Tag Archives: Blumenfeld

ANOTHER UPDATE: Gertrud Rothschild Neuhahn and Family

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Today I am sharing another update, this time with additional information about Gertrud Neuhahn Rothschild, whose family I wrote about just three weeks ago. I had many questions left even after I wrote that post, including how this family survived the Holocaust.

My cousin and fellow family history researcher Richard Bloomfield left a comment on that blog post, saying, “Did you know that Gustav was first missing and then a POW in WWI? He belonged to the Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 83 – 9. Kompanie according to the records published on August 31, 1916. His return was recorded on May 14, 1918. From the German lists of ‘Losses.’ ”

As always, Richard is a superb researcher, and I am blessed to have his support. Richard sent me the two records he’d found. Although I had written in the blog post that Gustav had served in World War I, I had not researched his service details. I went back to Ancestry and located citations for the two lists that Richard sent me. The first document, dated August 31, 1916, reported that Gustav (misindexed as “Reuhahn”) had been previously reported missing but was now in captivity:

Gustav Neuhahn, Residence Year 1914, Residence Country Deutschland (Germany), List Date 31 Aug 1916, List Number 1131, Volume 1916_XVIII, Ancestry.com. Germany, World War I Casualty Lists, 1914-1919, Original data: Deutsche Verlustlisten 1914 bis 1919. Berlin, Deutschland: Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt).

A second record, dated May 14, 1918, reported that Gustav had been released from captivity:

Name Gustav Neuhahn, Residence Year 1914, Residence Country Deutschland (Germany)
List Date 14 Mai 1918 (14 May 1918), List Number 1894, Volume 1918_XVI, Casualty List: Verlust-Liste Nr 1894 (14 Mai 1918), Ancestry.com. Germany, World War I Casualty Lists, 1914-1919 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data:Deutsche Verlustlisten 1914 bis 1919. Berlin, Deutschland: Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt).

He then returned to Germany, and as I wrote in my prior post, he married Gertrud Rothschild on May 16, 1919, in Hoof, almost exactly a year after his release. They had two daughters, Ruth on March 18, 1920, and Ursula (later known as Tirza) on March 9, 1921, according to what Richard found on MyHeritage in the “Jewish Holocaust Memorials and Jewish Residents of Germany 1933-1945” database. I searched for actual birth records for Ruth and Ursula/Tirza in the Hesse online archives, but the birth records available there do not extend as recently as the 1920s.

The family lived in Grebenstein at least until 1924, as seen in a page about Grebenstein from the Alemannia Judaica that Richard shared with me.  That page mentions Gustav Neuhahn as one of the leaders of the Grebenstein Jewish community in 1924 when there were 53 Jewish residents out of a population of almost 2500 people.

What I still don’t know is what Gustav and Gertrud and their daughters did after Hitler came to power. As I wrote in that prior post, I know all four survived the Holocaust and ended up in Palestine/Israel since they were all registered as voters in Tel Aviv as early as 1944. But I don’t know when they left Germany.

In the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry, Richard found a listing for a Tirza Rosenbaum, born Tirza Neuhahn, born in 1921. Thus, it appears that Tirza may have married someone named Rosenbaum, presumably sometime after 1944 when she was still listed as Neuhahn with her parents in the Tel Aviv voter registry. But I cannot find a marriage record for her on the IGRA website.

When I saw that Tirza was buried in the Menuha Nehona Alternative Cemetery in Kefar Sava, Petach Tikva, Central District, Israel, I searched for another Rosenbaum buried in that cemetery to see if I could find her husband. I found a Manfred Rosenbaum, born in 1924 who died in 2023, buried in that same cemetery. But was that Tirza’s husband?

A man with that same name, Manfred Rosenbaum, who was born in Berlin in May 15, 1924, was interviewed by the Shoah Foundation in 1997 in Tel Aviv,1 and his wife is identified on that site as Tirza Rosenbaum, but I cannot access the actual interview to verify that that is my relative, Tirza/Ursula Neuhahn. Ancestry’s data for that interview, however, lists Tirza’s birth date as March 9, 1921, the same date that was listed on MyHeritage for my relative, as seen above.2

However, it also lists Tirza’s death date as January 8, 1990,3 not in 2012, as listed in the JOWBR. Since these sources—the MyHeritage database, the JOWBR, the table of contents to the Shoah interview, Ancestry’s index to the interview, and BillionGraves—are not primary sources, I cannot say with any certainty whether Tirza Neuhahn married this Manfred Rosenbaum, but it seems a possibility. I also cannot say with any certainty when she died.

Richard also found Gertrud (Gerta) in the JOWBR, showing that she died on December 28, 1973.

Gertrud Rothschild Neuhahn burial record

Once I saw where Gertrud (Gerta) was buried, Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv, I searched for Gustav there, using the Hebrew version of the name Neuhahn, נויהן, and found Gustav’s gravestone on the Gravez.com website. He died on May 18, 1960, when he was 74.

With Richard’s help, I now know a great deal more about Gertrud Rothschild Neuhahn and her family.  I am still hoping to learn more, including more about when they immigrated to Israel and more about their daughters Ruth and Tirza and their families. I will continue to update the blog as I learn more.

Thank you, Richard!

  1. Manfred Rosenbaum, Gender Male, Birth Date 15 May 1924, Birth Place Berlin, Germany, Interview Date 4 Mar 1997, Interview Place Givatayim, Tel Aviv, Israel, Relationship Self (Head), Role Interviewee, USC Shoah Foundation; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Visual History Archive: the Holocaust, Free Access: USC Shoah Foundation, Holocaust – Jewish Survivor Interviews, Original data: Visual History Archive: The Holocaust. Los Angeles, CA, USA: USC Shoah Foundation. Also, see https://vha.usc.edu/testimony/28600?mm=bio for the Shoah Foundation page for Manfred Rosenbaum. ↩
  2. Name Tirza Rosenbaum, Gender Female, Birth Date 9 Mar 1921, Birth Place Germany, Death Date 8 Jan 1990, Relationship Wife, Role Relative of Interviewee,
    Survivor No, USC Shoah Foundation; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Visual History Archive: the Holocaust, Free Access: USC Shoah Foundation, Holocaust – Jewish Survivor Interviews, Original data: Visual History Archive: The Holocaust. Los Angeles, CA, USA: USC Shoah Foundation. ↩
  3. Ibid. ↩

UPDATE! Berthold Rothschild and His Family

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On March 11, 2026, just a little over a month ago, I wrote about the family of Berthold Rothschild and his family, including his wife Sarah Adler and their daughter Adelheid. As I wrote in that blog post, I did not know very much about how Berthold survived the Holocaust but knew he ended up in South Africa. I also knew that Adelheid had been in Amsterdam and sent to Bergen-Belsen with her husband Manfred Samson and that they both survived and possibly ended up in Israel after the war. But there were definite holes in my story, and I hoped a family member would find me and help fill in those holes.

Then, lo and behold, last week I heard from Meir, a grandson of Berthold Rothschild, who coincidentally was researching his family and looking to learn what had happened to his grandmother Sarah at just about the same time that I posted about his grandparents.

From Meir I learned that Berthold and Sarah had had a second daughter, Helene, Meir’s mother. Helene (who later became Hana in Israel) was born on March 30, 1922, in Frankfurt. In 1937 at the age of just fifteen she immigrated alone to what was then Palestine. On the Israel Genealogy Research Association website I located a document showing that Helene registered with the German consulate in Palestine in 1938, where she indicated that she intended to stay there indefinitely and that her German passport had expired. Here are those documents, the passport provided by Meir and the consulate registration from IGRA:

Helena Rothschild’s German passport
Courtesy of the family

 

Helene Rothschild registration form for the German Consulate in Jerusalem, 1938, found at IGRA, https://genealogy.org.il/AID/index.php

Helene Rothschild registration form for the German Consulate in Jerusalem, 1938, found at IGRA, https://genealogy.org.il/AID/index.php

In Israel she met and married Benjamin Kestenbaum, who later changed his surname to Armon in Israel. He was born in Berlin on July 28, 1918, and also immigrated to Palestine in 1937. He and Hana met while they were both working on Kibbutz Ein HaNetziv in the early 1940s. After marrying, they moved to Jerusalem where they had three children, including Meir, all born in Jerusalem. Meir’s father Benjamin died on February 20, 2000, and his mother Hana died on November 23, 2023, at the age of 101.1

Meir could not answer some of my questions about his grandfather Berthold—how he survived the Holocaust, when or why he ended up in South Africa, or whether he ever remarried. He did recall that Berthold came to Israel in the late 1950s with a South African woman and operated a photography studio in Jerusalem, but after a year or so they returned to South Africa.2

As for Meir’s aunt Adelheid (or Adi, as she was known in Israel), Meir wrote that her marriage to Manfred Samson was a marriage of convenience so that they could get a certificate to go to Bergen-Belsen. I am still trying to learn more about what that means. In any event they did not stay married after the war, but both did end up in Israel. There Adi married Asher Zarkover, another survivor, in 1948. They had two sons and divorced in 1960. Adi died in 2013 at the age of 93.3

Finally, Meir shared a photograph of his grandfather Berthold and his mother Hana.

Helena (Hana) Rothschild and her father Berthold Rothschild, undated. Courtesy of the family

I am so delighted that Meir reached out to me, and we are still exchanging emails, so if I learn more, I will update again.

  1. Email correspondence with Meir Armon, April 2026. Also, I found Benjamin’s burial record on JewishGen at https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/notglue_s2.php?rec=J_ISRAEL_bg1089704  In addition, I found a record on the IGRA website that shows the legal name chance from Helene Kestenbaum to Hana Armon dated 1953. ↩
  2. Email correspondence with Meir Armon, April 2026. ↩
  3. Ibid. ↩

Meier Rothschild’s Daughter Gertrud Rothschild Neuhahn and Her Family: How and Where Did They Survive the Holocaust?

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Finally, after a few weeks without a post, I return to the children of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge. Meier was the youngest child of Gelle Blumenfeld and my second cousin, three times removed. I am up to his third child, Gertrud.

As with her brothers Berthold and Theodor, I have also struggled to find reliable information about the third child of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge, their daughter Gertrud Rothschild, her husband Gustav Neuhahn, and their daughter Ruth.

I found Gertrud on a passenger manifest card dated January 22, 1962, for a flight to Houston from Mexico City. On that card her residence is given as Tel Aviv, Israel. I could not find a comparable card for Gustav or their children.

Gertrud Rothschild Neuhahn passenger manifest card, The National Archives At Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At Houston, Texas; ARC Number: A3982; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, NARA Roll Number: 50, Ancestry.com. Texas, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1963

I searched for them all in Israel and found this interesting document in the Israel Genealogical Research Association (IGRA) website:

This is a list of packages sent from Israel to people in Europe who were Holocaust survivors; the program was organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. One of those sending packages in 1945 was “Neuhahn-Rothschild,” presumably Gertrud, and the intended recipient was Theodor Rothschild, her brother, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. That reaffirms the fact that Theodor was in Monaco and also establishes that Gertrud was in Tel Aviv in 1945, but not anything more.

A search on the IGRA site for Ruth Neuhahn revealed more evidence of the Neuhahn family in Palestine in 1944. A list of registered voters in 1944 shows Ruth, her parents, and a previously undiscovered sister Tirza living in Tel Aviv.

Neuhahn family on 1944 Voters Registration list found at IGRA, https://genealogy.org.il/AID/

This translates as:

Yosef Neuhahn, son of Zelig

Gertrud Neuhahn, daughter of Shlomo

Ruth Neuhahn, daughter of Yosef

Tirza Neuhahn, daughter of Yosef

That matches what I know about Gustav; his father was Selig Neuhahn. Gustav’s Hebrew name must have been Yosef. I was confused by Gertrud’s name since her father was Meier, but perhaps he used Shlomo as his Hebrew name. And I have no prior record for a daughter named Tirza or by any other name. Unfortunately, I cannot find any later record for Tirza Neuhahn.

I did, however, locate a marriage record for Ruth Neuhahn on the IGRA website:

Marriage of Ruth Neuhahn to Moritz Neumann, found at IGRA, https://genealogy.org.il/AID/

The record shows that Ruth Neuhahn, daughter of Yosef and Gertrud Neuhahn, age 22, married Moritz Neumann, son of Shimon and Chaya Neumann, age 35, on  February 2, 1945, in Tel Aviv. Both resided in Petah Tikva, Moritz was a clerk, and Ruth a typist.

On Ancestry I located some passenger manifest cards for Ruth and two women with the same surname and addresses who I presume are her daughters. For example, here is a passenger card for Ruth Neumann in June 1959, stating that her nationality was Israeli, but her residence was in Mexico. She was traveling and staying in San Antonio, Texas. She also traveled in Miami in 1960 and in 1962,1 reporting the same facts. Her residence in Mexico may explain why her mother Gertrud had been flying from Mexico to San Antonio in 1962, as seen above.

Ruth Neumann passenger manifest card 1959, The National Archives At Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At San Antonio, Texas; ARC Number: A3524; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, NARA Roll Number: 28, Ancestry.com. Texas, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1963

Thus, in 1962 Ruth was still living in Mexico, still an Israeli citizen, and now visiting Miami, Florida. As for her husband Moritz, one tree on Ancestry shows that he died in Mexico City in 2003 and that Ruth died there as well. I have written to the owner of that tree and am hoping that she can share more information about Gertrud, Gustav, and Ruth, and their family.

If I can get more information about Gertrud and her family, I will update the blog. But for now this is the best I can do. The good news is that it appears that all of Gertrud’s family all survived the Holocaust.

  1.  Name Ruth Neumann, Nationality Israeli, Arrival Age 40, Birth Date 18 Mar 1920
    Birth Place Kassel, Germany, Record Type Arrival Arrival Date 2 May 1960, Arrival Place Miami, Florida, USA, Flight Number 150, Airline Guest Aerovias Mexico, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At Miami, Florida.; NAI Number: A3995; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1898-1963; Ruth Neumann, Nationality Israeli, Arrival Age 42, Birth Date 18 Mar 1920, Birth Place Germany, Record Type Arrival, Arrival Date 19 May 1962, Arrival Place Miami, Florida, USA, Flight Number 100, Airline Gam, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At Miami, Florida.; NAI Number: A3995; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1898-1963 ↩

Meier Rothschild’s son Theodor Rothschild and His Family: How and Where did They Survive the Holocaust? And Who Was Willie Weisbecker?

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Although it was hard to find much about the life of Berthold Rothschild and his family after the Nazis came to power in Germany, I was able to scratch together some basics: the death of his ex-wife in a Nazi-run hospital in Herborn, his death in South Africa, his profession (photographer), the marriage of his daughter Adelheid to Manson Samson at Westerbork, and the young couple’s survival of their time in Nazi concentration camps.

Turning to Berthold’s oldest sibling Theodor Rothschild and his family, my research was also less than complete. But I did find out a few things.

First, a file in the Arolsen Archives included the name of Theodor Rothschild.1 A translation of that file reveals its purpose:

To all German universities

Breslau, 12 February 1941

The following named persons have, on the basis of § 2 of the Law on the Revocation of Naturalizations and the Deprivation of German Citizenship of 14 July 1933, been declared to have forfeited German citizenship.

In view of this, the academic doctoral degrees awarded to them by the competent faculties of the University of Breslau have been revoked by resolution of the Dean’s Committee of the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Breslau dated 5 February 1941.

The revocation becomes effective with this publication. No legal remedy is permitted.

Theodor Rothschild is listed as one of those whose degree was being revoked. He is grouped with those with a doctorate in dentistry and identified as follows: “Rothschild, Theodor, born 16 Mar. 1891 in Hof, district of Kassel, doctorate 26 Sept. 1929.” This meant that Theodor had lost his citizenship as well as his doctorate.

By doing a full-text search on FamilySearch, I found a letter written by someone named Willie Weisbecker to the US State Department on July 7, 1941, requesting the appropriate forms to apply for visas for eight different families. Theodore Rothschild and his wife and daughters were one of the listed families (#7), as was someone named  Berthold Rothschild and his wife Minna (#2). I learned that Willie Weisbecker was a German-born immigrant to the US who was an attorney and active in helping former German Jews recover compensation for property that was confiscated by the Nazis.2

“United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/
ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V386-M93C-G?view=fullText : Feb 6, 2026), image 1058 of 1101;
United States. Department of State. Image Group Number: 008699970
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V386-M93C-G?view=fullText

Although Theodore was described as a second cousin to Willie, Berthold was described as his brother-in-law. I have no record of Theodor’s brother Berthold being married to a woman named Minna, though we know that his first wife Sarah had died in 1937. I thus am not sure that the Berthold Rothschild listed was the same person as Theodor’s older brother Berthold. I did find a tree on JewishGen with a different Berthold Rothschild married to a woman named Minna Weisbecker, so assuming that is accurate, the Berthold Rothschild in Willie’s letter is not my relative.

That made me wonder whether the Theodor Rothschild in Willie’s letter was in fact the same Theodor Rothschild on my family tree. I spent a great deal of time down the rabbit hole without any luck, trying to figure out how Willie Weisbecker was a second cousin (or any cousin) to Theodore Rothschild or his wife Bettina Schiff. The fact that Willie listed Theodor as from Monaco and having two daughters supports the assumption that this was the same Theodor Rothschild who was the son of Meier Rothschild and thus my cousin because other documents (discussed below) revealed that Theodor did live in Monaco. And I knew that he did have two daughters, Doris and Ellen.

But if Theodor and Willie were second cousins, they would share great-grandparents; same if Theodor’s wife Bettina and Willie were second cousins. So far, however, I have not found any commonality in the ancestries of Theodor and Willie or Bettina and Willie. I have contacted a person who has an extensive Ancestry tree for the Weisbecker family to see if he can help me find a link.

In any event, the State Department responded to Willie’s letter, agreeing to send the required forms for all the people listed in the letter except for those still in Germany.

“United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/
ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V386-M97K-M?view=fullText : Feb 6, 2026), image 1060 of 1101;
United States. Department of State. Image Group Number: 008699970
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V386-M97K-M?view=fullText

I don’t know whether Theodor ever completed those forms and applied for a visa, but in any event I have no record of him or his family ever coming to the United States.

Rather, I found on MyHeritage references for the French naturalization for both Theodor and his daughter Ellen on May 27, 1949. 3 But I did not find any naturalization references for either Theodor’s wife Bettina or his older daughter Doris. Willie Weisbecker’s letter indicated that Monaco was part of the unoccupied territory of France in July 1941, and I don’t think that’s technically correct since Monaco has always been a separate sovereign country. But France did allow residents of Monaco to become French citizens by decree if certain conditions were met.4

Although I did not find a naturalization record for Theodor’s daughter Doris, I did find a French death record showing that she died in Saint-Gratien, Val-d’Oise, France, on February 13, 2017. She would have been 97 years old.5

For Theodor and Bettina, the only other references I could find are a FindAGrave memorial showing that they both died and are buried in Monaco. Theodor died in 1961, Bettina in 1982.6

I don’t know how accurate those memorials are, but those same dates and locations also appear in an Ancestry family tree that could be that of a descendant. I have written to the tree owner for more information, hoping she knows the story of Theodor and Bettina and their daughters. Her tree has more information about the daughters and their marriages, but I’d prefer to wait to learn more than to rely on a tree alone. For now, this is all I have records for about the lives of Theodor Rothschild and his family.

If and when I learn more, I will update the blog accordingly.

  1.  1 Incarceration Documents / 1.2 Miscellaneous / 1.2.1 Deportations and Transports /, Glatz (Lower Silesia): Minutes and correspondence concerning the collection of Jewish property, compulsory names, expatriation and deportation of the Jewish population (1938-1943), Reference Code 10007588 Creation Date 1938-12-06 – 1943-05-10 ↩
  2. “Willie Weisbecker, Lawyer and Writer,” The New York Times, December 4, 1955, p. 88 ↩
  3. Ellen ROTHSCHILD, Birth Mar 7 1929, Kassel, District de Kassel, Hesse, Allemagne, Naturalization May 27 1949, France, Notes Cette personne était un enfant mineur lorsque ses parents ont bénéficié d’un décret de Naturalisation, de Réintégration ou d’Admission sur lequel elle a été mentionnée, il est donc Français par EFFET COLLECTIF., Source Les naturalisations entre 1900 et 1963, Decree Number 12302-38, Reference Number H002-NAT1056319, Sources Journal Officiel, found at MyHeritage, https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-14015-409204/ellen-rothschild-in-france-naturalizations?s=OYYV67OZ5BWBQ5GHZXDK3ZTZXZLZYQY; Théodore ROTHSCHILD
    Birth Mar 16 1891, Hoof, Schauenburg, District de Kassel, Hesse, Allemagne
    Naturalization May 27 1949, France, Notes A l’origine cette personne était de nationalité étrangère, elle est devenue française en bénéficiant d’un décret de NATURALISATION. Le premier texte concernant les naturalisations d’étrangers en France est un arrêt du Parlement de Paris daté de 1515: “L’enfant né en France de parents étrangers est Français s’il choisit de se fixer définitivement en France”
    Source Les naturalisations entre 1900 et 1963, Decree Number 12302-38
    Reference Number H002-NAT1056334, Sources Journal Officiel, found at https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-14015-765667/theodore-rothschild-in-france-naturalizations ↩
  4. Ordonnance n° 45-2441, 19 oct. 1945 (Fr.), Code de la nationalité française art. 60–62 (1945). ↩
  5. Doris Rothschild, Gender femme (Female), Death Age 97, Birth Date févr. 1920 (Feb 1920), Birth Place Kassel, Allemagne (Germany), Death Date 13 févr. 2017 (13 Feb 2017), Death Place Saint-Gratien, Val-D”Oise (Val-d’Oise), France, Certificate Number 27, URL https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/fichier-des-personnes-decedees/, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (Insee); Paris, France; Fichier des personnes décédées; Roll #: deces-2017.txt, Ancestry.com. Web: France, Death Records, 1970-2021 ↩
  6. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99379564/theodore-rothschild: accessed February 5, 2026), memorial page for Dr Theodore Rothschild (1891–1961), Find a Grave Memorial ID 99379564, citing Cimetière de Monaco and Columbarium, Monaco-Ville, Monaco; Maintained by: Find a Grave. ↩

Meier Rothschild’s Son Berthold And An Important Lesson about AI

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Although I had a fairly easy time locating the names, birth dates, marriages, and children of the five children of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge and I knew that all five lived beyond World War II, I have had a much harder time finding information about how they survived the Holocaust—did they leave in time or did they get sent to the camps? And where did they go after the war?

Each of those five children presented some research challenges because it appears that none of them ended up in the same place and almost all ended up somewhere other than the United States. So the records are harder to locate—if they exist at all. But I will do my best to trace their histories during the 1930s and thereafter.

Starting with the oldest child, Berthold Rothschild, his wife Sarah Adler, and their daughter Adelheid, one fact I was able to establish was that Sarah died on May 15, 1937, when she was only 43. The death record says she died in Herborn, which is a small town about 60 miles from Frankfurt, where the death record states she was living. So why was she in Herborn and not Frankfurt where Berthold lived? What caused her death? Was it related to the persecution of Jews by the Nazis? I didn’t know.

Sarah Rotschild, Maiden Name Adler, Gender weiblich (Female), Death Age 43, Birth Date Abt 1894, Death Date 15 Mai 1937 (15 May 1937), Death Place Herborn, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Herborn, Certificate Number 74, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 4139; Laufende Nummer: 911, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

I thought that perhaps there was more information in the parts of the death record that I could not read and asked in the GerSIG group on Facebook for help. Ralf, a member there, provided me with this translation:

The management of the state sanatorium has announced that Sara Rothschild, née Adler, without occupation, 43 years old, resident of Frankfurt am Main, born in Rüsselsheim, district of Gross-Gerau, divorced, died in the state sanatorium in Herborn on the afternoon of the fifteenth of May 1937 at five and a half o’clock.

I added the emphasis to two parts here. First, Sarah’s marital status was reported as divorced. I went back to the marriage record for Berthold and Sarah and now saw there was a marginal comment that in fact says that they were divorced as of May 22, 1934.

From the marriage record of Berthold Rothschild and Sarah Adler, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Then I looked a little further and learned that there was (and is) a psychiatric hospital in Herborn known then as Landesheil- und Pflegeanstalt Herborn (State Healing and Nursing Institution Herborn).  I was disgusted when I learned that this hospital was a place used by the Nazis for forced sterilization; 561 women and 623 men were forcibly sterilized, many after a diagnoses of “feeblemindedness.”  Patients slept on straw sacks instead of mattresses. Later, after Sarah’s death, Jewish patients were deported from the hospital to the concentration camps. I don’t know what circumstances caused Sarah to be sent to Herborn, but I imagine that the conditions there and the Nazi control of the facility were factors in her early death at 43.

As for her ex-husband Berthold, I have not been able yet to locate his whereabouts before 1943. As seen below, I know that in 1943 he was living in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and in 1957 he traveled from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to England, reporting that he was a photographer. The passenger manifest indicates that he planned to stay in England permanently.1

But he died on May 17, 1964, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, not in England. The death certificate reported that he was a photographer, a widower, and wanted to be buried in Jerusalem, Israel. Unfortunately, I have not found any further information yet. I don’t know when he left Germany, when he ended up in South Africa, or anything else about his life between his divorce in 1934 and his travels in 1959 and then his death in 1964.

Berthold Rothschild death certificate, “South Africa, Civil Death Registration, 1953-1967”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6Z3Z-F3SN : Wed Jan 15 15:31:44 UTC 2025), Entry for Berthold Rothschild, 17 May 1964.

As for Berthold and Sarah’s daughter Adelheid, I also only have random pieces of information about her life.  I have inferred that she was sent to Westerbork sometime during the Nazi era—that is, the detention camp outside of Amsterdam where Jews were sent before being transported to the death camps. A record on the WieWasWie site includes the marriage certificate of Adelheid Rothschild and Manfred Samson. They were married on November 22, 1943, in the Westerbork camp.

Marriage record for Adelheid Rothschild and Manfred Samson, found at https://www.wiewaswie.nl/nl/detail/111087321

I asked ChatGPT, having been told that AI can be helpful on translations, to transcribe and translate this marriage record. And this is a warning to anyone else who relies on ChatGPT for this type of inquiry. It made several errors. This was the first translation it produced.

Record No. 116. On Thursday, 23 December 1943, before me, Registrar of Civil Status of the municipality of Westerbork, appeared for the purpose of entering into marriage:

Manfred Samson, aged  29, merchant, born in Leipzig, Germany, residing in Westerbork, son of Sami Samson and Berta Samson, both residing in Bielefeld.

Adelheid Rothschild, aged 29, without occupation, born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, residing in Westerbork, daughter of Siegfried Rothschild, merchant, residing in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and Paula Rothschild, without occupation, residing in Baden.

After the required announcements and with no impediment having appeared, they declared that they accepted one another as husband and wife.

I knew that the information in bold could not be correct. On the WieWasWie page itself, it had different information based on the same record. After several inquiries about this to ChatGPT, it admitted it had read the handwriting incorrectly and made the changes. The translation now reads:

Manfred Samson, aged  19, merchant, born in Leipzig, Germany, residing in Westerbork, son of Josef Samson and Zerlina Hoelzer, both residing in Bielefeld.

Adelheid Rothschild, aged 22, without occupation, born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, residing in Westerbork, daughter of Siegfried Rothschild, merchant, residing in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and Sarah Adler, deceased.

Thus, a word of caution to those relying on ChatGPT or any other AI tool for transcribing records: DO NOT TRUST THEIR WORK!!!

But one thing that I did learn from the translation is that Berthold was already in South Africa in 1943 when his daughter Adelheid was married in Westerbork. Why had she gone to the Netherlands instead of to South Africa with her father? I wish I knew.

Manfred Samson was born on December 2, 1923, in Leipzig and was a student of agriculture and horticulture.2 A record in the Arolsen Archives indicates that Manfred left Leipzig for Holland on November 28, 1938. He was sent to Westerbork on November 7, 1942.3

Manfred Samson registration as Jew in Leipzig, Arolsen Archives, 7 Archival records of microforms (new material / document acquisition) / 7.5 Document acquisition in Germany / 7.5.4 Leipzig, Archiv der Israelitische Religionsgemeinde /Mitgliederkartei, Reference Code
754003

Other Arolsen Archives records, one for Manfred and one for Adelheid, both contain the notation “BB 11.1.44,” I wondered whether that meant that Adelheid and Samson were deported to Bergen Belsen on January 11, 1944.

Manfred Samson, Arolsen Archives, 1 Incarceration Documents / 1.2 Miscellaneous / 1.2.4 Various Organizations /Documents with names from SALOMONS, Eva, Reference Code
01020402 220

Adelheid Samson Arolsen Archives, 1 Incarceration Documents / 1.2 Miscellaneous / 1.2.4 Various Organizations /Documents with names from ROSIANSKI, Jozef, Reference Code
01020402 217

Fortunately both Adelheid and Manfred survived the camps. They are both listed on several documents created after the war by the Joint Distribution Committee that identify Jews who were liberated from the Celle/Frankfurt an der Oder camp.4

I had never heard of this camp before but learned that it was located eleven miles north of Bergen-Belsen, so that reinforces my assumption that BB stood for Bergen Belsen and that Celle was just another way of referring to Bergen-Belsen or a satellite camp nearby.

For a long time I could find no clue as to where Manfred and Adelheid went after being liberated from the camp. Then I saw the reverse of one of the Arolsen Archives documents and noticed this:

Manfred Samson, Arolsen Archives, 7 Archival records of microforms (new material / document acquisition) / 7.5 Document acquisition in Germany / 7.5.4 Leipzig, Archiv der Israelitische Religionsgemeinde /Mitgliederkartei, Reference Code 754003

From this document it appears that Manfred (and perhaps Adelheid) ended up in a kibbutz in Israel. But I haven’t found any other records for them on either the IGRA website or the Israel State Archives website. Kibbutz Schluchoth was the first kibbutz created after the formation of the State of Israel, according to their website, and was founded primarily by Holocaust survivors from Germany and Austria. I sent them an email asking if they had information about Manfred and Adelheid Samson, but have not received a response.

It took hours of work to string together this information about Berthold and his family, and I wish I knew more. But perhaps the biggest lesson I learned from this research is NOT to rely on ChatGPT to transcribe and translate documents accurately.

  1. Berthold Rothschild, passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; London, England, UK; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Inwards Passenger Lists; Class: Bt26; Piece: 1382; Item: 67, Month: Jun, Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 ↩
  2.  Arolsen Archives; Bad Arolsen, Germany; Record Group 1 Incarceration Documents; Reference: 1.2.4.2, Ancestry.com. Germany, Incarceration Documents, 1933-1945; https://www.wiewaswie.nl/nl/detail/111087321 ↩
  3. Arolsen Archives, 1 Incarceration Documents / 1.2 Miscellaneous / 1.2.4 Various Organizations /Documents with names from SALOMONS, Eva, Reference Code
    01020402 220 ↩
  4. E.g., Adelheid Samson, Manfred Samson, Arolsen Archives; Bad Arolsen, Germany; Registration of Liberated Former Persecutees at Various Locations (F18 lists); Reference: DE ITS 3.1.1.3 DE, Reference Number: 008804350, Ancestry.com. Registration of Liberated Former Persecutees, 1945-1950 ↩

Meier Rothschild, Part I: Marriage and Children and Grandchildren

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Returning to the Blumenfeld saga, I am now up to the youngest child of Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothschild, their son Meier, born in Zimmersrode, Germany, on May 9, 1861.

Meier Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 32

On January 6, 1889, Meier married Bertha Lorge, the daughter of Salomon Lorge and Hannchen Eichenberg in Harmuthsachsen, Germany, where Bertha was born on April 14, 1863.

Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 923, Year Range: 1889, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Meier and Bertha had five children, all of whom not only survived to adulthood but survived the Holocaust, just as their first cousins, the children of Meier’s sister Sarah, also survived the Holocaust. But unlike Sarah’s children, Meier’s did not all end up in the United States but spread throughout the world.

Unfortunately, the birth records for those children are not yet available online. I found their birth dates on their marriage records and/or elsewhere.

Their first child was Berthold; he was born on December 5, 1889, in Hoof, Germany. He married Sarah Adler on December 30, 1919, in Frankfurt. She was the daughter of Leo Adler and Adelheid Stern and was born on June 29, 1893, in Russelsheim, Germany.

Berthold Rothschild and Sarah Adler marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903, Year Range: 1919, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Berthold and Sarah had one child, a daughter Adelheid Gertrud Rothschild, born on December 10, 1920.1

Meier and Bertha’s second child was another son, Theodor; he was born March 16, 1891, also in Hoof. He married Bettina Schiff on July 17, 1918, in Kassel, Germany. Bettina was born on February 25, 1893, in Gladenbach, Germany, to Isaak Schiff and Dora Strauss.

Theodor Rothschild and Bettina Schiff marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 910, Year Range: 1916-1918, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Theodor and Bettina had two children, a daughter named Doris, born in Kassel on February 6, 1920,2 and a daughter Ellen, born March 7, 1929, in Kassel.3

Meier and Bertha’s third child was a daughter, Gertrud Louise, born in Hoof on March 29, 1893. She married Gustav Neuhahn in Hoof on May 16, 1919. Gustav was the son of Selig Neuhahn and Bertha Marcussohn, and he was born on May 11, 1886, in Grebenstein, Germany. Gustav had been injured fighting for Germany during World War I.4

Gertrud Rothschild and Gustav Neuhahn marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 5258, Year Range: 1919, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Gertrud and Gustav had one child, a daughter Ruth born on March 18, 1920, in Kassel.5

A fourth child Siegfried Friedrich was born to Meier and Bertha in Hoof on September 11, 1895. He married Gisela Katz on June 11, 1924, in Nienburg, Germany. Gisela was the daughter of Salli Katz and Rosa Arenberg and was born in Nienburg  on August 12, 1902.

Siegfried F Rothschild and Gisela Katz marriage record, Stadt- und Kreisarchiv Nienburg; Nienburg, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Heiratsregister; Signatur: Nbg H; Laufendenummer: 51, Year Range: 1924, Ancestry.com. Nienburg, Germany, Marriages, 1874-1937

Siegfried and Gisela had two children. I don’t have birth records for their two sons, Zeev and Gunther Michael, but established their relationship and birth dates from other records. What I have for Zeev is a death certificate that names his parents as Frederick Rotem (Rotem is presumed to be the surname Zeev adopted to replace Rothschild) and Gisela Katz. His death record indicates that he was born April 22, 1927, in Wesermunde (now Bremerhaven), Germany.6

I established Gunther Michael’s birth and relationship to Siegfried and Gisela through the Social Security Applications and Claims Index on Ancestry where he lists his parents as Sigfried F Rothschild and Gisela Katz and his birth date as March 11, 1931, in “Werezmunde, Germany.”7

The last child born to Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge was their daughter Anna. She was born on March 10, 1900, in Hoof. She married my third cousin, twice removed, Julius Hamberg, the son of Salomon Hamberg and Helena Blum, on February 26, 1921, in Hoof. Julius was the great-grandson of Samuel Hamberg, whose brother Moses Hamberg was my 3x-great-grandfather. Julius was born in Volksmarsen, Germany, on May 11, 1887.

Anna Rothschild and Julius Hamberg marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 5260, Year Range: 1921, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Anna and Julius had three children, all born in Volksmarsen in the 1920s: Alice, Hans Leo Eliezer, and Ernst. Alice was born on March 2, 1922, Hans Leo on April 19, 1923, and Ernst on July 19, 1926.8

So as of 1931, Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge had ten grandchildren. Unfortunately, Meier did not live to see the birth of the last grandchild, Gunther Michael, because Meier died on August 4, 1930, in Grebenstein, Germany.9

His widow Bertha died less than a year later on March 19, 1931, in Kassel, just eight days after the birth of Gunther Michael Rothschild, the last grandchild.

Berta Rothschild, Maiden Name Lorge, Gender weiblich (Female), Death Age 67, Birth Date 14 Apr 1863, Death Date 19 Mär 1931 (19 Mar 1931), Death Place Kassel, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Kassel I, Certificate Number 280, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 5627; Laufende Nummer: 910, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Meier and Bertha were thus spared from living through the Nazi era, but miraculously all of their children survived it.

To be continued.

  1. Marriage record of Adelheid Rothschild and Manfred Samson, found at
    https://www.wiewaswie.nl/personen-zoeken/zoeken/document/srcid/111087321 ↩
  2.  Doris Sara Rothschild, Birth Date 06 Feb 1920 (6 Feb 1920), Birth Place Kassel
    Last Residence Kassel, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, DC; Name Index of Jews Whose German Nationality Was Annulled by the Nazi Regime (Berlin Documents Center); Record Group: 242, National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675 – 1958; Record Group ARC ID: 569; Publication Number: T355; Roll: 7, Mosbacher, Eduard – Schafranek, Bruno, Ancestry.com. Germany, Index of Jews Whose German Nationality was Annulled by Nazi Regime, 1935-1944 ↩
  3.  Ellen Gerda Sara Rothschild, Birth Date 07 Mär 1929 (7 Mar 1929), Birth Place Kassel, Last Residence Kassel, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, DC; Name Index of Jews Whose German Nationality Was Annulled by the Nazi Regime (Berlin Documents Center); Record Group: 242, National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675 – 1958; Record Group ARC ID: 569; Publication Number: T355; Roll: 7, Mosbacher, Eduard – Schafranek, Bruno, Ancestry.com. Germany, Index of Jews Whose German Nationality was Annulled by Nazi Regime, 1935-1944 ↩
  4. Gustav Neuhahn, Residence Year 1914, Residence Country Deutschland (Germany), List Date 14 Mai 1918 (14 May 1918), List Number 1894, Volume 1918_XVI, Ancestry.com. Germany, World War I Casualty Lists, 1914-1919 ↩
  5.  Ruth Neumann, Nationality Israeli, Arrival Age 40, Birth Date 18 Mar 1920, Birth Place Kassel, Germany, Record Type Arrival, Arrival Date 2 May 1960, Arrival Place Miami, Florida, USA, Flight Number 150, Airline Guest Aerovias Mexico, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At Miami, Florida.; NAI Number: A3995; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1898-1963 ↩
  6. Zeev Rotem death certificate, Birth Circa 1927, Death Nov 20 1973, Vancouver, British Columbia, Age at death 46, Registration # 1973-09-016282, BCA microfilm # B13328, GSU microfilm # 2050141, Canada, British Columbia death records, found at https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-20459-596398/zeev-rotem-in-canada-british-columbia-deaths?s=OYYV67OZ5BWBQ5GHZXDK3ZTZXZLZYQY  It is unlikely Zeev Rotem was his birth name, but since the death certificate includes his parents’ names, I feel confident that this was their son. ↩
  7. Michael Rothschild, [Gunther Michael Rothschild], [G Rothschild], Gender Male
    Race White, Birth Date 11 Mar 1931, Birth Place Werezmunde, Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date 10 Oct 2007, Father Sigfried F Rothschild, Mother Giseca Katz
    SSN 078284849, Notes Aug 1952: Name Listed As Michael Rothschild; Nov 1952: Name Listed As Gunther Michael Rothschild; 21 Jun 2005: Name Listed As G Michael Rothschild; 22 Dec 2007: Name Listed As G M Rothschild, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  8. Their birth dates and places were all found on their Palestine immigration papers found at the Israel State Archives at https://www.archives.gov.il/ ↩
  9. Meier Rothschild, burial record, found at the Jewish Online Worldwide Burial Registry on JewishGen.org at https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/cemetery/jowbr.php?rec=J_GERMANY_0045635   I was unable to locate the death record for Meier in the Ancestry database for Hesse deaths or on JewishGen or elsewhere. ↩

Sarah Rothschild Adler’s Lost Grandchildren

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As we saw, by 1940 all of the eight surviving children of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler were out of Germany and living in the US, the five youngest all living in Chicago: Grete Caroline, Malchen, Emmi, David Theodore, and Betti Jenny. And all of Sara and Moses’ grandchildren were also safely out of Germany—except the children of David Theodore and their mother Emma Suss.

Remember that David Theodore came alone to the US in May, 1939, leaving behind his wife Emma and their two children Kurt and Lydia, presumably so he could get settled and send for them later. Unfortunately, World War II started in Europe on September 1, 1939, just four months later, and his family never got out of Europe. On his petition for naturalization in 1944, he wrote that his wife’s location was unknown and that she had never come to the US and that the residences of his children were unknown.

David Theodore Adler, petition for naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions For Naturalization, V· 1224, No· 305251-305500, Ca· 1943-1944, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991

In fact, all three had been murdered in the Holocaust. Emma, Kurt, and Lydia were all deported from Frankfurt on November 22, 1941, to Fort IX, Kaunas, Lithuania, and killed there on November 25, 1941. As described on Wikipedia, “During Nazi occupation, the Ninth Fort was a place of mass murder and 45,000 to 50,000 Jews, most from Kaunas and largely the Kovno Ghetto, were transported to the Ninth Fort and murdered by Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators in what became known as the Kaunas massacre.”

How utterly tragic that this small part of the family were the only ones who did not leave in time. If only they had left with David…

David, or now known as Theodore or Theo, however, did survive and carried on with his life. On March 8, 1946, he married Lea Speier, who was the sister of Robert Speier, the deceased husband of David Theodore’s sister Emma.1 Lea had immigrated with Emma and her two children in 1938. She was born on October 19, 1898, to Levi Speier and Minna Lange.2 In 1950, David (now listed as Theodore) and Lea were living in Chicago where Theodore was the manager of a grocery store and Lea operated an addressograph machine for a department store.3

Grete was the first of the “Chicago Adler siblings” to die; she died on January 22, 1966, and is buried in Cook County, Illinois.4 She was survived by her son Kurt, who died on September 16, 1988, in Cook County,5 and his wife and children.

Malchen and Betty both died in 1970, Malchen on August 23, 1970,6 and Betty on December 4, 1970,7 both in Cook County. Malchen had been preceded in death by her husband Fritz Apolant, who died on December 12, 19638. Betty, who had been a widow for almost thirty years, was survived by her daughter Lucie, who died in February 2011,9 and her son Eric, who died on May 14, 2010.10

David Theodore Adler died in Chicago on October 31, 1976.11 He was survived by his second wife Lea Speier Adler, who died on January 11, 1988.12

Finally, the last remaining child of Sara Rothschild was Emmi Adler Speier. She outlived all  her siblings including Louis, Sigmund, and Julius, the three who came to the US more than thirty years before Emmi and the other “Chicago Adler siblings.” Emmi, who had, like her sisters Malchen and Grete, been a widow for many years, died on October 4, 1979, in Chicago.13 She was survived by her two daughters, Senta, who died on October 24, 2009,14 and Elsie, who died on October 16, 2012.15 Isn’t it a bit eerie that all three died in the month of October?

That brings me to the end of the story of the family of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler. It was interesting to me that their three oldest children—Louis, Sigmund, and Julius—left home so early and lived such different and challenging lives in the US. But their four daughters and the youngest son—Grete, Malchen, Emmi, Betty, and David Theodore—all waited until the 1930s to leave Germany, after they had married and after their parents had died. But somewhat miraculously all eight of the children who survived to adulthood also survived the Holocaust and made lives in America. But for David Adler’s fateful decision to come to the US before his wife and children, I would have been able to say that none of Sara and Moses’ descendants were killed in the Holocaust.

Before I turn to the next and final child of Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothschild, I have two updates on other branches of my family tree.

 

 

 

 

  1.  Theo Adler, Marriage Date 8 Mar 1946, Marriage Location Cook, Illinois, USA
    Spouse Lea Speier, Marriage license 1893235, File Number {4bca04a3-4e96-4840-8db8-32454e922980}, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, Il; Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 ↩
  2.  Lea Speier, Gender weiblich (Female), Birth Date 19 Okt 1898 (19 Oct 1898)
    Birth Place Guxhagen, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Guxhagen, Father Levin Speier  Mother Mina Lange, Certificate Number 55, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 2769, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901; Lea Speier, passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  3. Theodore and Lea Adler, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 3239; Page: 9; Enumeration District: 103-575, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  4.  Greta Mandelstein, Death Date 22 Jan 1966, Death Place Cook, Illinois, USA
    File Number 602490, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, IL; Cook County Genealogy Records (Deaths), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988 ↩
  5. Kurt Mandelstein, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 15 Jul 1916, Birth Place Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date 16 Sep 1988, Father Albert Mandelstein,
    Mother Greta Adler, SSN 360014041, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  6.  Molly Apolant, Death Date 23 Aug 1970, Death Place Cook, Illinois, USA, File Number 624932, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, IL; Cook County Genealogy Records (Deaths), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988 ↩
  7.  Betty Jenny Reagan, Death Date 4 Dec 1970, Death Place Cook, Illinois, USA
    File Number 635509, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, IL; Cook County Genealogy Records (Deaths), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988 ↩
  8.  Fritz Apolant, Death Date 12 Dec 1963, Death Place Cook, Illinois, USA, File Number 6231161, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, IL; Cook County Genealogy Records (Deaths), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988 ↩
  9. “Lucie Sable Sandler,” Chicago Tribune, February 26, 2011. ↩
  10.  Eric S. Reagen, Social Security Number 328-30-0003, Birth Date 3 Mar 1926
    Issue year 1952-1954, Issue State Illinois, Last Residence 60659, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Death Date 13 May 2010, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  11.  Theodore Adler, Death Date 31 Oct 1976, Death Place Cook, Illinois, USA
    File Number 625441, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, IL; Cook County Genealogy Records (Deaths), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988 ↩
  12.  Lea Adler, Death Date 11 Jan 1988, Death Place Cook, Illinois, USA, File Number 6000709, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, IL; Cook County Genealogy Records (Deaths), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988 ↩
  13.  Emmi Speier, Social Security Number 341-28-8417, Birth Date 4 Sep 1892, Issue year 1951-1952, Issue State Illinois, Last Residence 60640, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA, Last Benefit 60649, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA, Death Date Oct 1979
    Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181674901/emmi-speier: accessed January 28, 2026), memorial page for Emmi Speier (4 Sep 1892–4 Oct 1979), Find a Grave Memorial ID 181674901, citing Oakridge-Glen Oak Cemetery, Hillside, Cook County, Illinois, USA; Maintained by Klast (contributor 50020942). ↩
  14.  Senta Ferda, Social Security Number 324-16-1544, Birth Date 7 Sep 1920, Issue year Before 1951, Issue State Illinois, Last Residence 60053, Morton Grove, Cook, Illinois, Last Benefit 60649, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Death Date 24 Oct 2009
    Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  15.  Elsie L Carreon, Social Security Number 319-26-0874, Birth Date 23 Aug 1931
    Issue year Before 1951, Issue State Illinois, Death Date 16 Oct 2012, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩

Sara and Moses’ Chicago Five in the 1940s: Becoming US Citizens

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As of 1940, the five youngest of the eight surviving children of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler—Caroline Grete, Malchen, Emmi, Betty Jennie, and David Theodore— were all living in Chicago. The 1940s saw them become US citizens and saw many of their children marry.

Grete’s son Kurt Mandelstein registered for the US draft on October 16, 1940, before he was even a US citizen. At the time he was working at Stop & Shop. His draft registration included the comment that he was unable to “use his left arm normally.”

Kurt Mandelstein World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Illinois, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1117, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

Kurt became engaged to Lillian Greenberg in May 1942.

“Engagement,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1942, p. 169

They were married on September 22, 1942, in Chicago.1 Lillian was the daughter of Meyer Greenberg and Jeanette Brown and was born November 22, 1924, in Chicago.2 She and Kurt would have two children. Kurt became a US citizen in 1943.3 In 1950 he and his family were living in Chicago where Kurt owned a delicatessen.4

His mother Grete Adler Mandelstein became a US citizen on October 4, 1943.5 In 1950 she was living on her own in Chicago, working as a power sewing machine operator in a garment factory.6

Grete’s sister Malchen Adler Apolant became a US citizen on March 30, 1944;7 her husband Fritz Apolant had become a citizen the same day as Grete, October 4, 1943.8 In 1950 Malchen and her husband Fritz were living in Chicago where Fritz was working as a porter in a “food shop” and Molly was a self-employed private nurse.9

Emmi Adler Speier became a citizen on February 25, 1944.10 In 1950 she and her younger daughter Elsie were living in Chicago, and Emmi was working as a dress jobber doing needlework on children’s clothing. Elsie was a secretary in a mail order house.11

Emmi’s older daughter Senta married Eric Emanuel Ferda on September 6, 1944; he was the son of Otto and Rosa Ferda and was born in Cologne, Germany, on June 14, 1920.12 Eric served in the US Army during World War II.13 Senta and Eric had one child born in the 1940s. In 1950 they were living in Chicago, and Eric was working as a draftsman for a battery manufacturer.14

Emmi’s other daughter Elsie married  on April 28, 1951, in Chicago.15 Her husband may still be living. They had three children.

Betty Jenny Adler Regenstein, the youngest daughter of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler, became a US citizen on March 14, 1945. She was also using the surname Reagen, according to her petition for naturalization.16 On the 1950 census she is listed as Betty Reagan, living in Chicago and working in assembling for a machine manufacturer.17

Her daughter Lucie had married Ben Sable on October 1, 1940, when Lucie was only seventeen.18 Ben registered for the draft just two weeks later on October 16, 1940, in Chicago; he was working as a florist. Ben was born in Los Angeles, California, on December 2, 1916; he was the son of Louis Sable and Rose Lipman.19 Lucie and Ben had three children in the 1940s. In 1950 they were all living in Chicago where Ben and Lucie were both working in his florist shop.20

Betty’s son Eric, who also changed his surname to Reagen, enlisted in the US Army on April 18, 1944, and served until April 13, 1946.21 He married Ruth Lotte Levisohn on November 27, 1947, in Chicago. She was born in Hamburg, Germany, on February 15, 1928, and was, as far as I can determine, a child who came to England on the Kindertransport in 1939. She immigrated to the US from England after the war, arriving on May 13, 1946.22 In 1950 Eric and Ruth were living in Chicago, and Eric was a trucker for a trucking company and Ruth was a switchboard operator for a candy company. They would have one child in the 1950s.23

Thus, the four daughters of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler were all settled into life in Chicago during the 1940s, becoming US citizens, working hard at jobs often requiring manual labor, and seeing their children marry and start their own families. Life may have been hard, but they were all safe and alive.

Their brother David Theodore’s story is less uplifting. More on that in the next post.

 

  1. Kurt S Mandelstein, Marriage Date 22 Sep 1942, Marriage Location Cook, Illinois, USA, Spouse Lillian Greenberg Marriage license 1747023, File Number {0e18ea2e-86a0-4325-B39c-Ae75e71e7d4d}, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, Il; Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 ↩
  2. Lillian Greenberg, Birth Date 22 Nov 1924, Birth Place Cook, Illinois, USA
    File Number 6052650, Cook County Clerk; Cook County, IL; Cook County Genealogy Records (Births), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Birth Index, 1916-1935 ↩
  3. Kurt Siegfried Mandelstein, Age 27, Birth Year 1916, Naturalization Year 1943
    Naturalization Place Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA, Ancestry.com. Northern District, Illinois, U.S., Naturalization Index, 1926-1979 ↩
  4. Kurt Mandelstein and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 3239; Page: 15; Enumeration District: 103-582, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  5. Grete Caroline Mandelstein, petition for naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1079-1081, No· 268890-269400, 1942, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  6. Grete Mandelstein, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 3238; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 103-517, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  7. Malchen Apolant, petition for naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1192-1195, No· 297765-298328, 1943, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  8. Fritz David Apolant, petition for naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1192-1195, No· 297765-298328, 1943, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  9. Fritz and Molly Apolant, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 3239; Page: 7; Enumeration District: 103-560, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  10. Emmi Adler Speier, petition for naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1180-1183, No· 295150-295735, 1943, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  11. Emmi Speier, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 3239; Page: 74; Enumeration District: 103-554,Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  12.  Senta Speier, Marriage Date 6 Sep 1944, Marriage Location Cook, Illinois, USA
    Spouse Eric E. Ferda, Marriage license 1826963, File Number {A945cdff-9cae-4d9e-8589-71a339e706e1}, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, Il; Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960; Otto Ferda, petition for naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions For Naturalization, V· 1260, No· 313301-313500, Ca· 1944-1945, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  13.  Eric E Ferda, Gender Male, Birth Date 14 Jun 1920, Death Date 2 Jun 1985
    SSN 327167843, Enlistment Branch Army, Enlistment Date 16 Jan 1943, Discharge Date 8 Feb 1946, Page number 4, U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs; United States; U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs Birls Death File, 1850-2022; URL: https://www.va.gov/, Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2020 ↩
  14. Eric Ferda and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 3239; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 103-560, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  15.  Elsie Lee Spere, Marriage Date 28 Apr 1951, Marriage Location Cook, Illinois, USA, Spouse Michael L. Carreon, Marriage license 2179652, File Number {71ad17b5-2c49-48ad-Beca-364cab2f0042}, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, Il; Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 ↩
  16. Betty Jenny Regenstein, petition for naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Description: Petitions, V· 1243-1245, No· 309401-309950, 1944, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  17. Betty Reagan, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 1910; Page: 5; Enumeration District: 103-4933, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  18.  Lucie J Regenstein, Marriage Date 1 Oct 1940, Marriage Location Cook, Illinois, USA, Spouse Benny Sable Marriage license 1657215 File Number {F9dc5d24-C011-4931-9897-5a41ad9780d4}, Cook County Clerk; Chicago, Il; Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages), Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 ↩
  19.  Benny Sable, Birth Date 2 Dec 1916, Birth Place Los Angeles, California, USA
    Residence Place Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA, Registration Date 16 Oct 1940
    Registration Place Illinois, USA, Employer Self Florist, Next of Kin Lucie Sable
    Household Members (Name) Relationship, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Illinois, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1560, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947; Benjamin Sable , Birth Date 2 Dec 1916, Gender Male, Mother’s Maiden Name Lipman, Birth County Los  Angeles, Birthdate: 2 Dec 1916; Birth County: Los Angeles, Ancestry.com. California Birth Index, 1905-1995 ↩
  20. Ben Sable and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 6251; Enumeration District: 103-4568, Enumeration District: 103-4568; Description: Chicago city – That part of Ward 47 (Tract 43-part) Bounded by W. Lawrence Ave.; N. Washtenaw Ave., W. Giddings, N. Virginia Ave.; W. Wilson Ave.; North Shore Channel (N. Branch of Chicago River). This Enumeration District consists of the following blocks: 7, 9, 18, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  21. Eric S Reagen, Gender Male, Birth Date 3 Mar 1927, Death Date 13 May 2010
    SSN 328300003, Enlistment Branch Army, Enlistment Date 18 Apr 1944, Discharge Date 13 Apr 1946, Page number 2, U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs; United States; U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs Birls Death File, 1850-2022; URL: https://www.va.gov/, Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2020 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. ↩
  22. Ruth Reagan, petition for naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1336-1338, No· 331235-331716, 1945, n
    Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991; Ruth Levisohn, Gender Female, Record Type Refugee List, Document Date 30 Jun 1939
    Document Place Berlin, Permit Number 6845,United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Washington, D.C.; Series: Selected Records Relating to Kindertransports; Record Group: RG-59.075; File Number: mh55-704.00000125; Ancestry.com. UK, Selected Records Relating to Kindertransport, 1938-1939 (USHMM) ↩
  23. Eric Reagan, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 4216; Page: 73; Enumeration District: 103-4474, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩

Sara and Moses Adler’s Younger Children: The Chicago Five

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As of 1933 when Hitler came to power in Germany, five of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler’s surviving children were still living in Germany: Caroline (Grete), Malchen, Emmi, David Theodore, and Betty. Their oldest three children—Louis, Sigmund, and Julius—had long ago emigrated to the United States. Fortunately, all five of those still in Germany were able to leave in time.

Interestingly, Betti, the youngest of those still in Germany, was the first to leave. She, her husband Marx Regenstein, and their two children Lucie and Erich sailed from Cherbourg, France, on April 29, 1936, and arrived in New York on May 6, 1936. Notice that all the first names were changed on the manifest. Marx became Max, Betti became Jenny, and Lucie was no longer Johanna, Erich no longer Siegfried. Max listed his occupation as a merchant on the ship manifest. They listed their destination as Leavenworth, Kansas, identifying Betti/Jenny’s brother Louis Adler as the person they were going to.

Regenstein family passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Berengaria, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

Regenstein family passenger manifest p 2

I found it heartwarming to learn that Louis, who had left his family behind in 1900 when he was fifteen, was still in touch with his siblings back home. Just as he had taken in his brother Julius after Julius lost his first wife, Louis once again seemed to take on the role of assisting a sibling. In January 1938, when Betty declared her intention to become a US citizen, she and her family were still living in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Betti Jenny Regenstein Declaration of Intention, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1243-1245, No· 309401-309950, 1944, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991

But two years later in 1940, Betti (now listed as Jennie), Marx (now Max), and their children Lucie and Eric were living in Covert, Michigan, where Max was working as a farmer. I don’t know what drew them to that location. In 1935 they’d been living in Chicago, according to the census report. At first I thought it was Betti/Jenny’s brother Sigmund who had drawn them to Michigan since at one point he had been living in Ishpeming, Michigan, but that is very distant from Covert, and besides, by 1940 Sigmund was living in Connecticut.

Regenstein family, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Covert, Van Buren, Michigan; Roll: m-t0627-01822; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 80-13, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census

The next Adler siblings to leave Germany were Caroline Grete and Malchen. They sailed together from Cherbourg on April 14, 1937, with Malchen (Mally)’s husband Fritz Apolant and Caroline (Karoline) Grete’s son Kurt. Caroline’s husband Albert Mandelstein had died on October 20, 1934, in Grebenstein; he was 79.1 Fritz listed his occupation as a manufacturer’s agent, and Kurt Mandelstein, who was twenty, listed his as a merchant. Like Betti before them, they all listed Leavenworth, Kansas, as their destination, and Louis Adler as the person to whom they were going.

Mandelstein and Apolant passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Queen Mary, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

I have to confess that until I saw this ship manifest, I’d had no idea that Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler had a daughter named Caroline Grete. Somehow in my initial search for their children, Caroline had eluded me. It was only when I saw her listed on that ship manifest that I realized I’d missed a child and went back and found her records.

I don’t know whether or not Caroline or Malchen ever actually went to or lived in Leavenworth, Kansas. When Caroline filed her declaration of intention on October 20, 1937, just six months after arriving in New York on April 19, 1937, she and her son Kurt were living in Chicago, Illinois.

Similarly, when Malchen’s husband Fritz Apolant filed his declaration of intention on October 14, 1937, they were living in Chicago.

Fritz David Apolant declaration of intention, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21
Petitions, V· 1079-1081, No· 268890-269400, 1942, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991

I don’t know what drew them to Chicago, but I did notice that one of the witnesses on Malchen’s naturalization papers was a man named Benjamin “Nandelstein.” Perhaps that was really Mandelstein, as the signature appears to be, and this was a relative of her sister Caroline’s deceased husband Albert Mandelstein.

Affidavit of Witnesses for Malchen Apolant naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1192-1195, No· 297765-298328, 1943, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991

In any event, in 1940, Fritz, Malchen (Mally), Caroline (Grete now), and Kurt were all living together in Chicago, and all four were working. Fritz was an egg salesman, Mally a nurse for a private patient, Grete a cook in a private home, and Kurt a clerk in a retail grocery store.

Apolant and Mandelstein on 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00929; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 103-268, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census

The next sibling to arrive in the US was Emmi Adler Speier. Like her older sister Caroline Grete, Emmi was a widow when she immigrated to the US. Her husband Robert Speier had died on May 15, 1937, in Guxhagen, Germany; he was only 47 when he died.2 Emmi and her two children, Ilse/Elsie and Senta, and her sister-in-law Lea Speier all sailed from Easthampton, England, on June 29, 1938. They arrived in New York on July 4, 1938, an auspicious date to arrive in the US. Like her other sisters, Emmi listed her brother Louis as the person she was going to and Leavenworth, Kansas, as her destination. She listed her brother T. [Theodore] Adler as the person she left behind.

Speier family passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Queen Mary, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

But Emmi and her children also did not end up in Leavenworth for long, if at all. By November 19, 1938, she also was living in Chicago, as were her two daughters.

Emmi Adler Speier declaration of intention, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21
Petitions, V· 1180-1183, No· 295150-295735, 1943, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991

In 1940, Emmi was living in Chicago with Ilse and Senta, along with three lodgers. Ilse was working as a dressmaker.3

Finally, the last sibling to arrive was the remaining son of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler, their son David Theodore Adler. He sailed without his wife Emma on April 30, 1939, arriving in New York on May 8, 1939. He listed his wife Emma as the person he had left behind and his brother Louis Adler in Leavenworth, Texas, as the person he was heading to; his occupation was a dealer.4 David did in fact go to Leavenworth, where on September 29, 1939, he filed his declaration of intention. He listed his occupation as a farmer.

David Theodore Adler declaration of intention, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21
Petitions For Naturalization, V· 1224, No· 305251-305500, Ca· 1943-1944, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991

But in 1940, like his other siblings Grete (Caroline), Malchen, Emmi, and Betty, David Theodore (now just using Theodore) was living in Chicago, working as a laborer doing odd jobs.5

All five of the younger children of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler were reunited in one city. What would their lives in America bring for them and their children?

To be continued.

 

  1. Albert Mandelstein, Gender männlich (Male), Death Age 79, Birth Date abt 1855
    Death Date 20 Okt 1934 (20 Oct 1934), Death Place Grebenstein, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland​​​ (Germany), Civil Registration Office Grebenstein, Spouse Grete
    Certificate Number 27, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 3080; Laufende Nummer: 909, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  2. Robert Speier, Death Age 48[sic], Birth Date 15 Sept 1889, Death Date 15 Mai 1937 (15 May 1937), Death Place Guxhagen, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany, Civil Registration Office Guxhagen, Certificate Number 12, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 2869; Laufende Nummer: 920, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  3. Emmi Speier, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00929; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 103-267, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  4. David Adler, passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: New York, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  5. Theodore Adler, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00930; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 103-303, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩

Sara and Moses’ Five Younger Children Back in Germany

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[FYI—this post should have preceded the one posted yesterday. Sorry about that! I will blame being in Florida…]

We have seen that the oldest three children of Sara Rothschild and Moses Adler—Louis, Sigmund, and Julius—all came to the US around the turn of the century as teenagers. But what about their younger siblings? And their parents?

Back in Germany, Caroline Grete Rothschild, the second oldest daughter, married Albert Abraham Mandelstein on October 23, 1911, in Grebenstein. Albert was born in Grebenstein on June 2, 1855, to Berr Mandelstein and Sarchen Katzenstein. He was 56 years old when he married Caroline while she was only 22. (Albert was a widower.) Caroline and Albert had one child, a son Kurt Siegfried Mandelstein, born on July 15, 1916, in Kassel, Germany.1

Caroline Adler and Albert Mandelstein marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 2997, Year Range: 1911, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

The next child to marry was the third oldest daughter Emmi. She married Robert Speier on August 26, 1919, in Grebenstein. Robert was born on September 15, 1889, in Guxhagen, Germany to Levi Speier and Mina Lange. Emmi and Robert had two children, Senta, born on September 7, 1920, and Elsie, born August 23, 1931.2

Emmi Adler and Robert Speier marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 3005, Year Range: 1919, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Less than three months after Emmi’s wedding, her mother Sara Rothschild Adler died in Grebenstein on November 10, 1919, at the age of sixty.

Sara Rothschild Adler death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 3065; Laufende Nummer: 909, Year Range: 1919, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

The next child to marry was the oldest daughter Malchen. She married Fritz David Apolant on December 24, 1920, in Grebenstein. Fritz was born on December 23, 1880, in Stettin, Germany (now a city in Poland). I am not certain of his parents’ names; one unsourced tree on Ancestry records their names as Samuel and Minna Apolant, but I don’t know if that is accurate. Malchen and Fritz did not have any children.

Malchen Adler and Fritz David Apolant marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 3006, Year Range: 1920, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

David Theodore Adler, the eighth of Sara and Moses’ children, married Emma Suss, on February 7, 1921, in Watzenborn-Steinberg, Germany. Emma was the daughter of Joseph and Johanna Suss and was born on September 19, 1894, in Watzenborn. Emma and David Theodore (known later primarily as Theodore) had two children, Kurt, born October 25, 1922, and Lydia, born August 15, 1927, both in Watzenborn.3

David Theodore Adler and Emma Suss marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 905; Laufende Nummer: 1407, Year Range: 1915-1925, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Finally, the last child to marry was Bettt Adler. She married Marx Regenstein on June 24, 1921, just a few months after her brother David Theodore was married. Marx was born September 5, 1895, in Leeheim, Germany, to Joseph Regenstein and Johannette Wolf.4 Bettt and Marx had two children, Lucie Johanna, born March 31, 1923, and Eric, born March 3, 1926, both in Grebenstein, Germany.5

Betti Adler and Marx Regenstein marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 3007, Year Range: 1921, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Moses Adler died in Grebenstein on June 21, 1927.5 He was 69. He had outlived his wife Sara Rothschild and two of his ten children.  By 1927, all eight of his surviving children were married (three in the US, five in Germany) and almost all of his grandchildren were born.

Moses Adler died before Hitler came to power and disrupted all of their lives. He and Sara didn’t live to know that their five children still in Germany would escape from Nazi Germany and join their brothers in the United States as Americans. They didn’t know that all of their children and almost all of their grandchildren would survive the Holocaust.

Those stories continue in the next post.

  1. Kurt Ste Mandelstein, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 15 Jul 1916, Birth Place Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date 16 Sep 1988, Father Albert Mandelstein, Mother Greta Adler, SSN 360014041, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007; Caroline Grete Mandelstein, Declaration of Intention, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1079-1081, No· 268890-269400, 1942, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  2. Emmi Adler Speier, Petition for Naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21; Petitions, V· 1180-1183, No· 295150-295735, 1943, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  3. David Theodore Adler, Petition for Naturalization, National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: M1285; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Petitions, V· 1223-1226, No· 305014-305575, 1944, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 ↩
  4. Marx Regenstein birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 906; Laufende Nummer: 346, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901 ↩
  5. Moses Adler, Death Age 69, Birth Date abt 1858, Death Date 21 Jun 1927
    Death Place Grebenstein, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland​​​ (Germany), Civil Registration Office Grebenstein, Certificate Number 31, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 3073; Laufende Nummer: 909, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩ ↩