Conclusions about the family Max Klinger in Dortmund:

Since the year 2000 several requests concerning the family Max Klinger from different persons, who were looking for informations, reached the Stadtarchiv (archives of the town Dortmund). Often the transfered datas were incomplete, inconsistent and, as we know now, partly just wrong. Therefore the attempt to built a system of relations between the several family members and the four generations of the family failed more than once. Because of missing datas it was impossible to built up a chronology of the family including the younger generations, living in America. A family tree could have helped us a lot at this point.

So a long time it was even not sure, wether there were two persons and therefore two families with the name Max Klinger. Only after the latest datas, that showed that Max Klinger had his children with three different wifes, it was possible to reconstruct a chronology of the family, though the circumstances were not easy.

The following results are based on the datas given us by Mrs. Painter coming from the “Record Office” in Strassbourg. In this report there are only mentioned those familymembers, who later moved to Dortmund and lived there.

These were the family members:

Max (normally Mosiek Skrul) Klinger, *11.10.1860 in Lodz

Max Klinger was married three times: first with Marion (normally Chana/Eva Marja/Maryjem) Rozenczajg (Rosenzweig?). With her he had 7 children, but it seems, that only three of them survived the children age. Following places where the family lived or stayed for a while result from the childrens places of birth and death:

1884 Lodz

1887 Lodz

1891 Frankfurt

1896 Zürich

1897 until 1900 Strassbourg

After the death of his first wife on 4.4.1900 Max Klinger left Straßbourg.

He married his second wife Anna/Chunne Joskowitsch/Yoschowitch.

Following the list made by Mrs. Painter, their first child is their daugther Regina, who was born 1901 in Pietrokov. But she married herself before the family came to Dortmund and wasn’t recognized here.

More children followed, but here it is unknown who their mother has been. They were:

Elisabeth, *20.6.1905 in Straßbourg

Isidor, *14.3.1908 in Straßbourg

Johanna, *24.10.1909 in Straßbourg

Jakob, *1.4.1911 in Straßbourg

Fanni, *22.8.1913 in Straßbourg

The following time is not completely reconstructable. So we do not know what happened to his second wife and we do not know about the marriage with his third wife. That would be possible if we could tell which child had which mother. The dates of birth of the children nevertheless suggest, that the family has been in Straßbourg between 1905 and 1913. During the World War I it seems the family stayed in the Netherlands, but returned to Straßbourg after the war was over.

(One could imagine the following from the materials: If the second wife has been the mother of the children until Fanni, she probably died in the time between 1913 and 1919, but it seems more realistic, that the date was about 1913 than any later, because the next child was born in 1921 and there is no doubt, that his mother is the third wife. This third marriage could have been sealed before Max Klinger moved to the Netherlands, but probably after he returnd from there, because this wife came from the Alsace.)

As a consequence of the World War I the Alsace was now french territory and so Max Klinger, as the “head of the family”, had to choose wether he wanted to become a german or a french citizen. The french authorities probably saw the situation in a wrong way. Meanwhile, also as a consequence of World War I, a new polish state had been created, which was willing to give polish citizenship to everyone who was born on the territory, that was now belonging to the new state. But as Max Klinger had the choice, he deceided against France and settled to Germany, to Dortmund.

From this time on it is possible to construct a mainly assured chronology of the family.

Max Klinger and his family came to Dortmund In february 1920. Their first adress was the “Schwarze-Brüder-Str. 21”. The “Hausstandsbuch” (those were books, in which all persons, that lived in a house, were registered. They probably were ordered by the police administration, but this is not sure, yet) is still available in a copied version and dates the movement of the family to Dortmund at the 20.2.1920.

In the “Hausstandsbuch” of the “Schwarze-Brüder-Str. 21” there are entries of following persons:

Max Klinger, man-servant, *1.1.1872 in Straßbourg, isr(aelish), mar(ried) (in the german original “verheiratet” was shortened to “verh”), citizenship Pr(ussian), came from Straßbourg

Nißler Klinger born as Löwi, wife, *27.8.1881 in Königshofen near Straßbourg, isr(aelish), mar(ried), citizenship Pr(ussian), came from Straßbourg

Elisabeth, *20.6.1905 in Straßbourg, isr(aelish), u(nmarried), citizenship Pr(ussian), came from Straßbourg

Isidor, *14.3.1908 in Straßbourg, isr(aelish), u(nmarried), citizenship Pr(ussian), came from Straßbourg

Johanna, *24.10.1909 in Straßbourg, isr(aelish), u(nmarried), citizenship Pr(ussian), came from Straßbourg

Jakob, *1.4.1911 in Straßbourg, isr(aelish), u(nmarried), citizenship Pr(ussian), came from Straßbourg

Fanni, *22.8.1913 in Straßbourg, isr(aelish), u(nmarried), citizenship Pr(ussian), came from Straßbourg

Later the following was added:

Hermann Klinger, *4.11.1921 in Dortmund, isr(aelish), u(nmarried), citizenship Pr(ussian), newly born

You can see that the dates of Max Klingers birth are different from those in the “Record Office” in Straßbourg. The interpretation of the facts leads to the idea, that Max Klinger intentionally gave wrong dates about his person to the authorities. With his place of birth in Lodz, the german authorities would have seen him as a polish citizen. If he had told his date and place of birth in Straßbourg, they would have seen him as a french citizen. Only by changing his date of birth into a time, when Straßbourg and the Alsace was annexed by Germany and was made to german territory after the war between Germany and France, he could insist on becoming a citizen of a german state, in this case Prussia. In the “Hausstandsbuch” of the Schwarze-Brüder-Str. you can see, that this was succesful and the whole family had the prussian citizenship.

Max Klinger, as it seems, wasn’t quite sure where exactly in Germany he would want to live, because he went to Hamburg on his own in July 1920, but came back to Dortmund after a few weeks.

His daughter Elisabeth left the family on the 24.9.1924 and went to Frankfurt Main. She no longer appears in the documents of Dortmund. Her faith can be seen by two informations from the database of Yad Vashem, based on informations given by her daughters Lily Lustig-Redner and Monique Gincing. They both contained inconsistent datas. (Both daughters said that Dortmund was her place of birth, Lily tells her date of birth the June of 1907, Monique in June of 1906.) Therefore she was married with Benjamin Lustig, had two daughters, that both survived, lived later on in France, in Pont a Moussoun Dept. Meurte et Moselle, was deported to Auschwitz in 1942 and died there.

On the 27.8.1926 the couple moved with their, now five, children to the “Münsterstr. 273” (allthough in the “Hausstandsbuch” of the Schwarze-Brüder-Str. it is denoted that they moved to “Münsterstr. 279a”)

The personal datas are the same as in the “Hausstandsbuch” Schwarze-Brüder-Str. with the following exception:

The wifes name is now written “Nisler” and her original name is here noted as “Levi”.

On the 12.11.1926 their daughter Johanna left, for the first time, Dortmund to Halsdorf, near Kassel.

On the 8.12.9126 the couple moved with their, now four, children to the Leopoldstr. 23. This is the last adress, where the family lived together.

There are some differences concerning the personal datas.

The informations about Max Klinger are the same as in the “Hausstandsbüchern” before.

His wifes original name is now written “Lewi”, her first name is not readable and her citizenship is now declared as Fra(nce).

Isidors date of birth is changed from the 14. to the 15.3.1908, the declaration of his citizenship could not be decoded. His job title is “worker”.

Jakobs date of birth is now suddenly changed to 1.5.1912. His citizenship is still Pr(ussian). His job title is “apprentice”.

Fannis date of birth is now denoted as 27.8.1913. Her citizenship is still Pr(ussian), too.

Hermanns datas are still the same, but now he seems to be seen as a Frenchman. This is not exactly readable in the document, because the line “citizenship” was overwritten.

Following the entries of the “Hausstandsbuch” Leopoldstr. and with the results of some other work some faiths could be detected.

Max Klinger moved to the Schützenstr. 103 on 19.7.1930. This the adress of the nursing home in Dortmund. He obviously became so ill, that his family could not care about him at home. (As Mrs. Painter gave us the information, that there are some people in the following generations, that suffered the Alzheimer disease , it seems possible that he had dementia reasoned by age.) It is unknown exactly when, but later he came to the catholic hospital in the town of Fröndenberg, where he died on 20.4.1931.

We have a copy of the official document of his death and it contains some datas and peculiarities. His death was officially reported by a nurse, not by a familymember. The name of his wife is again denoted as Nißler Klinger, born as “Löwi”. His homeadress is denoted as Leopoldstr. 23. His age is declared as 70 years, which goes along with his real age. This entry did not change, allthough later in a sidenote the information “born on 1.1.1872 in Straßbourg” was added, what would have made him to a 59 year old man.

It is not denoted, that his wife left the Leopoldstr. .

Their son Isidor left 1927 for some time to Hachen, near Arnsberg, but returned after about three months to the Leopoldstr. . In December 1935 he moves to Herzebrock, but is denoted in the Leopoldstr. again on 23.1.1936. His date of birth remains on the 15.3.1908. His citizenship is now declared as “french”. An entry, which was added later on, notices a official document of his death (1691/49) from the special civil registry office in Auschwitz with the date of his death on 9.2.1945. Other results of the inquest will follow later on.

Jakob Klinger gave notice of departure on 30.8.1932 from his parents home with the annotation “wanderings”. In May 1933 he was in Dortmund again – his date of birth was now denoted as 3.5.1912 – in the Roßstr. 15 and left Dortmund again on 13.6.1933 to Nancy, in France. More datas couldn’t be detected.

Fanni Klinger – her job title was denoted by tailor – died on 10.7.1937 at the age of 23 in the St. Elisabeth hospital. Her death was officially documented by the civil registry office in Dortmund-Brackel. The official document of her death is in our hands.

Hermann Klinger moved for some months to Brilon in October 1937 but came back to the Leopoldstr. in May 1938.

The daughter Johanna came back to the parental home in March 1927, moved to Wiesbaden in November 1930, from where she returned in March 1931. Another entry from the year 1933 is not readable. On the 23.1.1934 she moved to the Baumstr. 9. Until this time her date of birth is denoted as 1909 and her citizenship as Pr(ussian). In the Baumstr., where she lived until June 1934, her date of birth changed to 22.11.1910, citizenship is still Pr(ussian). On the 11.6.1934 she gave notice of her departure towards the parents home, but there her move in is not registered.

The entry of a new move in is here registered on the 9.6.1936, when she came from the Museumsstr. 5. Following the “Hausstandsbuch” she moved to the Museumsstr. 5, to work as a mothers help, on 9.11.1935 and moved back to the Leopoldstr. 23 on 11.6.1936. Her date of birth is here denoted as 1910 und her citizenship as “german”.

The entry in the Leopoldstr. 23 from the 9.6.1936 is with the date of birth 1910 and the citizenship “Deutsches Reich”. But then there is an annotation without a date:

“because of the… (not readable) Dortmund ancestry from old Alsatians” and the citizenship “France” is registered.  But this entry was probably denoted only afer another move in and move out, that led her from August 1936 untill February 1940 to the Ostenhellweg 58. In the “Hausstandsbuch” of the Ostenhellweg 58 she is denoted with the according dates of her move in and move out (date of birth 1910). Here she still is denoted with the citizenship “German”.

After her return to the Leopoldstr. 23 in the year 1941 and the, probably now changed, entry concerning the citizenship, in the “Hausstandsbuch” of the Leopoldstr. 23, there is, except a entry after the war concerning Hermann, which will be written about later, no further entry recognizable.

It can be concluded that since 1941 following persons of the family Klinger were registered in the Leopoldstr. 23 in Dortmund.

Nisle/r/Nießle/r Klinger with her children respectively stepchildren Isidor, who, for a while, gave himself the name Leo, probably because of business reasons, Johanna and Hermann.

All four of them appear on the list for the deportations to Riga, planned to start in December 1941. In fact these deportations started on the 27.1.1942. Demonstrable the Klingers were not among them. Wether they were taken from the transportlist, or wether they submerged in illegality is not known. It seems more realistic, that they were taken from the transportlist, because the next assured datas date from April 1943. Maybe, in this case, it was important, that now – like it seems – the whole family was registered with a french citizenship. Without any help it would have been merely possible for the family to survive in the underground.

An information from the archives of the state NRW (North-Rhine Westfalia) tells us, that the four Klingers were denoted as prisoners in the “Haftbuch” (a book where the datas of all the arrested were registered) of the policeprison “Steinwache” in Dortmund on the 28.4.1943.

At the end of march or the beginning of April 1943 a huge transport left Dortmund towards Auschwitz. It is possible, that the Klingers should have been on this transport, but saved themselves from the deportation. Only a few weeks later they were arrested and soon after that, the three children of Max Klinger were directly deported with a small group of people. That speaks for the fact, they escaped from an earlier transport.

The datas from the “Haftbuch” say:

Nr. 2041 Nisle Sara Klinger, born 22.08.1881 in Königshofen, Frenchwoman, Jewess, widowed, arrested 28.04.1943 for evacuation to Auschwitz, released by Stapo (police officer of the Gestapo) Kassebrock 04.05.1943.

Nr. 2042 Isidor Israel Klinger, born 15.0.1908 in Straßbourg, Frenchman, unmarried, Jew, arrested 28.04.1943 for evacuation to Auschwitz, released 17.05.1943 and transfer to the KZ in Auschwitz.

Nr. 2040 Johanna Sara Klinger, born 22.11.1910 in Straßbourg, Frenchwoman, unmarried, arrested 28.04.1943 for evacuation to Auschwitz, released 17.05.1943 and transfer to the KZ in Auschwitz.

Nr. 2043 Hermann Israel Klinger, born 4.11.1921 in Dortmund, Frenchman, unmarried, Jew, arrested 28.04.1943 for evacuation to Auschwitz, released 17.05.1943 and transfer to the KZ in Auschwitz.

What further happened to Nisle Klinger could not yet be inquested.

After a request the following informations about Isidor/Leo Klinger *15.3.1908 were given by the foundation of the memorial in Buchenwald:

He arrived Buchenwald on 26.1.1945 with a transport from Auschwitz. (As we know from another source he received the prisoners number 121335.) In the documents of Buchenwald he is registered as a “german Jew” with the job title shoemaker. He died on 9.2.1945 in the block 51 of the “small camp” in consequence of a rigthsided pneunomia (following a information by the International Researchservice ISD (Internationaler Suchdienst) Arolsen.)

The ISD also gave the information that Johanna Klinger got the prisoners number 45501 in Auschwitz and she is documented there until August 1943. There are no further informations. She probably died there.

Hermann Klinger came back to Dortmund on 14.5.1945, probably to look for family members, that survived. He appears in the “Hausstandsbuch” Huckarder Str. 164. He is reported here as a move in from the Leopoldstr. 23, just like he has never been deported to Auschwitz. He gave notice of his departure to a camp in Stuttgart on 25.10.1946. Seems like he went to the United States and following the information by Mrs. Painter, that were given us by Mrs. Botterbusch, he died on 13.11.1986.

Further inquests to the unknown faiths of the third wife of Max Klinger, Nis/sle/r Klinger and his daughter Johanna Klinger would only be possible with new data materials.