In Fred Michel’s album there are a number of photographs that are either unlabeled or labeled with names that we (Wolfgang, Suzanne, and I) cannot match to a person. I am hoping to get some input from all of you to help us in this endeavor. Please leave your thoughts in the comments so others can respond.
First, this photo of two women appears to be labeled either Anna or Minna (on the left) and Franziska on the right. I cropped and enlarged the face of Franziska. First: Is it Anna or Minna? Anna makes more sense since there is no Minna in the family as far as I can tell.
And is the woman on the right the same woman as the woman in the two photographs below it? That woman is Franziska Seligmann Michel, Fred Michel’s mother.
Fred Michel and Franziska Seligmann Michel
Courtesy of the Family of Fred and Ilse Michel
Franziska Seligmann Michel
If it is Anna and Franziska, then the Anna could be Franziska’s sister Anna, who married Hugo Goldmann, and whose family including their three children were all killed in the Holocaust. Perhaps the little girl in the photo is their oldest child Grete, who was born in 1913.
Next mystery set. The first photograph is of Emil Ochs and his wife Bettina Erlanger Ochs, discussed in my last post; I then cropped just to Bettina’s face. Is the woman in the photo below, which is unlabeled, the same woman?
Emil Ochs and wife, daughter of Mathilde Erlanger geb Seligmann
Bettina Erlanger Ochs
Unknown—is it Bettina Erlanger Ochs?
The men do not appear to be the same man, do they? If it’s not the same woman, there certainly is a strong family resemblance, but Bettina did not have a sister, as far as I’ve found.
Finally (for now), there are these two photographs. The first is definitely Bettina Seligmann Arnfeld, the daughter of Hieronymous Seligmann:
Bettina Arnfeld nee Seligmann
The same dog appears to be in this photograph. But is it?
Uncle Adolf and Grandmother Gau Algesheim
Who are these people?
According to Wolfgang, the label on the bottom right says Grandmother Gau Algesheim, so perhaps this is Babetta Schoenfeld Seligmann. Here is Babetta in an earlier photograph:
Courtesy of the Family of Fred and Ilse Michel
Could these both be the same person?
I think they could both be the same person. Do you? I don’t know when Babetta died, but she was born in 1810. Even if she is 80 years old in the later photograph, the photograph would have been taken by 1890.
If so, who are all those other people? The man above Babetta is labeled Uncle Adolf, I think. The only Adolf I’ve found in the family is Adolf Arnfeld, the husband of Bettina. That might have made sense, given the dog appearing in both the family picture and the portrait of Bettina. But Bettina was born in 1875, and she didn’t even marry Adolf until 1900. And the woman next to Adolf does not look like Bettina. And the name over her head appears to be Anna Oppenheimer.
And I don’t think the woman on the left is Bettina either. Here’s a close up of that woman.
Is this Bettina Arnfeld?
Finally, the names in the left hand margin. The man appears to be labeled Uncle Jakob, and I can’t read at all the name for the woman sitting below him—-Tante (aunt) something? Ends with an I? Not a clue. I can’t find an Uncle Jacob or anyone to match the Aunt he is paired with. More on this photo in the next post.
As for the dog, if Bettina Arnfeld was a young woman when holding that dog, what year would this be? Bettina was born in 1875, so if she is twenty in that photo, this could be around the same time as the large group photo with what appears to be the same dog. I am confused!
So…please do share your thoughts with me. It often takes a fresh set of eyes to see what I may be missing.
Brotmanblog: A Family Journey 
neat photos but none do i recognize
Bruce
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They are cool photos. I don’t expect anyone to recognize any of these people, especially since they all died long ago and lived in Germany. But I am hoping someone can help me figure out whether the faces are the same and what the labels say. Like maybe someone with experience in evaluating evidence? 🙂
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Obviously, I have no idea who any of these people are but I love the dog. He kind of looks like Sparky.
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Maybe I wasn’t clear—I know no one knows who they are. The questions are rather do the people I’ve identified look like the same person? That is, does the woman who is Franziska in Photo 1 look like the same person as in photos 2 and 3? Does the woman in Photos 4 and 5 look like the same person in Photo 6? Is does the old woman in Photo 7 look like Babetta in Photo 8?
And yes, the dog is cute. I think he was in Our Gang/Little Rascals.
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That’s a lot of photos. Do you have one in particular you want me to look at?
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Yes, I know…and I have even more! But the one I am struggling with it the one with the large group in it. I am trying to date it so I can figure out who is in it. For example, the elderly woman could be by 3x great-grandmother who was born in 1810. But if the photo was taken in 1900 or later, that would seem unlikely. THANK YOU!
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Oh man, Amy, you put a lot of different sets in here. It gets confusing. Set #1 is definitely the same woman, IMO. In set #2 I see similarities, but not exactnesses. While bone structure can change because of weight gain/loss, the bone structure looks quite different. She also has very distinctive eyes up close, but because the up close is between the two far away pix I have a hard time comparing the two far aways. When I compare the up close with the other photo they look completely different, but maybe next to each other, from the same distance, they look the same? Now I’m on overload!!!! Sorry, we had to help our sweet old man baby kitty over the Rainbow Bridge on Sunday morning, and I have a hard time thinking!
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Oh, Luanne, I am so sorry about your cat. You know I know how hard this is, having just done the same nine long days ago. I hope like us you are at peace and that you can find comfort in all the good memories.
Thanks for your input on the photos. I think I learned an important lesson—not to post too many at a time!
Again, my condolences. Maybe your kitty and my pup are hanging out in the new arrivals areas together.
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I have a feeling that they are hanging out together, Amy. I feel so sad whenever I look at Mac’s photo or think about his sweet little face and how he was always me for something and always chatting.
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I know. I keep seeing Cassie out of the corner of my eye, thinking she is right here. 😦 Writing about her helped, and I just put together a photo book on Snapfish.
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That’s a good idea to spend time memorializing. I wrote a little on my other blog about Mac, but I didn’t feel ready to write too much. I don’t even feel like talking to people right now.
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I get it. Completely.
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