My family tree

At the end of the 18th century four brothers from a Jewish priestly family living in Langendorf adopted the surnames Cohn, Katz, Gassmann and Nothmann. While Cohn and Katz were common surnames, and the task of distinguishing their descendants from other, unrelated families quickly becomes difficult, Gassmann and Nothmann appear to have been unique among the Jews of Upper Silesia. As late as the 1930s most of the people with these surnames living in Silesia can be traced back to the two brothers. But not yet all: I would welcome any evidence concerning the origins of the following:

Loose beginnings

Borinski and Apt outliers

My family's history brings together, among other Upper Silesian Jewish families, those of my great great grandparents Samuel Borinski and Rosalie Apt. The history of these families - Borinski and Apt - is known for at least a further two generations back, and almost all the people who appear in the online genealogical records of the area bearing one or the other of these family names have been found a place on my tree. And yet, in the same corner of Silesia we find the descenants of one Pinkus Apt (born about 1835) whom I cannot place in my tree. Pinkus is intriguing not least because I have an ancestor of the same name born about 30 years earlier, which suggests the possibility of a common ancestor.

Elsewhere, we find in the records Susel Borinski whose parents are unknown. Is she a member of "my" Borinski family? When her son Max married in 1900, one of the witnesses was Adolf Apt of Rybnik, almost certainly the son of the "loose" Pinkus.

Articles

Conditorei Albert Danziger, Kattowitz.
An account of the murder of Rudolf Haase during the inter-war Silesian uprisings
Copy of the original (German, PDF)
English translation

Other family groups

Israel Danziger, conditor
- another Danziger in the conditorei business.
Muellers of Rybnik
- an attempt to piece together Rybnik's Mueller / Mandowski brewing family.
Czwiklitzer family groups
- derived mostly from JRI-Poland records.
Staub family from 1750 onwards - see also Gassmann (HaKohen).
Ancestors of Gerhard Gerrard geb. Schlesinger
and Hilde Gerrard geb. Weissenberg.
Therese Jarislowsky's 90th brithday party - an interactive photograph of the event in 1914 shows many members of her family, including Richard and Irma Gassmann and their daughter Kaete.
The Riesenfeld families of Langendorf and elsewhere

Silesian Jewish cemeteries Photos and transcriptions

We took these photos during visits to Poland in May and July 2011.

Kozilska Street Cemetery, Katowice (Kattowitz) - 565 photos - map
Wielowies (Langendorf) Cemetery - 56 photos - map
Pszczyna (Pless) Cemetery - 142 photos - map

Awaiting transcription and indexing:

Gliwice (Gleiwitz - new cemetery) - 19 photos
Gliwice (Gleiwitz - old cemetery) - 68 photos
Myslowice (Myslowitz) - 13 photos - map
Wroclaw (Breslau - old cemetery) - 34 photos
Zabrze (Hindenburg) - 10 photos
Zory (Sohrau) - 4 photos

Breslau synagogue community archive

Breslau synagogue community address list (ca 1930) - a searchable transcription containing the names (family, given and maiden) addresses and dates of birth of over 17000 members of the community

Index to the 105 series archive from the JHI collection

Gleiwitz residence cards

Index to the Gleiwitz residence cards from the JHI collection - an index to more than 3000 images of personal residence cards containing the names (family, given and maiden) addresses and dates of birth of members of the Jewish community of Gleiwitz.

The cards appear to have been in use from around the start of the 20th century up to ca 1942

Family members mentioned in Wikipedia articles (73)

Person	Claim to notability	Wikilinks
Max Apt (16.06.1869 – 16.12.1957)	Commercial lawyer, chief executive of the corporation of the merchants of Berlin (1903-1920).	de
Charlotte Auerbach (14.05.1899 – 17.03.1994)	Biologist and geneticist.	en, de
Felix Auerbach (12.11.1856 – 26.02.1933)	Physicist.	en, de
Friedrich Auerbach (23.08.1870 – 04.08.1925)	Chemist.	en, de
Leopold (Gabriel Loebel) Auerbach (27.04.1828 – 30.09.1897)	Doctor of medicine and anatomist.	en, de, pl
Gabriel Baer (13.01.1919 – 22.09.1982)	Expert on the social history of the 18th and 19th-century Middle East.	en, de
Joseph Blau (31.05.1861 – 16.02.1939)	Lawyer and notary.	de
Jacob Moritz Blumberg (27.06.1873 – 1955)	Surgeon and gynaecologist and inventor of the Blumberg sign.	en, de
Franz Christian Boll (26.02.1849 – 19.12.1879)	Physiologist and histologist.	en, de, pl
Ernst Borinski (26.11.1901 – 26.05.1983)	Sociologist, intellectual and civil rights campaigner.	en, pl
Friedrich (Fritz) Franz Peter Iwan Borinski (17.06.1903 – 04.07.1988)	Educational researcher.	de
Karl Borinski (11.06.1861 – 21.01.1922)	Professor of German Language and Literature.	de
Marcus Cassirer (1809 – 20.10.1879)	Textile industrialist.	de
Ismar David (27.08.1910 – 26.02.1996)	A graphic and architectural designer; creator of the David Hebrew Typeface family.	fr
Eleonor (Lore) Marie Emmy Enders born Rueckert (18.04.1896 – 26.02.1947)	Theatre and film actress.	de
Eugen Fraenkel (28.09.1853 – 20.12.1925)	Bacteriologist.	en, de, pl
Oscar Victor Max Fraentzel (04.03.1838 – 19.09.1894)	Medical doctor, professor and researcher.	de
Ismar Israel Freund (11.04.1876 – 21.02.1956)	Jurist and historian of the Prussian Jewish emancipation.	de
Samuel Freund (24.09.1868 – 28.06.1939)	Chief Rabbi of Hannover.	en, de
Alfred Hermann Fried (11.11.1864 – 04.05.1921)	Pacifist, publicist, journalist, co-founder of the German peace movement, and winner (with Tobias Asser) of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911.	en, de, pl
Arthur Galliner (09.10.1878 – 12.12.1961)	Painter, art hstorian.	de
Hans Peter Galliner (19.09.1920 – 19.12.2006)	Journalist and publicist.	de
Julius Galliner (03.02.1872 – 07.09.1949)	Rabbi.	de
Siegfried Galliner (25.01.1875 – 03.03.1960)	Rabbi.	de
Hans-Wolfgang (Pierre) Gassmann (15.09.1913 – 05.07.2004)	Photographer and photojournalist.	de, fr
Loebel (Jehuda, Lieb) Gassmann (1778-87 – 31.05.1861)	His gravestone in Langendorf is one of many photographed by user:Pimke.	photo
Curt Glaser (29.05.1879 – 23.11.1943)	Art historian, critic and collector.	de
Abraham Goldstein (25.04.1836 – )	Owned a timber business in Kattowitz and was instrumental in the development of the village into an industrial city. His family built the Goldstein Palace in Kattowitz.	pl
Kurt Goldstein (06.11.1878 – 19.09.1965)	Neurologist and psychiatrist who created a holistic theory of the human organism.	en, de, pl
Adolph Gruenberger (17.08.1864 – 31.03.1945)	One of several people to whom a Stolperstein is dedicated.	de
Ernst Max Gruenthal (26.10.1894 – 05.01.1972)	Psychiatrist and neurologist.	de
Julius Haase (10.05.1851 – 16.06.1915)	Founder of the Kozie Góry Park in Rybnik.	pl
Moritz Julius Hadda (16.01.1887 – 29.11.1941)	Architect .	de, pl
Ludwig Halberstaedter (09.12.1876 – 20.04.1949)	Radiologist.	en, de, pl
Edith Hirsch born Jarislowsky (02.11.1899 – 07.01.2003)	Economist.	en
Julius Hirsch (30.10.1882 – 14.08.1961)	Economist, Secretary of State in the German Ministry of Commerce, 1919 to 1922; professor at the New School for Social Research in New York from 1942 to 1960.	de
Felix Hollaender (01.11.1867 – 29.05.1931)	Writer, critic, dramaturge and director.	en, de, pl
Friedrich (Frederick) Hollaender (18.10.1896 – 18.01.1976)	Revue and sound film composer, cabaret artist and music poet.	en, de
Gustav Hollaender (15.02.1855 – 04.12.1915)	Violinist, conductor and composer.	en, de, pl
Victor Hugo Hollaender (20.04.1866 – 24.10.1940)	Composer, pianist and conductor.	de, pl
Adolf Jarislowsky (17.04.1855 – 05.12.1933)	Banker.	de
Hugo Kolker (1845 – 1915)	Industrialist, art collector, Portuguese consul.	de
Adolf (Abraham) Jan Koplowitz (01.12.1909 – 19.09.2001)	Writer, journalist and communist.	de
Georg Kreisler (18.07.1922 – 20.11.2011)	Cabarettist, satirist, composer, and author.	en, de
Guglielmo Mengarini (27.12.1856 – 25.07.1927)	Engineer and politician.	it]
Margarete Mengarini born Traube (04.06.1856 – 11.12.1912)	Physiologist.	pl
Friedrich (Fritz) Nothmann (18.10.1887 – 18.10.1944)	One of several people to whom a Stolperstein is dedicated.	de
Paul (Pinkus) Nothmann (17.11.1887 – 25.06.1944)	(alias Paul Reno). Screenwriter and film production manager.	de
Viktor Nothmann (11.12.1841 – --.09.1905)	Merchant in Sao Paulo, developer of the Campos Elíseos (Champs Elysees) neighborhood. Mentioned as one of several founders of Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro.	en, pt
Frank Perls (23.10.1910 – 09.02.1975)	Art dealer.	en
Hugo Perls (24.05.1886 – 1977)	Art dealer, historian and philosopher.	en
Joseph Nicholas "Nick" Perls (04.04.1942 – 22.07.1987)	Founder and owner of Yazoo Records and Blue Goose Records.	en, de
Klaus Gunther Perls (1912 – 2008)	Art collector.	en
Isaac Emil Prager (17.06.1847 – 06.10.1905)	Regional Rabbi for Kassel.	de
Ernst Pringsheim (11.07.1859 – 28.06.1917)	Physicist.	en, de
Nathanael Pringsheim (30.11.1823 – 06.10.1894)	Botanist.	en, de
Adolf Peter Rading (02.03.1888 – 21.04.1957)	Architect.	en, de, pl
Fritz Heinrich Rasp (13.05.1891 – 30.11.1976)	Film actor.	en, de
Ferdinand Rosenthal (10.10.1839 – 1921)	Rabbi and doctor of philosophy.	de
Gustav Benjamin Zeev Sicher (21.08.1880 – 05.10.1960)	Zionist, Chief Rabbi of Prague (1947-60).	en, de, cz
Adolf (Andrew) Sommerfeld (04.05.1886 – 18.02.1964)	Pioneering building contractor.	de
Renate Johanna (Renee) Sommerfeld born Brand (22.02.1900 – 05.11.1980)	Writer and psychologist.	de
Samuel Heimann (Hermann) Staub (21.03.1856 – 02.09.1904)	Lawyer.	de, pl
Otto Stern (17.02.1888 – 17.08.1969)	Assistant to Albert Einstein and winner of the Nobel prize for physics.	en, de, pl
Marie Straubel born Kern (30.06.1865 – 20.04.1944)	Campaigner for women's rights.	de
Rudolf Straubel (06.06.1864 – 02.12.1943)	Physicist specialising in optics.	de
Salo Translateur (19.06.1875 – 02.03.1944)	Composer and conductor.	en, de
Hermann Traube (24.09.1860 – 29.01.1913)	Mineralogist.	en
Louis / Ludwig Traube (12.01.1818 – 11.04.1876)	Physician and co-founder of experimental pathology in Germany.	en, de, pl
Ludwig Traube (19.06.1861 – 19.05.1907)	Philologist and palaeographer.	en, de
Moritz Traube (13.02.1826 – 24.06.1894)	Chemist; worked on chemical, biochemical, medical, physiological, pathophysiological problems.	en
Wilhelm Traube (10.01.1866 – 28.09.1942)	Chemist.	en, de
Julius Weil (28.04.1847 – )	Lawyer and writer.	de

The website's genealogical records were last updated: 29.03.2025 14:05