It was only 6 weeks ago, but the series of events is already a little fuzzy. I think I went to look at the Elbing Jewish community records (LDS microfilm no. 742026) to follow-up on the preceding week's discovery of a new great great great aunt Helene LAUDON who had married in Rosenberg to Adolph BLUM of Elbing. (They had a daughter Rosa in Elbing in 1869.)
In looking through the Elbing records, I ran across the 1860 marriage of Jacob FALKENHEIM and Mathilde COHN. Mathilde's parents were Moses Abraham COHN and Therese LAZARUS. A quick check of the family confirmed that this was the same Moses Abraham COHN who was a son of Abraham COHN and Michle LATZ, my great great great great aunt, daughter of Salomon Benjamin LATZ of Posen.
I had not expected to be able trace the family of Moses Abraham COHN because the name seemed that it would be too common, particularly in the sea of COHNs who would have been living in Berlin in the 19th century. But, all of a sudden, a new door opened up -- in the West Prussian town of Elbing.
The FALKENHEIM named seemed familiar, but possibly not truly so to me (and not just because it starts with FALK...). A quick internet search led to many hits for Dr. Hugo FALKENHEIM (1856-1945), a Königsberg pediatrician and eventual leader, and last leader, of the Königsberg Jewish community. I was not able to learn online whether Salomon FALKENHEIM was part of the same family as Hugo, but I was able to trace Hugo's family from Königsberg to Rochester to California and Alaska (and back to California).
After finding a 2007 obituary of one of Hugo's granddaughters, I found an e-mail address for one of the daughters mentioned in the obituary. The recipient forwarded my inquiry to her sister and that led to a great correspondence -- and information from a FALKENHEIM Stammbaum prepared by Hugo FALKENHEIM and his son Albert. (Hugo and another son Curt were both pediatricians and were members of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinderheilkunde und Jugendmedizin (DGKJ), and both have entries in Dr. Eduard SEIDLER's book on the fate of the Jewish former members of the Association. Like my grandfather Dr. Walther FREUND in 1932, Dr. Hugo FALKENHEIM was head of the DGKJ in 1911.)
The next step came from a simple search on the name of the new second cousin three-times-removed Mathilde FALKENHEIM geb. COHN. One of the first hits was from www.gravestonephotos.com, a website with a wide-ranging collection of gravestone photographs. There was information from, and a very small photograph of, the gravestone of Mathilde -- and Salomon FALKENHEIM (1799-1881) and Johanna FALKENHEIM geb. CANTORSON (1809-1886). These gravestones are side by side along a path in the Schönhauser Allee cemetery in Berlin, where Don and I had been wandering around 3 months earlier. I learned that Jacob's wife Mathilde died young (age 33), that the family had settled in Berlin, and that Jacob's parents were Salomon FALKENHEIM and Johanna CANTORSON.
Knowing who Jacob's father was important, as it turned out, because the FALKENHEIM Stammbaum included Salomon, but did not have details about Jacob or any other children (if there are any others) of Salomon. Jacob turned out to be a first cousin of Albert FALKENHEIM, the father of Hugo.
Of course, learning the name of Jacob's mother opened up the possibility that Jacob was also related to me, through his mother's CANTORSON family. Being born in 1809, Johanna could well be a younger sister of Rahel LAUDON geb. CANTORSOHN.
With the information that Mathilde and her in-laws were buried in Berlin, I checked the Berliner Adressbücher to see what more I could learn about Jacob FALKENHEIM. Jacob first appears in the 1861 directory as "Kaufmann". The next year, he is shown to be affiliated with the business of his father-in-law Moritz COHN in the Wollgeschäft (wool business) "M. Cohn u. Sohn". Moritz (Moses Abraham) COHN and his father Abraham Moses COHN first appear in the 1837 directory. The first time Moritz' business has a name, it is M. Cohn u. Sohn in 1862. Not knowing whether Moritz had any sons, or any other children besides Mathilde, it seems likely that the "Sohn" was actually his son-in-law Jacob FALKENHEIM. Abraham Moses COHN, as Rentier (pensioner), is last listed in 1861. His son Moritz COHN is last listed in 1877. [Just flew past Washington, DC on the way back to Philadelphia.] Jacob continued to call his business "M. Cohn u. Sohn", at least until 1880. Jacob FALKENHEIM is last listed in 1890.
The directory listings suggested that Jacob may have remarried to Rosa CAHEN, since Rosa, as a widow, starts to appear in 1891 and is listed until 1915. This was later confirmed by information Hugo's great granddaughter received from an organization in Belgium.
The Belgian connection started with information (from that same great granddaughter) found on a website about "lost art" in Belgium; art confiscated by the Nazis from Jews (and possibly others) living in Belgium during the War. There were a few items listed as having belonged to the banker Alfred FALKENHEIM and his wife Ida geb. ARON. From the FALKENHEIM Stammbaum, this Alfred appeared to be a grandson of Salomon FALKENHEIM, though Alfred's father was not mentioned. The Berliner Adressbücher provided the connection, since the Kaufmann and Bankier Alfred FALKENHEIM was living at the same address as the widow Rosa FALKENHEIM geb. CAHEN from 1892 to 1902.
The real evidence came soon enough, again care of that same great granddaughter. She received copies of documents about Alfred FALKENHEIM and Ida geb. ARON from the Kazerne Dossin Research & Archives. Alfred and Ida emigrated from Berlin to Brussels in 1938. They were interned in Belgium in Camp des Malines, and on 26 September 1942, they were deported to Auschwitz where they were murdered. The papers confirmed that Jacob was Alfred's father, though were a bit misleading to suggest that Rosa CAHEN was Alfred's mother when she had to be his step-mother (based on when Alfred was born).
Around the same time from passenger lists and US immigration documents, I learned of a son of Aldred and Ida. He was Egon FALKENHEIM who was born in Berlin in about 1908. He appears to have emigrated, or at least traveled to the US in 1938, and was in Canada and the US in 1931. After that, he disappears. (Somewhere along the way, he apparently became Lutheran.)
There is another child, a mystery daughter, whose daughter is seeking to recover the lost art noted on the Belgian website. I still hope to get into contact with that new fifth cousin, whoever and wherever she may be.
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