Saturday, July 28, 2012

ZUELZ Family History (Part II)

29 July 2012


R. Eleasar ZUELZ and Brainchen ZUELZ geb. LATZ

[Originally written 20 August 2005]

Hirsch FREUND’s wife Rosalie ZÜLZ (ca.1800-1849) was the daughter of Eloesser ZÜLZ.  According to family sources (namely, Tante Doe (ca.1979) (Elisabeth Dorothea FREUND geb. FREUND (1898-1982))), Eloesser ZÜLZ was a rabbi and teacher, and was from Posen, and his wife was a great aunt of the journalist and political critic Maximilian HARDEN (1861-1927), who was born Felix Ernst WITKOWKSI, and whose parents came from Posen Province[1].  As it now turns out, this information was partly correct.

On August 14, 2005, after a bout of looking through the newly acquired copy of M. BROCKE’s “Biographisches Handbuch der Rabbiner” (2004)[2], I saw an entry about Jonas MELCHERS’ ancestor Natan Nata SCHEIE.  One of the cited references was in an article in the 1905 volume of the Jahrbuch der Jüdisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft.  I decided to look at that citation, since the entire publication is available on the internet.

When paging through R. Leopold WRESCHNER’s article “Rabbi Akiba Eger’s Leben und Wirken” in Jahrbuch der Jüdisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft (Frankfurt a./Main, 1905) on the internet[3], I saw the name “R. Eleasar Zülz” pass by, with reference to a footnote[4]:
27.  An ihm ist '[tet] 1 71, 72 gerichtet.  Er is auch der Lehrer des erwähnten David Caro (Lippmann a. a. O. S.7), Schwiegersohn des Begründers des [Bet Schlomo], S. B. Latz, und Grossvater des Justizrats Freund in Breslau.  1824 wird er in den Vorstand gewählt.  (Posen C. XIII 38).

Since this R. Eleasar ZÜLZ is said to be a grandfather of "Justizrat FREUND in Breslau", and since Wilhelm Salomon FREUND of Breslau, grandson of a R. Eloesser ZÜLZ of Posen, was Justizrat in Breslau, this R. Eleasar is clearly the same person as the Eloesser ZÜLZ referred to in FREUND family histories.  The accuracy of the link seems likely since the article, and footnote, were written and published during the lifetime of W. S. FREUND (1831-1915).

According to R. Leopold WRESCHNER, R. Eleasar ZÜLZ was a rabbi and dajan in the town of Posen; he was one of five dajanim in Posen in the first decade of the 19th century.

With this information, I checked in “Avnei Zikaron” to see whether Samuel Zwi WELTSMAN had noted the gravestone of R. Eleasar ZÜLZ in Posen when he was cataloguing the gravestone inscriptions of rabbis and their wives in cemeteries of eastern Germany and Poland in the early 20th century.  I believe he did.  There is an entry in “Avnei Zikaron” of the Posen gravestone inscription of R. Eleazar ben Azriel from Zülz, who was dajan in Posen[5].  He died 22 November 1827 (3 Kislew 5588).  I am certain that this is the same person as my great great great grandfather R. Eleasar ZÜLZ.

That R. Eleasar ZÜLZ died in 1827 is consistent with the existence in Posen in 1834 of the widow Brainchen Lazarus ZILZ[6].  Her name in this entry indicates that she was the widow of Eleasar ZÜLZ, whose secular name would have been Lazarus, and who died before 1834 (i.e., in 1827).  While her late husband was a rabbi and dajan in Posen, she is listed as “Kaufmannswittwe” (businessman’s widow) – I do not believe this should be read to mean that she was the widow of a merchant, but rather that she was a widow and a merchant herself.

The footnote in WRESCHNER’s article also opened up a whole new possibility for researching the identity of R. Eleasar ZÜLZ’ wife:  she is the daughter of S. B. LATZ[7], that is Salomon Benjamin LATZ of Posen. So, Brainchen ZÜLZ was “geb. LATZ”[8].

Later in WRESCHNER’s article, he relates some information about Salomon Benjamin LATZ:  he was a very wealthy businessman in Posen; at R. Akiba EGER’s recommendation he created a trust of 6000 Thalers to finance the construction of a school and hospital; he set this up in January 1829; on 19 May 1829, he died in Posen[9].

An internet search for information about Salomon Benjamin LATZ quickly led to the website of the mathematician Prof. Doron ZIELBERGER of Rutgers University.  According to this site (with information from Thomas FURSTENBERG of Belgium), Salomon Benjamin LATZ lived from 1749 to 1829.  Only two of his children are noted: David (b.1775) and Henriette (b.1784).  Most amazingly, there was also a photograph of a wonderful portrait of Salomon Benjamin LATZ.

Also of considerable note is the connection to the WITKOWSKI family of Maximilian HARDEN[1] [10].  It turns out that Brainchen’s putative sister Henriette (Gitel) LATZ (1784-1847) was married to Markus Israel WITKOWSKI (1773-1831) of Posen.  Markus’ brother Süsskind WITKOWSKI was the grandfather of Maximilian HARDEN – so, my great great great grandmother Brainchen ZÜLZ, geb. LATZ, was not a great aunt of Maximilian HARDEN -- but her sister Henriette was.

After years of mystery, it now appears that the wonderful pastel portraits of Wilhelm Salomon FREUND’s maternal grandparents are those of R. Eleasar ZÜLZ (d.1827), dajan in Posen, son of R. Azriel of Zülz, Upper Silesia, and his wife Brainchen ZÜLZ, geb. LATZ, daughter of Salomon Benjamin LATZ (1749-1829) of Posen.

[New information added 19 January 2008:]

A year later (2006), I got a copy of Jersch-Wenzel, Stefi, “Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden in Polnischen Archiven” through inter-library loan and found reference to a file on the last will and testament of Brainchen ZÜLZ, geb. LATZ in the Poznan Historical Archive.[11]  Another year later (2007), I requested a copy of this file (and the file on the will of Bertha ZILTZ, geb. BERLINER) and confirmed that Brainchen was (a) the widow of R. Eleasar ZÜLZ, (b) the daughter of Salomon Benjamin LATZ, and (c) the mother of Rivka ZÜLZ, the predeceased wife of Hirsch FREUND.[12]  In these papers, the family name is written as ZILTZ.

Brainchen was said to be 86 when she died in 1862, so she was born about 1776.  In addition to their daughter Rivka (Rosalie) (ca.1800-1849), it turns out that Brainchen and Eleasar also had a son David L. ZILTZ and two daughters Eva Lina who married Isidor Esaias Schaje BERLINER[13] of Flatow, and Ernestine who married Hirsch LÖWENSTEIN of Breslau.

From the will of Bertha ZILTZ, geb. BERLINER (ca.1846-1910),[14] it was learned that she was the widow of David ZILTZ, and that they had one daughter named Alwina.  Alwina was unmarried at the death of her mother and may have been disabled; she was left in the care of the family Isidor and Charlotte WRONKE of Posen.

Eva and Isidor BERLINER had 9 children in Flatow in the 1830s and 1840s:  Lazarus, Cäcilie, Salomon, Merle, Jacob, Joseph, Berta, Rose and Fritze.[15]  The daughter Berta BERLINER (b.ca.1842) may be the same person as David ZILTZ’ wife Bertha, but in her death certificate, the latter Bertha was said to have been 64 (b.ca.1846) and her parents are listed as Salomon and Eva BERLINER.  Despite these discrepancies, I think it is likely that the death certificate contains errors, possibly based on Bertha’s only surviving child being the not-entirely-well Alwina.

Research is currently underway to trace the BERLINER and LÖWENSTEIN families.  Parts of these families were in Breslau in the mid to late 19th century, and still in the early 20th century.[16]

This note is intended for the benefit of future generations of the family.[17] 


[1]  A very short Zülz Family History was written for my website www.familymemory.org on August 14, 2005, hours before uncovering new information about this part of the family.

[2]  This book was a birthday present from my mother and had arrived from Germany about a week earlier.

[3]  See, www.compactmemory.de, a website supporting research on Judaic studies, that contains scanned versions of the complete editions of numerous valuable German publications on Jewish news, history and religious and cultural studies.

[4] Wreschner, Jahrbuch der Jüdisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft (Frankfurt a./Main, 1905), p. 8, footnote 27.
[5]  R. Eleasar ZÜLZ’ gravestone inscription:
"Here lies buried the lord of the Torah the sage [word not clear] the rabbi the great light the sharp the famous and well-versed in the rooms of the Torah our great teacher and rabbi the renowned rabbi Elazar son of the gaon our great teacher and Rabbi Azriel the memory of the just be blessed of Ziltuk [Zuelz] head of the Beth Din and the sons of the yeshiva and Parnes of the holy community of Poznan [Posen] may his soul rest in peace he died on Thursday eve and was buried on Thursday the 3rd of Kislew 5528. (above this number is written 5588). [note added] In the year 5528 there was no Thursday 3rd of Kislev so it should read 5588 and so it is written in the book of the burial society."
(Translation by Dr. Avner FALK, 16 August 2005).

[6]  See, entry in “The Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835”, recompiled by Edward David LUFT, p.97:
Seite   Wohnort     Familien- und Vornamen           Character                 Datum des Patents
75       Posen         Zilz, Wtw, Brainchen Lazarus    Kaufmannswittwe      6-7-1834

[7]  It is not known whether R. Eleasar ZÜLZ had more than one wife.  From the available information it is only clear that he had at least one wife who was the daughter of Salomon Benjamin LATZ.  I am assuming that my great great great grandmother is this wife of R. Eleasar ZÜLZ.

[8]  I assume that “Brainchen” is the diminutive form of the name “Breindel”.

[9]  Salomon Benjamin LATZ died in 1829 and his great grandson Wilhelm Salomon FREUND was born in 1831.  It is reasonable to believe that the latter was named in memory of his great grandfather.

HARDEN, MAXIMILIAN:   By : Isidore Singer   Frederick T. Haneman 
German author; born at Berlin Oct. 20, 1861. Educated in the German capital, where he still resides, he became well known through his political and social articles in the "Nation," "Frankfurter Zeitung," and especially in the "Gegenwart," written over the nom de plume of "Apostata"; they were collected and published under that name in Berlin in 1892. In the same year he founded the "Zukunft," one of the leading German journals, which he is still (1903) editing. He was recently arrested and imprisoned by the government under the charge of lese-majesty. Harden embraced Christianity when a mere boy. His original name was Witkowski (see his "Zukunft," Oct., 1903).
Bibliography: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon;  Brockhaus' Konversations-Lexikon.   S.F.  T.H.

[11]  Jersch-Wenzel, Stefi, “Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden in Polnischen Archiven," Band 1 - Ehemalige preußische Provinzen: Pommern, Westpreußen, Ostpreußen, Preußen, Posen, Grenzmark Posen-Westpreußen, Süd- und Neuostpreußen
p.184, No. 3803; Archive No. 11591:
Ziltz, Braenchen geb. Latz, Witwe in Posen     1861-1862
[General note:]  Zum Bestand zählen ausschließlich Testamente, die alphabetisch nach Familiennamen der Erblasser geordnet sind und meistens durch Angaben zum Beruf desselben ergänzt werden. Wie die Laufzeit des Bestandes nahelegt, wurden die Akten der Vorgängerbehörden übernommen. [23 September 2006]

[12]  Received copy of file Nr. 11591 from Archiwum Panstwowe w Poznaniu regarding the testament of Braenchen Ziltz, geb. Latz from 1861; there is reference to her father Salomon and her husband Rabbi Lazarus Zülz - Rosalie is referred to as Rifka; there are a son David and a daughter Eva Berliner (wittwe) (will ask Mom to help reading these papers during Thanksgiving...) (looks like her age at death was “sechs und achtzig”) [17 Nov 2007]

[13]  Isidor BERLINER was a son David, son of R. Esaias Löw BERLINER (1725-1799), Landsrabbiner in Breslau and holder of Breslau Stamm-Nummer 117.

[14]  Received copy of file Nr. 11590 from Archiwum Panstwowe w Poznaniu regarding the testament of Bertha Ziltz, geb. Berliner from 1910.

[15]  Information from Family Tree of the Jewish People posting by Kurt FRIEDLAENDER of Melbourne, Australia (Jewish Gen Researcher 16811), based on records of the Flatow Jewish community.

[16]  In her will, Bertha ZILTZ left 8000 Marks to her nieces Else BERLINER and Frieda BERLINER in Breslau to be paid after the death of Bertha’s daughter Alwina.

[17]  This was written with the plan to print it on acid-free paper and place it in an acid-free plastic sheath to be placed inside the framed pastel portraits of R. Eleasar ZÜLZ (d.1827) and Brainchen ZÜLZ, geb. LATZ (ca.1776-1862).

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