Note: In this post, I walk readers through the steps they can follow for using the United Kingdom’s “General Register Office” database to locate some of their ancestors who may have immigrated to the UK either during the Nazi era or before. I provide as a case example people from my own Jewish family I was able to track down, and vital documents I was able to obtain for some of them.
Related Posts:
Post 68: Dr. Julius Bruck and His Influence on Modern Endoscopy
Post 68, Postscript: Dr. Julius Bruck, Engineer of Modern Endoscopy—Tracking Some of His Descendants
The dispersion of my Jewish relatives following the 1933 Nazi takeover in Germany has led me to search for evidence of my ancestors and their descendants in multiple countries around the world, obviously, Germany and Poland, but also Italy, France, Czech Republic, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, United Kingdom, China (Shanghai), Australia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Canada, and the United States. I have no doubt, as I expand my ancestral inquiries, this list will grow.
Much of what I will discuss below has generally been covered in Post 68 and the postscript to that installment. Still, I thought that for those readers who can trace some of their Jewish, as well as non-Jewish, ancestors to the United Kingdom, they may find some value in having the information consolidated in one post. Readers may find themselves in the same position I initially found myself where their ancestral searches begin and end with what they can locate on ancestry.com or MyHeritage. Often, however, this is merely the first step in obtaining copies of vital documents if you recognize these might be available from what you discover on these platforms.
In Post 68, I discussed Dr. Julius Bruck (1840-1902), my first cousin thrice removed from Breslau, Germany: [today: Wrocław, Poland], a dentist renowned for his influence on modern endoscopy. During my investigations into his family, I became interested in tracking down the descendants of the four children he had with his wife, Bertha Bruck née Vogelsdorf (1843-1917), particularly those of his youngest child, Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck (1872-1937). (Figure 1)
The remainder of this post will be focused primarily on explaining to readers how my involved search into Walter Wolfgang Bruck’s family unfolded. I began by searching for “Walter Bruck” in ancestry.com’s “Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany [Poland], Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945 (Östliche preußische Provinzen, Polen, Personenstandsregister 1874-1945)” database. Here I located Walter Wolfgang Bruck’s death certificate indicating he had died on the 31st of March 1937 in Breslau, Germany [today: Wrocław, Poland]; his wife, Johanna Elisabeth Margarete Graebsch, is named on Walter’s death certificate. (Figure 2)
My membership to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles (JGSLA) gives me access to the ancestral search platform MyHeritage, so in the context of writing Post 68 on Dr. Julius Bruck, I searched there for Johanna Bruck née Graebsch. I came across a “German Minority Census, 1939” form (Figure 3), which, oddly, is only found on MyHeritage, not on ancestry.com. This form indicated that “Johanna Bruck (born Graebsch)” was born on the 10th of April 1884 in Wrocław, Poland; resided there in May 1939; and lived with her daughter, Renate Bruck, who was 12 years of age at the time. Given that Johanna and Renate Bruck were still in Germany at a precarious time, I became curious what might have happened to them. Naturally, the first place I checked was Yad Vashem’s “Central Database of Shoah Victim’s Names”; while I was very relieved not to find their names there, initially I could find no evidence of what may have happened to them or where they may have wound up.
I then began to search family trees on ancestry.com for both Johanna and Renate Bruck, and, coincidentally, found them on Dr. Frank Thomas Koch’s tree (Figures 4a-b), one of my German fourth cousins who is more closely related to this branch of the Bruck family; it included not only Johanna and Renate’s names, but the name of another of Walter and Johanna Bruck’s daughters, Hermine Johanna Elisabeth Bruck, who died in infancy in 1924. Interestingly, my cousin’s tree indicated that Renate Bruck may have died in 1948. Curious as to the source of all this information, I contacted Thomas. He explained this comes from the Charlotte Cramer-Sachs Family Collection archived at the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI); I was easily able to track down the source of this data from the LBI’s website and confirmed that Renate Bruck’s death is indeed noted as 1948. (Figure 5) As readers will learn, this is an error.
Thomas explained that in 1939 the Nazi regime conducted a census of German citizens to segregate Aryan versus non-Aryan citizens; this census recorded names, dates of birth, places of birth, racial descent or extraction, and addresses. People were designated as 100% Aryan, 100% Jewish, or “mixed,” 50% Jewish. This census recorded Johanna Bruck née Graebsch as 100% Aryan and her daughter as 50% Jewish, thus subject to discrimination.
By 1944, people of “mixed” descent were forced to do hard labor. To avoid this, according to Thomas, there is evidence that Johanna and Renate Bruck relocated to Erfurt, Germany from Breslau by 1944 or earlier. Thomas told me there is further evidence that in 1948, a woman, possibly a neighbor, by the name of Ms. Edith Czeczatka, initiated a search with the German Red Cross, giving Johanna and Renate’s last known address in Erfurt, Dammweg 9 (Figure 6), trying to learn what happened to them. By then, Johanna and Renate no longer lived in Erfurt, and the German Red Cross could provide no further clues as to their fates. This is where things stood when I began to search for them.
Thomas provided one obscure clue that was ultimately instrumental in unraveling where Johanna and Renate wound up, namely, that they may have immigrated to England. I did a query for “Renate Bruck” on ancestry and came upon a marriage register listing for a “Renate S. G. Bruck” and a “Harry E. Graham” in Willesden, Middlesex, United Kingdom in October 1948. (Figures 7a-b) “Bruck” or “Brook” are not uncommon names in England, so I had no way to know whether this was the elusive Bruck relative I was searching for. As readers can confirm, this register only lists the names and years persons married with no other vital data.
Having never previously needed to access vital records from the United Kingdom, I turned to my friend Ms. Madeleine Isenberg who volunteers with JGSLA for assistance. Madeleine told me to check the United Kingdom’s “General Register Office (GRO)” database. Registering as a user is straight-forward. Go to their website and click on “Register as an Individual.” (Figure 8)
Once you are logged in, you have multiple options. (Figure 9) For Renate Bruck and Harry Graham, I was interested in ordering their marriage certificate so selected “Place an Order.” The following screen allowed me to select where the event was registered, thus for Renate and Harry, in “England or Wales” as a marriage in 1948 (Figure 10); I filled in the appropriate information, checked the “I know the GRO reference number” (i.e., readers will observe from the October 1948 register that I have circled the District, Volume, and Page number on which the original marriage record for Renate S. G. Bruck and Harry E. Graham can be found). Then, on the next screen, “Application for an England and Wales marriage registration record,” I entered this information and the names of the spouses. I filled in the “Service Options,” provided payment information and submitted my request. Certificates cost between 11- and 14-Pounds Sterling (i.e., ~$13.75 to 14.50), and typically arrive within three to four weeks.
The marriage certificate for Renate S.G. Bruck and Harry E. Graham corroborated what I suspected, namely, that Renate was indeed the daughter of Dr. Walter Bruck, identified as a Doctor and Professor of Dentistry. (Figure 11) The certificate provided a wealth of additional information and names I was able to follow up on. Renate’s full name was “Renate Stephanie Gertrude Bruck,” and her husband was “Henry Ernst Graham.” Henry’s father was Hermann Gradenwitz (1876-1940), showing Henry had anglicized his surname to “Graham.” Both Renate and her husband had previously been married, Renate to a man named Eugen Walter Mehne, and Harry to a woman named Ruth Philipsborn (1914-2003); Henry and his first wife Ruth, I later discovered, married in 1935 in London indicating Henry had already emigrated from Germany by this time. Renate and Henry were married in the presence of a Marie Luise Gradenwitz (1881-1955), whom I later confirmed was Henry’s mother, née Mugdan. Curiously, Hermann Gradenwitz is buried with a Leo Mugdan, possibly his brother-in-law, as readers may be able to detect from their headstone. (Figure 12)
From ancestry.com and MyHeritage, I learned more about Renate and her family. Renate’s first husband, Eugen Walter Mehne, is initially listed in a 1908 Breslau Address Book showing he was an instrumentenmacher, an instrument maker; he is listed in a Breslau Address Book as late as 1939, and by then is a geigenbauer, violin maker. I recently found a fleeting but unattributed reference on a family tree that Renate and this Eugen Mehne married in 1945, place unspecified.
I have been unable to learn when or where Eugen was born or died, although the fact that he was already in business in 1908, 18 years before Renate was even born, proves she married an older man. Similarly, her second husband, Harry Ernst Graham (aka Heinrich Gradenwitz), was significantly older when they married in 1948, he was 43 and she only 22. Harry, I discovered, was born on the 8th of November 1904 in Berlin, and died on the 7th of March 1959 in London.
Having confirmed that Renate Bruck was in fact the daughter of Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck, I next turned my attention to Renate’s mother. Assuming she had survived the war, I surmised she too may have immigrated to England. In MyHeritage, I found a “Johanna M.E. Bruck” living in Barnet, Hertfordshire, England, born around 1885, who died between January and March 1963, at the age of 78 (Figures 13a-b); I already knew that the Johanna Bruck was born on the 10th of April 1884, so the difference by one year I deemed insignificant. I checked the distance between Willesden, where Renate Bruck married in 1948, and Barnet, where this Johanna Bruck died, and found it was only 44 km apart, or 27 miles, so it was reasonable to assume these people might be related.
By this time, I was virtually positive that Johanna M. E. Bruck was Renate’s mother. I returned to the GRO database and searched for her among the death records for the first quarter of 1963. I found her listed and ordered her death certificate. It arrived a few weeks later and confirmed that Johanna was indeed the widow of Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck; she died of ovarian cancer that resulted in early cardiac failure. (Figure 14)
Next, I tried to figure out when Renate Bruck might have died. In ancestry.com, I uncovered evidence of yet a third individual she had wed, a man named Gary Newman whom she married in 1956. (Figures 15a-b) A family tree in ancestry indicated Renate Newman had died in England on the 3rd of March 2013. With an actual year of death, I was able to locate a death certificate in the GRO database corresponding to this lady. I ordered a copy of this document, as well. Any doubt I might have had that this was Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck’s daughter was dispelled when I saw the maiden name “Bruck” on the certificate with her known date of birth, the 16th of June 1926. (Figure 16) Her cause of death was specified as esophageal cancer. She had been an interior designer during her working years, while her husband had been a commodity broker.
At the time of Renate’s death in 2013, her son, Nicholas Francis David Newman, was attendant. Thinking I might finally have found a living descendant of the esteemed Dr. Julius Bruck from Breslau, I first tried looking for him in the GRO database but discovered the index of historic births ends in 1916. The database includes death records until 1957, and, then again between 1984 to the present; oddly, death records between 1957 and 1991 are not available. Regardless, knowing Nicholas Newman was still alive when his mother passed away in 2013, I searched death records for the few years postdating this year. Not expecting to find anything, I was astonished to discover he died in 2015 (registered in February 2016) at only 55 years of age. Sadly, Nicholas Newman’s death certificate stated he committed suicide and no next-of-kin were named (Figure 17), so any hopes I had of possibly finding a living descendant of the esteemed Dr. Julius Bruck have been dashed, at least temporarily. I am still trying to ascertain whether Renate Bruck might have had additional children with her third husband, or possibly children by her second husband, Harry Graham.
There is one additional search engine I want to bring to readers attention that I stumbled upon. It is entitled “FreeBMD” (Figure 18), which is an ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales using the GRO database, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records. It is a part of the “Free UK Genealogy family,” which also includes “FreeCEN” (Census data) and “FreeREG” (Parish Registers). My suggestion when using FreeBMD is to only enter a surname and check “All” under “Type” of vital records being sought; this will result in the broadest possible list of names. I have used FreeBMD to search for other family members who wound up in England and found it to be useful when I only have a name and no dates or GRO reference number to work with.
Johnanna Bruck née Graebsch Family & Vital Statistics
| Name (relationship) | Vital Event | Date | Place |
| Johanna Margarete Elisabeth Graebsch (self) | Birth | 10 April 1884 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] |
| Marriage (Dr. Alfred Renner) | 6 May 1905 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] | |
| Divorce (from Dr. Renner) | 8 March 1917 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] | |
| Marriage (Dr. Walter Wolfgang Bruck) | after 1919 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] | |
| Death | 5 March 1963 | London Borough of Barnet, England | |
| Alfred Friedrich Karl Kurt Renner (first husband) | Birth | 20 June 1873 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] |
| Marriage | 6 May 1905 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] | |
| Death | after 1941 | ||
| Walter Wolfgang Bruck (second husband) | Birth | 4 March 1872 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] |
| Marriage | after 1919 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] | |
| Death | 31 March 1937 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] | |
| Hermine Bruck (daughter) | Birth | January 1924 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] |
| Death | 10 March 1924 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] | |
| Renate Stephanie Gertrude Bruck (daughter) | Birth | 16 June 1926 | Breslau, Germany [Wrocław, Poland] |
| Marriage (Eugen Walter Mehne) | 1945 (?) | ||
| Marriage (Harry E. Graham b. Heinrich Ernst Gradenwitz) | 18 October 1948 | Willesden, Middlesex, England | |
| Marriage (Gary Newman) | October 1956 | Middlesex, England | |
| Death | 3 March 2013 | Woodbridge, Suffolk, England | |
| Harry Ernest Graham (born Heinrich Ernst Gradenwitz) (son-in-law) | Birth | 8 November 1904 | Berlin, Germany |
| Marriage (Ruth Philipsborn) | April 1935 | Kensington Borough of London, England | |
| Marriage (Renate Bruck) | 18 October 1948 | Willesden, Middlesex, England | |
| Death | 7 March 1959 | London, England | |
| Nicholas Francis David Newman (grandson) | Birth | 2 May 1960 | London, England |
| Death | 9 August 2015 | Woodbridge, Suffolk, England | |