Tag Archives: Germany

Momberg, The Ancestral Town of the Blumenfelds

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The article below was written by my fifth cousin, Richard Bloomfield, who recently visited our mutual ancestral town, Momberg, Germany, with his first cousins (and my fifth cousins) Jim and Steven Bloomfield. Momberg is where our mutual four-times great-grandparents Abraham Blumenfeld I and Geitel Katz lived and raised their children, including my three-times great-grandmother Breine Blumenfeld Katzenstein and Richard, Jim, and Steven’s three-times great-grandfather Jakob Blumenfeld.

In this article, Richard discusses the construction and history of the Momberg synagogue, including the terrible story of how it was damaged on Kristallnacht and of the Torah scroll that the Blumenfeld family rescued and brought to America. Richard mentions many Blumenfeld relatives whom I’ve mentioned and written about on this blog, including Abraham Blumenfeld IIA,  Sitta Blumenfeld Spier and her daughter Gisela Spier-Cohen, Fritz Blumenfeld, Kathinka Blumenfeld Rosenberg, and some of their descendants including my cousins Simeon Spier, Michael Rosenberg, and Alan Blumenfeld, all of whom have helped me with my research and with whom I’ve exchanged emails and zoomed.

I am so grateful to Richard for sharing this article and his photographs so that I can share them with my readers, especially all the Blumenfeld cousins I’ve been so lucky to connect with through my blog and my research.

Samuel Spier and Amalie Adler, Part I: A Growing Family

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The first born child of Sarchen Frank and Isaac Spier was their son Samuel, born as we saw on December 18, 1842, in Schrecksbach, Germany. On March 1, 1870, in Langendiebach, Germany, Samuel married Amalie (Malchen) Adler, the daughter of Markus Adler and Dolce Rosenstrauch; she was born in Hintersteinau, Germany, in about 1849. 1

Samuel Spier and Amalie Adler marriage record, Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, HHStAW, 365, 515, p. 19

Samuel and Amalie had at least five children. Their first born, Therese, was born on February 18, 1871, in Langendiebach, Germany. (Her marriage record states that she was born in Grosskrotzenburg like some of her later-born siblings so it took some searching to find her actual birthplace and birth record.)

Therese Spier birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 514, S. 6

A second child, Lina, was born on February 24, 1872, in Langendiebach. Her birth record reveals that Samuel was a teacher and religious leader in the community:

Lina Spier birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, HHStAW, 365, 514, p. 7

Samuel and Amalie must have moved from Langendiebach to Grosskrotzenburg sometime between February 27, 1872, and June 29, 1875, because their third child Leopold Saly was born in Grosskrotzenburg on that date.

Leoopold Saly Spier birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland
Year Range: 1875, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Isidor, their fourth child, was born on August 11, 1880, in Grosskrotzenburg.

Isidore Spier birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland, Year Range: 1880, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Finally, Selma was born on September 3, 1886, in Grosskrotzenburg.

Selma Spier birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland, Year Range: 1886, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Given the rather large gaps between Leopold and Isidor and between Isidor and Selma, I am wondering whether there were other children born in between that I’ve missed or miscarriages. I will continue to search for any children I may have missed. There was a male child with the surname Spier who was stillborn in Grosskrotzenburg on January 5, 1888, who could have been another child of Samuel and Amalie, but I can’t be certain of that.

Male Spier stillbirth jan 5 1888, from JOWBR, JewishGen.org

The oldest of these children, Therese Spier, married Eisemann Adolf Baer on August 31, 1892, in Grosskrotzenburg. Known primarily as Adolf, he was born on November 20, 1863, in Griedel, Germany, to Mayer Baer and Marianna Stern. Therese and Eisemann Adolf would have eight children, as we will see in the next post. In fact, all of the sources for the grandchildren of Samuel and Amalie will be discussed in later posts.

Marriage reocrd of Therese Spier and Eisemann Adolf Baer, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland, Year Range: 1892, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Lina Spier married Ferdinand Gruenwald on March 1, 1898, in Grosskrotzenburg. He was the son of Abraham Gruenwald and Rebekka Schloss and was born in Allendorf, Germany on May 25, 1869. Lina and Ferdinand had one child.

Marriage record of Lina Spier and Ferdinand Gruenwald, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland, Year Range: 1898, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Leopold Saly Spier, known as Saly, married Lina Wrzeszinski in Labischin, Poland, then part of Prussia, allegedly on April 12, 1907. She was born in Labischin on September 18, 1877, to Adolf Wrzeszinski and Ernestine Lewin. I could not find a marriage record for Saly and Lina or Lina’s birth record online, but later immigration documents revealed some of this information. Their marriage date, however, came from another tree that had no sources, and when I asked the tree owner for her source, she could not identify where she got the information. Saly and Lina had two children.2

The youngest sibling, Selma Spier, married Julius Bauer on August 29, 1909, in Grosskrotzenburg. Julius, the son of Jonas Bauer and Fanny Markus, was born in Weilburg, Germany, on February 28, 1881. Selma and Julius had four children.

Selma Spier and Julius Bauer marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 1426, Year Range: 1907, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Samuel Spier died on September 4, 1909, in Grosskrotzenburg, less than a week after his youngest daughter Selma was married. He had lived to see all but his son Isidor marry and lived to see the births of most of his grandchildren. He was 66 years old.

Samuel Spier death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 1460, Year Range: 1907, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

The last child to marry was Isidor. He married Pauline Mayer on December 14, 1920, in Guntersblum, Germany, where she was born on November 12, 1891, to Simon Mayer and Eva Morgenstern. As with Saly and Lina, I could not locate a marriage record or a birth record for Pauline but am relying on later documents. Isidor and Pauline had one child.3

Amalie Adler Spier, the widow of Samuel Spier, died on February 24, 1924, in Weilburg, Germany, where her youngest child Selma had settled after marrying Julius Bauer. She was 75 years old and had lived to see the births of all her grandchildren.

Amalie Adler Spier death record. Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister, Year Range: 1924, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

The stories of those grandchildren and their parents—-Therese, Lina, Saly, Isidor, and Selma—will be told in the posts that follow.

 

 

  1.   According to her death record, Amalie was 75 when she died in 1924. I was unable to find a birth record for her. Amalie Spier, Maiden Name Adler, Gender weiblich (Female) Death Age 75, Birth Date abt 1849, Death Date 24 Feb 1924, Death Place Weilburg, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Weilburg, Certificate Number 21, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  2. Lina Sara Spier, [Lina Sara Wrzeszinski], Gender Female, Marital Status Widowed, Birth Date 18 de set de 1877 (18 Sep 1877), Birth Place Labischin, Arrival Date 1939, Arrival Place Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Father Adolf Wrzeszinski, Mother Ernestine Levin, Traveling With Children No, FHL Film Number 004921080, Ancestry.com. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965. ↩
  3. Pauline’s birth and marriage information was reported in her naturalization papers, Pauline Spier, Gender Female, Race White, Petition Age 55, Record Type Naturalization Petition, Birth Date 12 Nov 1891, Birth Place Guntersblum, Germany
    Marriage Date 14 Dec 1920, Marriage Place Guntersblum, Germany, Departure Place
    Kobe, Japan, Petition Date 1946, Petition Place California, USA, Naturalization Place USA, Ship ”nitta Maru” Court District Court, Northern District, California: San Francisco, Relation to Head Self (Head), Spouse Irving Isidor Spier, Child Lotta
    Petition Number 87852, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Petitions For Naturalization, 8/6/1903 – 12/29/1911; NAI Number: 605504; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009,
    Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1888-1991. Her birthname and parents’ names came from secondary sources. ↩

Sarchen Frank Spier: Ten Children, Seven Who Survived Their Childhoods

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The first-born child of Sprintz Blumenfeld and Samuel Frank was their daughter Sarchen (Sarah) Frank, born in Momberg, Germany, in about 1816, as determined by her age of 78 on her 1894 death record (see below).

Sarchen married Isaac Spier in Momberg on May 25, 1842. Isaac was the son of Samuel Spier and Telsa Katz, and he was born in Schrecksbach, Germany, in about 1812, according to his age of 30 on their marriage record. Sarchen was 26 when they married.

Sarchen Frank and Isaac Spier marriage record, Trauregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1828-1907 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 612)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1828-1907, p. 5

Sarchen and Isaac had ten children, all born in Schrecksbach. Their first child was Samuel, born on December 18, 1842.

Samuel Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-188, p.8

Then came Telsa, born just over a year later on January 2, 1844.

Telsa Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 9

The third child was Roschen, born less than two years after Telsa on July 23, 1845. Sadly, she died before her fifth birthday on February 8, 1850.

Roschen Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 10

Roschen Spier death record, Sterberegister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen)SignaturHHStAW 365 613Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden, p. 8

Beilchen Spier, the fourth child born to Isaac and Sarchen, was born on December 6, 1847.

Beilchen Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 12

Her sister Jettchen was born almost two years after Beilchen on November 11, 1849.

Jettchen Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 13

A boy came next, Liebmann, born two years after Jettchen on November 22, 1851, but like his sister Roschen, he died before he turned five. He died on June 9, 1856.

Liebmann Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 14

Liebmann Spier death record, Sterberegister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1911 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 613)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1911, p. 10

The seventh child of Isaac and Sarchen was their daughter Breinchen, who was born on December 11, 1853.

Breinchen Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 15

Then came another boy, Manuel or Emanuel, born April 20, 1856.

Manuel Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 16

The ninth child was another girl, Beschen, born June 6, 1858.

Beschen Spier birth record, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 18

And then finally on April 12, 1861, Sarchen Frank Spier gave birth to her tenth child, another daughter Fredrike or Rickchen, but that child, like her siblings Roschen and Liebmann, did not survive childhood. She made it just past her fifth birthday and died on April 26, 1866.

Fredrike Rickchen Spier birth, Geburtsregister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1883 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 610)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-1883, p. 20

Frederike Spier death record, Sterberegister der Juden von Merzhausen (Willingshausen) 1824-1911 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 613)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1824-191, p. 12

Sarchen had given birth to ten babies between 1842 and 1861, roughly a baby every two years. She was 45 years old when she gave birth to Frederike in 1861. She had seen three of her babies die before or just after turning five years old. Five years of loving and caring for a child, only to see them die, while meanwhile probably pregnant or about to be pregnant with yet another child. It’s a life I cannot imagine.

Of the seven children who survived to adulthood, there were two sons, Samuel and Emanuel, and five daughters, Telsa, Beilchen, Jettchen, Breinchen, and Beschen. I am laughing, thinking about how confusing it must have been with all those B names. I would probably be calling out all the girls’ names, hoping that one of them would respond. At least Telsa and Jettchen had names that didn’t start with B.

Although I cannot locate any record to corroborate this, Geneanet.com reports that Isaac Spier died in 1868 when he was 57. If that is in fact the case, he left behind the seven surviving children who ranged in age at that time from Beschen who was ten up to Samuel who was 26, and Sarchen would still have had all  those children still at home since even the oldest two did not marry until 1870. Of course, by that time Samuel was likely working and the older daughters were available to help with the household chores and the younger children. But nevertheless, Sarchen endured quite a bit during her life.

Sarchen lived until she was 78, dying on January 14, 1894, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Sarchen Frank Spier death record, HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 609, S. 5

Now I will turn to the lives of her seven surviving children, starting with the oldest, Samuel.

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Sprintz Blumenfeld, Part I: My Fourth Great-Aunt

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In August 2021, I began writing about my Blumenfeld family, starting with my four-times great-grandparents Abraham (Katz) and Geitel (Katz) Blumenfeld and then their oldest child, Moses Blumenfeld. Since then, I have been writing about the children and later descendants of Moses Blumenfeld. That has taken more than four and a half years, and Moses Blumenfeld had only three children. Having now finished writing about the youngest child of the youngest child of the youngest child of Moses’ daughter Gelle Blumenfeld Rothschild, I am finally ready to move on to the second child of Abraham and Geitel Blumenfeld, their daughter Sprintz.

This is where I am in the overall Blumenfeld branch of my family tree:

It seems I’ve hardly made a dent!

Sprintz had six children—twice as many as her brother Moses. That could mean it will take me more than eight years to research and write about all her descendants! I will be in my 80s by then, and I will still have the younger siblings of Sprintz and Moses to cover. Fortunately, one of those siblings, my 3-x great-grandmother Breine Blumenfeld Katzenstein, has already been covered when I wrote about her husband Scholem Katzenstein and all of their descendants.

But that still leaves three more children of Abraham and Geitel: Hannah, Meier, and Jakob. I am relying on my cousin Richard Bloomfield to cover the family of his ancestor Jakob Blumenfeld in his wonderful blog, Blumenfeld Family Stories. But that still leaves me with Sprintz, Hannah, and Meier. I hope I live long enough to do them all a decent job of honoring their memories, but it is feeling more than a bit overwhelming.

But onward I go, starting with Sprintz. Although I do not have a birth record for her, her death record (see below) indicates that she died on March 26, 1863, at the age of eighty, meaning she was born in about 1783, presumably in Momberg where her parents were living. Her death record also identifies her husband’s name as Samuel Frank, which is consistent with other trees and her children’s records. I have no marriage record for Sprintz and Samuel, but since their first child was born in about 1816, presumably they were married before that year. Samuel was born on August 8, 1788, in Adelsberg, Bavaria. According to the LAGIS entry for Samuel’s gravestone, he was a mohel, or the ritual circumciser, in Momberg, as well as a merchant.1

As stated above, Sprintz and Samuel had six children, five daughters and one son. Their first-born was Sarah/Sarchen, who was likely born in 1816 in Momberg, based on her death record, which records her age as 77 when she died in January, 1894.2 Next came Bertha/Breine, whose death record says she was 95 when she died in April 1914, meaning she was likely born in about 1819 in Momberg.3 The third daughter was Feilchen/Veichen, according to several secondary sources including Geneanet.org, but I do not have one actual record showing her birth, marriage, or death. Those secondary sources say that she was born July 1, 1819,4 meaning that Bertha/Breine must have been born no later than October 1818, unless Feilchen and Bertha/Breine were twins or Bertha/Breine was not 95 when she died in April 1914.

The fourth daughter of Sprintz and Samuel was apparently named Fradchen, and as with Feilchen, I have no primary sources for her. Geneanet.com reports that she was born on December 22, 1822 in Momberg.5 The last two children, Roschen and Abraham, were twins born on August 29, 1825, in Momberg, and fortunately, I do have records for both of them showing those birth dates.

Roschen Frank birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, HHStAW, 365, 628, p. 4

Abraham Frank birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, HHStAW, 365, 628, p. 3

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me trying to establish with any degree of reliability the bare facts about this family. For the most part I need to rely on the records of the next generation and some death records to fill in the gaps.

I do, however, have some records for the deaths of Sprintz Blumenfeld and her husband Samuel Frank. Sprintz died on March 27, 1863, in Momberg, and is buried at the Neustadt Jewish cemetery. She was reportedly eighty years old.

Sprintz Blumenfeld death record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 609, p. 5

Here is her gravestone, which says:6

Here rests
the worthy woman, Mrs.
Sprintz, wife of Mr.
Samuel from Momberg.
She died on the 7th of Nisan [5] 623
AH (= 27.3.1863). May her soul be bound up in the bond of life until she is resurrected at the resurrection of the dead.
Amen.

“Frank, Sprinz née Blumenfeld (1863) – Neustadt (near Marburg)”, in: Jewish Graves < https://lagis.hessen.de/de/personen/juedische-grabstaetten/alle-eintraege/5298_frank-sprinz-geborene-blumenfeld-1863-neustadt-bei-marburg > (accessed on 20.03.2026)

Her husband Samuel Frank died ten years later on May 28, 1873, in Momberg. He was 84 years old. He is buried with Sprintz in the Neustadt Jewish Cemetery.

Samuel Frank death record, Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, HHStAW, 365, 609, p. 5

“Frank, Samuel (1873) – Neustadt (near Marburg)”, in: Jewish Graves < https://lagis.hessen.de/de/personen/juedische-grabstaetten/alle-eintraege/5325_frank-samuel-1873-neustadt-bei-marburg > (accessed on 21.03.2026)

His gravestone reads:

Gravestone
of the man, Mr. Samuel
Frank from Momberg, who
walked the path of the good and upright.
He brought many (children) into the covenant
of Abraham. He died at a very advanced age and
in good repute on Wednesday, the 2nd of Sivan,
and he was buried on Friday, the 4th of the same
[5] 633 ndkZ (= May 28, 1873).
May his soul be bound up in the bond of life.

The posts to follow will tell the stories of their descendants as best I can.

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  1. Samuel Frank, Register of Males Living in Momberg and Neustadt, Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, HHStAW, Dept. 365, No. 631, p. 20; “Frank, Samuel (1873) – Neustadt (near Marburg)”, in: Jewish Graves < https://lagis.hessen.de/de/personen/juedische-grabstaetten/alle-eintraege/5325_frank-samuel-1873-neustadt-bei-marburg > (accessed on 21.03.2026) ↩
  2. Sarchen Spier, Maiden Name Frank, Gender weiblich (Female), Death Age 77
    Birth Date abt 1817, Death Date 14 Jan 1894, Death Place Frankfurt am Main, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Frankfurt am Main,
    Father Samuel Frank, Mother Sprintz Frank, Certificate Number 138, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 10472; Laufende Nummer: 903, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  3. Breine Levi, Maiden Name Frank, Gender weiblich (Female), Death Age 95, Birth Date abt 1819, Death Date 26 Apr 1914, Death Place Neustadt Hessen (Neustadt), Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Neustadt (Hessen), Father Samuel Levi [sic Frank], Mother Sprintz Frank, Certificate Number 9, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 6581; Laufende Nummer: 915, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  4. See information on Geneanet.com at https://gw.geneanet.org/faberh?n=frank&oc=&p=veichen&_gl=1*1c0swom*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3NzM5MjU1OTMuQ2owS0NRand2ZTdOQmhDLUFSSXNBTFp5OUhWTF9JNXNxSVdfNXh4aVU4NlBiYk9QUXVaUloxRk9QYUhFM1NEMTlhdmROOXRMMzlIX2xYWWFBcktPRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3NzM5MjU1OTMuQ2owS0NRand2ZTdOQmhDLUFSSXNBTFp5OUhWTF9JNXNxSVdfNXh4aVU4NlBiYk9QUXVaUloxRk9QYUhFM1NEMTlhdmROOXRMMzlIX2xYWWFBcktPRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*MTg3MjQ1NDM3OS4xNzY4MTM5NTU1*_ga*NDA0NjMwMzI3LjE3MjEzMjI4ODE.*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czk4NjZlYmZiLTUzYTMtNGE1ZC04ZmE4LWJlMjViNjI3ZTZkMiRvOTgkZzEkdDE3NzQxMTE2MzIkajQwJGwwJGgw&#160;↩
  5. See information on Geneanet.com at https://gw.geneanet.org/faberh?n=frank&oc=&p=fradchen&_gl=1*zkxnzj*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3NzM5MjU1OTMuQ2owS0NRand2ZTdOQmhDLUFSSXNBTFp5OUhWTF9JNXNxSVdfNXh4aVU4NlBiYk9QUXVaUloxRk9QYUhFM1NEMTlhdmROOXRMMzlIX2xYWWFBcktPRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3NzM5MjU1OTMuQ2owS0NRand2ZTdOQmhDLUFSSXNBTFp5OUhWTF9JNXNxSVdfNXh4aVU4NlBiYk9QUXVaUloxRk9QYUhFM1NEMTlhdmROOXRMMzlIX2xYWWFBcktPRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*MTg3MjQ1NDM3OS4xNzY4MTM5NTU1*_ga*NDA0NjMwMzI3LjE3MjEzMjI4ODE.*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czk4NjZlYmZiLTUzYTMtNGE1ZC04ZmE4LWJlMjViNjI3ZTZkMiRvOTgkZzEkdDE3NzQxMTE3MTYkajI4JGwwJGgw&#160;↩
  6. “Frank, Sprinz née Blumenfeld (1863) – Neustadt (near Marburg)”, in: Jewish Graves < https://lagis.hessen.de/de/personen/juedische-grabstaetten/alle-eintraege/5298_frank-sprinz-geborene-blumenfeld-1863-neustadt-bei-marburg > (accessed on 20.03.2026) ↩

Meier Rothschild, Part VI: Anna Rothschild Hamberg

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The youngest child of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge was their daughter Anna. And unlike with her older siblings, I was able to learn where she and her family were in the 1930s and 1940s. I found the Palestine immigration files for Anna, her husband (and my cousin) Julius Hamberg, and for two of their three children, Alice and Ernst, on the Israel State Archives website. They all had immigrated from Germany to Palestine in 1934 when Alice was twelve, Hans Leo was eleven, and Ernst was eight. Here are two pages from Julius Hamberg’s application that show their date of immigration.

Julius Hamberg, Palestine immigration file found at the Israel State Archives, https://www.archives.gov.il/

Among the interesting things I learned from these immigration files is that Julius listed his occupation as a “commission agent,” meaning most likely a broker who handled commercial sales for sellers and buyers, Alice was a children’s nurse, and Ernst was an agricultural laborer.

Here are the photos of them from their immigration files:

Anna Rothschild Hamberg, found at https://www.archives.gov.il/

Julius Hamberg, found at https://www.archives.gov.il/

Alice Hamberg, found at https://www.archives.gov.il/

Ernst Hamberg, found at https://www.archives.gov.il/

I was not able to find a Palestine naturalization file for Hans Leo Eliezer Hamberg, but he was mentioned in his father Julius’ file when Hans later sought immigration to Israel in 1990 under the Law of Return and had to establish his Jewish identity to qualify. Although I cannot find him elsewhere, I assume Hans Leo Eliezer must have come to Palestine in 1934 with his parents since he was just a young boy; he perhaps left Palestine/Israel at some point and then wanted to return in 1990.

Hans Leo (Eliezer) Hamberg mentioned in Julius Hamberg’s immigration file, found at https://www.archives.gov.il/

As an aside, the fact that Anna Rothschild Hamberg and her family arrived in Palestine in 1934 helps to understand how Helene/Hana Rothschild, Berthold’s daughter, was more able to come to Palestine in 1937 without her sister or her father (her mother had died). She had an aunt, her father’s sister, living there so did have family already established in the country.

Returning to the family of Anna Rothschild Hamberg, a letter in her daughter Alice’s file from when she was applying for naturalization in 1941 includes the sentence: “The applicant came to Palestine together with her parents and on the ppt [passport] of her father, whose whereabouts she does not know.” Alice was nineteen at that time, and her family had been in Palestine since 1934. Where could Julius have gone? Or is the writer of the letter referring to her father’s passport and its whereabouts? I think that seems more likely, but the sentence is certainly poorly drafted.

Letter in Alice Hamberg’s Palestinian immigration file, 1941, found at https://www.archives.gov.il/

On IGRA I found the marriage record of Alice Hamberg to Fritz Shalom Mayer on February 10, 1947, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Fritz was 35 at the time, Alice was 24. Fritz was the son of Gerson Leo and Alza Sara Mayer, according to the marriage record.

Alice Hamberg and Fritz Shalom Mayer marriage record, found at https://genealogy.org.il/AID/

At this point I have not found any further records for Anna, Julius, or any of their children. Perhaps a descendant will find me and fill in the gaps.

This brings me to the end (for now) of my attempt to learn about the children of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge. There is so much I still don’t know. What I do know is that all five of their children and all of their grandchildren survived the Holocaust, except Berthold’s ex-wife Sarah, who died in a sanatorium in Germany.

Berthold himself ended up in South Africa where he died in 1964, and his daughter Adelheid survived the concentration camp at Celle/Bergen Belsen and ended up in Israel after the war. His daughter Helene/Hana escaped to Palestine in 1937.

Theodor Rothschild and his wife Bettina ended up in Monaco, and their daughter Doris died in France. I don’t have further records for their daughter Ellen.

As for Gertrud Rothschild Neuhahn and her husband Gustav and daughter Ruth, I know they were in Tel Aviv for some time, but Ruth and her children ended up in Mexico later on.

Siegfried and his wife Gisela are buried in Israel, their son Zeev died in British Columbia, and their son Gunther Michael lived in the United States.

Finally, Anna Rothschild Hamberg and her husband and children immigrated to what was then Palestine in 1934.

So Meier and Bertha’s children and grandchildren were not killed by the Nazis, but they ended up spread to all corners of the earth: Israel, France, Monaco, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, and the United States. They may have survived the Holocaust, but their family was torn apart forever. They also were therefore all victims of the Holocaust.

With this final chapter in story of the children of Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothschild, I have also closed the chapter on Gelle’s father Moses, the first of the six children of my four-times great-grandparents Abraham Blumenfeld and Geitel Katz. I started this particular chapter of the Blumenfeld family over four years ago, and now I can finally move on to the second child of Abraham and Geitel, their daughter Sprintz.

 

Berthold Rothschild: More Answers, More Questions

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As I mentioned in my prior post, I received some additional documents and photographs from my cousin Meir, grandson of Berthold Rothschild and Selma/Sarah Adler. Last time I shared a postcard from 1918 that Berthold wrote to Selma from his post in World War I just a month before the war ended.

Here is a second postcard, as translated by MyHeritage:

Postcard from Berthold Rothschild to Selma Adler, 1918
Courtesy of the family

It translates as:

My dear Selma! Received your dear letter of the 4th inst. Since we are in the final period, etc. I have only the hope, expectation and request, [sending] my heartfelt greetings and kisses Your Berthold

It is dated October 8, 1918, and like the other postcard, was sent from Berdowka in what is now Belarus. Obviously Berthold could see that the end of the war was nearing.

Berthold and Selma married on December 30, 1919, and had two daughters, Adelheid (Adi) in 1920 and Helene (Hana) in 1922. Then they divorced in 1927. Meir had their divorce papers, which show that Selma sued for divorce based on adultery.

Divorce papers of Berthold and Selma (Adler) Rothschild
Courtesy of the family

This time I used Transkribus, a platform Cathy Meder-Dempsey recommended, and Claude as backup to produce a translation. Since this was typed or printed text, not handwriting, I assume it is reliable and accurate. I have deleted some of the language and names for clarity and brevity:

In the matter of the housewife [and] Mrs. Rothschild  [Address] Frankfurt am Main, Tongesgasse, Pronounced on: July 11, 1927, Plaintiff, against her husband, the merchant Rothschild, Frankfurt am Main, Tongesgasse 14, Defendant, regarding divorce.

The 6th Civil Chamber of the Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, based on the oral hearing held on July 1, 1927 with the participation of Regional Court Director Cramer, Regional Judge, Dr. Hess, and Court Assessor Dr. Wildberger, has ruled as follows:

The marriage between the parties, concluded on December 30, 1919, in Frankfurt am Main, is hereby dissolved by divorce. The Defendant is declared to be the guilty party and is ordered to bear the costs of the legal proceedings.

The parties, who hold Prussian citizenship, entered into marriage with one another on December 30, 1919, before the Registrar in Frankfurt am Main. Two children were born of this marriage. The Plaintiff now alleges that the Defendant has committed adultery with a certain Miss Teller and moves:

1.) for the dissolution of the marriage entered into by the parties on December 30, 1919, before the Registrar in Frankfurt am Main;

2.) for a declaration that the Defendant bears the fault for the divorce;

3.) for the costs of the legal proceedings to be imposed upon the Defendant.

The Defendant, who is not represented by legal counsel, has admitted the allegations set forth in the complaint.

The taking of evidence regarding the Plaintiff’s allegations—ordered by a resolution dated July 10, 1927, to be conducted through the examination of Miss Teller as a witness—could not take place, as the witness could not be served with a summons.

Reference is made to the contents of the case file as presented.

Grounds for the Decision:

The action, based on § 1565 of the Civil Code (BGB), is well-founded and substantiated. Even though the defendant has admitted to adultery with the witness Teller, the court would not have pronounced the divorce on that basis alone. However, since the plaintiff has credibly asserted that she herself once found the defendant with a lady in the marital home, and the defendant could not deny this fact when confronted with it, the court has also taken into account his admission that he committed adultery with the witness Teller. Accordingly, the marriage was to be dissolved on the sole fault of the defendant on account of adultery with the witness Teller.

Selma died just ten years later. I don’t know when or why Selma was admitted to the sanatorium, but I know that she died there in 1937. Her younger daughter Helene emigrated from Germany to Palestine that same year. The older daughter Adelheid also left Germany and ended up in Amsterdam and eventually at Bergen Belsen. More on her experiences in my next post.

Berthold also survived the Holocaust and ended up in South Africa, where he died in 1964. But I had been left with many questions about his experiences: For example, when did he leave Germany? Was he in the concentration camps or did he escape from Germany in time? When did he get to South Africa, and why did he go there, not Palestine like his daughter Helene?

Well, in the second batch of documents that Meir sent were two documents that are South Africa residency registrations for Berthold, one for 1939-1942, the other for 1949-1952.

Berthold Rothschild South Africa residency document 1939
Courtesy of the family

Berthold Rothschild South Africa residency document 1949

If you look closely, you can see that they both indicate that Berthold last entered South Africa (and perhaps first entered South Africa) on October 28, 1936. In 1936, his daughter Helene was still in Germany and only fourteen. As we will see, Adelheid also was still in Germany in 1936 and would have been just sixteen. Who was caring for them? Meir believes that their aunts Gertrud and Anna, Berthold’s younger sisters, were taking care of them.

The first South Africa residency registration card reports that Berthold was married, and the later one says he was a widower. But in 1939 when he presumably filled out the earlier form, Selma had already died, and they had been divorced in 1927. That made me wonder whether Berthold had remarried sometime after 1927 and before 1939.

I couldn’t find a second marriage record for Berthold in Germany, but when I decided to try looking for one in South Africa, I found this:

Marriage record of Berthold Rothschild and Johanna Glock, Murraysburg, Murraysburg, Cape Province, South Africa records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS27-N3D2-3?view=explore : May 13, 2026), image 50 of 978; . Image Group Number: 008163773

Berthold married Johanna Glock in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on January 19, 1937. She was 30 years old, born in Germany, and a “spinster.” Berthold’s age is listed as 47, but he would have been only 41, so perhaps the person filling out the form either misunderstood or wrote a “one” that looks like a seven. His occupation is given as a shop assistant, and he is listed as a bachelor, even though he’d been married before. Despite those inconsistencies, I am quite comfortable assuming that this is the same Berthold Rothschild although I cannot say so with absolutely certainty. How many Berthold Rothschilds could have been living in Port Elizabeth, the same location where Berthold was living at the time he died 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.

Sadly, Johanna died just three years after marrying Berthold. She was only 33 and died from a pituitary adenoma.

Johanna Glock Rothschild, death record, “South Africa, Cape Province, Civil Records, 1840-1972”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2QM-4WD8 : Sat Mar 09 04:43:23 UTC 2024), Entry for Johanna Rothschild, 23 Sep 1940.

That explains why Berthold was listed as married in 1939, but a widower in 1942. I am still trying to learn more about Johanna and also about the rest of Berthold’s life, but for now I have at least answers to some of my questions. I know when he was born, where he served in World War I, when he married Selma Adler and why she divorced him, when he left for South Africa, when he married Johanna Glock, and when and where he died. Most of the holes have been filled, thanks in large part to his grandson Meir.

My next post will answer some questions about Berthold’s daughter Adelheid, questions for which neither Meir nor I had originally had answers.

Photo update: The Family of Berthold Rothschild

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Two weeks ago I posted an update about my relative Berthold Rothschild after receiving information about his family from his grandson in Israel, Meir. Now Meir has shared a collection of photographs and given me permission to share them on the blog. Answers to any questions about the background of this family can be found in my two earlier posts about Berthold, here and here.

First, some photographs of Meir’s grandmother Sarah Adler Rothschild. You may recall that Sarah died in 1937 in Germany. Sarah was also known as Selma. She was quite a beautiful woman.

Sarah Selma Adler Rothschild
courtesy of the family

Sarah Selma Adler Rothschild courtesy of the family

Sarah’s daughter Helene (later known Hana in Israel) bore a striking resemblance to her mother. She left Israel in 1937, the same year her mother died, and immigrated to what was then Palestine. This photograph of her on the ship to Palestine is my favorite in this collection. It shows her youthful innocence and excitement. She was only fifteen and traveling without her family. The blue arrow points to Helene.

Helene Rothschild,1937, on the ship to Palestine
Courtesy of the family

This next photograph shows Helene working at the kibbutz where she met her husband, Benjamin Kestenbaum, who later changed his surname to Armon.

Helene (Hana) Rothschild c. 1937 courtesy of the family

Meir recalled that his grandfather Berthold Rothschild came to live in Israel for about a year in the 1950s. These two photographs presumably were taken during that time.

Berthold Rothschild, c. 1956
courtesy of the family

Berthold Rothschild with his daughters Adi (to his right) and Hana (to his left), 1956
courtesy of the family

Finally, Meir shared with me some photographs taken when his mother Hana and aunt Adi visited Germany in 1998. Here are Adi and Hana in Hoof, the town where there father was born.

Adi and Hana in Hoof, 1998
courtesy of the family

Here the sisters are visiting the graves of their paternal grandparents, Meier Rothschild and Berta Lorge.

Ani and Hana at their grandparents’ graves in Germany, 1998 courtesy of the family

I asked Meir if he could decipher the Hebrew on the stone and then translate it for me. This is what he could read, as translated:

Berta side : “Mrs. Berta, daughter of Selma, wife of Meir, crown of … and the glory of her children, died on (Hebrew date), and was buried on (Hebrew date).”

Meier side : “Meir, son of Rabbi Shimon, a teacher and faithful prayer leader, died on (Hebrew date) and was buried on (Hebrew date).

I am so grateful to my cousin Meir, my fifth cousin, for sharing these wonderful photographs of his family so that I could add faces to the names of the people I have researched.

 

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 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&#160;↩
  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 August 22, 1927.

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&#160;↩
  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 ↩