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]
[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.
[10]
See, the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906:
“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).
