced into Germany a form of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, that was not initially taken seriously. It wasn’t until her first public show in 1907 at a special flower exhibition that her artistry and excellent taste began to be appreciated.

The author of the Wikipedia entry on Franziska notes that multi-page essays on her floral art appeared in Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration and in Dekorative Kunst, the most important art magazines of the time. The art critic Paul Westheim wrote the following about Franziska in 1913:

“Franziska Bruck ist eine Dichterin. Ihre Reime sind blühende Blumen, ihre Verse duftende Sträuße. Wie ein echter Dichter schafft sie aus einem tiefen, ganz innerlichen Gefühl heraus, aus dem Erkennen der Natur, von deren unerschöpflicher Schönheit sie einen Abglanz widerzuspiegeln versucht in dem, was ihre Hände ordnen. […] Weder alte noch neue Regeln der Blumenbinderei greift sie auf. Sie ist eben da, so wie sie ist – als eine Künslerin, die auf ihre Art die Schönheit der Blumen erlebt und als rechtes Glückskind die Gabe bekommen hat, diese Erlebnisse für uns andere sinnfällig zu machen.”

Translated:

“Franziska Bruck is a poet. Her rhymes are blooming flowers, her verses fragrant bouquets. Like a true poet, she creates out of a deep, completely inner feeling, out of the recognition of nature, of whose inexhaustible beauty she tries to reflect a reflection in what her hands arrange. […] She takes up neither old nor new rules of flower arranging. She is just there, as she is – as an artist, who in her own way experiences the beauty of flowers and as a lucky child has been given the gift of making these experiences meaningful for the rest of us.”

From the Wikipedia entry, I also learned that in February 1914, Franziska and her students organized a spring show in the so-called Hohenzollern-Kunstgewerbehaus, the Hohenzollern Arts and Crafts House, on Königgrätzer Straße in Berlin. A fabulous colorful large-format poster, designed by the Austrian graphic artist Julius Klinger, advertised the event. (Figure 7) The various arrangements created for the show were widely praised and featured in Die Gartenkunst magazine along with photos of her special floral decorations.

Figure 7. Colorful large-format poster designed by the Austrian graphic artist Julius Klinger advertising the 1914 Hohenzollern Arts and Crafts House spring show that Franziska and her students organized; Franziska’s name appears at the bottom

Respectively, in 1925 and 1927, my great-aunt published two books, Blumen und Ranken (Figure 8), Flowers and Vines, and Blumenschmuck (Figure 9), Flower Decorations.

Figure 8. Cover of my great-aunt’s 1925 book “Blumen und Ranken”

Figure 9. Cover of my great-aunt’s 1927 book “Blumenschmuck”

Several days after her 75^th birthday, after being ordered to report to an “old age transport” for deportation to a concentration camp, Franziska committed suicide on the 2^nd of January 1942 by hanging herself, leaving this world on her own terms. (Figure 10)

Figure 10. A “stolperstein, or “stumbling stone,” a commemorative brass plaque honoring my great-aunt Franziska Bruck as a victim of the Holocaust placed in front of the last home she freely chose to live located at Prinzregentenstr. 75

REFERENCES

Bruck, Franziska (1925). Blumen und Ranken. München: Verlag Von F. Bruckmann A.-G.

Bruck, Franziska (1927). Blumenschmuck. Frankfurt-Oder: Verlagsanstalt Trwoitzsch & Sohn.

“Franziska Bruck.” Wikipedia, Franziska Bruck – Wikipedia

POST 15, POSTSCRIPT: BERLIN-FRANZISKA & ELSBETH BRUCK: “ARTIFACTS” FROM FRANZISKA’S BLUMENSCHULE (FLOWER SCHOOL)

Note: I continue with a series of postscripts to earlier Blog posts to catch readers up on findings I’ve made since publishing the original stories. In this brief postscript, I discuss rare “artifacts” from my renowned great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s blumenschule, flower school, in Berlin which readers have generously sent me.

Post 21: My Aunt Susanne, Née Bruck, & Her Husband Dr. Franz Müller, The Fiesole Years

Figure 1. My great-aunt Franziska Bruck (1866-1942)

My great-aunt Franziska Bruck (Figure 1), the renowned Berlin florist (Figure 2), killed herself on the 2^nd of January 1942 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, probably a few days before she was ordered to report for deportation. Likely not having access to Veronal and Scopolamin-Entodal, the most commonly used poisons of the time, she gruesomely ended her life by hanging. By committing suicide, Franziska wanted to avoid the fate of her Jewish neighbors, others of whom were soon deported.

Figure 2. Franziska Bruck in her “Schule für Blumenschmuck”

In April 2019, I was contacted through my Blog by a Ms. Karin Sievert of the “Stolpersteininitiative Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf,” requesting information on my great-aunt Franziska and her siblings (see table at the bottom of this post for vital statistics on my great-aunt and her immediate family). To remind readers, the Stolpersteine project, initiated in 1992 by the German artist Gunter Demnig, commemorates people who were persecuted by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945 (e.g., Jews, Sinti, Roma, political and religious dissidents, victims of “euthanasia,” homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses, etc.). Stolpersteine, or “stumbling stones,” are concrete blocks measuring 10x10cm (i.e., 3.9 in x 3.9 in) which are laid into the pavement in front of the last voluntarily chosen places of residence of the victims of the Nazis. Their names and fate are engraved into a brass plate on the top of each Stolperstein.

Figure 3. Prinzregentenstraße 75 in Berlin’s Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough, Franziska Bruck’s last voluntarily chosen place of residence

Like many unmarried women of the time, Franziska Bruck sublet an apartment located at Prinzregentenstraße 75 in Wilmersdorf. (Figure 3) By virtue of a Nazi law from 1939 voiding tenant protections for Jews, she’d already been forced to move from there to Waitzstraße 9. (Figure 4–“Arolsen Archives–International Center on Nazi Persercution“) This law stipulated that apartment leases could be terminated without notice and Jews had to find a new place to live within days or were quartered with other similarly displaced Jews. In the case of my great-aunt Franziska, in 2011, the Berlin Stumbling Stone Initiative Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf installed a stone in front of her last home at Prinzregentenstrasse 75. (Figure 5)

Figure 4. Page from the “Arolsen Archives-International Center on Nazi Persecution” on my great-aunt Franziska Bruck showing she lived at Waitzstraße 9 and died on the 2nd of January 1942

Figure 5. Franziska Bruck’s “stolperstein,” located in front of Prinzregentenstraße 75 in Berlin, recognizing her as a victim of Nazi persecution

Ms. Sievert learned of my family history blog from one of her colleagues and requested my assistance in compiling a brief biography of my great-aunt. I was most happy to assist and provide family photographs. Readers can remind themselves by referring to the original post that I included a photo taken in Franziska’s flower shop showing the last Crown Princess of Germany and Prussia, Princess Cecilie, touring her Blumenschule, flower school. (Figure 6) Supplementing information I provided, Karin did her own research and purchased a postcard from a dealer of the same visit taken at a slightly different angle. (Figure 7) In addition, Karin also found an original advertisement for Franziska’s “Schule für Blumenschmuck,” taken from a “Daheim-Kalendar 1915,” home calendar from 1915. (Figures 8-9) As Franziska’s descendant and namesake, Karin graciously and generously gave me both rare family artifacts. I was enormously touched by this kind gesture.

Figure 6. Last Crown Princess of Germany & Prussia, Princess Cecilie, visiting Franziska Bruck’s “Schule für Blumenschmuck”

Figure 7. Postcard of the last Crown Princess of Germany & Prussia, Princess Cecilie, visiting my great-aunt’s flower shop

Figure 8. An original advertisement for Franziska’s “Schule für Blumenschmuck,” taken from a “Daheim-Kalendar 1915,” home calendar from 1915, given to by Ms. Karin Sievert of the “Stolpersteininitiative Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf”

Figure 9. Cover of the “Daheim-Kalendar 1915” containing the original advertisement for Franziska’s “Schule für Blumenschmuck”

Figure 10. My and my wife’s Italian friend, Giuditta Melli, a professional potter, who created a replica of a floral vase like ones used by my great-aunt Franziska for her Ikebana-inspired floral arrangements

I would be remiss in not acknowledging another magnanimous deed done by an Italian lady my wife Ann and I befriended at a bus stop in Florence, Italy, in 2014. Like me, our friend, Giuditta Melli (Figure 10), is of Jewish ancestry, and her great-uncle was murdered by the Italian Fascists during WWII in Florence. Giuditta is aware of my great-aunt’s books on flower binding and gardening (Figures 11-12), as well as her floral art featured in important art magazines of the time. (Figure 13) Franziska’s floral work was patterned on Ikebana, the Japanese art of floral arrangement. Giuditta, a potter by profession, created and sent me a replica of a Japanese vase like ones featured in my great-aunt’s floral creations. (Figure 14) This was another enormously kindhearted act that reminds me that while Franziska died under tragic circumstances, her memory and work live on. (Figure 15)

Figure 11. Cover of Franziska Bruck’s 1925 book “Blumen und Ranken,” translated as “flowers and vines”

Figure 12. Cover of Franziska Bruck’s 1926 book “Blumenschmuck,” translated as “flowers”

Figure 13. Cover of February 17, 1915 “Die Bindekunst” periodical with article on Franziska’s floral arrangements

Figure 14. The Ikebana-inspired vase created and given to me by Giuditta Melli

FRANZISKA BRUCK & HER IMMEDIATE FAMILY

Name (relationship)	Vital Event	Date	Place

Franziska Bruck (self)	Birth	29 December 1866	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
Franziska Bruck (self)	Death	2 January 1942	Berlin, Germany
Fedor Bruck (father)	Birth	8 October 1834	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Marriage	7 July 1862	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Death	2 October 1892	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
Friederike Mockrauer (mother)	Birth	15 June 1836	Leschnitz, Germany (Leśnica, Poland)
	Marriage	7 July 1862	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Death	29 February 1924	Berlin, Germany
Felix Bruck (brother)	Birth	28 March 1864	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Marriage	11 February 1894	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Death	23 June 1927	Berlin, Germany
Charlotte Bruck (sister)	Birth	8 December 1865	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Marriage	18 March 1888	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Death	10 January 1965	Stockholm, Sweden
Elise Bruck (sister)	Birth	20 August 1868	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
Elise Bruck (sister)	Death	19 June 1872	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
Hedwig Bruck (sister)	Birth	22 March 1870	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Marriage	17 September 1899	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Death	15 January 1949	Nice, France
Robert Bruck (brother)	Birth	1 September 1871	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
Robert Bruck (brother)	Death	30 December 1887	Braunschweig, Germany
Wilhelm Bruck (brother)	Birth	24 October 1872	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
	Marriage	2 April 1904	Hamburg, Germany
	Death	29 April 1952	Barcelona, Spain
Elisabeth “Elsbeth” Bruck (sister)	Birth	17 November 1874	Ratibor, Germany (Racibórz, Poland)
Elisabeth “Elsbeth” Bruck (sister)	Death	20 February 1970	Berlin, Germany