Max Borinski

Born28/06/1874
Poland, Schlesien, Hindenburg
Diedca 1942
FatherElias Borinski (03/12/1840 – ) 
MotherRosalie Faerber (ca 1845 – ) 
Partner Martha Haendler (28/10/1876 – 26/08/1931)

Married 23/08/1899 Poland, Schlesien, Gleiwitz

Source

sbc.org.pl - Der Oberschlesische Wanderer, Jg. 72, No. 118, 24 May 1899 page 4;
sbc.org.pl - Der Oberschlesische Wanderer, Jg. 72, No. 178, 4 August 1899, page 3;
sbc.org.pl - Der Oberschlesische Wanderer, Jg. 72, No. 196, 25 August 1899, page 3.

Children:

Ilse Borinski (08/06/1900 – )

Ernst Borinski (26/11/1901 – 26/05/1983)

Notes

Max's place in the Borinski family is confirmed by his marriage certificate, which names his parents as Elias Borinski and Rosalie geb. Faerber and his wife as Martha geb. Haendler.

The engagement of a Max Borinski and a Martha Haendler was announced in newspapers in May 1899, citing Gleiwitz and Kattowitz. Notices of Martha's death, in 1931, identify her as the mother of Ilse Wolff and Ernst Borinski.

Mississippi Department of Archives and History, in its notes on their Ernst Borinski collection, name his parents as Max and Martha Borinski, in Kattowitz.

According to US intelligence reports, Ernst was born in Kattowitz on 26/11/1901; at the time of his emigration his father, Max Borinski, lived at Virshowstrasse 1, Beuthen; his mother was dead, and he had a sister Ilse Wolf in Prague. He attended high (secondary) school in Kattowitz from 1912 to 1920.

JewishGen provides a list of deportees from Beuthen which (on 27/05/2013) includes one Max Berinski. Enquiries of the town co-ordinator provided confirmation that the entry has been mis-transcribed: "I checked the census and the name is Borinski, born 28/06/1874 in Zabrze, resident at Humboldtstrasse 4". The 1939 census also lists Max Borinski at this address, with no other obvious family members. Zabrze's town museum's website identifies Max born in Zabrze on 28/06/1874 as a son of Elias Borinski and Rosalia geb. Faerber; this agrees with the information in his marriage certificate, however JRI-Poland records the birth of Max to these parents in Beuthen on 15/06/1874.

Circumstantial evidence equating Ernst Borinski's father to the haberdashery merchant in Kattowitz, Johannesstrasse

The timing is right
In the 1894 Kattowitz address book the only Borinskis were Louis and a retired Marie, both on Grundmannstrasse. The 1902 and 1914 Upper Silesia business directories and the 1910 and 1914 Kattowitz address books chart the establishment of a Max Borinski, businessman, living at Johannesstrasse 8, owner of Josef Wohl's haberdashery at Johannesstrasse 4 and, by 1914, a gentleman's outfitter at Johannesstrasse 2; all three addresses share the same telephone number (1479). We may conclude that Max's appearance in the address books from 1902 onwards marks either his arrival in Kattowitz or leaving the parental home and setting up as head of household in his own right shortly before 1902. The timing of these events is consistent with his starting a family in 1900.

His parents’ names are the same
An announcement on page 10 of Gazeta Urzędowa Województwa Śląskiego, 1927, R. 6, nr 10 (see below) reports the transfer of the "Maks Borinski" firm in Katowice to one Martha Borinski, businessman's wife. These names are consistent with those given for Ernst's parents in his immigration documentation.

Ernst's father's shop
In a 1979 interview, Ernst said that his parents "had at this time [his early childhood] what you might call a kind of department store of high quality". Max had a large store in Kattowitz, initially spanning two shop fronts, and selling a range of haberdashery and gentlemen's attire.

Martha's death
Within a year of Martha's death, the "Max Borinski" firm was de-registered. Martha had been registered as the proprietor of the firm since 1927.

More about the Haberdashery merchant in Kattowitz


The 1902 and 1914 Upper Silesia business directories and the 1910 and 1914 Kattowitz address books chart the establishment of a Max Borinski, businessman, living at Johannesstrasse 8, owner of Josef Wohl's haberdashery at Johannesstrasse 4 and, by 1914, a gentleman's outfitter at Johannesstrasse 2; all three addresses share the same telephone number (1479). Johannesstrasse was later named sw. Jana in Polish.


Although an advertisement for Max Borisnki's Josef Wohl's haberdashery business in the 1910 Kattowitz address book (page 5/69) gives an address of Johannesstrasse 4, the book's entry for this address does not mention Borinski or Wohl, but does include a Salamander shoe shop. After the establishment of the Salamander shop at Johannesstrasse 4, Max Borinski continued to trade at Johannesstrasse 2.

Salamander was a national chain founded by Rudolf Moos, and as well as the brief business relationship between Rudolph Moos and Leo Borinski, Leo's brother-in-law Georg Halberstaedter also worked as a manager of Salamander shoe shops. The Kattowitz branch was still advertised at the same address in 1936.


The business registration was transferred to Martha in 1927. Following Martha's death, the company's registration was terminated on 09/09/1932 and reinstated on 20/01/1933 under the ownership of Ema Kuenstlinger geb. Altman.

An advertisement on page 30 of Powstaniec, 1939, R. 13, nr 5 shows that the business at ul. św. Jana 2 formerly known as "Maks Borinski" is now trading as Konrad Sidełko.

Sources (click here for generic source information)

mappingthelives.org - 1939 census;
jewishgen.org - JewishGen's Holocaust Database;
muzeumzabrze.pl - Elias Borinski;
JRI-Poland;
tougaloo.edu;
mdah.ms.gov - memo to the State Sovereignty Commission recommending surveillance of Dr Ernst Boriski, "Race Agitator", giving biographical details;
mdah.ms.gov - report by the State Sovereignty Commission into various subjects at Tougaloo College including, on the third page, Dr Ernst Boriski;
1937 telephone book for Kattowitz area;
1894 address book for Kattowitz;
1910 address book for Kattowitz;
1914 address book for Kattowitz;
1902 business address book for Upper Silesia;
1914 business address book for Upper Silesia;
Mississippi Department of Archives and History - notes on Borinski collection;
ms.gov - 1979 interview with Ernst Borinski;
sbc.org.pl - Polak, R. 24, Nr. 287, 13-14 December 1925;
sbc.org.pl - Gazeta Urzędowa Województwa Śląskiego, R. 6, nr 10, 5 April 1927
sbc.org.pl - Gazeta Urzędowa Województwa Śląskiego, R. 11, nr 39, 30 November 1932;
sbc.org.pl - Polonia, 1928, R. 5, nr 136, 19 January 1928;
sbc.org.pl - Polonia, R. 5, nr 136, 17 May 1928;
sbc.org.pl - Gazeta Urzędowa Województwa Śląskiego, R. 12, nr 19, 10 June 1933.

This record was last updated on 10/05/2022 at 20:42