Category: von Koschembahr

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

 

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

 

Related Post:

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

Figure 20a. “Certificate of Loyalty” form for Wolfgang von Koschembahr signed in 1945
Figure 20b. “Certificate of Loyalty” form for Ursula von Koschembahr signed in 1944

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 21a. Page 1 of Clemens von Koschembahr’s 1944 WWII Registration Card
Figure 21b. Page 2 of Clemens von Koschembahr’s 1944 WWII Registration Card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 22a. Page 1 of John Christoph von Koschembahr’s 1945 WWII Registration Card
Figure 22b. Page 2 of John Christoph von Koschembahr’s 1945 WWII Registration Card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

  

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

 

NAME

(relationship)

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

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

 

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

 

Related Posts:

POST 113: CHIUNE SUGIHARA, JAPANESE IMPERIAL CONSUL IN LITHUANIA DURING WWII, “RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS”

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Figure 2. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife Margarethe von Koschembahr as a child in around 1863 with her mother, Amalie von Koshembahr née Mockrauer (1834-1918)
Figure 3. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (1860-1946) around the time she and Wilhelm got married in 1884

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Figure 4. Page from a much larger history on the von Koschembahr family describing how the “von Koschembahr” surname was merged with the “Bruck” surname, then subsequently dropped
Figure 5. 1939 photo of Gisela von Koschembahr, Wilhlem Bruck von Koschembahr’s granddaughter and Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr’s eldest daughter, believed to be the author of the von Koshchembahr family history

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

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

 

NAME

(relationship)

 VITAL EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE OF DATA
         
Wilhelm Bruck (self) Birth 23 February 1849 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Marriage (to Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr) 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany marriage certificate
Death 15 February 1907 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany death certificate
Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (wife)

(FIGURE 11)

 Birth 28 November 1860 Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Germany] Ancestry.com “Germany, Select Births & Baptisms, 1558-1898 (database on-line)”
Marriage (to Wilhelm Bruck) 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany marriage certificate
Death 19 October 1946 Boston, Massachusetts Von Koschembahr Family History pages uploaded to Mathilde’s profile on ancestry.com by “LynnKabbelWeissgerber”
Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (son)

(FIGURE 12)

 Birth 28 July 1885 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Marriage (to Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch) 21 March 1914 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” Immigration & Naturalization form; 1914 wedding photo
Death 3 October 1961 Westchester, New York U.S., Find-A-Grave
Charlotte Bruck (daughter) Birth 17 August 1886 Berlin, Germany 3 May 1906 Berlin, Germany marriage certificate to Walter Edward Stavenhagen
Death 5 June 1974 West Haven, Connecticut “Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012”
Marianne Johanna Bruck (daughter)

(FIGURE 13)

 Birth 31 July 1888 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death 21 September 1975 Munich, Germany Kurt Polborn (grandson) ancestry tree
Friedrich Wilhelm Bruck von Koschembahr (son) Birth 15 December 1889 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death 14 March 1963 Haag, Germany “Report of Death of American Citizen Abroad, 1835-1974”
Heinz Leopold Bruck (son) Birth 17 July 1892 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death April 1915 Ypres, Belgium Kurt Polborn (grandson) ancestry tree

 

Figure 11. Wilhelm Bruck’s widow, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr, in around 1938

 

Figure 12. Wilhelm Bruck’s oldest son, Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr with his wife Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch and their thirteen children

 

Figure 13. Wilhelm Bruck with his daughter Marianne Johanna Bruck in around 1889

 

 

POST 106: EVIDENCE OF CONVERSION FROM JUDAISM IN MY FAMILY

 

Note: In this post, I discuss the proof I have found for conversions from Judaism for German family members, some of which unavoidably consists of indirect evidence. This topic naturally involves touching on the political, economic, and social context under which such conversions took place.

Related Posts:

POST 38: THE EVIDENCE OF MY FATHER’S CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY

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

 

 

There is a long history of Jewish conversion to Christianity, both voluntary and forced conversion. Forced conversions of Jews go back to Late Antiquity, the boundaries of which are a continuing matter of debate, but the period between roughly the 3rd and 8th centuries A.D. Royal persecutions of Jews from the 11th century onward typically took the form of expulsions with exceptions. Jews were forced to convert to Christianity before and during the First Crusade (1096-1099) including in parts of what are today France, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

The mass conversion event which took place on the Iberian Peninsula in A.D. 1391 when tens of thousands of Spain’s Jews converted to Christianity because of pogroms is the one readers will be most familiar with. Practicing Jews who refused to convert were expelled by the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella in the Alhambra Decree of 1492, following the Christian Reconquest of Spain. The net effect of the Alhambra Decree and persecutions carried out in earlier periods is that over 200,000 Jews converted to Catholicism and between 40,000 and 100,000 were expelled. In adjoining Portugal, by contrast, where an edict for Jewish expulsions was also ordered four years later in A.D. 1496, most Jews were not allowed to leave but were forced to convert.

Though conversions continued over time across many other parts of Eastern, Central, and Western Europe, forced conversions were apparently less common in the 20th century and were later more often the result of Jews choosing to convert to integrate into secular society. In Germany, which is the focus of this Blog post as it relates to my family, conversions occurred in three main periods. The first began during the Mendelssohnian era, named after Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), the German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the Haskalah, the “Jewish Enlightenment” of the 18th and 19th centuries, is attributed. A second wave occurred during the first half of the 19th century. And the third and longest period of conversions was a result of antisemitism and began roughly in 1880.

Conversion among German Jews was not an uncommon phenomenon in the 19th century owing to the myriad restrictions and myths that confronted them, and stymied their hopes, ambitions, dreams, and careers. In a sense, conversion to Christianity was the easy way out. Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), the noted German poet, writer, and literary critic, who himself converted, was reputed to have said conversion was his “ticket of admission into European culture.” Across most of the German states that united to create “modern” Germany in 1871, dominated by the state of Prussia, Jews were often rewarded for renouncing Judaism by being given influential positions and financial incentives. Whereas, during the 17th century, most converts were poor, by the middle of the 18th century, the converts were richer. The departure of the wealthier converts deprived the Jewish community of part of its operating budget. In any event, it is estimated that by the 20th century, close to one million Christians in Germany were of Jewish origin. According to Deborah Hertz’s book, “How Jews Became Germans: The History of Conversion and Assimilation in Berlin,” the majority of converts were infants whose parents wanted to spare them “conflicts” as adults. She notes that 60 percent of converts between 1800 and 1874 were under five years of age.

Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933.  The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums), which excluded Jews and other political opponents of the Nazis from all civil service positions, was one of the first anti-Semitic and racist laws to be passed by the Third Reich, enacted on the 7th of April 1933. The law initially exempted those who had worked in the civil service since August 1, 1914, those who were veterans of World War I, or those with a father or son killed in action in World War I. The Civil Service immediately impacted the education system because university professors, for example, were classified as civil servants.

With the seizure of power by the Nazis, the new government enacted laws that required all citizens to document their genealogy in full. The regime sought to identify Jews who had converted to Christianity over the preceding centuries. With the help of church officials, a vast system of conversion and intermarriage records was created in Berlin, the country’s foremost Jewish city. These records, the Judenkartei, the Jewish Register or File, begin in 1645. Work on creating this file had started before the Nazis even came to power under a private initiative which sought to uncover proof of the Jewish ancestry of university and college professors and judges. By 1932, this file had already collected 400,000 genealogical records of Jews in Germany. The constantly expanding file was taken over and expanded in 1933 by the Reichsstelle für Sippenforschung (RfS), renamed Reichssippenamt on the 12th of November 1940, the Reich Office for Clan Research.

Readers who have accessed ancestral records for their German Jewish relatives may have noticed notations in the upper left- or right-hand corners or along the margins of vital documents. Beginning August 17, 1938, Jews had to add “Israel” (males) (Figure 1) or “Sara” (females) (Figure 2) as their middle name. Similarly, on passports, which allowed German Jews to leave Germany, when they still could, but not return, a large “J” was imprinted. (Figure 3) These and other measures instituted by the Nazis were intended to officially separate Jews from the German populace. While German Jews still converted after the Nazis seized power, as I will illustrate in the case of my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck, readers can easily surmise this was futile.

 

Figure 1. Birth certificate for my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck showing he was born on the 17th of August 1895 in Leobschutz, Germany [today: Głubczyce, Poland], with a notation added by the Nazis on the 31st of January 1939 in the upper righthand corner adding the middle name “Israel” to identify him as Jewish
Figure 2. Birth certificate for my second cousin once removed Susanne Dorothea Neisser showing she was born in Stettin, Germany [today: Szczecin, Poland] on the 30th of July 1899, with a notation dated the 10th of January 1939 adding “Sara” to her name to identify her as Jewish
Figure 3. 1939 passport for one of my distant relatives Fritz Hirsch with a big red “J” and “Israel” added to his name, both indicating he was Jewish (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

As I contemplated the question of conversion from Judaism among my immediate and extended ancestors, I began to wonder what evidence I could find in the ancestral records proving my relatives’ “alienation” from their Jewish roots. In my limited experience, finding such documents is not easy. In the case of some of my ancestors but not all of them, conversion was a “pragmatic” decision, as I’ve alluded to. Again, citing the poet Heinrich Heine, he declared that he was “merely baptized, not converted.” Quoting from a letter he once wrote: 

“From my way of thinking you can well imagine that baptism is an indifferent affair. I do not regard it as important even symbolically, and I shall devote myself all the more to the emancipation of the unhappy members of our race. Still I hold it as a disgrace and a stain upon my honor that in order to obtain an office in Prussia—in beloved Prussia—I should allow myself to be baptized.”

 

Figure 4. My great-great-uncle Dr. Josef Pauly (1843-1916)

 

In re-reading the memoirs of Dr. Josef Pauly (Figure 4), husband of my great-great-aunt, who had likely been baptized Catholic as a child and whose recollections I discussed in Post 56, I wonder whether he may not have been implying the same sentiment when he wrote:

“I believe in God as the creative force of the universe, to an immanent [NOTE: (of God) permanently pervading or sustaining the universe] consciousness, to a moral world order, to the invisible God of the world as the Jewish religion has revealed it first, whose goodness is identical with the eternal laws.”

As I began to search through my files and recollect what evidence for conversion I had found for my ancestors, I initially concluded that most of the “proof” was indirect, such as in the case of my father which I discussed in Post 38. However, upon further consideration, I realize I have found considerably more direct validation than I initially thought. Beyond the obvious instances where the graves or burial records of my forefathers interred in existing and destroyed Jewish cemeteries survive, proving they did not convert, I found corroboration for several ancestors confirming they were baptized.

The earliest instance is the case of my great-great-aunt Amalie Mockrauer (1834-1918). (Figure 5) On ancestry, I uncovered a record showing she was baptized in Dresden, Germany, 21 years after her birth, on the 13th of April 1855. (Figure 6) This was undoubtedly in anticipation of her marriage to Leopold Julius Wolf von Koschembahr (Figure 7) later that year on the 26th of September 1855 in Saint Clement Danes, Westminster, London, England, an Anglican church. (Figure 8)

 

Figure 5. My great-great-aunt Amalie Mockrauer (1834-1918) in 1904, the earliest of my ancestors for whom I could find evidence of conversion from Judaism

 

Figure 6. My great-great-aunt Amalie Mockrauer’s baptismal record showing she was born on the 9th of September 1834 in Leschnitz, Germany [today: Leśnica, Poland] and was baptized on the 13th of April 1855 in Dresden, Germany
Figure 7. My great-great-aunt Amalie Mockrauer’s husband Leopold von Koschembahr (1829-1874) in Halberstadt, Germany in approximately 1860

 

 

Figure 8. Cover page from ancestry.com proving my great-great-aunt Amalie Mockrauer married her husband Leopold von Koschembahr on the 26th of September 1855 in Saint Clements Danes, Westminister, London, England, several months after she was baptized in Dresden

 

Initially, I thought Leopold von Koschembahr was also of Jewish origin because his grandson, Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (i.e., Gerhard’s father, Wilhelm Bruck, took his baroness wife’s surname) (Figure 9), departed Germany for the United States via Switzerland in 1938 with his 12 children. However, I learned from a New York Times article dated the 2nd of October 1938 that Gerhard departed Germany NOT on account of his grandfather’s Jewish roots but because his great-grandmother, on his mother’s side, was non-Aryan. (Figure 10) This gives credence to the concern descendants of Jews whose ancestors had long ago converted or had never converted felt when the Nazis started tracing their ancestral origins. In the case of Leopold von Koschembahr, I found his baptismal record showing he was baptized on the 5th of December 1829 (Figures 11a-b), proving he was not Jewish at birth. As readers can discern from this example, confirming or refuting the Jewish origins of one’s ancestors can be like solving a complex puzzle.

 

Figure 9. Amalie and Leopold von Koschembahr’s grandson, Gerhard Bruck-von Koschembahr (1885-1961), who I initially thought was a converted Jew
Figure 10. New York Times article dated the 2nd of October 1938 confirming that Gerhard von Koschembahr left Germany because his great-grandmother on his mother’s side, Therese Graetzer (1809-1883), was non-Aryan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 11a. Cover page from ancestry.com of Leopold von Koschembahr’s baptismal record, showing he was baptized on the 5th of December 1829 in Magdeburg, Germany

 

 

Figure 11b. Leopold von Koschembahr’s baptismal record, showing he was baptized on the 5th of December 1829 in Magdeburg, Germany

 

Moving on to other family members, let me briefly discuss the evidence for conversion for my uncle by marriage Dr. Franz Müller, my uncle by blood Dr. Fedor Bruck, my father Dr. Otto Bruck, and Dr. Adalbert Bruck, the great-grandfather of a fourth cousin.

The Centrum Judaicum Foundation is housed in the New Synagogue Berlin which was consecrated on the Jewish New Year in 1866, at which time it became the largest Jewish house of worship with its 3,200 seats. While the synagogue was spared major damage on “Kristallnacht,” it was severely damaged by Allied bombing during WWII. In 1958, the main room of the synagogue was demolished, so that today only the parts of the building closest to the street remain structurally intact.

Documents addressing the history of Jews in and around Berlin are archived there, including surviving records on conversions that took place in the city. In the case of my uncle by marriage Dr. Franz Müller, married to my aunt Susanne Müller née Bruck murdered in Auschwitz, the Centrum Judaicum has an index card on file indicating he converted on the 25th of November 1901. This did not prevent him being dismissed from his position as Humboldt University professor when the Nazis came to power in 1933 in accordance with their Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.

In the instance of my fourth cousin’s great-grandfather, Dr. Adalbert Bruck, the Centrum Judaicum could find nothing in their archives about him, so referred my cousin to the Evangelische Zentralarchiv in Berlin, the Protestant Central Archive in Berlin. In principle records of all Jewish conversions to Christianity in Berlin are kept here, though many did not survive WWII. According to a letter sent to my cousin, Dr. Adalabert Bruck’s record survives indicating he converted on the 27th of November 1890; however, his wife Anna Bruck née Flatow’s information survives only indirectly in the form of a 1930 document showing she supposedly converted on the 17th of February 1900. (Figures 12a-b)

 

Figure 12a. Letter to my fourth cousin from the Protestant Central Archive confirming the conversion information they have in their archives on his ancestor, Dr. Adalbert Bruck and his wife, Anna Bruck née Flatow

 

 

Figure 12b. Translation of letter from the Protestant Central Archive

 

 

The conversion of my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck, who has been the subject of several Blog posts because of his incredible tale of survival in Berlin during the entirety of WWII thanks to family and “silent heroes,” adds another element to my uncle’s compelling story. The register documenting his conversion survives and indicates he was baptized in Berlin on the 11th of June 1939 at the Messias Kapelle, a Lutheran Church. (Figures 13a-b, 14) Two godparents are named in the register, a “Herr Engelbert Helwig” and a “Herr Roderich von Roy.” Ancestry shows Englebert Helwig to have been a Holocaust survivor, and Roderich von Roy to have been born on the 3rd of August 1895, exactly two weeks before my uncle. Did my uncle know these people beforehand, or were they just random parishioners who attended the Messias Kappelle selected to be his godparents? We may never know.

 

Figure 13a. Left page of my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s record showing he was baptized on the 11th of June 1939 in the Messias Kapelle

 

Figure 13b. Right page of my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s baptismal record

 

 

Figure 14. Entrance to the Messias Kapelle today

 

Lutheran is a denomination among the Protestant, in fact it is the oldest of the denominations to break away from Catholicism and is traced to the founder of the movement, Martin Luther of Germany. (Figure 15)

 

Figure 15. Visual depiction of the denominations of Christianity

 

Hoping to find a picture of the Messias Kapelle, I did a Google query and stumbled upon a fascinating article written by Christiane Jurik, Editor-in-Chief of Ariel Ministries, discussing the origins of the Messias Kapelle and its role in German Jewish baptisms. I quote:

 

“Historically, most baptized Jews in Germany joined the Lutheran Church. There, even those who were true believers in Yeshua were mostly met with indifference; sometimes with suspicion; or worst, with anti-Semitism. In order to avoid this treatment, some Jewish believers started looking for places of worship where they could stay among themselves. In 1901, the Berlin Society purchased a property in one of the most urban boroughs of the city, called Prenzlauer Berg. The ministry not only moved its headquarters to the building but soon started construction work of what became known as the Messias Kapelle (‘Messiah Chapel’). Three days before Christmas of 1902, the chapel opened its doors to the Jewish believers of Berlin.

While the goal of the Berlin Society had been to offer a haven for Jewish believers, its work was closely affiliated with the Lutheran Church. In fact, the chapel officially belonged to the union of Protestant churches that also included the Confessing Church, whose most famous member was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. However, in 1930, the Lutheran Church revoked its support of the work of the Berlin Society and withdrew its pastors from the chapel. From then on, the Messias Kapelle was run by laymen.

In 1935, the Lutheran Synod forbade the baptizing of Jewish people. One of the pastors in Berlin expressed the general sentiment: ‘I am convinced that the family who told me it would be a horrible thought for them that the hand that baptized a Jew would touch their child is not alone.’

Yet not everyone obeyed the new directives of the Synod. The Messias Kapelle at this point separated itself completely from any state-run institution and in turn became the most important place of Messianic baptism in Berlin. According to the baptismal records of the time, over 700 German Jews got baptized there in the years between 1933 and 1940.

On November 11, 1938, during the Kristallnacht, the Messias Kapelle and the seat of the Berlin Society were trashed by the Nazis. Still, it would take until January of 1941 for the ministry and the chapel to be officially closed permanently. Ten months later, the first deportation of Jewish people began in Berlin. Records prove that of the 700 Jewish believers who had been baptized in the Messias Kapelle after 1933, 86 were hauled off to the ghettos of Lodz, Riga, Minsk, and Warsaw. Only two of them survived the Holocaust. It is unknown what happened to the rest of the congregation.”

A few observations. Among the survivors baptized in the Messias Kapelle was my uncle who lived until 1982. Beyond the obvious interest in self-preservation for the 700 or so Jews who got baptized in the Messias Kapelle during the Nazi era, the fact they could be baptized here as late as 1939, worship among other Jewish converts, and be told about the Jewish Messiah may have had appeal. While it’s unclear whether the chapel has been deconsecrated, the author of the above quote tells us that a marketing and public relations firm now owns it and that the worship hall, altar, and a marble relief resembling a Temple survive. It’s sad this is not a recognized historic monument.

Growing up my father never spoke about religion and religion was never part of my upbringing. In fact, I was baptized as a Catholic by my grandparents at six years of age in Lyon, France, at the request of my parents almost as an afterthought, hoping it might protect me in the event of another Holocaust. However, as most readers will surmise, as a half-Jew, I would have been considered a mischlinge of the first degree according to the Nuremberg Laws. Not good enough to survive being murdered.

Aware my father had attended dental school in Berlin, I checked with the Centrum Judaicum in Berlin to ascertain whether they might have a record of my father’s conversion, but they do not. Knowing my father’s penchant for procrastinating, I have always suspected my father never placed a high priority on getting baptized and converting until it became an absolute necessity. And, in my opinion, that only became necessary after he moved to the town of Tiegenhof [today: Nowy Dwór Gdański, Poland] in the Free State of Danzig where he opened his dental practice in 1932. As I discussed in Post 38, the evidence for my father’s conversion comes in the form of a receipt for payment of quarterly church taxes to the Evangelische Kirche in Tiegenhof. (Figure 16)

 

Figure 16. Document found among my father’s papers initially thought to be a dental invoice later determined to be a receipt for payment in 1936 of Church Tax to the Evangelische Kirche in Tiegenhof

 

Figure 17. My second cousin twice removed, Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck (1872-1937), in his WWI military dress uniform

 

My second cousin twice-removed, Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck (1872-1937) (Figure 17), subject of several recent Blog posts is thought to have converted in Breslau [today: Wrocław, Poland]. Dr. Barbara Bruziewicz-Mikłaszewska, professor of dentistry at the University of Wrocław, who has written about Dr. Bruck, cites a file from the University’s archives saying he converted in 1916 (i.e., University file: sygn. S99, s. 62, nr sprawy AU – 481/46/2001). As we speak, I am working with one of Dr. Bruziewicz-Mikłaszewska’s colleagues to obtain verification of the date of Dr. Bruck’s baptism. Unlike his father and grandfather, who are buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław, Walter’s place of internment in Wrocław is unknown but was undoubtedly in a Christian cemetery that likely no longer exists.

As I mentioned above, in principle all surviving records of Jewish conversions to Christianity in Berlin are archived at the Evangelische Zentralarchiv. For conversions that took place outside of Berlin, however, there is no central repository of this information that I am aware of. Thus, the only possibility of tracking down comparable information for one’s Jewish ancestors is to know the town and parish church where the baptism occurred, and then hope the registers have survived.

 

REFERENCES

Bruziewicz Mikłaszewska, Barbara. Outline of the history of university dentistry in Breslau/Wrocław. [Polish: Zarys dziejów uniwersyteckiej stomatologii we Wrocławiu]. 2010, University of Wrocław, PhD.

Hertz, Deborah. How Jews Became Germans: The History of Conversion and Assimilation in Berlin. Yale University Press, 2009.

Jurik, Christiane. “In the Eye of the Storm: Messianic Believers in Nazi Germany.” Ariel Magazine, Winter 2019, www.ariel.org/magazine/a/in-the-eye-of-the-storm-messianic-believers-in-nazi-germany

Kirshner, Sheldon. “Historian Studies Phenomenon of Conversion in Germany.” Canadian Jewish News, 17 January 2008.

 

POST 95: DISCOVERING THE FATE OF MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER’S NIECE, CHARLOTTE BRUCK

Note:  In this post, I discuss the sad fate of Charlotte Bruck, my great-grandfather Fedor Bruck’s niece, a victim in this case not of the Holocaust but of a psychiatric disorder.

Related Post:

Post 11: Ratibor & Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen“ Hotel

 

Figure 1. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863), first generation owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]
Figure 2. My great-great-grandmother Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My great-grandfather, Fedor Bruck (1834-1892), was one of at least nine offspring of Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) (Figure 1) and Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861). (Figure 2) For context, Samuel Bruck and Fedor Bruck (Figure 3) were, respectively the first- and second-generation owners of the Bruck family hotel in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland], the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel. (Figure 4) The youngest of Samuel and Charlotte Bruck’s children and Fedor Bruck’s youngest sibling was Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907). (Figure 5)

 

Figure 3. My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck (1834-1892), second generation owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel
Figure 4. Front entrance to the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel around 1920-1930

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 5. My great-granduncle Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907), youngest sibling of Fedor Bruck, married to the baroness Margarethe “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946) whose surname he took
Figure 6. Baroness Margarethe “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilhelm married a baroness named Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (Figure 6), and because of the prestige the von Koschembahr name endowed, he adopted her surname, initially in hyphenated manner as Bruck-von Koschembahr; eventually upon some family members arrival in America the Bruck surname was dropped. Wilhelm Bruck and Margarete von Koschembahr had five children, including Charlotte “Lotte” Bruck (Figure 7), niece of my great-grandfather Fedor Bruck and subject of this post.

 

Figure 7. Charlotte Bruck (1886-1974), daughter of Wilhelm Bruck and Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1914 or 1915 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

As a brief aside, Charlotte’s older brother and the oldest of Wilhelm and Margarete’s children was Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) (Figure 8), who emigrated to America in October 1938 with his wife and ten of their thirteen children (Figure 9), one of whom is still living. While I am in contact with descendants of virtually all other branches of my family whom I have written about in my family history blog, I have not yet established contact with this wing of my extended family. If precedent is any indication, descendants of the von Koschembahrs may in time stumble upon my blog and contact me.

 

Figure 8. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) & his wife Hilda née von Zeidlitz and Neukirch (1891-1954) with their thirteen children in Lugano, Switzerland in the 1930’s; Gerhard was the oldest of Charlotte Bruck’s siblings who dropped the “Bruck” portion of his surname prior to arriving in America

 

Figure 9. New York Times article dated October 2, 1938 mentioning Gerhard von Koschembahr’s arrival in America with his wife and ten of their thirteen children

 

With upwards of 900 people in my family tree, which I use primarily to orient myself to the people whom I discuss in my Blog, I have never previously written about Wilhelm Bruck (von Koschembahr). Still, because Charlotte Bruck is in my tree, one genealogist stumbled upon her name and contacted me asking whether I know the fate of Charlotte’s first husband, Walter Edward Stavenhagen. The inquiry, it so happens, came from Charlotte’s granddaughter, Brenda Jay Dunn née Lorenzen (Figure 10), and I explained I have been unable to discover Walter’s fate. Not unexpectedly, Jay told me much more about Charlotte’s family than I could tell her and provided family photographs, which is always immensely satisfying.

 

Figure 10. Jay Dunn née Lorenzen, Charlotte Bruck and her first husband Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s granddaughter, in 2018 in La Jolla, California

 

 

Prior to being contacted by Jay Dunn through ancestry on June 24, 2018, I had already uncovered multiple documents related to Charlotte Bruck, although my understanding of her three marriages and life was rather disjointed. Rather than try and inaccurately reconstruct what I already knew at the time, let me briefly highlight major events in her life.

Charlotte (Lottchen, Lotte, Lottel) Bruck got married for the first time on the 3rd of May 1906 in Berlin to the Protestant landowner Walter Edward Stavenhagen (Figures 11a-b) who owned an estate in Eichwerder in the district of Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland]. Though both of Charlotte’s parents were of Jewish descent, on her wedding certificate, Charlotte is identified as Protestant, indicating she and/or her parents had converted. Following her marriage to Walter at age 19, they moved to Soldin, and Charlotte gave birth to two sons there: Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (1907-1997) and Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (1909-1947). (Figures 12-13a-b)

Figure 11a. Page 1 of Charlotte Bruck and Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s May 3rd, 1906 marriage certificate indicating they were married in Berlin and were Protestant
Figure 11b. Page 2 of Charlotte Bruck and Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s May 3rd, 1906 marriage certificate with Charlotte and Walter’s original signatures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 12. Charlotte and Walter’s two young sons, Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (1907-1997) and Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (1909-1947) (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

Figure 13a. Birth certificate of Hans Joachim Stavenhagen, Jay Dunn née Lorenzen’s father, showing he was born on the 13th of February 1909 in Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] (document courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)
Figure 13b. Translation of Han’s Joachim Stavenhagen’s birth certificate (document courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlotte first became ill following the birth of her second son, possibly the result of postpartum depression or a bi-polar disorder. Charlotte’s mother, Margarethe von Koschembahr Bruck (Figure 14), came and removed her from Walter Stavenhagen’s estate in 1909, whereupon she was briefly hospitalized in Schierke, located in the Harz Mountains of northern Germany. In a diary entry dated the 19th of November 1909, Charlotte’s maternal grandmother, Amalie Mockrauer von Koschembahr (1834-1918) (Figures 15-16), describes her granddaughter’s circumstances at the time:

 

Figure 14. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s mother, Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1938 at age 78

 

Figure 15. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s grandmother, Amalie von Koschembahr née Mockrauer, with Charlotte’s mother, Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1863
Figure 16. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s grandmother, Amalie von Koschembahr née Mockrauer, around 1904 at age 70

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GERMAN ENTRY

“Ich bin furchtbar traurig über das Fehlschlagen von Lottchens Friedensversuch. Nachdem sie in Eichwerder (nördlich Mysliborz) mit den besten Vorsätzen und mit festem Muthe eintraf, sich in ihr Schicksal und ihre Pflichten zu fügen, benahm sich Walter abermals unglaublich lieblos, rücksichtslos und roh, so, daß es nach kurzer Zeit für Lotte unmöglich war Stand zu halten. Soweit mir berichtet wurde, ist alles geschehen, um es dem Mann leicht zu machen in Frieden zu leben, allein es war vergeblich. Krank und gebrochen mußte meine arme Lottel ihre Heimath für immer verlassen, nur begleitet von ihrem kleinen Fritzchen, den armen kleinen Hans gab der Mann nicht heraus. Mein armes Gretchen holte ihr Kind, Marianne und Kurt, die von großer Liebe und Treue sind, begleiteten sie. Lotte flüchtete nach Schierke (Ort im Harz), wohin ihr Gretchen nachfolgen mußte, da Lotte sehr krank ist. Welcher Schmerz ist es doch schon wegen der kleinen mutterbedürftigen Kinder! Welche große Sünde hat der bösartige Mann auf sich geladen! Mein lieber allmächtiger Gott hilf uns in dieser Noth!

Das alles muß ich so still für mich mittragen, denn mit Tilla kann ich mich nicht aussprechen – sie hat eine andere Anschauung vom Unglück der Menschen – sie kann froh darüber sein, während ich zwar ergeben aus Gottes Hand alles nehme, aber tief traurig an meine unglücklichen Kinder denke. Seitdem Martha von Schmidt der Tod von uns genommen hat, habe ich Niemanden, mit dem ich ein tröstliches Wort austauschen kann. Ach, wieviel Schwaches giebt es auf der Welt – der Kampf hört hier nicht auf und so sehnt man sich nach der ewigen Reise. –Mit Tilchen kann ich mich darüber deshalb nicht verstehen, weil sie glaubt das Unglück, welches der Herr schickt, soll die Menschen bessern und seine Gnade und Liebe erkennen lassen.”

 

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

 

“I am terribly saddened by the failure of Lottchen’s attempt at peace. After she arrived in Eichwerder (today north of Myślibórz, Poland) with the best of intentions and with firm courage to submit to her fate and duties, Walter again behaved in an unbelievably unloving, inconsiderate, and crude manner, so that after a short time it was impossible for Lotte to stand firm. As far as I was told, everything was done to make it easy for the man to live in peace, but it was in vain. Sick and broken, my poor Lottel had to leave her home forever, accompanied only by her little Fritzchen (Note: Charlotte’s older son Frederick); poor little Hans was not released by the man. My poor Gretchen (Note: Charlotte’s mother, Margarethe von Koschembahr) fetched her child, and Marianne and Kurt (Note: Charlotte’s younger sister and brother-in-law, Marianne & Kurt Polborn), who are of great love and loyalty, accompanied her. Lotte fled to Schierke (a place in the Harz Mountains in northern Germany), where Gretchen had to follow her, since Lotte was very ill. What a pain it is already because of the little children in need of a mother! What a great sin the wicked man has brought upon himself! My dear Almighty God help us in this distress!

 

I have to bear all this so quietly for myself, because I cannot talk to Tilla (Note: Tilla, Tilchen, was Margarethe von Koschembahr’s sister, Mathilde von Koschembahr) – she has a different view of people’s misfortune – she can be happy about it, while I humbly take everything from God’s hand, but think deeply sad about my unhappy children. Since death took Martha von Schmidt (Note: a friend of Amalie von Koschembahr, Charlotte’s grandmother) from us, I have no one with whom I can exchange a comforting word. Oh, how much weakness there is in the world – the struggle does not end here and so one longs for the eternal journey. I can’t get along with Tilchen because she believes that the misfortune the Lord sends should make people better and recognize His grace and love.”

 

Walter and Charlotte’s marriage certificate has a notation in the upper right-hand corner confirming they were divorced in Berlin on the 19th of May 1910. (Figure 17) Atypical of the time, Charlotte was granted custody of both of her boys because spousal abuse was suspected, as the diary entry above suggests.

Figure 17. German notation in the upper right-hand corner of Charlotte and Walter Stavenhagen’s marriage certificate noting they got divorced on the 19th of May 1910

 

According to family history, following her hospitalization in the Harz Mountains, Charlotte lived with her mother in Dresden, Germany until she remarried Karl Eduard Michaelis in 1913, a marriage which lasted only two years. At around this time, Charlotte again showed signs of mental illness, so her family sent her to America in 1915, to a hospital located in Minnesota; her two sons accompanied her to America. Her stay there was relatively brief because she soon moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where she met her third husband, Ernest Gustav Lorenzen (1876-1951), through the German Society there, whom she married around 1916. Ernest Lorenzen was a law professor at Yale University; he would eventually adopt both of Charlotte’s sons by Walter Stavenhagen, and they would take the Lorenzen surname. The 1920 U.S. Federal Census indicates Ernest and Charlotte living with her two sons in New Haven, Connecticut, (Figures 18-19) although by 1930, only Ernest and Charlotte’s older son Frederick lived together. (Figure 20) By 1940, Frederick was married with two daughters and his younger brother was living with them. (Figure 21)

 

Figure 18. 1920 U.S. Federal Census showing Ernest Gustav Lorenzen living in New Haven, Connecticut with his wife Charlotte and his two adopted sons, Frederick and Hans

 

Figure 19. Charlotte Bruck with her two sons, Frederick and Hans (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

Figure 20. By 1930 the U.S. Federal Census shows Ernest Gustav Lorenzen living only with his older adopted son, Frederick

 

Figure 21. The 1940 U.S. Federal Census indicates that Frederick Lorenzen has established his own household in Stamford, Connecticut with his wife and two daughters, and that his younger brother Hans (John) is living with them

 

Jay Dunn shared a remarkable letter with me dated 1940 written by the Superintendent of the Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut where Charlotte Lorenzen née Bruck was permanently institutionalized as of around April 1939 until her death in June 1974. To me, this letter is noteworthy for two reasons. One, it is incredibly detailed as to Charlotte’s mental condition and institutionalization over the years, information I would assume would be confidential. And two, the letter was written at the request of Charlotte’s younger son, Hans Joachim Lorenzen, known in America as John Jay Lorenzen; it seems that John’s future father-in-law, William Sweet, sought a medical opinion as to the possibility of Charlotte’s mental condition being hereditary prior to his daughter Brenda’s marriage to John.

According to the 1940 letter, following Charlotte’s treatment in Minnesota and her relocation to New Haven, she appears to have been well until around 1921, then suffered another relapse from which she again improved by 1922; after 1925, however, she was institutionalized through the remainder of her life. While originally diagnosed with Manic Depressive Psychosis by 1928 she had become delusional. Over time, Charlotte’s original diagnosis was altered to Dementia Praecox, Paranoid Type, whose prognosis was not as good. Today, Dementia Praecox would more generally be referred to as schizophrenia. The Superintendent from the Fairfield State Hospital concluded as follows in his response to John Jay Lorenzen: 

“Summing it up then in another manner I might say that if you consider yourself a normal individual in good physical health with no emotional problems which cannot be readily solved, I would not hesitate to contemplate marriage and would not entertain any undue fears that my children might inherit the illness of my parent. Unless one can definitely assure oneself that his heredity is too heavily tainted, I think one would do himself an injustice if he did not make every reasonable effort to live the kind of normal life to which everyone of us is certainly entitled.”

 

Ernst Lorenzen divorced Charlotte sometime after she was permanently institutionalized, and eventually got remarried. Charlotte’s older son Frederick (Figure 22-23) became a successful lawyer in New York and paid for his mother’s care throughout her life. Jay Dunn’s father, John Jay Lorenzen (Figure 24), obtained an MBA from Harvard around 1933, worked for a time as a stock broker for Smith Barney, then started a cola company called Zimba Kola (Figures 25-26) with a college friend. He was drafted in 1943, became an officer in the Navy (Figure 27), and was sent to the Pacific where he fought valiantly alongside General MacArthur in the battles of Okinawa and Leyte Gulf. He survived the war, only to commit suicide in 1947, likely from depression caused by PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. Though Charlotte Bruck and her sons came to America well before Hitler rose to power, her fate and that of her younger son were indeed sad tales.

Figure 22. Frederick Lorenzen as a teenager (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)
Figure 23. Frederick Lorenzen at his brother’s wedding on the 26th of September 1940 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 24. Hans Joachim Lorenzen, known in America as John Jay Lorenzen, on his wedding day on the 26th of September 1940 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)
Figure 25. Zimba Kola bottle from the cola company John Jay Lorenzen established

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 26. Jay Dunn as a three-year-old child holding a bottle of Zimba Kola (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)
Figure 27. John Jay Lorenzen in his Navy uniform at age 33 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One final fascinating anecdote. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr, Charlotte’s oldest brother mentioned above, like his father, also married a baroness, Hilda Alexandra von Zeidlitz and Neukirch (1891-1954). (Figures 28-29) Hilda’s mother, Cornelia Carnochan Roosevelt, married on the 3rd of February 1889 to Baron Clement Zeidlitz, was a distant relative of President Theodore Roosevelt. (see Figure 9) It is likely that Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr was able to “disguise” his Jewish ancestry by dropping the Bruck surname. Thus, because of Gerhard’s wife’s connection to the Roosevelts, they sponsored Gerhard’s entrance into America in 1938 with his family at a time when many Jewish families trying to reach America by ship were turned away. The most notorious ship turned away from landing in the United States in the lead up to WWII was the German liner St. Louis carrying 937 passengers, almost all Jewish; the ship was forced to return to Europe, and more than a quarter of the refuges died in the Holocaust.

Figure 28. Wedding photo of Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr and Hilda Alexandra von Zeidlitz, married on the 21st of March 1914 (photo courtesy of Kurt Polborn)

 

Figure 29. Headstone of William C. Roosevelt, alongside which Gerhard (Bruck) von Koschembahr and his wife Hilda Roosevelt von Koschembahr are interred

 

VITAL STATISTICS FOR CHARLOTTE BRUCK & HER IMMEDIATE FAMILY

 

 

NAME EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE
         
Charlotte Bruck (self) Birth 17 August 1886 Berlin, Germany Marriage Certificate
Marriage to Walter Edward Stavenhagen 3 May 1906 Berlin, Germany Marriage Certificate
Divorce from Walter Edward Stavenhagen 19 May 1910 Berlin, Germany Notation on marriage certificate
Marriage to Karl Eduard Michaelis 20 August 1913 Dresden, Germany Marriage Certificate
Divorce from Karl Eduard Michaelis ~1915 Dresden, Germany “Stavenhagen-Bruck-Von Koschembahr Family History” (Jay Dunn)
Marriage to Ernest Gustav Lorenzen ~1916   1940 letter from Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut describing Charlotte’s mental history
Death 5 June 1974 Stamford, Connecticut Connecticut Death Index
Wilhelm Bruck (father) Birth 23 February 1949 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Berlin marriage certificate
Marriage 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin marriage certificate
Death 15 February 1907 Berlin, Germany Berlin death certificate
Margarethe Mathilde von Koschembahr (mother) Birth 28 November 1860 Lissa, Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Poland] von Koschembahr family tree
Marriage 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin marriage certificate
Death 19 October 1946 Boston, Massachusetts von Koschembahr family tree
Amalie Mockrauer (grandmother) Birth 9 September 1834 Leschnitz, Germany [today: Leśnica, Poland] 15 April 1855 Baptism Certificate
Marriage (to Leopold von Koschembahr) 26 September 1855 London, England England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index
Death 5 August 1918 Dresden, Germany Dresden death certificate
Walter Edward Stavenhagen (first husband) Birth 1 September 1876 Calais, France 1900 Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany Census
Marriage 3 May 1906 Berlin, Germany Marriage Certificate
Karl Eduard Michaelis (second husband) Birth 4 January 1884 Berlin, Germany Birth Certificate
Marriage 20 August 1913 Dresden, Germany Marriage Certificate
Death (died as Carl Edward Midgard) 12 October 1953 Seattle, Washington Washington Death Certificate
Ernest Gustav Lorenzen (third husband) Birth 21 April 1876 Kiel, Germany US Passport Application
Marriage ~1916   1940 letter from Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut describing Charlotte’s mental history
Death 12 February 1951 San Francisco, California California Death Index
Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (son) Birth 28 February 1907 Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] US Social Security Death Index
Marriage (to Dorothy P. Walker) 30 June 1931 Portland, Maine Maine Marriage Index
Death (died as Frederick W. Lorenzen) 30 December 1997 Stamford, Connecticut US Social Security Death Index
Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (son) Birth 13 February 1909 Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] Soldin, Germany Birth Certificate
Marriage (to Brenda Sweet) 17 September 1940 Staten Island, New York New York Marriage License Index
Death (died as John Jay Lorenzen) 24 Jun 1947 Greenwich, Connecticut Connecticut Death Record

POST 75: THE CURIOUS TALE OF A BIEDERMEIER-STYLE FAMILY PORTRAIT FROM THE EARLY 1830’S

Note: In this post, I relate the story of uncovering multiple copies of a family portrait rendered in the Biedermeier style in what I estimate was the early 1830’s.

 

Figure 1. My 92-year old third cousin, Agnes Stieda née Vogel, in Vancouver, Canada in August 2019

 

During a recent email exchange with my 92-year old third cousin, Agnes Stieda née Vogel (Figure 1), subject of several earlier posts, I casually mentioned other topics I want to eventually write about on my Blog. This includes one illustrious branch of my Bruck family, the von Koschembahrs, about which more is said below. This prompted Agnes to tell me in passing she has a family portrait of them hanging in her apartment in Victoria, Canada. A short while later she sent me several photos. (Figure 2) They show a touching depiction of two children, one holding a rabbit, painted in what I would learn was the Biedermeier style. Agnes quickly added this is a revered painting within her family.

 

Figure 2. Photo of the ca. 1830’s Biedermeier-style portrait that Agnes has hanging in her apartment in Victoria, Canada

 

 

Other than knowing it portrayed two von Koschembahr children, no doubt from the period when the Biedermeier style was in vogue in Germany between 1815 and 1848, Agnes had no further information as to the painter, the subjects, nor the exact year it was painted. Obviously curious whether the painting or the boy and girl might be known to other members of my extended family, I decided to send a copy of the photo to another of my German third cousins, Kurt Polborn. (Figure 3) He is a close descendant of the von Koschembahrs, and I thought he might recognize the artwork. And, indeed he did. He promptly told me they depict Leopold von Koschembahr (1829-1874) (Figure 4), and his slightly older sister, Mary von Koschembahr. Judging from the approximate age of the children, and Leopold’s year of birth, 1829, I estimate it was done in the early 1830’s, well within the timeframe the Biedermeier style was popular.

 

Figure 3. Another of my third cousins, Kurt Polborn, in Koenigsbrunn, Germany in October 2016
Figure 4. As a grown man, Leopold von Koschembahr (1829-1874), one of the two subjects in the Biedermeier-style portrait of the 1830’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me briefly explain to readers how my Bruck family is related to the von Koschembahrs. The first-generation owner of the family hotel, the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland], the town where my father was born in 1907, was Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) (Figure 5), my great-great-grandfather. Ownership of the hotel was acquired by his son, Fedor Bruck (1834-1892), my great-grandfather. (Figure 6) Fedor’s youngest brother was my great-great-uncle Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907), (Figure 7) who married a baroness, Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946) (Figure 8), sometime before 1885; Leopold and Mary von Koschembahr were, respectively, Grete’s father and aunt. The term “von” is used in German language surnames “either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means of or from.” On account of his wife’s noble patrilineality, Wilhelm Bruck added her surname to his upon marriage. Thus, in Germany, this branch of the family was known as “Bruck-von Koschembahr,” but upon their arrival in America they completely dropped the Bruck surname. Suffice it to say, this complicates the family tree.

 

Figure 5. Samuel Bruck (1808-1863), my great-great-grandfather, original owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor
Figure 6. My great-grandfather, Fedor Bruck (1834-1892), son of Samuel Bruck, and older brother of Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 7. My great-great-uncle Wilhelm Bruck who married the baroness Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946), and added her surname to his becoming “Wilhelm Bruck-von Koschembahr”
Figure 8. The baroness Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946) in 1891

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During my conversation with my third cousin Kurt Polborn who’d identified the von Koschembahr children, he mentioned in passing the painting belongs to his aging von Koschembahr uncle, Clemens von Koschembahr, living in Ohio. Clemens is about to turn 94 and is the grandson of Wilhelm Bruck-von Koschembahr and the sole surviving child of Gerhard von Koschembahr (1885-1961) (Figure 9) and Hilda Alexandra von Zeidlitz und Neukirch (1891-1954), who immigrated to America in 1938 with their 13 children. (Figures 10a-b, 11) Kurt’s claim that the family portrait of the von Koschembahr children is still in the family, while entirely reasonable, left me puzzled. (Figure 12) What then is the version owned by Agnes, an original or a copy? I would add that Clemens, being told that another version of this family portrait exists, was quite surprised.

 

Figure 9. One of Wilhelm Bruck’s sons Gerhard von Koschembahr (1885-1961), as he was known in America after dropping the “Bruck” surname

 

Figure 10a. Gerhard von Koschembahr and Hilda Alexandra von Zeidlitz und Neukirch (1891-1954) and their 13 children, with Clemens von Koschembahr’s head circled

 

Figure 10b. Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr and their 13 children identified
Figure 11. New York Times article dated the 2nd of October 1938 reporting on the arrival in the United States of Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr and 10 of their 13 children

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 12. Photo of the ca. 1830’s Biedermeier-style portrait of Leopold and Mary von Koschembahr as children, owned by Clemens von Koschembahr

 

 

Things got even more puzzling when I probed into this more. Agnes remembered having visited her cousin Klaus Pauly (Figure 13) in Germany and hanging in his house was yet another copy of this same painting! Curious as to how many copies of this painting might exist, I immediately sent an email to Klaus’s son, Andi Pauly (Figure 14), whose name I’ve often mentioned. The existence of this copy, at least, could be explained. During one of Klaus’s visits to see Agnes, he’d greatly admired the painting and tried to talk her out of it. Agnes, naturally, was unwilling to part with this family heirloom, but, Klaus, undeterred, photographed the “original,” and upon his return home turned it into a full-size photo which he framed. Problem solved!

Figure 13. Klaus Pauly, owner of the enlarged framed photograph of the von Koschembahr portrait, thought to no longer exist
Figure 14. Andi Pauly, Klaus Pauly’s son, in 2018 in Munich, Germany

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still, the existence of two seemingly high-quality versions of the Biedermeier-style portrait is intriguing. It seems unlikely the von Koschembahrs would have allowed the original to leave the family, so I’d argue that version is the one owned by Clemens von Koschembahr. Admittedly, while I can only gauge this from low resolution images, it would seem the older looking of the two copies is also that one. Unfortunately, neither copy of the paintings is signed; Kurt explained this was not uncommon in paintings done of royals and aristocrats of the time, where the “star,” so to speak, was the king, queen, or noble. The creates an obvious problem where originals can easily be forged and claimed as authentic. Absent a professional side-by-side comparison, the question of which is the original portrait will remain an open one. Things, though, could get even more confusing should yet more high-quality versions of this portrait emerge from other members of the family! This may not be as implausible as it sounds given the endearing quality the von Koschembahr artwork possesses and the possible desire by others to have had their own copies.