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POST 124: MY UNCLE’S FRIEND WOLFRAM VON PANNWITZ & HIS ROLE IN THE FAILED ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE HITLER

Note: In this lengthy post, I provide further details about the life of my uncle’s friend, the German Baron Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, and the tangential role he played in the failed attempt on Hitler’s life on July 20, 1944. Much of this information is derived from Sieghard von Pannwitz, Wolfram’s first cousin once removed who stumbled on my Blog, and on sources he directed me to.

Students of WWII military history may recognize July 20, 1944, as the day that Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other military and civilian officials attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf’s Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia [today: Kętrzyn, Poland]. The plot’s apparent aim was to wrest political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party (including the SS) and to make peace with the Western Allies as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the coup failed which resulted in the Gestapo arresting more than 7,000 people, of whom 4,980 were executed.

I recently discovered that my uncle’s friend, Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, subject of three previous Blog posts, played a secondary role in these events. While I was generally aware that Wolfram went into hiding following the July 20 Plot on Hitler, I was never entirely clear what role he played. Let me explain how I came to learn more details of Wolfram’s involvement in the failed attempt to eliminate Hitler, the facts of which were revealed mostly in his own words.

My family history Blog not only provides an opportunity to relate stories about my Jewish ancestors including the social milieu in which they lived, the political climate at the time, and the historical events they witnessed, but it has a side benefit of allowing the descendants of people who interacted with members of my family to occasionally find me. Invariably, when this happens, I find out more about the people my ancestors were connected to and come away with fodder for more Blog stories. Case in point.

In October 2022, I received an email through my Blog’s Webmail from a Mr. Sieghard von Pannwitz (Figure 1–REMOVED), Wolfram von Pannwitz’s first cousin once removed as it turns out. Prior to this message, I’d wondered after posting three articles about Wolfram whether any of his descendants might eventually stumble on my Blog. My patience was rewarded.

For intermittent readers of my Blog, let me briefly review how my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (Figure 2) and Wolfram von Pannwitz met. The full details can be found in Post 84. Following the Fall of Berlin in early May 1945, my uncle who had miraculously survived 30 months in hiding made to his way to the apartment of Käthe Heusermann, a friend of 20 years who had once been his dental assistant when he had his own practice in Liegnitz, Germany [today: Legnica, Poland]. (Figure 3) After Hitler came to power on the 30th of January 1933, and legislation passed in April 1933 that sharply curtailed “Jewish activity” in the medical and legal professions and resulted in the closure of my uncle’s practice, both he and Käthe made their way to Berlin. Käthe Heusermann landed a position as dental assistant to Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist. (Figure 4) Inasmuch as I can tell, my uncle would occasionally shelter in Käthe’s apartment during his time in hiding. In any case, after the end of the war, Käthe suggested that he apply to the Russians to take over Dr. Blaschke’s intact dental office (Figure 5); my uncle’s request was granted. Käthe and Blaschke’s dental technician, Fritz Echtmann (Figure 6), were eventually spirited away by the Russians because of their knowledge of Adolf Hitler’s fate, a fact the Russians sought to conceal. Warned by the Americans that a similar fate awaited him, he abandoned Berlin in early 1947 and made his way to America.

Figure 2. My uncle, Dr. Fedor Bruck, in 1940

Figure 3. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck with a young Käthe Heusermann in his dental office in Liegnitz, Germany [today: Legnica, Poland]

Figure 4. Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s American-trained dentist

Figure 5. The entrance of Dr. Blaschke’s former dental office as it looks today, located at Kurfurstendamm 213 in the Charlottenburg borough of Berlin

Figure 6. Dr. Blaschke’s former dental technician, Fritz Echtmann

The precise date on which my uncle left is unknown to me. However, he wrote an affidavit in November 1966 in the matter of a probate hearing on behalf of the estate of Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, the German Baron he met in June 1947 in West Berlin, providing a general timeframe for when he departed Germany. My uncle and Mr. von Pannwitz befriended one another that month in a displaced persons camp where they had been assembled awaiting passage to the United States. Both left for America on the 8th of July 1947 aboard the “Marine Marlin” from Bremen, Germany, and arrived in New York City on the 17th of July 1947; the two remained friends until von Pannwitz passed away in New York City in January 1966.

My uncle, known in America as Theodore A. Brook, and my aunt Verena H. Dick were married in New York on the 4th of March 1958. (Figure 7) Pannwitz was invited, and prior to my contact with Sieghard, the only picture I had of Wolfram was a side view of him at the far end of the dining table. (Figure 8) Immediately after hearing from Sieghard, I asked whether he had any photos of Wolfram and he graciously shared a few. In the process Sieghard also passed along other information which partially rounds out my understanding of Wolfram’s life.

Figure 7. My aunt and uncle on their wedding day on March 4, 1958

Figure 8. Wolfram von Pannwitz seated at the far end of the dining table to the right of my aunt and uncle (looking at the picture) on their wedding day, on March 4, 1958

Long before connecting with Sieghard von Pannwitz, on ancestry.com I had found the certificate for Wolfram’s marriage to his first wife, Argentinian-born Clara Virginia Rhode, showing they were wed on the 18th of October 1920 in Berlin. (Figures 9a-c) A notation in the upper righthand corner of the certificate indicates the union lasted only briefly until the 28th of February 1922 when they were officially divorced.

Figure 9a. Cover page of Wolfram von Pannwitz and Clara Virginia Rhode’s marriage certificate showing they were married in Berlin on the 18th of October 1920

Figure 9b. Page one Wolfram von Pannwitz and Clara Virginia Rhode’s 1920 marriage certificate with a notation in the upper righthand corner stating they were officially divorced on the 28th of February 1922

Figure 9c. Page two of Wolfram von Pannwitz and Clara Virginia Rhode’s 1920 marriage certificate with the names of the betrothed and the witnesses

In any case, one photo Sieghard shared was of Wolfram’s 1920 marriage to Virginia Rhode. (Figure 10) Seated second and third from the left in this picture are Wolfram’s parents, Gertrud Pannwitz née Scholz (1869-1957) and Eberhard von Pannwitz (1861-1923), in his military attire. Meanwhile, seated third and second from the right are Wolfram’s younger sister, Elsa Petrea and her husband Martin Reymann. More on Petrea later.

Figure 10. Photo of the wedding party at Wolfram von Pannwitz and Clara Virginia Rhode’s 1920 marriage; seated second and third from the left are Wolfram’s parents Gertrud and Eberhard von Pannwitz, and seated third from the right is Wolfram’s sister, Petrea Reymann née Pannwitz. Notice that Wolfram is bald-headed

In 1931, Wolfram got remarried to a woman named Frida Mueller, who by the time his niece wed in 1934 had already died from cancer earlier that same year. Neither of Wolfram’s marriages produced any children.

Another picture sent to me by Sieghard is dated to 1934 and shows the wedding of Wolfram’s niece and Petrea and Martin Reymann’s daughter, Gabriele Reymann to Joachim von Harbou. (Figure 11) A slightly older Petrea is seated in the front row next to the groom, while Wolfram is seated to the far right next to his sister’s husband, Martin Reymann. Readers will note that in both the 1920 and 1934 pictures, as well as in the photo taken at my uncle’s 1958 wedding, Wolfram stands out because he is distinctly bald. Sieghard explained this was the result of being contaminated by poison gas during WWI. Wolfram was a decorated fighter pilot and Captain during the “great war.” (Figure 12)

Figure 11. 1934 marriage photo of Wolfram’s niece Gabriele Reymann to Joachim von Harbou. Wolfram’s sister Petrea is seated next to the groom, Wolfram is seated to the far right in the front row (figures circled)

Figure 12. Wolfram von Pannwitz (right) as a WWI fighter pilot in a photo from “Der Welt Spiegel,” dated February 25, 1915

Sieghard also sent me a photo of a gold ring that once belonged to Wolfram that he inherited and had restyled for his wife to wear. (Figure 13) A story accompanies how he came to possess this ring. Sieghard currently lives in Osnabrück, a city in the German state of Lower Saxony, and attended school in Göttingen, a nearby university city in the same state; following his studies he immigrated to South Africa in 1966 and lived there in two stints for about 20 years. Around the time he first immigrated there in 1966 one of his female cousins married a Jürgen von Berkholz in Singapore. The couple apparently planned to spend their honeymoon in New York at the invitation and expense of Wolfram. Unfortunately, upon docking in New York they learned that Wolfram had died on the 28th of January 1966, thus a few days earlier, so, lacking funds they immediately returned home. Sieghard’s South African cousin inherited Wolfram’s ring and bequeathed it to Sieghard upon her own death. The ring is solid gold and has the von Pannwitz family coat of arms etched on it.

Figure 13. Wolfram’s gold ring with the von Pannwitz family coat of arms

During our very amiable conversations, Sieghard, who has written extensively about the 820-year history of his illustrious family, mentioned in passing that about 20 years ago he was in contact with a historian from the University of Hanover. At the time, this researcher sent Sieghard an article based on an interview with Wolfram discussing, among other things, his time in Paris until July 20, 1944, and his whereabouts in the immediate aftermath of the plot to assassinate Hitler, the failure of which forced him to go into hiding. Sieghard was unable to relocate the article though he thought it had been published in the New York Times. Eventually he remembered the historian’s name, Dr. Ines Katenhusen, retrieved her email, and we were able to obtain a copy of the article in question. As it turns out, the article appeared in “The Providence Sunday Journal” on the 28th of September 1947 and was titled “Underground Baron: Wolfram Von Pannwitz Was in Plot to Assassinate Hitler.” (Figure 14)

Figure 14. Cover page of the newspaper article from “The Providence Sunday Journal,” dated September 28, 1947, describing Wolfram von Pannwitz’s role in his own words in the July 20 Plot to assassinate Hitler

At the time Dr. Katenhusen originally contacted Sieghard she was researching the emigration to the United States of many of the famous people associated with Germany’s Bauhaus. According to Wikipedia, “The Staatliches Bauhaus, commonly known as the Bauhaus (German for ‘building house’), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts. The school became famous for its approach to design, which attempted to unify individual artistic vision with the principles of mass production and emphasis on function.”

Dr. Katenhusen is specifically interested in Dr. Alexander Dorner, a German American art historian and museum reformer, ergo the connection to people associated with the Bauhaus. According to German Wikipedia, since 2013 Ines has been working on a monograph and a documentary film about him. As it so happens, Dr. Dorner and his wife Lydia sponsored Wolfram von Pannwitz’s immigration to the United States and are the couple in whose home Wolfram lived during his years in Providence, Rhode Island.

Dr. Dorner, for his part, immigrated to the United States in 1937 because of his opposition to National Socialism. In Rhode Island, he was museum director of the Rhode Island School of Design from 1937 to 1941. From 1941 to 1948 he was professor of art history and aesthetics at Brown University in Providence. Dorner became a United States citizen in 1943, and from 1948 he taught at Bennington College in Vermont.

The article from “The Providence Sunday Journal” clarifies some episodes in Wolfram’s life. Regarding the events during WWI and how he came to be gassed, he tells the following:

“‘I learned aviation in 1912,’ he said, ‘I was among the first fliers, and when I was mobilized for the war, I was quickly promoted because there weren’t many fliers.’ Aviation was not secure then. I became a captain and a squadron commander. In 1916 I was shot down by French anti-aircraft fire. My observer was killed by the first fire, but I came down safely. However, I landed between the second and third French lines, and it happened that they withdrew the infantry and put out poison gas. Being an aviator I had no gas mask, of course, and I lay in a coma from 2 o’clock in the afternoon until 6 o’clock. How I am alive I do not know. But how I am alive several times I do not know.

They came with a stretcher and picked me up. I was nine months in a hospital in Lyons and two years a prisoner, finally exchanged through Switzerland as a badly wounded prisoner.’”

Regarding his life after the First World War until the Nazis came to power and how he knew the Dorners, Wolfram reveals the following:

“‘After the war I became an engineer, specializing in special fuels for automobiles, and for 25 years I was head of the biggest gasoline enterprise in western Berlin. When the Nazis came into power, I was not interested in joining them or their Arbeitsfront, an organization of workers and managers. I refused to join. Nothing happened for a while until the Gestapo found out that I was concealing anti-Nazis in my apartment; I had a cook who was a chatterbox. I helped some of my friends get to Switzerland and some to France. Finally the Nazis came and said I was either to join the party or give up my job. I had very good earning, but I gave up my job. That was in 1937. I went to Italy. I wrote to the Dorners ad asked them how to get to the United States, but I never got an answer. Perhaps the Italian Gestapo caught my letters. I knew the Dorners would answer. I was best man at their wedding. Mrs. Dorner was a close friend of my late wife.’”

Regarding how he wound up in Paris:

“‘I waited months and then I went to Berlin and then to Paris. I had passports and visas. There was no difficulty getting there. In Paris I imported gasoline pumps and compressors from Germany and had a wonderful time without much competition. I stayed until 1939. Several days before war broke out, France began to intern Germans. I went to the United States embassy to try and get a visa, but I was refused because I had no money there or anything else that would give an excuse. I didn’t want to go to Italy. Spain was full of troubles. So I went back to Berlin. I had kept a flat there all the time. My friends took care of it.’”

On how Wolfram wound up getting involved with the anti-Nazi opposition and assigned a role in the planned plot:

“‘I was walking one day when I happened to meet Field Marshall Erwin von Witzleben [EDITOR’S NOTE: Erwin von Witzleben was a German field marshal in the Wehrmacht during WWII. A leading conspirator in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was designated to become commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht in a post-Nazi regime had the plot succeeded.] He was an old friend from the first war. He was captain of artillery then. We spoke of the Nazis, and finally he invited me to come to tea the next day. There were several men in his flat, and we developed ideas about eliminating Hitler and the Nazis. We knew we had a long way to go and would need help. They asked me whether I would go back to Paris. I said I would: They procured a passport, and everything all legitimatized. Of course von Witzleben was able to do such things. It was all secret. “Don’t do anything until you are summoned,” I was told.

I go back. I wait one year. I wait two years. There is no communication. Then General Otto von Stülpnagel [EDITOR’S NOTE: The author of the article or Wolfram von Pannwitz has erroneously identified Otto von Stülpnagel as the German general with whom he collaborated in the July 20 Plot. The correct Stülpnagel was Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel who served as the military commander of German-occupied France. Increasingly unable to reconcile his military duties and his moral objections to the regime’s ideology, Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel joined the resistance. He was a member of the 20 July Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, overseeing the conspirators’ actions in France. After the failure of the plot, he was recalled to Berlin and attempted to commit suicide en route but failed. Tried on 30 August 1944, he was convicted of treason and executed on the same day.], commander in Paris, summoned me for the first time. That is in 1943. He directed me to take voyages about France. My work was to investigate the Gestapo! I was to find out what they were doing against the German army and French civilians. Everything was at cross purposes, you understand, the army opposing the Gestapo, the SS against both, and so on.

I had no official position. I always went as a civilian. Sometimes I even went into Gestapo headquarters to ask questions. I used my own name. I picked up information in restaurants and places like that. The Gestapo never suspected anybody would dare do things like that. . .

I moved about in France as I wanted to and nobody ever said anything. It was very dangerous, but if one has resolved to go against scoundrels for the sake of one’s country, one must risk his life. He must know it in advance.’”

“On July 15, 1944, Baron von Pannwitz was summoned to the office of General von Stülpnagel in Paris, and without preliminaries, was acquainted with the proposed attempt against the life of Hitler. ‘Stülpnagel developed the whole plan for me. My duty was to arrest SS General Oberg [EDITOR’S NOTE: General Carl Oberg was the senior SS and police leader (HSSPF) in occupied France, from May 1942 to November 1944, during the second world war, who came to be known as the “Butcher of Paris.”], the head of the Gestapo who was residing in the Gestapo palais on Avenue Foch. First, he showed me a plan of Oberg’s office. Then he said, “On the day—I will tell you what day later on—two companies of the army will be sent before the Gestapo building. The you go behind the right wing of the soldiers, and if the company commander lifts his arms and regards his wrist watch, go into the building and up to the second floor and go into Oberg’s office and arrest him.” He gave me a pair of manacles and a revolver. I went home and slept well. I was glad to think of the finish of the Nazis and the end of the war.

On July 18, Stülpnagel sent for me again. He said, “Tomorrow at 11 o’clock. You know everything, Good bye. Get out. Good luck.” That was all.

The next day I punctually was there. It was like a performance on a stage. The two companies of the army march up. I stand behind the right wing. I watch the commander. He looks at his watch, like this. At once I enter the building and go to the second floor. There are two SS guards at the door, but they are so interested in the troops in the yard that they do not notice me. I knock at the door.

“Come in.”

I go in. General Oberg is standing behind his desk. He comes towards me. He does not suspect anything. I put out my hand and say, “I come with the regards of General von Stülpnagel. Heil Hitler!” He puts out his hand. Suddenly I seize his wrist, take out the manacles, and snap them on. Everything goes perfectly. At that moment, in come the soldiers and I deliver Oberg to them.

Then I go to the offices of Stülpnagel to report. “Well done” he says. “Many thanks. Everything runs after the plans” He is rubbing his hands, like this.

Then he says, “You are to go to Cologne.”’”

According to Wolfram von Pannwitz, he was tasked by Stülpnagel with taking a letter to the commander of the German home troops in the Rhineland telling him to mobilize his troops and march against the front troops. Stülpnagel had cut off all communications with Germany to do what he wanted in France so failed to learn that Hitler was not killed. Upon his arrival in Luxembourg aboard the night train, Pannwitz overheard travelers talking about the failed attempt on Hitler’s life. He nonetheless continued to Cologne and headed to the house he was ordered to go to, but quickly realized the plot had unraveled when he saw two SS guards patrolling the premises. Instead, he headed back to the railroad station, and spent the next four days in Cologne, Bonn, and Aix-la-Chapelle [Aachen, Germany]. (Figure 15)

Figure 1. Sieghard von Pannwitz, Wolfram von Pannwitz’s first cousin once removed — Figure 15. Present-day map of Germany showing the relationship of Bonn, Cologne, and Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), the places Wolfram traveled to following the failed attempt on Hitler’s life

On the 25th of April, it eventually occurred to Pannwitz to turn to the Catholic Church for help, specifically Bishop Van Dar Valdan of Aix-la-Chapelle. The Bishop had him admitted to St. Johannes Hospital in Bonn where he was hidden for three months under the guise of having had a hernia operation. Pannwitz credited the Catholic Church for saving his life which is undoubtedly why he left the Catholic Church and Cardinal Spellman in New York half his wealth upon his death.

While no longer in the hospital at the time, Pannwitz was in Bonn when the Americans bombed the city on October 18th and destroyed half of it. He took advantage of the confusion to claim his apartment had been destroyed and requested that the magistrate allow him to travel to Potsdam, outside Berlin, where his sister could take him in. It took Pannwitz four days to reach Potsdam, the bombing of the railroads having made travel almost impossible. Pannwitz didn’t tell his sister anything about his adventures, apparently seeking to protect her in case the Gestapo came looking for him, which they never did. Pannwitz stayed hidden in his sister’s free room until the Russians arrived.

After things had quieted down some, Pannwitz returned to Berlin hoping to rebuild his life. He lived in his former five-room flat that had been reduced to two rooms on account of Allied bombing. After two months Pannwitz realized it would be impossible to make a living there because no raw materials and tools were then available. By April 1946, postal communication abroad had been restored, so he was able to liaise with the Dorners. Through them he reached the United States under a special program established by President Truman that placed Pannwitz in the class of the persecuted; his role in the July 20 Plot no doubt helped his cause.

By the end of his life, Wolfram von Pannwitz had amassed a fortune of $500,000 which he bequeathed in equal portions to Cardinal Spellman of the Catholic Church in New York and to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Pannwitz had made it explicitly clear in his will that none of his family members should inherit any part of his estate. Nonetheless, his sister Petrea contested the will, and apparently reached an out-of-court settlement with the Catholic Church awarding her some money. Inasmuch as my Uncle Fedor knew, Wolfram apparently had been cheated out of his share of his mother’s inheritance upon her death causing him to become estranged from his German family.

Of particular personal interest in “The Providence Sunday Journal” article is the following written about my uncle, Dr. Fedor Bruck. I will quote the entire passage, then qualify and amend it based on my understanding of actual events:

“He [Pannwitz] said he was convinced that Hitler is now dead, and he related that a Jewish dentist, Fedor Bruck, had identified a skull as that of Hitler. Bruck and von Pannwitz were passengers on the same boat from Bremerhaven to New York.

‘Bruck took over the office and laboratory of Hitler’s dentist,’ Baron von Pannwitz said. ‘One day Bruck was summoned by the Russian military governor and told to bring the sketch of Hitler’s denture that his dentist had kept on file. In Bruck’s presence the sketch was checked with a dead body. There was something uncommon about Hitler’s teeth, cavities, or fillings in them. The sketch checked with the body. That is what Bruck said.’”

Dr. Hugo Blaschke was Hitler’s American-trained dentist. According to an account written by my uncle after the war and discussed at length in Post 31, the dental techniques Dr. Blaschke used on Hitler were “old fashioned,” ergo very distinctive. The knowledge that my uncle possessed as to Hitler’s fate and the identification of Hitler’s dental remains was derived exclusively from my uncle’s conversations with Käthe Heusermann, Blaschke’s dental assistant, immediately after the war. The sketch of the dental work done on Hitler was recreated from memory by Ms. Heusermann and the identifications of the remains hers; the original X-rays of Hitler’s teeth were either at the Reich Chancellery or had been taken by Blaschke when he fled to Obersalzberg. At no time did my uncle claim to have handled nor verified dental remains as belonging to Hitler, though it is true that he was visited by Russian authorities at Blaschke’s dental office looking for X-rays and people who could identify the dental work performed on Hitler. This ultimately led to Fritz Echtmann and Käthe Heusermann both being interrogated and detained in Russia for many years.

Finally, notwithstanding the coverage in “The Provience Sunday Journal” of Wolfram von Pannwitz’s self-described role in the July 20 Plot, according to Sieghard there is no mention in relevant literature of Wolfram’s involvement in the events. So, Sieghard is left to wonder whether this is an omission on the part of historians and/or what role, if any, Wolfram actually played in the leadup to the 20 July Plot? Also, curiously, Wolfram seems not to have told my uncle about his connection to the plot nor made him aware of the 1947 newspaper article describing his role. What to make of all this is unclear.

REFERENCES

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

Loveridge, G.Y. (1947, September 28). Underground Baron: Wolfram von Pannwitz Was in Plot to Assassinate Hitler. The Providence Sunday Journal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Figure 1. The oblasts or administrative regions of Ukraine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

POST 112: WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ’S BEQUEST TO THE HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY

Note: Inspired by a reader of my Blog, this post builds on a previous one about my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s friend, German baron Wolfram von Pannwitz, who upon his death, bequeathed his $500,000 fortune in equal parts to the Catholic Church and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). In this post, I explore some additional questions surrounding Wolfram.

Paraphrasing one of my English teachers, quoting a long-forgotten to me author, “the basis for a short story can be found on any street corner in the world.” This Blog post, short story if you will, is an example. The inspiration for this tale is a reader of my Blog, John Thiesen from Newton, Kansas, who stumbled on Post 84 where I discussed my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s (Theodore Brook in America (Figure 1)) friend, Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, a German Baron.

Figure 1. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (1895-1982), Theodore Brook in America, in September 1981

While Mr. Thiesen and I are unrelated, and I would have had no reason to know of his family, John contacted me because his grandfather John Kroeker and Wolfram E. von Pannwitz came to America at the same time aboard a ship named the “Marine Marlin” departing from Bremen, Germany on the 8^th of July 1947, making landfall in New York City on the 17^th of July; my uncle Fedor also travelled on this ship at the same time, so would likely have met John Kroeker. Naturally, I already knew my uncle had met Wolfram in a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany, that they had traveled together to America, and had remained friends throughout the remainder of their lives. (Figure 2) I was completely unaware that Wolfram, and possibly my uncle, had befriended John Kroeker on their voyage to America.

Figure 2. Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, far right, at my aunt and uncle’s wedding on March 4, 1958, in New York City

Upon contacting me, John Thiesen told me a little about his grandfather as the basis for trying to understand why he had suddenly moved to Providence, Rhode Island from Kansas in about 1953. He thought that perhaps his grandfather’s acquaintance with Wolfram von Pannwitz might have had something to do with this and hoped I might know. John explained that upon his arrival in America his grandfather moved to Kansas; he apparently suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and for whatever reason seemed unable to fit in there. So, he eventually relocated to Rhode Island though he had no friends or family there that Mr. Thiesen is aware of. His grandfather’s address book is in John’s possession, and amazingly includes Wolfram von Pannwitz’s name and Providence address, seemingly written in Wolfram’s own hand (Figure 3); more on this below. The question John asked me is whether von Pannwitz was still in Providence in 1953? As a related aside, given the likelihood that my uncle Fedor met John Kroeker aboard the Marlin Marlin on his trip across the Atlantic, I wondered whether my uncle’s name appears in his address book? It does not, according to John Thiesen.

Figure 3. Page from John Kroeker’s address book with Wolfram E. von Pannwitz’s Providence, Rhode Island address, seemingly written in his own hand. The address is care of (c/o) of Dr. Alexander Dorner, from whom Wolfram likely rented a room (Photo courtesy of John Thiesen)

A brief digression. In the 1947 Marine Marlin passenger manifest, John Kroeker’s nationality is given as “Stateless,” unlike Wolfram and my Uncle Fedor who are identified as German. (Figures 4-6) John Kröker, as his name is spelled on his 1894 Hamburg, Germany birth certificate (Figures 7a-b), is shown on this document to have been “evangelisch,” Protestant, though his grandson tells me he was a Mennonite. This is logical as the Mennonite church is a branch of the Protestant church having emerged from the Anabaptist movement of the 16th century. What is puzzling to me is why John Kroeker was Stateless. In the case of my own father who as a Jew was Stateless upon his arrival in America because the Nazis revoked the German nationality of all Jews, John Thiesen says that his grandfather was Stateless because he was a citizen/subject of the Russian Empire. Why or how he wound up in Russia remains unexplained.

Figure 4. Listing for John Kroeker in the “Alien Passenger Manifest” for the “Marine Marlin” showing he departed Bremen, Germany on July 8, 1947, and arrived in New York City on July 17, 1947, and indicating that he was “Stateless”

Figure 5. “Alien Passenger Manifest” for Wolfram E. von Pannwitz showing he traveled aboard the “Marine Marlin” at the same time as John Kroeker and that he was a German national

Figure 6. “Alien Passenger Manifest” for my uncle Fedor Bruck showing he too traveled aboard the “Marine Marlin” at the same time as John Kroeker and his friend Wolfram E. von Pannwitz and that he was also a German national

Figure 7a. Cover page for John Kröker’s birth certificate indicating he was born on the 3rd of May 1894 in Hamburg, Germany

Figure 7b. John Kröker’s birth certificate indicating he was born on the 3rd of May 1894 in Hamburg, Germany and that he was born a Protestant (“evangelisch”)

Anyway, faced with John’s question as to where Wolfram lived in 1953, I started investigating this.

From almost immediately upon his arrival in America, available documents in ancestry.com find Wolfram associated with Providence, Rhode Island. Beyond the fact that his residence in John Kroeker’s undated address book places him on 10 Cooke Street in Providence, apparently boarding in the home of a Dr. Alexander Dorner, the “Rhode Island, U.S., Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890-1992” for “Wolfram Von Pannwitz” shows this same address for him on the 15^th of October 1947. (Figures 8a-b) Incidentally, this record is more aptly referred to as a “Declaration of Intention” to become an American citizen once the five-year waiting period was over. Presumably, Wolfram lived in Providence, R.I. after his arrival in New York on the 17^th of July 1947.

Figure 8a. Cover page for the “Rhode Island, U.S., Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890-1992” for “Wolfram Von Pannwitz”

Figure 8b. The “Rhode Island, U.S., Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890-1992” for Wolfram giving his full name as “Wolfram Ernst Hans Wilhelm Eberhard von Pannwitz,” and his date and place of residence (i.e., 10 Cooke Street, Providence, R.I.) on the 15th of October 1947

As an aside, Wolfram’s October 1947 “Rhode Island Index to Naturalization,” as well as his 1889 birth certificate, gives his full name; like that of many aristocrats it was very lengthy, “Wolfram Ernst Hans Wilhelm Eberhard von Pannwitz.”

Absent any contemporary phone directories and address book listings for Wolfram von Pannwitz following his arrival in America, either for Providence or New York City, and the yet unavailable 1950 census, there is no clear evidence for how long Wolfram resided in Providence. However, when Wolfram departed New York City for Germany via Southampton, England on the 19^th of February 1953 aboard the “Queen Elizabeth” his address was given as the Hotel Seville on East 29^th Street (Figures 9a-b), his permanent residence throughout his life in New York City. (Figure 10)

Figure 9a. Cover page for list of passengers departing New York City aboard the Queen Elizabeth on the 19th of February 1953

Figure 9b. Wolfram von Pannwitz’s name on the passenger manifest showing him departing New York City on the 19th of February 1953, providing the date and place he became a naturalized U.S. citizen, the 8th of December 1952 in New York City, and his place of residence, the Hotel Seville

Figure 10. The Hotel Seville where Wolfram E. von Pannwitz rented modest accommodations for $23 a week

This same February 1953 passenger manifest shows Wolfram was naturalized in New York City on the 8^th of December 1952, logically, slightly more than five years after his arrival in America. The distance between Providence and New York City is only about 180 miles, so it is possible Wolfram was naturalized in New York City while still residing in Providence. Still, it is safe to conclude that by early 1953 Wolfram was permanently living in Manhattan at the Hotel Seville. The question of how long or whether his residency in Providence may have overlapped with John Kroeker’s is another unknown.

Let me move now to the question of why Wolfram may have taken up residency in Providence. Aware of Wolfram’s more permanent inhabitance there, I did a Google search of “Mr. von Pannwitz + Providence, Rhode Island.” Completely unexpectedly, I stumbled upon an article I’d previously overlooked when researching Wolfram written by Ms. Geraldine S. Foster, a past president of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association (RIJHA), entitled “Strands of history: HIAS and Rhode Island.” Embedded in this article is the explanation of why Wolfram von Pannwitz, upon his death, bequeathed half of his sizeable estate to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). (Figure 11)

Figure 11. Contemporary newspaper account from a 1966 New York daily discussing Wolfram E. von Pannwitz’s $500,000 bequest, split equally between Cardinal Spellman and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

Quoting from Ms. Foster’s article:

“Almost since its founding, HIAS has not turned away non-Jews who needed its help. An undated new article in RIJHA archives tells us that in 1946, a Providence couple approached a Jewish organization, Rhode Island Refugee Service (later part of Jewish Family and Children’s Service), to ask for help in processing immigration papers for Wolfram von Pannewitz [sic], described as an anti-Nazi German Protestant and an aristocrat.

The couple had signed the proper forms, but then found they urgently needed a second affidavit. They also needed a conduit for the money to pay for von Pannewitz’ [sic] passage.

The R.I. agency, an affiliate of HIAS, helped them find someone to provide the affidavit and fulfill their other needs. We do not know how large a role HIAS played in von Pannewitz’ [sic] rescue. What we do know is that in 1966, he left his entire fortune of $500,000, in equal parts, to Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman and HIAS.”

According to the Museum of Family History, HIAS is described as follows: “HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, is America’s oldest international migration and refugee resettlement agency. Dedicated to assisting persecuted and oppressed people worldwide and delivering them to countries of safe haven. HIAS has rescued more than 4.5 million people since 1881. Growing from organizations founded in the 1870s and 1880s to assist Jewish migrants arriving in America, HIAS is responsible for the rescue and resettlement into the United States of noted academics, artists, athletes, entertainers, scientists, mayors, governors, and members of the United States Congress, as well as everyday people. Its operational goals are based on Jewish religious teachings.”

As the above article states, it’s unclear how large a role HIAS played in bringing Wolfram to America, but we do know from a contemporary document that the cost of his passage aboard the Marine Marlin was $134 plus $8 fee. (Figures 12a-b) Possibly, obtaining a second affidavit may have been as important as paying for the trip?

Figure 12a. Cover page of “Passenger List of Displaced Persons” showing Wolfram von Pannwitz departed Bremen, Germany aboard the Marine Marlin on the 8th of July 1947

Figure 12b. “Passenger List of Displaced Persons” showing the cost of Wolfram von Pannwitz’ passage to the United States was $134 plus an $8 fee, costs presumably paid for by HIAS

Which brings us to the final question of why, upon landing in America, did Wolfram decide to settle in Providence, Rhode Island? From the above article, we know a Providence couple approached the Rhode Island Refugee Service asking for their help in processing Wolfram’s immigration papers. Was this the Dr. Alexander Dorner and his wife with whom Wolfram boarded when he lived in Providence? This seems likely. As I discussed in Post 84, Wolfram’s wife died young in Germany, and he was estranged from his German family because they had cheated him out of his inheritance. It appears Wolfram had no family in America and lived a rather reclusive and modest lifestyle, accruing a large fortune through stock investments. Possibly, moving to Providence upon his arrival here may initially have been his best option until he settled in, which he did most admirably.

REFERENCE

Foster, Geraldine S. “Strands of history: HIAS and Rhode Island. Jewish Rhode Island, November 8, 2018,

https://www.jewishrhody.com/stories/strands-of-history-hias-and-rhode-island,9401