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.