Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Ellen-Benita Brenson

Female 1895 - Aft 1941  (> 46 years)


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  • Name Ellen-Benita Brenson 
    Born 23 Dec 1895  Jelgava (Mitau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Died Aft Sep 1941  RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I4375  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Father Isidor Brensohn or Brenson,   b. 27 Sep 1854, Jelgava (Mitau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 31 Dec 1928, RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 74 years) 
    Mother Klara or Clara Herzenberg,   b. 4 Dec 1859, Jelgava (Mitau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 17 Jun 1939, RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years) 
    Married 12 May 1883  Mitau, Kurland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F174  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Aron Patursky 
    Married 19 Dec 1922  RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Divorced Yes, date unknown 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F316  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Jacob or Yakov Melzer,   b. 5 May 1891, Minsk, Belarus Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft Sep 1941, RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age > 50 years) 
    Married 8 Sep 1932  RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Anatol Melzer,   b. 26 Jun 1933, RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft Sep 1941, RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age > 8 years)
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F2054  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. Per email of 17 Jul 2007 from Nina Kossman www.ninakossman.com . Nina is a descendant of Klara/Robert/Joseph/Lemchen/Joseph Herzenberg. Note that Mitau, Courland was part of the tsarist empire, but later it became known as Jelgava, Latvia.
      A. "A photograph of Klara Herzenberg (daughter of Robert Herzenberg) can be seen at <http://www.ninakossman.com/leonidkossman/brenson_herzenberg.html> [underscore between brenson and herzenberg]. It should also be noted that in Piltene, where our 18th century Herzenbergs lived, there is an old Jewish cemetery in which almost all are Herzenbergs." Nina is coordinating an effort to restore the Piltene cemetery and please contact her if you are able to assist financially.
      B. Children of Robert Herzenberg and Emilie Kahn:
      a. Daughter Rosete (Rosa), b. 14 Apr 1854 in Mitau, d. 2 Nov, 1862 in Mitau.
      b. Daughter Seba, b. abt. 1856, d. 1859 in Mitau.
      c. Daughter Feige/Fanny, b. 26 Jul 1857 in Mitau, d. 31 Oct 1862 in Mitau.
      d. Daughter Klara, b. 4 Dec 1859 in Mitau, m. 12 May 1883 in Mitau, d. 17 Jun 1939 in Riga. Husband Isidor (Isac-Aisak, Itzig), son of Isak-Aisik (Itzig, Isidor) Brensohn, b. 27 Sep 1854 in Mitau, d. 31 Dec. 1928 in Riga. (Photo of Isidor and Clara on file with me.) Of Isidor's and Clara's four children - Ruth, Ellen, Theo, and Robby, only one - Theo - survived the war as he was not living in Latvia at the time (photo of the four children on file with me).
      i. Ruth Brenson (1889-1941) was born in Yelgava, Latvia. While temporarily staying in Moscow she met Stephan Kossman, whom she married around 1910. she had two children: Nora (b. 1911) and Leonid (b. 1915). Ruth was killed by the Nazis in Riga, Latvia. (Photo of Ruth on file with me.) The family lived in Moscow, at Chistye Prudy 11, in a ten-room apartment in a five-story building; later they moved to an apartment on First Meschanskaya. Since Stephan Kossman was a merchant of the Frist Guild, it was no longer safe for his family to live in the city after the Bolshevik takeover. The Brenson-Kossman family left Moscow for Riga - where Ruth's father lived - in the beginning of 1918. Stephan Kossman was born in 1877. When he was about seven years old his father, Leontii Kossman, took him to live in London where Leonitii had started a fur business. After Leontii's death, Stephan took over the business. His job took him all over Europe and in the very beginning of the 20th century he lived in Leipzig for several years, in Berlin, in London, etc. He married Ruth Brenson in 1909 and came back to Moscow to live. Eight years later, following the October Revolution, the family left Russia. He died in Riga, Latvia, in 1928. This couple had two children: Leonid and Nora.
      1. Leonid Kossman is a philologist, writer, and teacher whose language textbooks have helped millions of people. Born in Moscow in 1915, as a child in Riga, Latvia, he spoke German and Russian at home and Latvian in the neighborhood. After graduating from a German high school he studied law at the University of Latvia and worked as a drama critic for a Latvian Newspaper, Tsinia. When the Nazis occupied Riga he escaped into Russia, soon joined the Soviet army, and was severely wounded. He spent the rest of the war in Kazakhstan where he slowly regained sight and movement. After the war he studied English and western literature at Moscow State University, graduated, and taught English and German at the Maurice Thorez Linguistics Institute (which later became the Moscow State Linguistics University, or MGLU). During this period his two textbooks for Russians learning German were published. With his wife and two children he emigrated to the US via Israel in 1972, and worked here as a college languages teacher and as a writer for the German-American Daily Staatszeitung and for the German-Jewish American weekly, Aufbau. In the late 1970s he started writing books to help other Russians in learning English. In authorized, and pirated, editions of these books have circulated very widely, and have even been adopted by American university Russian courses. Most recently he has been writing short stories and he published a historical novel "Above Water" in 2003 (the book deals with he effects of Nazism on the life of a Harry Rosen, a Latvian Jew).
      2. Nora.
      ii. Ellen was born 188? and died 1941; she was an orthopedic phsysician and he rhusband, Yakov Meltzer, was a pianist; they had a son Anatol and all three were killed by Germans in Nazi-occupied Latvia (photo of the three with son at age 6 on file.)
      e. Son David, b. 17 Jul 1864 in Mitau, m. 7 Jan 1890 in Mitau, d. bef 1935. Wife Sophia, dau. of Abram Herzenberg, b. 20 Aug 1869 in Mitau, d. 1941 in the "ghetto."
      f. Son Alexander, b. 16 Apr 1866 in Mitau.
      g. Son Leonhard, b. 24 Jul 1868 in Mitau.

      2. Website of Peter Bruce Herzenberg of London, England (since relocated to South Africa). Website is no longer functioning as of 7 Aug 2007. Copies of much of his data from the website in my possession. He indicates references by codes, which pertain to the original source and file held in his database, which I have not seen. I have no key to the sources except HL is Leonardo Herzenberg, HG is Gail Herzenberg, PC is probably Piltene Cemetery records, LA is probably Latvian Archives, FA is probably Aleksandrs Feigmanis (Latvian researcher hired by Harold Hodes), and YL is Len Yodaiken (Israeli researcher hired by Harold Hodes); however, he lists the main researchers and their contributions in a lengthy report which I include in full in the notes of the earliest Herzenberg of this database. In regards to this individual:
      YL 014 notes Isadore Brewsohn, d. Riga, with four children: Ruth, md. Stephen Horsaie; Ellen, md. ___ Meltzer; Robert, Theo.

      3. Received 30 Apr 2009 a copy of the following from Irene Gottleib Slatter entitled "Archival Reference about Brenson Family. It was prepared for Nina Kossman Dec 2006 and is report no. 3-K-7622; 7794N by Latvijas Valsts Vestures Arhivs (Latvian National Archives), Slokas iela 16, Riga, LV-1007. The following is only a partial transcript concerning this individual; please see the notes of Isidor Brenson within this database to see full and complete transcript including sources and documentation:
      "- daughter Ellen-Benita, born on December 23 of 1895 (Julian calendar, Gregorian calendar - January 4 of 1896) in Mitau. She was a doctor. Her 1st husband Aron Patursky (their marriage was registered on December 19 of 1922 in Riga, see her photo from the Latvian passports for 1922, 1927, 1931). They had no children, their marriage was divorced in 1931 in Riga. Her second husband Jacob Melzer was born on May 5 of 1891 in Minsk. Their marriage was registered on September 8 of 1931 in Riga. His occupation - musician. Their son Anatol Melzer was born on June 26 of 1933 in Riga. Before the Second World War they lived in Riga at Brivibas Street 23, apt. 6. They were struck off the house register on September 30 of 1941 as moved to ghetto. Their address in ghetto - Lazdonas Street 11, apt. 1."

      BIOGRAPHY:
      1. 28 Jul 2007 Http://www.herzenberg.net/leo/htmlrh/Content.html copyrighted by Leo Herzenberg:
      "An meinen Sohn (To my son) Leonhard Herzenberg von (from) Robert Herzenberg. Memoirs written during the 1940's." Translated during the 1990's by Leonardo (Leonhard) Herzenberg. The entire memoir is quite lengthy and included in its entirety in my notes with Joseph Herzenberg, the original known ancestor, in this database. The following is only the portion dealing with this part of the family:
      "Great Uncles on Mother's Side
      [60] Of the great uncles, the siblings of my grandmother on my mothers side, I can report very little. The oldest, Robert, after whom I was named, I could not know, because he died on my parents' wedding day, but I knew most of his children.
      Great Uncle Robert lived in Mitau, neighbor of his brother in law, great uncle Abraham. He was married to Emilie Cahn. The firm continued still long after the world war. I knew the children David, Alexander, Leo, Clara and Helene; Fanny, Seba, Sara died early from smallpox. of David I wrote already on p 54-55. Leo was a lawyer in Russia. I met him in Germany after the war. He was already quite white-haired when he married the piano virtuoso Jenja Rappaport. He then lived [61] as a lawyer in Riga and died there a few years ago. There the sisters Clara and Helene also lived and died before the second world war.
      Clara was married to Isidor Brensohn, and had children Ruth, Ellen, Robert, and Theo. Theo has a pretty good calling as a painter and etcher, having exhibited in Paris and Rome."

      DEATH:
      1. I'm sending the Pages of Testimony which we, i.e. my father and I, filled out and sent to Yad Vashem a couple of years ago. They are for Klara Herzenberg's children and their families. (They are all Herzenbergs even if their last names are different. The family name was not passed on, as they descended from the Herzenbergs through the maternal line.) The genealogy for Klara Herzenberg is Robert, Yosef, Lemchen, and Joseph. Unfortunately, when filling out the forms, I did not put their professions: Ellen was an orthopedic physician; her husband Yakov was a piano teacher; Robert worked in a law firm, Ruth was a cosmetologist. I'm sending these so that the names of these family members, and what happened to them, would be part of the family history, as a way of preserving their memory. I had stones with their names installed at the site of the mass murder in the Rumbuli (or, Rumbula) forest in Riga, as I did for Sophie Herzenberg, her daughters Yevgenia and Flora, and the daughters' husbands, Nikolai and Leo. A lot of info about the Rumbuli (or, Rumbula) memorial is here: <http://www.rumbula.org/riga_jewish_history.shtml>. The website supplies a list of books; one of them, "The Murder of of the Jews in Latvia, 1941-1945" by Bernhard Press, mentions Ellen, Klara Herzenberg's and Isidor Brenson's daughter, as one of the physicians the author knew in the Riga ghetto not long before it was 'liquidated'. Here are the POTs (Pages of Testimony) from the Yad Vashem website:
      Brenson, Ruth; Father: Isidor Brenson; Mother: Klara Hertzenberg; Gender: Female; Date of Birth: 9/4/1885; Age: 56; Place of Birth: Yelgava, Jelgavas, Zemgale, Latvia; Citizenship: Latvia; Marital Status: Widow; Spouse's First Name: Stephan Kossman; Permanent residence: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Place during the war: Riga,Ghetto; Wartime Address: Ludzia 3; Place of Death: Rumbuli, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Date of Death: 1941; Cause of Death: Shot; Submitter: Kossman, Nina; Relationship to victim: Granddaughter; Registration date: 16/04/2005.
      Brenson, Robert; Father's First Name Isidor; Mother's First Name Klara; Place of Birth: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Permanent residence: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Place during the war: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Place of Death: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Date of Death: 1941; Cause of Death: Killing; Submitter: Kossman, Leonid. Relationship to victim: Nephew. Registration date: 16/01/2004.
      Brenson, Ellen; Father: Isidor Brenson: Mother: Klara Hertzenberg; Date of Birth: 1890; Place of Birth: Yelgava, Jelgavas, Zemgale, Latvia; Citizenship: Latvia; Married; Spouse: Yakov Melzer; Permanent residence: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Place during the war: Riga, Ghetto; Place of Death: Riga, Ghetto; Date of Death: 1941; Cause of Death: Shot; Perpetrator: Nazis; Submitter: Kossman, Nina: Relationship to victim, Great-Niece. Registration date: 17/04/2005.
      Brenson, Erik; Father: Robert Brenson; Date of Birth: 18/12/1917; Age: 24; Place of Birth: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Citizenship: Latvia; Marital Status: Single; Permanent residence: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Profession: Worker; Place during the war: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Wartime Address: 64 Dzirnavu Iela, apt. 4; Place of Death: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Date of Death: 7/1941; Cause of Death: Shot; Submitter: Kossman, Nina; Relationship to victim: Family; Registration date: 17/08/2006.
      Melzer, Anatol; Father: Yakov; Mother: Ellen Brenson; Gender: Male; Date of Birth: 1938; Place of Birth: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Marital Status: Child; Permanent residence: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Place during the war: Riga, Rigas, Vidzeme, Latvia; Date of Death: 1941; Submitter: Kossman, Leonid; Relationship to victim: Relative; Registration date: 16/01/2004.
      Nina's note: I also sent a page of testimony for Enar Brenson (Robert's second son), who was 17 yrs. old when he was killed in 1941, but for some reason only his name is listed on the Yad Vashem website, without the POT (page of testimony).
      I have pictures of all of them, except for Erik and Enar, at <http://www.ninakossman.com/leonidkossman/brenson_herzenberg.html> and <http://www.ninakossman.com/leonidkossman/brensons.html>.
      Website notes: Ellen Brenson (188?-1941). Ruth's sister Ellen, an orthopedic physician; her husband, Yakov Meltzer, a pianist; and their son Anatol (6 yrs. old). All three were killed by the Germans in Nazi-occupied Latvia."