Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

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6851 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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 HP is Peter Herzenberg, HL is Leonardo 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:
HW shows Herman b. 21 Jan 1903 at Jo'burg, South Africa, d. 19 Aug 1962, bur. Lodgehill Cem., Birmingham, UK, md. Mitchell.
HP.
Dental Surgeon.

BIOGRAPHY:
1. Information from Peter Bruce Herzenberg from his website: Wife is Margaret Renee Ellen Longshaw, b. 5 Apr 1950 who he married 1 Oct 1970 in Salisbury, Rhodesia. They have two children: Collette Geniene, b. 1 Jun 1973, and Jaysen, b. 1 Sep 1976. Parents are Herman Herzenberg and Marjorie Yeend Mitchell. Grandfather is Samuel (ben Eleazer) [Yiddish: Leiser]. Peter was b. 17 Jul 1946 in Klerksdorp, South Africa. 
Herzenberg, Herman (I4169)
 
6852 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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 HP is Peter Herzenberg, HL is Leonardo 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:
Names: Leo or Arye Leib ben Shmuel.
HW shows b. 24 Aug 1898, d. 17 Jun 1982 at Jo'burg, SA, bur. Westpark Cem. Jo'burg, South Africa, Loc U396, m. Horwitz.
HP.
Surgeon. Qualified in Dublin, Ireland.

DEATH:
1. Ancestry.com's "JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Register (JOWBR)":
"Leo Herzenberg, b. abt 1899, d. 17 Jun 1982, age 83, burial cemetery in South Africa." 
Herzenberg, Leo or Arye-Leib (I4168)
 
6853 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HM shows Nathan b. abt. 1880, d. in Warsaw, md. to Finkel.
Peter also notes: "Nathan - Robert H's branch. Possible link. More info required..."
Tinsmith.

2. Censuses:
1910 US: Manhattan Ward 13, New York, New York, p. 3 of 61, 15 Apr 1910, family 22:
Abraham Herzenberg, 31, md. 8 years, Rus Rus Rus, yiddish, imm. 1904, pocket book maker.
Clara, wife, 30, imm. 1904, no children, Rus Rus Rus, yiddish.
Nathan, brother, 21, single, imm. 1905, Rus Rus Rus, yiddish, cutter in leather factory.

1930 US: Brooklyn, Kings, NY, p. 26 of 38, 9 Apr, 2856 20th St., dwelling 101, family 240:
Nathan Hertzenberg, rents, $58, 42, md. at age 22, Poland, Poland, Poland, Yiddish, imm. 1907, naturalized, paperback cutter.
Sarah, 39, md. at age 20, Rus Rus Rus, imm. 1909, naturalized,
Anna, dau., 6-6/12, NY Pol Rus.
Aaron, son, 10-6/12, NY Pol Rus.
Irving, son, 16, NY Pol Rus.
Israel Einhorn, lodger, 50, md. at age 18, Rus Rus Rus.

1940 US: New York City, Kings, New York, 2856 W. 20th St., family 93, rents at $45/mo, lived at same place in 1935:
Nathan Herzenberg, head, 50, Poland, leather cutter.
Sarah, wife, 49, Russia
Aaron, son, 20, NY, leather cutter helper.
Hannah, dau., 16, NY

3. Ancestry.com's "WWI Draft Registrations": Nathan Herzenberg, residing Long Island, NY, b. 15 May 1887 in Warsaw, Russia, works for Herzenberg Bros, 114 Spring St., NY, supports wife and child, married, med. ht, stout, hazel eyes, black hair, no defects, 5 Jun 1917 in Kings Co. NY.

4. Ancestry.com's "WWII Draft Registrations," 1941: Nathan Herzenberg, residing 1658 Dahile Rd, Brooklyn, Kings, NY, b. 14 Dec 1889 in Warsaw, Russia, works for Companion Bag. Co., 27 West 33rd St., Brooklyn, NY, age 52, wife is Sarah Herzenberg.

5. Ancestry.com's "New York, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1940":
Nathan Herzenberg, pocket book maker.
Declaration Age: 22
5'-5" height, white, brown hair and eyes, 120 lbs.
Birth Date: 15 Aug 1887
Birth Place: Warsaw, Russia
Last foreign place of residence; Warsaw, Russia
Arrival Date: 27 Aug 1905 on the ship "St. Paul" from Southampton, England
Arrival Place: New York, New York
Declaration Date: 12 May 1910
Declaration Place: New York, USA
Declaration Number: 38358

BIRTH:
1. Two dates are reported in official documents: 15 May 1887 and 14 Dec 1889.

MARRIAGE:
1. Ancestry.com. New York, New York, Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937:
Nathan Herzenberg and Sarah Finkel, 30 Dec 1910, Manhattan, New York, USA. Certificate Number: 179.

2. New York Marriage Certificate, no. 179, Nathan Herzenberg, age 23, white, single, pocketbook maker, b. Russia, son of Haimy Herzenberg and Hainy Gutstat, married Dec. 30, 1910 in Manhattan Sarah Finkel, age 20, white, single, b. Russia, dau. of Isarael Finkel and Rosie Kaminsky. First marriage for both. Witnessed be Herman Margulis and Max Nusbaum. (Image on Family Search)

DEATH:
1. Peter Herzenberg had death location as Warsaw, Poland. This was the birth place of Nathan and not his death place.

2. Death Certificate (image attached on Family Search). Certificate 10866 of Brooklyn Borough for Nathan Herzenberg, death reported by son Irving Herzenberg, died at 3008 W. 22nd St,, Brooklyn, where he had been living for the last 3 years. Died May 21, 1946 at 6:45 am from coronary Thrombosis which began 1/20/46 and hypertension which began 9/15/45, No autopsy performed. Buried May 22, 1946 at Beth Israel Cemetery. Funeral home was Zion Memorial Chapel. Wife Fannie Herzenberg, parents Aaron Herzenberg and Fanny Stein both of which were born in Poland. Born Dec. 14, 1889 in Poland, age 56 y., 5 m., 7 d. Cutter of leather goods. Has lived in NYC for 43 years. 
Herzenberg, Nathan (I4164)
 
6854 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
LA 010 shows the following for Hirsh Hodes, b. 1853 at Pikeli, Lithuania, d. 1928, md. 3 Mar 1878 with the following children:
Movsha-Behr, b. 26 Dec 1878 at Libau, d. Jo'burg, SA.
Doris - Debora (Dvera), b. 5 May 1880 at Libau, d. Jo'burg, SA, md. to Abraham Stazunsky.
Rivke (Rivka-Dina), b. 16 Oct 1881 at Libau, d. Bloemfontein, SA, ms. to Louis Shapiro.
Celia (Tsipa) b. 1 Feb 1883 at Libau, d. Cape Town, SA, md. to Adolphe Apiron.
Sarah (Sara), b. 10 Jul 1884 at Libau, d. Jo'burg, SA, md. to Henry Kessel.
Rose (Rosa), b. 1 Jan 1886 at Libau, d. Jo'burg, SA, md. to Sam Coleman.
Source YL 007 adds the following children:
Joseph, b. 22 Apr 1898 in Jo'burg, SA, d. 1990 same place, md. Fanny Reichenberg.
Clara, b. 27 Aug 1900 at Jo'burg, SA, d. 13 Sep 1989 at Stellenbasch, SA, md. to Herman Rosendorff.

2. Len Yodaikin, a professional genealogist hired by Harold Hodes, in his report "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Leipeja Latvia, 1 Jan 2000, provides the following descendancy from Hirsh and Miriam (Herzenberg) Hodes:
-Hirsch Hodes, b. 1853 Pikellai, Lithuania, d. 1928 Jo'berg (Johannesberg) South Africa., m. Miriam Herzenberg, b. 1859 Libau, Latvia, d. 1945 Jo'berg, SA.
-Doris Hodes, b. 1880 Libau, d. Jo'berg, SA, m. Abraham Stazunsky.
-Leo Statz, b. 1900 Jo'berg, d. Jo'berg, m. Jesse Hyde.
-Julius Statz, b. 1903, m. Rose Bloom.
-Peter Staz b. 1936, m. (1) Anne ___, m. (2) Lilliam Buffenstein.
-Richard Staz, b. London, UK.
-Damien Staz, b. London, UK.
-Geoffrey Staz, b. Capetown, SA.
-Dina Hodes, b. 1882 Libau, d. Blemfontein, SA, m. Lous Shapiro
-Celia Hodes, b. 1884 Libau, d. Cape Town, SA, m. Adolphe Apiron, b. 1876.
-Gladys Apirion, b. 1905, m. (1) Ralph Asherson, b. 1898, m. (2) Werner Lippman, b. 1907. Children from first marriage:
-Joan Asherson, b. 1931, m. Ken Ackerman, b. 1928.
-Keith Ackerman, b. 1957 London, UK, m. Tessa Shephard, b. 1965.
-Naomi Ackerman, b. 1992.
-Ruben Ackerman, b. 1995.
-Roy Ackerman, b. 1961 London, UK, m. Ursula McFarlane, b. 1961.
-Josiah Ackerman, b. 1994.
-Leonardo Ackerman, b. 1997.
-Doris Apirion, b. 1909, m. Reg Sutcliffe, b. 1896.
-John Sutcliffe, b. 1939, m. Susan Colman b. 1942 (second cousin, dau. of George Colman, g. dau. of Rose Hodes). See children below.
-Barbara Sutcliffe, b. 1942, m. Jean Marguin, b. 1939.
-Moira Marguin, b. 1970 Paris, France, m. laurent le Bournis.
-Ninon Le Bournis, b. 1998 Paris, France.
-Magall Maquin, b. 1976 Paris, France.
-Jean Rolan Marquin, b. 1986 Paris, France.
-Clara Apirion, b. 1909, m. (1) Izzie Segal, m. (2) Alfred Meyer.
-Alan Segal, b. Capetown, m. (1) Shirley ___, m(2) Caroline ___. First two children of first marriage and second two of second marriage:
-Wendy Segal, b. 1963, m. Barry Parkinson.
-Tessa Parkinson, b. 1991.
-Alexandria Parkinson, b. 1994.
-Caroline Segal, b. 1965.
-James Segal, b. 1970.
-Rubert Segal, b. 1972.
-Sarah Hodes, b. 1887 Libau, d. Jo'berg, SA, m. Henry Kessel.
-Bernard Kessel (1900-1912) Jo'berg.
-Rose Hodes, b. 1888 Libau, d. Jo'berg, SA, m. Sam Colman, b. 1877.
-George Colman, b. 1908 Jo'berg, SA, m. Gladys Cooper, b. 1915.
-Andrew Colman.
-Susan Colman, b. 1942, m. John Sutcliffe, b. 1939. (Second cousins; John son of Doris Apinion, g. son of Celia Hodes above.)
-Adam Sutcliffe, b. 1969 London.
-William Sutcliffe, b. 1971 London.
-Phillip Colman, b. 1912, m. (1) Elsa Walter, b. 1921, m. (2) Constance Sue Gooday, b. 1922. Lists two children but does not say from which mother:
-Shelly Colman, b. 1945 Queenstown, m. (1) Francis Radice, m. (2) John Savage. Two children of first marriage:
-Daniella Radice, b. 1973 London, UK.
-Orlando Radice, b. 1975 London, UK.
-Marion Colman, b. 1947 Bloemfontein, m. (1) Andrew Hudson, (2) Barry de Beer. Two children of first marriage:
-Simon Hudson, b. 1969.
-Oliver Hudson, b. 1972.
-Joseph Hodes, b. 22 Apr 1898 Jo'berg, d. 6 Nov 1990 Jo'berg, m. Fanny Reichenberg 26 Dec 1926 Jo'berg, b. 30 Aug 1905 Heidelberg, d. 30 Sep 1989 Jo'berg.
-Hazel Hodes, b. 20 Aug 1928 Bloemfontein, SA, m. Arnold Swerdlow, b. 1926.
-Martin Swerdlow, b. 1954 Jo'berg, SA, m. Fiona Simm, b. 1953.
-Daniel Swerdlow, b. 1985.
-Oliver Swerdlow, b. 1987.
-Peter Swerdlow, b. 1955 Jo'berg, SA, m. Elly Myerson b. 1960.
-Avner Swerdlow, b. 1987 Jo'berg, SA.
-Michal Swerdlow, b. 1991 Jo'berg, SA.
-Vivienne Swerdlow, b. 1960 Jo'berg, SA, m. Basil Shall, b. 1956 Klerksdorp, SA.
-Emma Shall, b. 1987 London, UK.
-Kate Shall, b. 1991.
-Harold Hodes, b. 23 Jan 1932 Bloemfontein, SA, m. 15 Nov 1959 Harriet Anson, b. 18 May 1936 (Abrornawitsch) Berlin, Germany.
-David Jack Hodes, b. 27 Sep 1960 Bloemfontein, SA, m. Charlotte Hooper, b. 1958, London, UK.
-Esme Eva Hodes, b. 6 Apr 1996 Bristol, UK.
-Celia Louise Hodes, b. 8 Apr 1999 Bristol, UK.
-Jonathan Anson Hodes, b. 10 May 1963 Bloemfontein, SA.
-Michael Richard Hodes, b. 9 Feb 1967, London, UK.
-Clara Hodes, b. 27 Aug 1900 Jo'berg, d. 13 Sep 1987 Stellenbosch, SA, m. Herman Rosendorff, b. 4 Jul 1897 Edenburg, d. 3 Jul 1980 (Bloemfontein, SA).
-Gerald Rosendorff, b. 8 Aug 1929, Bloemfontein, SA, m. Bernice Hazel Friedman, b. 15 May 1931, Cape Town, SA.
-Stephen Ben Rosendorff, b. Stellenbosch 26 Jun 1958, m. Nicole Christine du Buison, b. 3 Sep 1967 Pretoria.
-Joshua Michael Rosendorff, b. 14 Sep 1995 Jo'berg, SA.
-Daniel Jonathan Rosendorff, b. 4 Jan 1997 Jo'berg, SA.
-Martin Louis Rosendorff, b. Stellenbosch 29 May 1959, m. Patricia Elizabeth Latimer, b. 28 Oct 1950 London, England.
-Samantha Rosendorff, b. 6 Nov 1990 Jo'berg, SA.
-Graham Michael Rosendorff, b. 28 Jul 1962 Stellenbosch, SA, m.Susan Brenda Meltzer, b. 19 Apr 1964, Cape Town, SA.
-Adam Chaim Rosendorff, b. 12 Aug 1995 Cape Town, SA.
-Joseph Ben Rosendorff, b. 10 Sep 1998, Cape Town, SA. 
Hodes, Hirsh (I4163)
 
6855 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
Nina md. John.

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:
"...LEO Herzenberg, the eldest son of uncle Abraham, lived in Petersburg as a bank director. his wife Matja was a very fashionable woman, and it was not a good marriage. They had a son, Goga, who was a flyer in the first world war, and then went to the states. I met Leo in Berlin after the war in a fancy hotel, and he also visited me in Hamburg. He was marred for a second time, but I did not meet his wife. [46] They had a very pretty daughter who was raised from birth like a princess. Leo had lived in Paris and Switzerland before the second world war, and supposedly things went badly for him at the end."

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, Nina (I4158)
 
6856 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
Erna Matja, d. in St. Petersburg.

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:
"...LEO Herzenberg, the eldest son of uncle Abraham, lived in Petersburg as a bank director. His wife Matja was a very fashionable woman, and it was not a good marriage. They had a son, Goga, who was a flyer in the first world war, and then went to the states. I met Leo in Berlin after the war in a fancy hotel, and he also visited me in Hamburg. He was married for a second time, but I did not meet his wife. [46] They had a very pretty daughter who was raised from birth like a princess. Leo had lived in Paris and Switzerland before the second world war, and supposedly things went badly for him at the end."

BIRTH:
1. The following census of her son shows her birth in France:
1930 US: Pacific Grove, Monterey, California, p. 24 of 30, 213 Congress, house 375, family 379:
Geo. L. Herzenberg, rents, $20, 31, first md. at age 27, Russia, Germany, France, garage machinist, came in 1919, naturalized.
Florence B., wife, 30, first md. at age 20, UT UT CA.

2. Birth of Erna estimated to be before 1880 assuming an age of 19 minimum before giving birth to George in the census above.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Erna Matja (I4157)
 
6857 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL notes b. in Warsaw and one child, Ada, b. Warsaw. 
Abramovicz (I4153)
 
6858 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Living (I4145)
 
6859 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
Name variations: Linzit (Line Nikolaja) Grasde
FA 005 and LA019 show b. 1904.
HL081a shows marriage May 1933. "Arrested on 14 Jun 1941 (with son and husband). Exiled in Kazatchinsky region of Krasnojarsk district with son Leonard b. 1934. Her husband died, Linzit liberated in 1955, her son in 1950."

2. Research report dated 6 Jul 1997 from Latvian researcher Aleksandrs Feigmanis, Crestes 2-12, LV-1021, Riga, Latvia, to Harold Hodes of London, England (partial copy of eight pages in my possession). In one section he notes: "The following Herzenbergs I found in recently published list of inhabitants of Liepaja exiled in concentration camps or to exile by Soviets 14 Jun 1941;
-Hercenbergs George son of Leonhard; born 1896, lived on Gimnaijas street 4, exiled in Vjatlag and died there 8-5-1942.
-Hercenberg Line daughter of Nikolai, b. 1904; exiled in Kazatchinsky region of Krasnojarsk district with son Leonhard born 1934; son was liberated in 1950, mother in 1955."
This is for husband, wife, and their son.

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:
"...Your uncle George had just finished Libau realshule when the war broke out. He also was to come to me in Hamburg, [msp 347] but the war got in the way. In the summer of 1915 the Germans occupied Libau and all those subject to military service were taken to a civilian prison camp in Skalmierzyce, on the former German-Polish border. At that time I was already a soldier with the Prussians. Uncle Dodo in Berlin made the necessary applications and we succeeded in freeing George from the prison camp. He stayed in Berlin for a while to attend a commercial school [handelschule], then returned home to Libau where both brothers continued to lead a good life during the war. In Libau nothing was lacking, as before all foods were swimming in sour cream and butter, to the extent permitted by ritual, since the parents household was always kept kosher. Then George entered father's business and stayed in it. After father died in 1932 he married his old friend, the Latvian Linzit Grazde. He also had a son Leonhard, born on 21 June 1932, almost exactly three months before you. When the Bolsheviks occupied Latvia in September 1939 [msp 348] they left him in the business for only a few months, then it was nationalized. He desperately tried to get a visa to Bolivia, but it was impossible. First, immigration to Bolivia was closed, and second Bolivia did not have diplomatic relations with either Russia or Latvia. There were no Bolivian consulates at which to apply for entry. Then the Germans marched in, and till March 1942 we were without news. Then we got a telegram from them, from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, and found out that a week before the German assault, on 15 June 1941, the Russians evacuated them to Siberia..."

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Grasde, Line or Linzit Nikolaja (I4135)
 
6860 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
AF005 shows b. 1896 in Leipaja and d. 8 May 1942 in Vjatlag. Md. Grasde.
LA019 shows same dates.
HR shows b. 1896.
HL.
HL081: Arrested (with wife and son) June 14, 1941. Exiled in Vjatlags and died there in 1942.

2. Research report dated 6 Jul 1997 from Latvian researcher Aleksandrs Feigmanis, Crestes 2-12, LV-1021, Riga, Latvia, to Harold Hodes of London, England (partial copy of eight pages in my possession). In one section he notes: "The following Herzenbergs I found in recently published list of inhabitants of Liepaja exiled in concentration camps or to exile by Soviets 14 Jun 1941;
-Hercenbergs George son of Leonhard; born 1896, lived on Gimnaijas street 4, exiled in Vjatlag and died there 8-5-1942.
-Hercenberg Line daughter of Nikolai, b. 1904; exiled in Kazatchinsky region of Krasnojarsk district with son Leonhard born 1934; son was liberated in 1950, mother in 1955."
This is for husband, wife, and their son.

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:
"MY PARENTS
"FANNY GERSON, Leonhard Herzenberg, SARA HALPERT
...When my mother died I was one and a half years old; I have no memory of her. When I was a child one did not speak of her; when I was older and got a second mother it had been agreed that one especially did not speak of my mother. So I know almost nothing of my mother. According to stories and the few photos, she was of short stature, blond, and very beautiful [116]. She was also very clever [klug] and calm in her bearing. I have several letters of hers, that through some kind of shyness I have been unable to read, and a few handicrafts, among them my father's prayer shawl [tales] bag.
There was great sorrow in the family over the deaths of my mother and aunt Sophie. Aunt Fanny, who later married Nathan Lowenstein, came into the house to care for me and run my widowed father's household. She knew nothing of child rearing or housekeeping, she was herself only a big child. In contrast to that, she vas very pretty, and let the students of the upper grades in our neighborhood court her much and often. Apparently the situation was not good either for me or my father. So it was natural that he would have to marry again. My father went on most of our holiday trips to the relatives, of which I wrote already, [msp 117] to find himself a wife and me a mother. It did not seem to work, because it lasted very long. Perhaps the candidates shied away from taking such a wild spoiled brat as me under their care. Finally my father made a match outside the country. He went to Konigsberg in private [i.Pr.] (without taking me along), got engaged to Sara Halpert, the daughter of Hirsch Halpert, Rabbi [Gabbe] in the polish schul (Synagogue), and the wedding took place on my father's birthday in 1893. I was already almost eight when the new mother, whom I always called Mamachen, came into the house in Libau. The marriage was happy, though not smooth. The percentage of happy unions was not smaller, perhaps larger, among the arranged ones than among the accidental ones (so-called love matches). When I met her at the railway station, Mamachen was a very pretty [bildhubshe], gentle [sanfte] woman, somewhat buxom [vollschlank] wearing a camel colored plush jacket, into which I liked to cuddle. [118] She was usually serious, an outstanding housewife [hausfrau], and cooked and baked wonderfully; your mother is the only one I've met so far who can do it still better in every respect. Mamachen was no longer young, did not make herself younger, but would give her age as ten years younger.
Unfortunately neither she nor anyone else thought of it that smallpox immunization disappears at around age 30. She was vaccinated as a child, and in Germany smallpox was a rare, almost unknown, illness. But in Russia, and in God's little land of Kurland, it was all too common. Perhaps she got infected in an employment agency for servants, and became seriously ill with smallpox. She lay in the city [stadtlichen] hospital, and I would visit her with my father. She was in mortal danger for a long time; when she came out of it the once beautiful, smooth, white, face was a single red scar. [msp 119] She remained pockmarked the rest of her life. (In Russia pockmarked is called ..... (rjaboi); it is such a common sight that a special [urtumlich] word was coined [gepragt] for it. The bodily manifestation of her disease disturbed Mamachen's spirit for the rest of her life. [gab Mamachen ein knacks]. Papachen could surround her with the greatest love, concern, and attention, but she would convince herself that he did not love her, that he cared more for other women; I am sure she was mistaken, but she suffered in spite of it, and Papachen suffered along with her. But they lived quietly and withdrawn. In 1895 uncle Erich was born, at the end of 1896 uncle George. We three grew up, Erich and I left the parental home and moved away [fremde], George stayed home, he was Mamachen's darling. Mamachen fulfilled her step-motherly duty in an exemplary way; before going to Libau she had to swear to her father that she would not touch the orphan [waise], and she never did. [120] I never got a slap from her, though I must have driven her to desperation with my mischief, stubbornness, and back-talk. In later years we understood each other very well, and I would get her annoyed only in jest, for example when I would say I was going to marry a Christian she became speechless just as in my Childhood when I did not want to be subdued.
For a time she became very fat, she went to Marienbad several times, she visited me in Freiberg, in Kiel and in Hamburg. She complained [krankelte] about various things. In 1922 she was in Kissingen with Papachen. The diagnoses of the physicians did not sound good, and at the end of 1922 she suffered a stroke which robbed her of speech and movement. So she suffered until the 15 Kislev (November 1923). When she died I was in Hamburg, I went to Libau for the funeral, but arrived too late. Uncle Erich was not allowed to return to [121] Latvia at that time, so uncle George and I were there alone to console Papachen. During Mamachen's illness an electric heating pad set the covers on fire. Since she could not call or move, she would have been seriously burned had not cousin Fanny (now in Prescott, AZ) happened to come in the room and torn the burning cover away. During her illness a very strange thing became evident. Some time before she had set a room aside and locked it with keys from which she would not be separated. Then she declared that the business staff were dishonest, that when Papachen and George went to lunch she herself sat in the cashiers place. She used this daily period to cut off pieces of cloth and hoard them in her locked room. Papachen found this collected hoard when he acquired the key during Mamachen's illness. This hoarding did not make sense, because the cut pieces were not useful for either [122] a suit or a dress. Perhaps this all happened in a state of craziness that later culminated in the stroke. To accomplish it she won the complicity of one of the clerks, who took the opportunity to cut coupons of cloth for himself, but with more sense, with which he supplied his girlfriend's [geliebten] shop in New Libau, who ran an active [schwunghaften] business with the stolen goods.
...Soon after his second marriage Papachen with his brother Joseph founded the firm Gebruder Herzenberg. The shop was located in the Knopf building, on the corner of Korn and Julian streets. After a few years the whole [126] block of buildings up to the market burned down. The shop changed locations several times until the Knopf's rebuilding was complete. The shop again moved back to the old corner, and is still there. However, I don't know what it is called now, since the Bolsheviks who took back Latvia after France collapsed in June 1940 "nationalized" the business, that is took it over without compensation, and your uncle George, the owner, was set out on the street.
The business went well, but it was no true happiness. Papachen did not get along with uncle Joseph, and Mamachen even less so with aunt Frieda, uncle Joseph's wife. Both had equal rights, and when Papachen hired somebody, and uncle Joseph did not like them, the latter would fire them. But they both withstood it. Shortly before the world war uncle Joseph died, and Papachen became sole owner. Then the war came, almost all Jews in Libau left the city and moved to inner Russia, partly to save what one could take along, partly to flee to the capital invested in Russian [127] banks and enterprises, partly due to forced evacuation of Jews from the border areas. Uncle Leopold moved to Riga, but Papachen stayed; the Germans came, and were greeted as liberators from the Russian domination, since they came a day before the forced evacuation of the Jews, and instead of them the Russian administration fled to the north. The Germans soon showed themselves in all their ostentation. Life was difficult during the occupation time. Papachen remained a Russian patriot and invested his earnings in czarist rubles. When these then dropped down to nothing, he invested in Reichsmark, and so he also lost this portion.
...So, after Mamachen's death he lived in company with uncle George in the beautiful home [wohnung] at Gymnasiumstrasse-4. I was there in November 1918 when Germany surrendered in the first world war, in 1923, after Mamachen's death, in 1925 before emigrating to Bolivia [129], and last in 1930 during my European vacation. Papachen lived quietly and withdrawn; he was not a misanthrope, but was disinclined toward any turbulent gathering. He lived esteemed and loved by the congregation, the city, and with few friends from the old guard of his youth. He lived as he wanted and as he believed was right. Unfortunately he lacked Mamachen's nurture. He had already suffered from a kidney ailment earlier, which kept getting worse over the years. He rarely traveled to the German baths, about once every ten years. Shortly after my last visit in 1930 he became severely ill from kidney stones. Once in a while he had some relief, and then he worked resolutely in the business and the congregation. Finally the crisis came in July 1932. He was transferred to a clinic, but there was no help. He suffered with horrible pain, and succumbed to Uremia on the 12 Tamuz (15 July 1932). With him were uncles Erich and George. [130]..."
...MY BROTHERS ERICH and George DURING and AFTER WW I...
...Your uncle George had just finished Libau realshule when the war broke out. He also was to come to me in Hamburg, [msp 347] but the war got in the way. In the summer of 1915 the Germans occupied Libau and all those subject to military service were taken to a civilian prison camp in Skalmierzyce, on the former German-Polish border. At that time I was already a soldier with the Prussians. Uncle Dodo in Berlin made the necessary applications and we succeeded in freeing George from the prison camp. He stayed in Berlin for a while to attend a commercial school [handelschule], then returned home to Libau where both brothers continued to lead a good life during the war. In Libau nothing was lacking, as before all foods were swimming in sour cream and butter, to the extent permitted by ritual, since the parents household was always kept kosher. Then George entered father's business and stayed in it. After father died in 1932 he married his old friend, the Latvian Linzit Grazde. He also had a son Leonhard, born on 21 June 1932, almost exactly three months before you. When the Bolsheviks occupied Latvia in September 1939 [msp 348] they left him in the business for only a few months, then it was nationalized. He desperately tried to get a visa to Bolivia, but it was impossible. First, immigration to Bolivia was closed, and second Bolivia did not have diplomatic relations with either Russia or Latvia. There were no Bolivian consulates at which to apply for entry. Then the Germans marched in, and till March 1942 we were without news. Then we got a telegram from them, from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, and found out that a week before the German assault, on 15 June 1941, the Russians evacuated them to Siberia...
...In the summer of 1922 father and mother came to Kissingen, where I and Erich visited them. That was the last time I saw mother. The doctors gave worrisome diagnoses. At the end of 1922 she had a stroke which crippled her and took her speech, and in 1923 she was freed by death. During this time, when she was cared for by our cousin Fanny, who now lives in Prescott, AZ, she was almost burned alive. Mother lay in bed with an electric heating pad, which apparently burned out and set the blankets on fire. Mother could neither scream or move in the bed; fortunately the nurse [schwester] noticed the smoke in time and was able to save her...
...Mother died in November 1923 (on the 15th of Kislev). When I got the telegram I wanted to got to Libau immediately, and could have gotten there in time for the funeral, but I lost so much time that I did not arrive till the evening after the burial. I got the passport relatively easily, but that was not enough. I had to have a visa from the polish consul because I would travel through the Polish corridor, a Lithuanian one to pass through Lithuania, and then I needed a Latvian one. Each consulate was in a different part of town, and the gentlemen were all so arrogant that one had to wait and beg to get the visa, and the fees for permission to spend a few hours over the holy Lithuanian or other foreign soil were sky-high. Your uncle Erich was not allowed into Latvia at that time, since he was still on their blacklist which included those involved with Bermondt-Analow. I spent the whole mourning period in Libau. [msp 361] However I was not ritually tied to the mourning, was not allowed to say Kadish, and could leave the house at any time, that is I did not have to sit Schiva. The household continued operating the way mother had led it, Anna carded it on. Then it was back to Hamburg. I did not have much work, but enough to live on. I had already long ago started to take foreign currency for instruction or professional reports. At the start of 1924, when the deflation started to be fully effective all my income stopped. From March 1924 on I had no students, no more reports, no longer earned a penny. My only activity was that in the lodge; I read a lot at home. What I needed to live on father sent me, since there was enough for that. I sold the greater part of my equipment, the better large microscope, the complete blowpipe apparatus, and much else. You can imagine, dear Nardi, that I felt plenty bad. I saw no way out. In spite of [msp 362] being lodge president, and having many good connections, it was not possible for me to get the most minor position. I lived and waited, as long as father could afford it he would never have left me in need. Uncle Erich, who was doing well in Berlin at the time, failed me in every respect [versagte in jeder beziehung]. Uncle George was in the business with father and did not have much to say, he was mostly concerned about himself. He was a great fan of water sport, one day it was a new Yacht, another a motorboat. Water sports were popular with Jewish youth in Latvia. They were united in the KYK (Kurland-ischer Yacht Klub), jokingly called the Kurlandischer Juden Klub by the German and Latvian clubs. But the KYK paid them back by winning most of the regattas..."

BIRTH:
1. Leo has conflicting birth dates. On his family pedigree he notes:
Erich, b. 25 Mar 1885 with mother as Fanny Gerson.
George, b. 19 Nov 1887 with mother as Fanny Gerson.
His father's memoirs have these two boys born to the second wife, Sara Halpert, in 1895 and late 1896 respectively. The memoirs speak of Robert as the stepchild to Sara, but not Erich and George.
I use the latter.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, George (I4134)
 
6861 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL048 shows ___ Pakscwher, b. Moscow, md. Alice Herzenberg, with two children b. Moscow.

2. Per Leo, they had two children - both last in Moscow, Russia.

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:
"...[52] The two following sisters, Alice and Laura married two brothers Packscwer in Moscow, industrialists and bankers and each of the sisters has two sons. In all other respects the fate of the two sisters was fundamentally different. In those days the education of girls in the family was especially held back. From the older children of Abraham I know that they married without understanding the meaning of marriage. Even a word like "shirt" was taboo. It can be assumed that the brother that Alice married also did not know his condition, and brought syphilis into the marriage. In any case, he infected Alice, and as it was in those days, one did not speak of such things as long as possible. When Alice started showing brain disturbances she came to Riga to her mother into the sad home on the Schwimstrasse. [53] At that time I was living as a boarder with aunt Therese. Alice had gone into town on some errands, failed to return, and in the evening after a long search was found insane in the suburbs . She was very beautiful, and her mental decline was a pitiful sight. One could not keep her in the house. She came into a private insane sanatorium of Dr. Schonfeld near Riga, where she died some time later. I never knew what happened to the husband and the two pretty, but pale and sickly Children."
LAURA came to Paris with her husband and the two children after the Soviet revolution. They apparently rescued everyone from the Russian collapse. When I last saw Laura in Kissingen in 1922 she was still very pretty, tall and slender. Her husband Pakschwer made an impression like a diplomat before 1914. The elder son was affected by social-tolstoyan ideas. He is an engineer, naturalized [54] french, but has been unemployed for along time. Laura and Max tried to arrange emigration to Bolivia for him, but when the visa had been obtained he had gone to Saigon, Indochina. The second son lived in London. Lastly Laura and Max moved from Paris to Vichy. I don't know what happened to them after the collapse of France and the anti-Semitic laws of the Petain government."

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Packschwer (I4131)
 
6862 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL051 shows Mischa Kahn b. in Warsaw, last residence in Warsaw, md. Kara H.,
YL023 shows at least one child: Lenka (Ljowka) (Leva), last of Marseilles, md. to Gerda.

2. Son Ljowka Kahn was last of Marseilles France.

3. Len Yokaiden notes a child of "Leva Kan" named Sylvia Kan of USA in his "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepeja Latvia," 1 Jan 2000, copy in my possession.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Kahn, Mischa (I4129)
 
6863 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL047 shows Wilhelm Offenbacher, md. Fanny Herzenberg.
YL 023 notes Children: Sonja, md. Loeb; Erich.

2. Len Yokaiden notes Wilhelm Offenbacher was of Moscow with no exact detail in his "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepeja Latvia," 1 Jan 2000, copy in my possession.

BIOGRAPHY:
1. According to the book "Pianos and Their Makers: A Comprehensive History of the Development of the Piano," by Alfred Dolge, p. 457, Offenbacher was established 1900 in St. Petersburg.

2. Two brothers, Wilhelm (or Vasily) and Joseph (or Joseph) Offenbacher marry two cousins, Fanny and Flora Herzenberg. Acquaintance and marriage most likely was in St. Petersburg. Robert Herzenberg's memoirs below indicate two Offenbacher brothers had come to St. Petersburg - Wilhelm had a piano factory and presumably Joseph had the mirror factory.

3. 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:
"...The oldest daughter FANNY married the Bavarian piano manufacturer Offennbacher, who had a factory in Petersburg. The Offenbachers come from Nurmberg-Furth, a second brother had a mirror factory in Petersburg. The other brothers stayed in Nurmberg. At the outbreak of the world war they were in Germany. Wilhelm Offenbacher was a Bavarian reserve officer and serves as a captain in some garrison. Fanny had two children, Sonja and Erich. Sonja married in Nurmberg and had a little daughter, her husband fell in the world war. Erich entered the war as a volunteer. A coincidence brought us together in Lida in 1917, after which we did not see each other for about 16 years. [51] He married a cousin in Nuremberg, and Sonja married a second time, this time a very orthodox Jew. When Hitler came to power Sonja and her family emigrated to Palestine. Erich committed suicide, and the elders, Fanny and Wilhelm Offenbacher wandered to Palestine to join Sonja, where they now live. Wilhelm had ended his 80th year before the journey, they live in Tel Aviv, Sonia has become a grandmother, and so Fanny is a great-grandmother. When they looked up my father [Papachen] in Libau ten years earlier, and Aunt Therese was still alive, none of us could have suspected that the few who were saved from perishing in Petersburg would perish in Germany and that Fanny's family would return to the land of our ancestors as old people. (Footnote: Fanny Offenbacher died at the end of 1941 in Tel Aviv.)
A nephew of Wilhelm Offenbacher was driven to Bolivia by the Hitler storm, and now (1940) lives with wife and son in Tarija."

4. The following undated paper was written late 1969 in Nice, France by Catherine Werblovsky Olympieff (also known as Ekaterina Werblovskaya Olympieva) at the request of Patrick Landau through his aunt Alice Nikitina. Patrick's father, Vladimir Landau, even though he was Catherine's cousin, had less knowledge on the family then Catherine. Catherine was the granddaughter of Edouard and Rebecca Herzenberg. The letter was written a couple of years before Catherine's death after she entered into an assisted care facility in Nice. The paper was recently found among personal items previously gathered about 1969 by her daughter Irene Nadia de Lanskoy Petersen. Portions of the letter were written in three languages: English, French, and Russian. Irene, in transcribing the letter, notes that the letter was hard to follow and to make sense of. Irene's transcription dated 31 Jul 2007 with her notes added in [ ].
"What concerns the father and mother of our mother's: Mother's father: Edouard Ocipovitch Herzenberg [or Gerzenberg] Edward son of Joseph Herzenberg born: in Mitava [or Mittau] not far ___, Baltic Provinces - not far from Riga. He died at 76 years of age (had diabetes and malaria) from lung congestion after flu. His wife was his cousin.
Rebecca Herzenberg also married a first cousin. I am not sure of the name of her father; she died in Moscow when I was 6 years old (70 years ago). [Death would be approximately 1899?]
They were probably married in Mitawa and came to Moscow young, because all their children were born in Moscow. The eldest 1) Elizabeth 2) Sonja [or Sonia] (Sofia) mother of Manja or Mania who now lives in Moscow, who had a sister Nadja or Nadia who was born in Moscow. Sonia's husband was Adolf Schneider - son of Aaron Schneider - who had 3 more sons: Nicolas, Alexander, Serge and a daughter Elizabeth Schneider. She got married with Martin Behr (English nationality); they had two children and lived in Moscow. Mrs. Elizabeth Behr died in London (after the Russian Revolution she lived in France, later in England.) Her brother Adolf Schneider was a brother-in-law of our mother's of course.) [This is a repeat of the above.] The Behrs had 2 children. Elisabeth Behr died in London (probably her husband Martin Behr died before.) Mrs. Behr's daughter Olga died in London about a year ago [1968-69?], her brother George Behr still lives in London is married (has 1 daughter who is married too and has 2 boys, 8 and 7.
So my mother Elisabeth was the eldest daughter of Edward and Rebecca Herzenberg born in Moscow like her sister Sonia, the next sister Flora born in Moscow. Flora, married Joseph Offenbacher, had one son Lotar (my first cousin as well as yours). She, her husband, and son died in Germany during the war of Hitler (son Lothar). [Irene notes that another family account says that Lothar committed suicide on account of the war.] [His father] Joseph Offenbacher had an older brother Vasily [William or Wilhelm] Offenbacher who married a cousin of our mother's - Fanny, daughter of Abra[ha]m (whom all children of Edward Herzenberg used to call Uncle Abraham.) He was the husband of Grandfather Edward Herzenberg's sister Theresa. His family name was also like all: Herzenberg. Theresa Herzenberg had many children - daughter Fanny, sons Ludwig, Harry, and 2 other sons and another daughter Sophia married to another Herzenberg (all those marriages were between cousins) who had three children, Robby (Robert) who lives in Sweden and 2 daughters Clara and Roberta (died in Riga - Bolshevik Revolution). [I am not sure if Clara and Roberta are correct for this family grouping.] After Flora Herzenberg, the 4th daughter was my Aunt Anjuta [Anna Herzenberg-Landau]. Then there was another one Genga (Eugenie) married Harry Taube from Riga - were killed by Hitler's army. She was the 5th daughter of Edward Herzenberg. The 6th was Lilja [Lilia] (1st wife of Uncle Max Landau - died in Davos, Switzerland from TB.) Then was another daughter Milja, died very young (she was the 7th daughter). The youngest daughter Tonya [Tonia] died in Moscow. Then there were two brothers, the oldest Ivan (John) married a French young girl from Mussidan, Dordogne, France. She was daughter of the Mayor of that town. Died in the north of Russia where - she was sent sick and was sent with her to Mourmansk (north of Russia). Uncle Vanja's [Vania, Ivan, John all same name wife Lydia died there [note her maiden name was Lydie Buisson]. Uncle Vanja died too in Bolshevik Revolution. Their 3 children: Micha (Michel) died probably in Moscow; his brother Andrei (Andre) Herzenberg and Suzanne Hindzee (Herzenberg) - 1st husband (French) Volant. She has a daughter in Toronto married in Toronto (Alja [or Alice Nikitina] knew her) who has two children, boy and girl. The father's family name is A. [Albert?] Statter - wife Lydie (Suzanne's daughter) - son Albert. [Irene's note: last known address was 33 Stonegate Road, Toronto, Canada, M8Y-1V8; phone 416-251-6295.]
There was yet other families related to us through our mother's. It was a well known dentist. His name was Kovarsky. His wife was the cousin of our mother's. They had a lot of children - 3 brothers Misha (Michael), Leva (Leon), 2 daughters Choura (Alexandra). Chura who now is same age as Suzanne [Herzenberg Hindzee] - the only one alive. I forget the name of the eldest brother deceased. Manja (Mania) in Moscow knows more about that family. What was the name of the mother cousin of our mother's-probably it was yet another of the Herzenberg family. As Alja [Alice Nikitina] will be going to Moscow she will be able to find out more form Manja [Mania]. Then there was yet another family related to the wife of our grandfather through the husband or wife Idelson. There was a girl Lisa Idelson and her brother. I think that Manja must know something about them. They lived in Moscow. I used to go see them with my mother when I was about 8 or 10 years old.
Now George Behr has written from London thanking me for my sympathy condolences on account of the death of his sister Olga Behr. She must have been older than 78 years. he thought that his aunt on his father's side, Nina Karlovna died in Moscow, as well as his cousin Leija, but I think it is relatives on the side of his father Bahr, and the cousin is perhaps of the Schneider family (it is possible that the cousin is still living). All these people lived in Moscow.
Now what concerns the Packschwer family. The one that came to see you with the Vietnamese wife has passed away. His name was Julien Packschwer born in Vitebesk, Russia. He was 72. His younger brother Saveijn (Sahva) engineer in London named himself Packshaw, died in England 3 weeks before Julien, leaving a widow (2nd marriage) and 2 children. It was the death of his younger brother that caused reaction on Julien Packshwer. He died 3 weeks after him. He was found on a street in Nice, France with a cerebral hemorrhage-fell in the street. Police took him to the hospital St. Rock where he died at 19 hours in the evening and remained in a coma. His car 2 CV (small) stayed in the parking where he had left it. It was only his Vietnamese wife [Mado] returning from Saigon 1 month after his death that was able to retrieve that car from the parking. Yet another day or two, it would have been impounded. But as it was the widow herself then came. They did not charge her anything. But as the car was her husband's-she has to wait by inheritance law to be able to sell it and divide up in 4 parts to his children. The eldest son of another marriage Leon is an eye doctor in Paris, then 3 other children. Oldest Robert in Montreal, CA; another son in ___ was in the navy for 3 years. The oldest was in the Air force, married a girl from Morocco - they are going to have a child soon. The daughter Irene married, has a little boy, the husband is serving in the military; they live in Cayrons near Vence, France in the Packshwer house. The widow/mother Mado inherited ¼ of the sum, the children ¾ divided in 4 for each of the 4 children. Through a real estate in Vence, Julien's house of 1000 sq. meters is worth 18 million francs. If the children keep the house, they will in turn need to give on fourth of the cost to the widow who also has the right to half of his monthly pension of 30,000 francs. She came to see me day before yesterday and told me all these details. So here you have it-the relatives. The mother of the Packshwer father was 1st cousin of our mother's through the daughter of the sister of our grandfather Edward Herzenberg maiden name Theresa Herzenberg died in Nice, born I think in Mitawa [Mitau], Baltic Provinces. She was buried with her husband in Nice at the Caucade cemetery.
Now I add what George Behr wrote from London that his wife Janet has seen Aunt Anjuta [Anna Herzenberg] in Monte Carlo, then he wrote about his cousin in Moscow who he thinks has passed away (he is going to find out about it from Manja-he asked their address in Monaco). She was the daughter of the oldest sister Polina Aronovna of his mother. Here is what concerns that family... [Balance of letter missing]."

BIRTH:
1. Location is per narrative above. Date is surmised as a possible match to a database on Worldconnect 4 Aug 2007 database ":1004099" by Andre Levy . This database has the family of Isaak Loeb Offenbacher-Oppenheim and Loebine Mailander who married 15 Aug 1837. They had 10 children, one of which was Wilhelm Offenbacher, b. 22 Dec 1855 and another was Josef Offenbacher b. 31 Dec 1861. This looks to be a good match, but it is tentative thus far.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Offenbacher, Wilhelm (I4128)
 
6864 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL081 shows Goga (Georg) b. 19 Nov 1887 in Libava, Latvia.
HL045 Was a flyer in WWI, went to the US.

2. Censuses:
1930 US: Pacific Grove, Monterey, California, p. 24 of 30, 213 Congress, house 375, family 379:
Geo. L. Herzenberg, rents, $20, 31, first md. at age 27, Russia, Germany, France, garage machinist, came in 1919, naturalized.
Florence B., wife, 30, first md. at age 20, UT UT CA.

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:
"...LEO Herzenberg, the eldest son of uncle Abraham, lived in Petersburg as a bank director. his wife Matja was a very fashionable woman, and it was not a good marriage. They had a son, Goga, who was a flyer in the first world war, and then went to the states. I met Leo in Berlin after the war in a fancy hotel, and he also visited me in Hamburg. He was marred for a second time, but I did not meet his wife. [46] They had a very pretty daughter who was raised from birth like a princess. Leo had lived in Paris and Switzerland before the second world war, and supposedly things went badly for him at the end."

2. Ancestry.com's "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957" arriving on the ship "St. Paul" 28 May 1920 which departed from Cherbourg France: George Herzenberg, 21, male, single, bank clerk, reads and writes, Russian nationality, Israelite race, b. in Paris France, nearest relative in country of origin: Father Leonard Herzenberg, 7 Rue Anatolede la Forge in Paris, France, final destination: New York, NY. [Even though he says he was born in Paris France, the index says Petrograd, which would be the Soviet name for St. Petersburg.]

3. Ancestry.com's "US Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1893-1940" has 50 or so listings for George as a private first class from 1922 to 1927 all around the country including Virginia, Connecticut, California, and some ships.

MARRIAGE:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kerry Petersen.

DEATH:
1. Ancestry.com's "California Death Index": George L. Herzenberg, ssn 552035026, b. 22 Feb 1899 in Russia, d. 24 Jan 1973 in Monterey Co., CA. Online Social Security Death Index adds place of death as Monterey, Monterey, California.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, George L. or Goga (I4116)
 
6865 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL066a shows Sara-Haye Halpert b. Konigsberg, Germany, d. 23 Nov 1923 in Libau, m. 12 Jul 1893.
AF005 shows same.
HR shows death as 15 Nov 1923.

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:
"MY PARENTS
FANNY GERSON, Leonhard Herzenberg, SARA HALPERT
[110] My mother was born on 10 Schmat 5621 (January 1861) in Pilten, my father on 12 Ab 5616 (July 1856) on a farm [gute] near Goldingen. Their great-parents were siblings. They had known each other from youth, and were attracted to each other, probably because both not so much stood out as fell out from their own sibling group. My father came to the Firm Nachman in Libau at age sixteen, where he eagerly joined the western Jewish culture circle [sich ganz dem west judischen kulturkreis anschloss]. The German pastor of Pilten had taken my mother to heart [ins herz geschlossen] and taught her along with his own children. Pilten, once an important city, bishop's see and of political-historical significance, had become a totally insignificant place, in Russian terminology "z... r....," that is, a city that had been declared as having lost city rights [111] and privileges. A single street led through it. When one came there from Windau, at the entrance there was the church, on the right the house of Jacobsohns, left the house of the Gerson grandparents, and further on relatives lived in almost every house. Behind the houses were fruit and vegetable gardens. Where these adjoined the pastures one could comfortably go through gaps in the fence to the mill field. There my mother used to play, and there I also played with other brats [lausbuben] my age when I was in Pilten for the long summer vacation. These brats attended the Pilten yeshiva next to the little old synagogue. The latter was pathetic, and the yeshiva even more so; it stopped operating long before the world war, and is not even mentioned in the Jewish encyclopedia. Through the pastoral education my mother must have gotten estranged from the whole family milieu, so she liked my father best among the few acquaintances. He was no "match" ["partie"], riches neither had, but they hoped that with help of the [112] wealthy, or better off, uncles in Libau, Goldingen, and Moscow they could get through. They became engaged, and married.
[Engagement Announcement card, Pilten, Libau] [Wedding Invitation Card, from G. Gersohn and frau, 4:00pm, 24 July 1884, Pilten]
As the guests sat at the wedding meal came the news of the death of Uncle Robert Herzenberg in Mitau. The celebration was not to be disturbed, [113] so the news was kept secret until the end of wedding. It was interpreted as a bad omen, and unfortunately the interpreters were right. The parents moved to Libau, where my father founded the firm Leonhard Herzenberg. The business did not go, the uncles were stingy [kargten] with goods and credit. Soon thereafter I was born, possibly the only pleasure my parents experienced together. And then everything collapsed, the firm failed, my father returned as a clerk to the Nachman Firm, and on 6 Nissan 5647 (19 March 1887) my mother passed away, after suffering for three weeks with enteric typhoid [unterleibtyphus]. Her sister Sophie, who had nursed her during the illness, was infected, and died 11 days later. They were buried in a double grave in the old Jewish North cemetery of Libau, near the north shore of the harbor, next to the building of the linoleoum factory. The grave is almost in the middle of the graveyard. When I visited the cemetery as a child, it was quite full of graves. Then when I
[114]Hebrew grave inscription]
[msp 115] visited the graves later, on vacation, an oak tree grew behind the cast iron marker [tafel]. Later, after the first world war, the graveyard was abandoned and hardly protected. The low wall was easily climbed over, and everything useable was plundered. All trees were cut down, many grave markers were of wood, these were also stolen, the fences were broken off to be sold as scrap-iron. When I last visited the graves in Libau in 1930, except for the grave of mother and aunt, only a few were still preserved. The cemetery was flattened by time and weather. I don't know whether a transfer of the remains to the south cemetery occurred.
When my mother died I was one and a half years old; I have no memory of her. When I was a child one did not speak of her; when I was older and got a second mother it had been agreed that one especially did not speak of my mother. So I know almost nothing of my mother. According to stories and the few photos, she was of short stature, blond, and very beautiful [116]. She was also very clever [klug] and calm in her bearing. I have several letters of hers, that through some kind of shyness I have been unable to read, and a few handicrafts, among them my father's prayer shawl [tales] bag.
There was great sorrow in the family over the deaths of my mother and aunt Sophie. Aunt Fanny, who later married Nathan Lowenstein, came into the house to care for me and run my widowed father's household. She knew nothing of child rearing or housekeeping, she was herself only a big child. In contrast to that, she vas very pretty, and let the students of the upper grades in our neighborhood court her much and often. Apparently the situation was not good either for me or my father. So it was natural that he would have to marry again. My father went on most of our holiday trips to the relatives, of which I wrote already, [msp 117] to find himself a wife and me a mother. It did not seem to work, because it lasted very long. Perhaps the candidates shied away from taking such a wild spoiled brat as me under their care. Finally my father made a match outside the country. He went to Konigsberg in private [i.Pr.] (without taking me along), got engaged to Sara Halpert, the daughter of Hirsch Halpert, Rabbi [Gabbe] in the polish schul (Synagogue), and the wedding took place on my father's birthday in 1893. I was already almost eight when the new mother, whom I always called Mamachen, came into the house in Libau. The marriage was happy, though not smooth. The percentage of happy unions was not smaller, perhaps larger, among the arranged ones than among the accidental ones (so-called love matches). When I met her at the railway station, Mamachen was a very pretty [bildhubshe], gentle [sanfte] woman, somewhat buxom [vollschlank] wearing a camel colored plush jacket, into which I liked to cuddle. [118] She was usually serious, an outstanding housewife [hausfrau], and cooked and baked wonderfully; your mother is the only one I've met so far who can do it still better in every respect. Mamachen was no longer young, did not make herself younger, but would give her age as ten years younger.
Unfortunately neither she nor anyone else thought of it that smallpox immunization disappears at around age 30. She was vaccinated as a child, and in Germany smallpox was a rare, almost unknown, illness. But in Russia, and in God's little land of Kurland, it was all too common. Perhaps she got infected in an employment agency for servants, and became seriously ill with smallpox. She lay in the city [stadtlichen] hospital, and I would visit her with my father. She was in mortal danger for a long time; when she came out of it the once beautiful, smooth, white, face was a single red scar. [msp 119] She remained pockmarked the rest of her life. (In Russia pockmarked is called ..... (rjaboi); it is such a common sight that a special [urtumlich] word was coined [gepragt] for it. The bodily manifestation of her disease disturbed Mamachen's spirit for the rest of her life. [gab Mamachen ein knacks]. Papachen could surround her with the greatest love, concern, and attention, but she would convince herself that he did not love her, that he cared more for other women; I am sure she was mistaken, but she suffered in spite of it, and Papachen suffered along with her. But they lived quietly and withdrawn. In 1895 uncle Erich was born, at the end of 1896 uncle George. We three grew up, Erich and I left the parental home and moved away [fremde], George stayed home, he was Mamachen's darling. Mamachen fulfilled her step-motherly duty in an exemplary way; before going to Libau she had to swear to her father that she would not touch the orphan [waise], and she never did. [120] I never got a slap from her, though I must have driven her to desperation with my mischief, stubbornness, and back-talk. In later years we understood each other very well, and I would get her annoyed only in jest, for example when I would say I was going to marry a Christian she became speechless just as in my Childhood when I did not want to be subdued.
For a time she became very fat, she went to Marienbad several times, she visited me in Freiberg, in Kiel and in Hamburg. She complained [krankelte] about various things. In 1922 she was in Kissingen with Papachen. The diagnoses of the physicians did not sound good, and at the end of 1922 she suffered a stroke which robbed her of speech and movement. So she suffered until the 15 Kislev (November 1923). When she died I was in Hamburg, I went to Libau for the funeral, but arrived too late. Uncle Erich was not allowed to return to [121] Latvia at that time, so uncle George and I were there alone to console Papachen. During Mamachen's illness an electric heating pad set the covers on fire. Since she could not call or move, she would have been seriously burned had not cousin Fanny (now in Prescott, AZ) happened to come in the room and torn the burning cover away. During her illness a very strange thing became evident. Some time before she had set a room aside and locked it with keys from which she would not be separated. Then she declared that the business staff were dishonest, that when Papachen and George went to lunch she herself sat in the cashiers place. She used this daily period to cut off pieces of cloth and hoard them in her locked room. Papachen found this collected hoard when he acquired the key during Mamachen's illness. This hoarding did not make sense, because the cut pieces were not useful for either [122] a suit or a dress. Perhaps this all happened in a state of craziness that later culminated in the stroke. To accomplish it she won the complicity of one of the clerks, who took the opportunity to cut coupons of cloth for himself, but with more sense, with which he supplied his girlfriend's [geliebten] shop in New Libau, who ran an active [schwunghaften] business with the stolen goods.
When I wish to describe to you my father, Leonhard Herzenberg, after whom you are named, I can approach it only with a certain shyness [Scheu]. Your grandfather, who attended only a miserable cheider in the country, worked himself out of nothing up to a very high position. I have studied, and graduated from two universities, but always see how far behind my father I stand. No matter how I approach it, from intelligence, [123] diligence, work strength [arbeitskraft], endurance, or observation gift, [beobachtungsgabe] I can only conclude that had he grown up a generation later, under my circumstances, he would have been a light for humanity in any field he may have chosen. Circumstances offered him a small range of occupations, but he fulfilled their and his possibilities 100%. I still envy his letter writing style, and his being had a dignity [wurde] and charm that I have never seen in another person; may they be granted to you, Nardi. The relatives in Berlin would laugh about Mamachen when she spoke of Papachen: "You must see him behind his desk [ladentisch], he stands there like a prince [furst]." And so it was, and whenever he attended a meeting, or led a conference, he would dominate it, without special schooling, without special speaking gifts, and modesty in appearance and dress. He easily stood out from his 9 siblings [msp 124], and perhaps that is why he did not get along with any of them. As I got to know him [als ich ihn kennen lernte] he was just as bald as he is in all his photos. Then I saw very little of him. On work days we never had a midday meal together, since school lasted until 2:30 and often 3:30, and most evenings he came home late from the store, around 9:00, when we would all be together for a short time.
Saturday the store was closed, and then we were together more; Papachen was not very devout - only after the death of my grandfather, when he would go to the synagogue daily to say Kadish, and was elected leader of the congregation, did he change; he no longer smoked on Saturday, I was allowed to smoke at home, but he did not like to see it on the street. In later years we sat together longer in the evenings, I with my school work, [125] or reading, Papachen with his bookkeeping, which he always handled himself and was very skilled at. Especially during inventory and year end he would work until late at night. Every Friday evening after dinner we would both go for a walk, in any weather, and then I talked about my school experiences, and he talked about the store. So it went during the school years; then when I went abroad [in die fremde] I would be home only occasionally on vacations, and then, briefly. I would search for every hour I could be together with him, and in later years we were the closest of friends. After I emigrated to Bolivia we would write each other weekly, and thus remained in close contact.
Soon after his second marriage Papachen with his brother Joseph founded the firm Gebruder Herzenberg. The shop was located in the Knopf building, on the corner of Korn and Julian streets. After a few years the whole [126] block of buildings up to the market burned down. The shop changed locations several times until the Knopf's rebuilding was complete. The shop again moved back to the old corner, and is still there. However, I don't know what it is called now, since the Bolsheviks who took back Latvia after France collapsed in June 1940 "nationalized" the business, that is took it over without compensation, and your uncle George, the owner, was set out on the street.
The business went well, but it was no true happiness. Papachen did not get along with uncle Joseph, and Mamachen even less so with aunt Frieda, uncle Joseph's wife. Both had equal rights, and when Papachen hired somebody, and uncle Joseph did not like them, the latter would fire them. But they both withstood it. Shortly before the world war uncle Joseph died, and Papachen became sole owner. Then the war came, almost all Jews in Libau left the city and moved to inner Russia, partly to save what one could take along, partly to flee to the capital invested in Russian [127] banks and enterprises, partly due to forced evacuation of Jews from the border areas. Uncle Leopold moved to Riga, but Papachen stayed; the Germans came, and were greeted as liberators from the Russian domination, since they came a day before the forced evacuation of the Jews, and instead of them the Russian administration fled to the north. The Germans soon showed themselves in all their ostentation. Life was difficult during the occupation time. Papachen remained a Russian patriot and invested his earnings in czarist rubles. When these then dropped down to nothing, he invested in Reichsmark, and so he also lost this portion.
The firm stayed in business, one lived, and not so badly, since the bread and fat ration cards, and the scarcity of meat and fish was not known in Kurland itself during the occupation. [128] But after Latvia became an independent state in 1919, freed of Russians and Germans, Papachen did not become a "noveau riche." During the inflation time he had helped many, but remained the same person who tenaciously fought for his existence. Now he had become the leading personality of the Jewish community. All those who towered over him in education, riches, and position had died or been ruined in Russia. He was always reelected to his position in the community, and one year before his death he was named an honorary freeman (citizen?) [eherenburger]. So, after Mamachen's death he lived in company with uncle George in the beautiful home [wohnung] at Gymnasiumstrasse-4. I was there in November 1918 when Germany surrendered in the first world war, in 1923, after Mamachen's death, in 1925 before emigrating to Bolivia [129], and last in 1930 during my European vacation. Papachen lived quietly and withdrawn; he was not a misanthrope, but was disinclined toward any turbulent gathering. He lived esteemed and loved by the congregation, the city, and with few friends from the old guard of his youth. He lived as he wanted and as he believed was right. Unfortunately he lacked Mamachen's nurture. He had already suffered from a kidney ailment earlier, which kept getting worse over the years. He rarely traveled to the German baths, about once every ten years. Shortly after my last visit in 1930 he became severely ill from kidney stones. Once in a while he had some relief, and then he worked resolutely in the business and the congregation. Finally the crisis came in July 1932. He was transferred to a clinic, but there was no help. He suffered with horrible pain, and succumbed to Uremia on the 12 Tamuz (15 July 1932). With him were uncles Erich and George. [130]
I was here in Oruro, I had just gotten a letter from him written in good spirits, since an improvement in his condition had occurred, when the telegram with the sad news arrived. I had lost not only my father, but also the best friend on earth, and the most noble person I ever knew. Papachen's funeral in Libau was exceptional, the coffin was kept in the synagogue, and there the memorial orations were given, Now he rests in the south cemetery next to Mamachen, grandmother, and uncle Joseph. The only good thing is that he did not experience the collapse of everything he loved esteemed, the whole Hitler plague and its consequences.
[Hebrew script notation]
[marginal notation:] my father's grave inscription[ followed by several lines in Hebrew script]
[130 - 133: Ehrenburger certificate, newspaper clippings of memorial items from Leonhard's death]...
...In the summer of 1922 father and mother came to Kissingen, where I and Erich visited them. That was the last time I saw mother. The doctors gave worrisome diagnoses. At the end of 1922 she had a stroke which crippled her and took her speech, and in 1923 she was freed by death. During this time, when she was cared for by our cousin Fanny, who now lives in Prescott, AZ, she was almost burned alive. Mother lay in bed with an electric heating pad, which apparently burned out and set the blankets on fire. Mother could neither scream or move in the bed; fortunately the nurse [schwester] noticed the smoke in time and was able to save her...
...Mother died in November 1923 (on the 15th of Kislev). When I got the telegram I wanted to got to Libau immediately, and could have gotten there in time for the funeral, but I lost so much time that I did not arrive till the evening after the burial. I got the passport relatively easily, but that was not enough. I had to have a visa from the polish consul because I would travel through the Polish corridor, a Lithuanian one to pass through Lithuania, and then I needed a Latvian one. Each consulate was in a different part of town, and the gentlemen were all so arrogant that one had to wait and beg to get the visa, and the fees for permission to spend a few hours over the holy Lithuanian or other foreign soil were sky-high. Your uncle Erich was not allowed into Latvia at that time, since he was still on their blacklist which included those involved with Bermondt-Analow. I spent the whole mourning period in Libau. [msp 361] However I was not ritually tied to the mourning, was not allowed to say Kadish, and could leave the house at any time, that is I did not have to sit Schiva. The household continued operating the way mother had led it, Anna carded it on. Then it was back to Hamburg. I did not have much work, but enough to live on. I had already long ago started to take foreign currency for instruction or professional reports. At the start of 1924, when the deflation started to be fully effective all my income stopped. From March 1924 on I had no students, no more reports, no longer earned a penny. My only activity was that in the lodge; I read a lot at home. What I needed to live on father sent me, since there was enough for that. I sold the greater part of my equipment, the better large microscope, the complete blowpipe apparatus, and much else. You can imagine, dear Nardi, that I felt plenty bad. I saw no way out. In spite of [msp 362] being lodge president, and having many good connections, it was not possible for me to get the most minor position. I lived and waited, as long as father could afford it he would never have left me in need. Uncle Erich, who was doing well in Berlin at the time, failed me in every respect [versagte in jeder beziehung]. Uncle George was in the business with father and did not have much to say, he was mostly concerned about himself. He was a great fan of water sport, one day it was a new Yacht, another a motorboat. Water sports were popular with Jewish youth in Latvia. They were united in the KYK (Kurland-ischer Yacht Klub), jokingly called the Kurlandischer Juden Klub by the German and Latvian clubs. But the KYK paid them back by winning most of the regattas..."

BURIAL:
1. Research report dated 6 Jul 1997 from Latvian researcher Aleksandrs Feigmanis, Crestes 2-12, LV-1021, Riga, Latvia, to Harold Hodes of London, England (partial copy of eight pages in my possession). In one section he notes burials in Libau as follows:
-Joseph Herzberg, died 29-4-1914.
-Nesse Herzenberg, died 6-2-1920.
-Sara-Haye Herzenberg, died 23-11-1923.
-Leonhard Herzenberg, died 15-7-1932.
-Leib Herzenberg (or Liba?), died 9-9-1926

2. Website for "Liepaja Jewish Cemetery Book, 1909-1941," accessed 4 Aug 2010 shows a Mrs. Sara Herzenberg, d. 23 Nov 1923 (15 Kislev 5684). Husband is also buried in same cemetery.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Halpert, Sara-Haye (I4114)
 
6866 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL109 shows Nathan Lowenstein, b. 1940 at Livava, Latvia, md. Fanny Herzenberg. [1940 as birth appears erroneous - s/b death?]
YL018 shows the following children:
Marie, b. Riga.
Mischa, b. Libau.
Dr. Adoph, b. Paulshafen.

2. Per Leo Herzenberg, he was born in Libava, Latvia.

3. Len Yodaiken notes Lowenstein children Marie, Mischa, and Adolph in his "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepeja Latvia," 1 Jan 2000, copy in my possession - KP.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Lowenstein, Nathan (I4111)
 
6867 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL110 shows Ezekiel Judelowitz b. in Mitau, md. Dora, no children.

2. Per Leo Herzenberg, he was born in Mitau.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Judelovitz or Judelowitz, Ezekiel (I4110)
 
6868 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL107 shows ___ Salmonssohn md. Ernestine Herzenberg with one unnamed son.

BIOGRAPHY:
1. PDF entitiled "My Ancestors and my Descendents -- The Bernitz Family. Latvia to South Africa, by Charles Bernitz, February 2010, fully posted 5 July 2020 to the Family Search sources for Micahel Behr Bernitz and Ernestine Herzenberg. The following are excerpts concerning Michael Bernitz and Ernestine Herzenberg and Ernestine's second husband. For photos see the same PDF in Family Search:
"Michel Behr Bernitz
Michel, also known as Mikhail and Michael (my great-grandfather) was married twice, and had children in both marriages.
Michel‟s birth date is not known, but can be calculated as being between 1830 and 1840. He grew up in the Jewish community in Hasenpoth (now called Aizpute). We know that the children from his 2nd marriage to Ernestina were born in Gros-Dahmen (Russian: Gruz-Dimena), in the Hasenpoth district; we can therefore assume that he settled there around 1884. It is located 5 km from the current civil parish of Gramzda. This was a small place without authorities with whom to register births. Michel only obtained a certificate regarding their birth registration from the Rabbi of the Skude district (which is across the border in Lithuania) many years after they were born. He was known to be a brewer, and the certificate mentioned above refers to him as the Hasenpoth petit bourgeois Michel Behr, an indication that he had been admitted to the merchant class. Gros-Dahmen was a large country estate, belonging to a Baron Nicholas Schroder. It did not have (and still does not have any large town). Michael had two marriages, with children from each marriage.
First marriage to Lea Friedman.
Michel married Lea Friedman in 1862, when she was 21 years old. He was either of a similar age, or up to 10 years older. They lived in Hasenpoth, and had 2 boys and 2 girls – Isidor (birth date unknown), Nochum (1870), Rahle (1874) and Pere (1875). Both daughters married in Latvia. No further records have been found for Nochum – he probably left Latvia. As we have not yet located any birth documents for Isidor, there is a possibility that Nochum and Isidor are the same person. Lea died on the 24th May, 1875, the year that Pere was born. I suspect that she died in childbirth.
Second marriage to Ernestina Herzenberg
I have been puzzled by a number of issues relating to Michel Behr‟s history.
1. The lack of birth documents for himself, as well as for the second son from his first marriage.
2. The fact that he chose not to register the births of any of the children of his second marriage for many years (I believe that the birth certificate that was eventually issued by the Rabbi in Skude was only issued after Michael had died, probably at the request of his then widow Ernestina).
3. The fact that he moved from Hasenpoth, where he had been an established merchant (brewer), to Gruz-Dimene after his second marriage to Ernestina.
4. The stories, retold independently by both Ernie (as heard from Herman), and by Joanna (as heard from Isidor), that Michel and Ernestina socialized with the nobility, or that he was possibly even ennobled himself, with the title of Baron. Though intriguing, this is extremely unlikely. But was there any basis for the stories?
The fact that neither the birth of his second son, nor subsequent children‟s births were registered was not in itself unusual. Records may simply be lost or destroyed. As described elsewhere, conscription laws for Jewish boys were draconian, and parents took many risks and used many ploys to protect their sons from this. Failing to register a birth was one device; it exposed the father to financial punishment, but possibly protected his son. Moving away from Hasenpoth with a new bride certainly provided an opportunity to hide his new sons from birth and conscription registers. Whether this was the reason that Michel Behr moved is not established, but I think that it may have been. The move to Gros-Dahmen is itself of interest. Situated in Courland, close to the current Lithuanian border, it was a large country estate belonging to a Baron Nicholas Schroder. It is known that on the estate he farmed sheep, pigs, carp, and honey. There was a large mill, and also a very large house. There are early descriptions of large buildings that provided housing for hundreds of servants and farm staff. The estate itself was one of many similar ones. There are descriptions of large parties held by the landowners, horse riding and hunting and other entertainments.
The Herzenberg's may well have facilitated the move to this estate. Robert Herzenberg had recorded that “Our family was distributed throughout the Pilten area in the estates of the barons such as Baer, Ropp, Osten-Laken, Vietiunhof, etc. They were dairy and wood retailers, but predominantly, distillers.” He recalls further that “. . . there was a converted (from Judaism) "frau”, the cousin of my mother, Rosa Herzberg, the daughter of great-aunt Balkan Herzberg (born Herzenberg) who had married the Baron Lowenstein of Kokenhusen. I knew this baroness personally.”
Schroder was a Christian German landowner. Ever since the crusades, many Germans had lived in the Baltic provinces of the Russia Empire. RÄ«ga was practically a German city. They were not the majority but they were the rulers.
The German nobility as well as German members of the Great Guild (merchants) and the Small Guild (organized craftsmen) were responsible for promulgating the laws and rules in the cities and provinces. The Baltic Germans, especially the nobility, also frequently held high positions in the Tsar‟s government. This is not surprising, as almost all of the Tsars of the Russian Empire during the 19th century were ethnic Germans. Nicholas Schroder had acquired the estate in 1878, and the family continued to own it until the Russian occupation in 1940. This estate as well as the surrounding estates, together with their employees, required the supply of numerous goods and services. These were provided by traders and artisans living on small settlements on land belonging to the estate.
Gramzda, where Michel Behr had his business, and where Herman and Frida were born.
Gros-Dahmen, as it was, no longer exists, and cannot be found on a modern map of Latvia. With the aid of Rita Bogdanova and Elena Spungina we were able to narrow the search to a small town with the modern Latvian name of Gramzda. I visited this, found the local municipal offices, and through the translation skills of Elena, I received confirmation from the “mayor” of the town that the site of the estate still existed.
With his kind assistance I was able to meet the current owner, Irena (no surname given) and her family who have been living there since 1953. They now occupy a very much smaller house that was built above the previous cellars of the estate, and which they built themselves over many decades. They have also restored the fish ponds. She was visited in 2000 by a descendent of Nicholas Schroder, a man at that point 99 years old. As a boy he had lived on the estate and she told us how he vividly described life on the estate. The house was very large. It was built at the water‟s edge, and was surrounded by water. There was a large carp pool, servant‟s buildings, and a timber workshop. The beautiful garden was huge, and had many gardeners. Irena remembers that when she was still a child that the gardens were still beautiful.
The remains of the tree lined carriage drive to the estate, over 1 km long.
The house and all of the buildings were burned down in 1905.They were rebuilt, but then destroyed by the Russians, who then erected a small number of military hangers, still to be seen. Very few people lived in the area during communist times, nor live there now. The countryside still consists of forests and open fields. Around the estate the remnants of the gardens and ponds can clearly be seen, with beautiful winding drives lined with 200 year old trees.
With this information available, I believe that there is now a plausible explanation for the previously mentioned puzzling issues. Michel Behr never did register the birth of his son Isador, in order to protect him from conscription. After Lea Friedman, his first wife died (1875), Michel remarried. He used the opportunity to leave Hasenpoth with the children from his first marriage. With his new wife Ernestina, he settled on the estate of Baron Schroder, around 1880/81 (probably soon after Baron Schroder himself arrived in 1878). He was able to establish a business based upon brewing. Typically in those times, licenses were granted to Jewish merchants to own a tavern and brew beer. They were heavily taxed for this privilege, whilst at the same time providing a useful service to the workers in the area. Michel and Ernestina had 3 children - Julius, Herman and Frida.
They were far from any Jewish community. The closest was at Skude, now called Skuodas (and in Lithuania). It was about a day‟s journey away. They would have had to travel about 10 kilometres. by carriage, to join up with the railway line from Libau. Skude had a sizable Jewish community, and was under the auspices of the district Rabbi of Telz. Telz, now also in Lithuania, was a major centre for Jewish study, with a number of famous yeshivas. They would not have had much opportunity to attend the synagogue, but at the same time would have been “conveniently unable” to register the births of their children. Michel died around 1889 while his children were still young (Julius 8, Herman 4 and Frida 1). Unable to continue running the business, they had to leave Gros-Dahmen, and Ernestina went back to Goldingen with her children. It was during this same time frame that Isidor had either already left or did leave for South Africa. Like so many of his compatriots, economic opportunity as well as the avoidance of conscription would have been the motivating factors. I have been unable to trace the burial place of Michel. His body would have been transported to an approved Jewish cemetery, probably some distance away.
I believe that the birth certificate issued by the Rabbi at Skude was only done after Michel died and probably given to Ernestina.
The children would have observed a great deal about life on the noble estates. Their father as a merchant may well have had close contacts with the Baron. Many of the Barons had good relations with the Jews. They possibly had
contact with their great aunt Rosa Herzberg who had married the Baron Lowenstein of Kokenhusen. These childhood memories, retold many times, could have been the basis for the stories of the grand life they had remembered. In any event, it all ended when Michel died. As the lives of Ernestina and Herman are well documented after that time, there was certainly no evidence of further grandeur or titles...
Ernestina Herzenberg
Ernestina was the sixth child of Naphtali (Naftali) Herzenberg and Agnes (Nese) Brenner. Naftali and Nese had four sons and six daughters: Leonhard, Joseph, Ignatz, Leopold, Sarah, Ernestine, Sophie, Fanny, Dora, and Lina. The Herzenbergs were a large family in Kurland. Their history has been well documented by the Herzenberg descendents (www.hertzenberg.net). RobertHerzenberg, of the same generation as Herman Bernitz and his brothers and step-brothers wrote his reminiscences in the 1940‟s. These were translated into English by his son Leonardo in the 1990‟s. They provide much information about Ernestina and the Bernitz family. They further provide a fascinating view of the lifestyle of our ancestors‟ generations in Kurland Ernestina‟s birth date is unknown. Her eldest brother Leonhard was born in 1856. As she gave birth to Julius in November 1881, she must have been fairly young when she was married (say 21). Therefore she probably married Michel around 1880/81, and was born in approx 1859/60. She was certainly much younger than Michael, possibly by 20-30 years.
Left. Ernestina, holding a grandchild. Louis, Elias, Johana and Sofia Salmonsohn were her stepchildren. Right: Joe‟s nephew Zalman, with his mother. Photos from Bertha Aberman.
Ernestina gave birth to 3 children with Michel - Julius, Herman and Frieda. She was also stepmother to Michel‟s 4 children by his first marriage to Lea Friedman – sons Isidore and Nochum and daughters Rahle and Pere. She was mother to a further child (Josef Salmonsohn) as well as 3 step-children in her second marriage. After Michel Behr Bernitz had died, Ernestina remarried. Her second husband was Shlomo Salmonsohn (Salmonsohn), a widower.
The following account is from the Reminiscences of Robert Herzenberg
“Aunt Ernestine‟s first husband was Michael Bernitz, who was a widower with many children. From this marriage came my cousins Julius, Herman (Hemske), and Frieda. Uncle Bernitz, also a brewer, died young. Aunt Ernestine stayed with the younger children at Grandmother's in Goldingen, cousin Julius came to my father and was raised with me. He was a little older than I, attended Blumenau's cheder, and then in 1895, when my father and uncle Joseph founded the firm Gebruder Herzenberg, he became an apprentice in the business. He stayed there a few more years after the death of my father with my brother George. He lived in our home, sharing my room until I left home in 1902. Soon after that my brother George drove him out of the business. He had a small factory making coconut mats in Libau. He had two children in his marriage, Mischa and Nancy. Mischa supposedly plays cello, of Nancy I know nothing.
When cousin Herman became older, he also came to Libau as an apprentice at Gebr. Herzenberg and uncle Joseph took him into his house. Times there were not good for him. But he was so cheerful and imperturbable that he tolerated it very well. He immigrated to South Africa still before the first world war, where he became fat and wealthy. His sister Frieda also followed him there, where, as far as I know, she is married and happy. Aunt Ernestine, in a second marriage, married a widower, Salmonsohn, with whom she had a son, whom I hardly knew. He worked in my father's business, and he was also driven out by my brother George after father died. I don't know what became of him.”
The grave of my great-great-grandmother, Nese Herzenberg, born Brenner. She is buried in a plot in Libau Jewish cemetery next to her father Naftali Brenner.
Ernestina’s second marriage to Shlomo Salmonsohn
When Ernestina married Shlomo (his first wife had died), she also became stepmother to his children from his first marriage, a son and a daughter.
In all, Shlomo had 6 children, sons Louis and Elias, daughter Johanna, Sofia and Mara by his first marriage, and Joe with Ernestina in his second marriage. We know that Elias and Louis both immigrated to South Africa, whilst Mara
remained in Goldingen in Latvia. There is no evidence that she ever married, and she did not have children. Her handwriting and letters indicate that she was not well educated; perhaps she has some learning difficulties. She probably died during the Holocaust.
Photograph of Mara, with handwritten inscription on back: Dear brother. I am sending you my picture. Hope you will appreciate it. Write how you find it - does it do me justice? I am well and hope you are the same. many regards from your sister Mara
The Salmonsohn Family.
Records show that there have been Salmonsohn's in Goldingen since the late 1700s at least. The first recorded Salmonsohn was Abraham. His birth date can be calculated as 1770-1780. He had at least 3 sons– Solomon, Joel, and Levin. Joe‟s lineage was through Solomon. The chart below shows that there were a number of descendents in each subsequent generation, and further research is needed to link the other descendents of Abraham.
This picture dates from 1919. It appears to be taken at the Seder table. The lady standing at the back is servant (most likely non-Jewish). Who are the others in the photo? The lady in the centre bears a resemblance to the photograph of a younger Ernestina (strong chin). She was 60 in 1919. The lady first left is strongly like the one who appears with Zalman on page 31. Therefore possibly his mother, and the wife of either Louis or Elias Salmonsohn (sitting far right). The man next to Ernestina is possibly Zalman – compare also to picture page 32." 
Salmanssohn, Schlomo or Solomon (I4107)
 
6869 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
Name variations: Kolja (Nicolaus) (Nikolai) Naphtali (Nikolaus)
HL 082 shows d. in Libau.
Named after his grandfather Naphtali. Worked with his father at the iren firm Samuel Michelson.

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:
"The Generation of My Parents
[78] My grandparents Naftali and Nese had four sons and six daughters: Leonhard, Joseph, Ignatz, Leopold, Sarah, Ernestine, Sophie, Fanny, Dora, and Lina.
All four brothers lived in Libau...
The youngest, uncle Leopold, married in Minsk, while I was a student in Riga. Aunt Betty was less beautiful than able, German was difficult for her until the last. Uncle Leopold worked for the iron firm Samuel Michelson except for a short time when he was independent. He was always extremely able and diligent, he built up some wealth, had a nice house in the Thomasstrasse, with wonderful fruit and flower gardens. They had two children, Mascha and Kolja, the latter named after grandfather Naphtali (Nikolaus). Only the first letter is the same, but I doubt that the name Naphtali can still be used in western Europe, since it sounds just like the [81] naphthalene of moth-balls. Uncle Leopold and aunt Betty are still (April 1941) living in Libau, as well as Kolja, who works in the firm with his father. I don't know what became of Mascha. She was a pretty, clever, typically eastern Jewish girl; she married an eastern Jewish engineer-chemist Feodor Leszinsky whom she learned to know and love during her student time in Paris and Brussels. They had a daughter Claude. So Mascha ended up with the name of the polish princess Maria Lezinska, wife of King Ludwig the XV of France. Every time that they passed through the polish corridor on trips to Libau and showed the passport to the Polish officers, the latter were quite confused, since one could never know - who knows everything so well - that the thing went back 200 years. Leszinskys lived in Paris where old jewelry was melted and pure gold, silver,and platinum [msp 82] for jewelers were produced. I met him in 1930, at uncle Leopold and aunt Betty's silver wedding anniversary, when I was on vacation if Libau. He offered me a position which I did not accept. The things apparently went very wrong there, but I could not find out what was the matter. It seems that Leszinsky went out of the country, and Mascha with the child were to follow. I have heard nothing from them since. Aunt Betty and the other relatives in Libau sealed their lips air-tight, so I do not know how and when Mascha was surprised by the second world war.
{Note added 21 June 42: Mascha went to Paris from Libau via Stockholm and London in August 39, and after a week to the United States, where her husband, Fedja had gone earlier. She wrote me in March 1942, they were then living in new York, he is employed by Philip Brothers. They changed the name, and are now called Leston. Uncle Leopold and aunt Betty were in the Libau ghetto, and no trace of Kolja, who had married a Lett}."

BIRTH:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kerry Petersen.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, Nikolaus or Kolja Naphtali (I4102)
 
6870 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL083 shows Mascha (Maria) d. 16 May 1950 in New York, US, md. to Leszinski.

2. Len Yodaiken notes name as Theodor Leszinsky in his "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepeja Latvia," 1 Jan 2000, copy in my possession - KP.

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:
"The Generation of My Parents
[78] My grandparents Naftali and Nese had four sons and six daughters: Leonhard, Joseph, Ignatz, Leopold, Sarah, Ernestine, Sophie, Fanny, Dora, and Lina.
All four brothers lived in Libau...
The youngest, uncle Leopold, married in Minsk, while I was a student in Riga. Aunt Betty was less beautiful than able, German was difficult for her until the last. Uncle Leopold worked for the iron firm Samuel Michelson except for a short time when he was independent. He was always extremely able and diligent, he built up some wealth, had a nice house in the Thomasstrasse, with wonderful fruit and flower gardens. They had two children, Mascha and Kolja, the latter named after grandfather Naphtali (Nikolaus). Only the first letter is the same, but I doubt that the name Naphtali can still be used in western Europe, since it sounds just like the [81] naphthalene of moth-balls. Uncle Leopold and aunt Betty are still (April 1941) living in Libau, as well as Kolja, who works in the firm with his father. I don't know what became of Mascha. She was a pretty, clever, typically eastern Jewish girl; she married an eastern Jewish engineer-chemist Feodor Leszinsky whom she learned to know and love during her student time in Paris and Brussels. They had a daughter Claude. So Mascha ended up with the name of the polish princess Maria Lezinska, wife of King Ludwig the XV of France. Every time that they passed through the polish corridor on trips to Libau and showed the passport to the Polish officers, the latter were quite confused, since one could never know - who knows everything so well - that the thing went back 200 years. Leszinskys lived in Paris where old jewelry was melted and pure gold, silver,and platinum [msp 82] for jewelers were produced. I met him in 1930, at uncle Leopold and aunt Betty's silver wedding anniversary, when I was on vacation if Libau. He offered me a position which I did not accept. The things apparently went very wrong there, but I could not find out what was the matter. It seems that Leszinsky went out of the country, and Mascha with the child were to follow. I have heard nothing from them since. Aunt Betty and the other relatives in Libau sealed their lips air-tight, so I do not know how and when Mascha was surprised by the second world war.
{Note added 21 June 42: Mascha went to Paris from Libau via Stockholm and London in August 39, and after a week to the United States, where her husband, Fedja had gone earlier. She wrote me in March 1942, they were then living in new York, he is employed by Philip Brothers. They changed the name, and are now called Leston. Uncle Leopold and aunt Betty were in the Libau ghetto, and no trace of Kolja, who had married a Lett}."

2. Per Leo Herzenberg, they had a son named Claude Leston.

BIRTH:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kerry Petersen.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, Mascha or Maria (I4101)
 
6871 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
Died in Libau. Md. in Minsk in 1905. 
Betty (I4100)
 
6872 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
Freida Behrman, no children. 
Behrman, Frieda (I4099)
 
6873 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
YL014 shows Jeannot Taube, md. Helene, children:
Harry, md. Molly ___.
Alice.
Erna, last living at Riga, md. - - Nathanson. [Len Yodaiken in his "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepeja Latvia," 1 Jan 2001, indicates that the Nathansons had four children: Nadia, Irene, Nicolai, and Michala (m. ___ Clein).]

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.
Helene was married to Jeannot Taube, with children Harry, Alice and Erna. Harry Taube I still knew as a student." 
Taube, Jeannot (I4096)
 
6874 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL063 shows Theodor, b. 1915 and d. 1970 in La Paz, Bolivia, md. to Nothmann.

2. JewishGen 1999 website for family trees has an entry for Theodor Herzenberg, b. 1915 at Leipzig and d. 1970 at La Paz, Bolivia. He is married to Ingeborg Northmann, who is living, and the daughter of Hans Nothmann, b. 22 Mar 1889 in Breslau, d. 27 Sep 1954 in Montevideo and Frieda Smoschewer, b. 13 May 1898 in Berlin, d. 1983 Montevideo. Theodor and Ingeborg have a daughter Esther, still living, married to Elias Banach, still living, with a child Teddy Banach, still living.

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.
Helene was married to Jeannot Taube, with children Harry, Alice and Erna. Harry Taube I still knew as a student.
Of great-uncle Roberts's children I knew Alex best, and came closer to him when the first world war brought him out of Russia. He was married to Milly Tockel and lived as a rich businessman and house owner in Moscow, where his three children Edith, Ernst, and Theo were born. During the Bolschevick revolution he lost his whole fortune, but as a Latvian was allowed to emigrate, and came to Leipzig where his mother in law and sister in law [62] lived. The children grew up in Leipzig. Alex worked with representation, and Milly helped by keeping a pension, and furnishing summer homes. But there was only enough to live on. Alex was a good-hearted, modest person. He was completely dedicated to the family. He was an outstanding Cello player, and at one time had his own quartet in Moscow. Only one son, Ernst, inherited the musical talent, but he does not practice. When I already was in Bolivia Alex expressed the wish that I would bring his children to me. But only after his death, as the Hitler times kept getting worse, did the children decide to emigrate. Ernst came at the beginning of 1937, and found a position with the firm Enrique Levy in La Paz. Edith came in April 1938, in the fall of 1938 Theo, and at the beginning of 1939 the mother, Milly. Edith was in Oruro for a year and opened a kindergarten where you, [63] Nardi, along with 6-8 other children, were taught. In March 1939 she moved to La Paz to join her mother and brothers, then at the end of 1939 to Buenos Aires where she still has a position (February 1941) . Theo is a trained graphic artist and is active in his profession in La Paz."

BIRTH:
1. The two sources above vary on birthplace: one is Leipzig and the other is Moscow. I use the former since the source appears it is probably a descendant of Theodor.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, Theodor (I4095)
 
6875 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL064 shows Ernst d. in La Paz, Bolivia.

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.
Helene was married to Jeannot Taube, with children Harry, Alice and Erna. Harry Taube I still knew as a student.
Of great-uncle Roberts's children I knew Alex best, and came closer to him when the first world war brought him out of Russia. He was married to Milly Tockel and lived as a rich businessman and house owner in Moscow, where his three children Edith, Ernst, and Theo were born. During the Bolschevick revolution he lost his whole fortune, but as a Latvian was allowed to emigrate, and came to Leipzig where his mother in law and sister in law [62] lived. The children grew up in Leipzig. Alex worked with representation, and Milly helped by keeping a pension, and furnishing summer homes. But there was only enough to live on. Alex was a good-hearted, modest person. He was completely dedicated to the family. He was an outstanding Cello player, and at one time had his own quartet in Moscow. Only one son, Ernst, inherited the musical talent, but he does not practice. When I already was in Bolivia Alex expressed the wish that I would bring his children to me. But only after his death, as the Hitler times kept getting worse, did the children decide to emigrate. Ernst came at the beginning of 1937, and found a position with the firm Enrique Levy in La Paz. Edith came in April 1938, in the fall of 1938 Theo, and at the beginning of 1939 the mother, Milly. Edith was in Oruro for a year and opened a kindergarten where you, [63] Nardi, along with 6-8 other children, were taught. In March 1939 she moved to La Paz to join her mother and brothers, then at the end of 1939 to Buenos Aires where she still has a position (February 1941) . Theo is a trained graphic artist and is active in his profession in La Paz." 
Herzenberg, Ernst (I4094)
 
6876 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL063 shows Edith d. in La Paz, Bolivia.
Housewife, artist. Died of uraemia (kidney failure).

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.
Helene was married to Jeannot Taube, with children Harry, Alice and Erna. Harry Taube I still knew as a student.
Of great-uncle Roberts's children I knew Alex best, and came closer to him when the first world war brought him out of Russia. He was married to Milly Tockel and lived as a rich businessman and house owner in Moscow, where his three children Edith, Ernst, and Theo were born. During the Bolschevick revolution he lost his whole fortune, but as a Latvian was allowed to emigrate, and came to Leipzig where his mother in law and sister in law [62] lived. The children grew up in Leipzig. Alex worked with representation, and Milly helped by keeping a pension, and furnishing summer homes. But there was only enough to live on. Alex was a good-hearted, modest person. He was completely dedicated to the family. He was an outstanding Cello player, and at one time had his own quartet in Moscow. Only one son, Ernst, inherited the musical talent, but he does not practice. When I already was in Bolivia Alex expressed the wish that I would bring his children to me. But only after his death, as the Hitler times kept getting worse, did the children decide to emigrate. Ernst came at the beginning of 1937, and found a position with the firm Enrique Levy in La Paz. Edith came in April 1938, in the fall of 1938 Theo, and at the beginning of 1939 the mother, Milly. Edith was in Oruro for a year and opened a kindergarten where you, [63] Nardi, along with 6-8 other children, were taught. In March 1939 she moved to La Paz to join her mother and brothers, then at the end of 1939 to Buenos Aires where she still has a position (February 1941) . Theo is a trained graphic artist and is active in his profession in La Paz." 
Herzenberg, Edith (I4093)
 
6877 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
Milly Tockel, b. 1883 in Freiedrichstadt, Latvia, d. 1962 in La Paz, Bolivia.

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.
Helene was married to Jeannot Taube, with children Harry, Alice and Erna. Harry Taube I still knew as a student.
Of great-uncle Roberts's children I knew Alex best, and came closer to him when the first world war brought him out of Russia. He was married to Milly Tockel and lived as a rich businessman and house owner in Moscow, where his three children Edith, Ernst, and Theo were born. During the Bolschevick revolution he lost his whole fortune, but as a Latvian was allowed to emigrate, and came to Leipzig where his mother in law and sister in law [62] lived. The children grew up in Leipzig. Alex worked with representation, and Milly helped by keeping a pension, and furnishing summer homes. But there was only enough to live on. Alex was a good-hearted, modest person. He was completely dedicated to the family. He was an outstanding Cello player, and at one time had his own quartet in Moscow. Only one son, Ernst, inherited the musical talent, but he does not practice. When I already was in Bolivia Alex expressed the wish that I would bring his children to me. But only after his death, as the Hitler times kept getting worse, did the children decide to emigrate. Ernst came at the beginning of 1937, and found a position with the firm Enrique Levy in La Paz. Edith came in April 1938, in the fall of 1938 Theo, and at the beginning of 1939 the mother, Milly. Edith was in Oruro for a year and opened a kindergarten where you, [63] Nardi, along with 6-8 other children, were taught. In March 1939 she moved to La Paz to join her mother and brothers, then at the end of 1939 to Buenos Aires where she still has a position (February 1941) . Theo is a trained graphic artist and is active in his profession in La Paz."

2. Per Leo Herzenberg, she died in La Paz, Bolivia.

MARRIAGE:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kerry Petersen.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Tockel, Milly (I4092)
 
6878 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL058a shows Jenia Rappaport, no children

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Rappaport, Jenja or Jenia (I4091)
 
6879 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL 035 shows Erwin, last known residence was at Melbourne, Australia, md. to Mangold.
HE

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-UNCLE ISRAEL, WINDAU, and his descendants
[30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my fathers's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec."

2. There is an Internet reference in the Victoria Government Gazette of Australia published in 2005 concerning a money amount involved in the estate of the late Erwin Herzenberg. The above biography mentions he went from Europe to Australia. Also found 28 Jul 2007 at http://www.mangoldtrust.org.au/: "The Walter Mangold Trust Fund is a newly established Charitable Fund which originates from arrangements made under the Wills of the late Anne Marie and Erwin Herzenberg.
The Fund commemorates the beliefs and achievements of Walter Mangold the father of Anne Marie Herzenberg. Walter Mangold devoted a good proportion of his life and energies to the teaching of languages and came to the conclusion that better understanding between peoples, and consequently lessening of conflict, could be achieved by improving communication between them. The objects of the Fund, though relating to a number of specific issues and outcomes, are reflective of those underlying principles and beliefs.
Anne Marie and Erwin Herzenberg set aside the substantial part of their assets to establish the Fund. The foresight and benefaction of the Herzenberg family should enable the fund to make a worthwhile contribution to the study of languages in Australia and more widely, and to the development of understanding between peoples by virtue of study and dissemination of their languages." 
Herzenberg, Erwin (I4090)
 
6880 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL 108/043 shows ludwig b. Mitau, d. France, no children.

2. The following is a link to the website (accessed 19 Mar 2020) of Erik Sprohge, the son of Paul Richard Sprohge and Hedwig Herzenberg: https://www.foltzgallery.com/artist/erik-sprohge
Kenny Petersen spoke with him on 16 Mar 2020 and notes the following:
"Just found and spoke to Erik Sprohge. He remembers a lot. Was born in Latvia.
esprohge@att.net
713-774-5083
He welcomes either of your calls or emails. Has albums and stories.Such as that Abraham Herzenberg was mayor in Mitau/Jeligava. And a street car went to their estate with the name Herzenberg on it. Also that Theresa (Edouard's sister) was very bright. But upset that son Ludvig (Luda the murderer - because maybe joined mafia in Marsellas(sp?)), lost all the family money in a year after his father's death. Also that Alfred Herzenberg brought his mother Mery to America. And that Alfred has a daughter Jeannie, whose son David Post is currently very interested in family history work (about 50yrs old)."

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:
" When Uncle Abraham died the eldest son, Leo, was married in Petersburg. Also the daughter Fanny. Laura and Alice were married in Moscow, and Sophie in Mitau. At home were Ludwig, [44] in the firm, Harry who was still in the gymnasium, and the two girls, Roberta, of my age, and Klara, a little older. Ludwig, whom the mother worshipped, took over running the business. Harry entered the business as an apprentice. Ludwig decided on moving the business to Riga, why I don't know. The beautiful old house in Mitau was sold. Everything in Mitau was liquidated. Instead of the princely living in Mitau, aunt Therese moved into an old dark rental house on the Schwimmstrasse in Riga. I believe she had no happy time there. I don't know how Ludwig ruined the business so quickly. It ended when I was on a vacation trip to Germany in the summer of 1904, when I received the news from my father that I should visit aunt Therese in Berlin. [45] I met her, with Klara and Roberta, in a shabby room of a pitiful pension near the Elsasser gate. They had just had lunch, which consisted of a can of sardines with bread. The firm Abraham Herzenberg in Riga had failed. They had lost everything, and had fled to Germany, and were totally dependent on the support of children and siblings...
...LUDWIG Herzenberg, was the third son of uncle Abraham. I met him while visiting Mitau after the death of his father, (around 1900-1901), and got better acquainted with him. He was a slender man, with red-blond hair and the beginnings of baldness. He was very lively, and had endless charm, but only towards women; toward creditors of the firm it was denied. But mother an sisters were deeply attached and devoted to him. At that time he reminded me of Meyer's building with the dedication "Build yourself your own world from the universe." [Er schenkte mir damals zum Andenken Meyers Weltgebaude mit der Widnung "Bau dir aus dem "weltgebaude" deine eigene Welt."] He was the typical representative of the "jeunesse doree." To continue his father's business in the old style of Mitau did not suit him at all - [49] as already mentioned [see 44] he moved the firm to Riga. He lived with a very chic frenchwoman, and may have married her. He furnished an expensive home in Riga, but never asked me to visit. Then, very quickly, came the collapse in 1904. He moved to France, and stayed there, lastly living in Marseille. Some claimed he was the owner of a hotel, others a bordel[lo], I do not know - I was not in contact with him after he left Riga. I believe he never had children."

2. The following undated paper was written late 1969 in Nice, France by Catherine Werblovsky Olympieff (also known as Ekaterina Werblovskaya Olympieva) at the request of Patrick Landau through his aunt Alice Nikitina. Patrick's father, Vladimir Landau, even though he was Catherine's cousin, had less knowledge on the family then Catherine. Catherine was the granddaughter of Edouard and Rebecca Herzenberg. The letter was written a couple of years before Catherine's death after she entered into an assisted care facility in Nice. The paper was recently found among personal items previously gathered about 1969 by her daughter Irene Nadia de Lanskoy Petersen. Portions of the letter were written in three languages: English, French, and Russian. Irene, in transcribing the letter, notes that the letter was hard to follow and to make sense of. Irene's transcription dated 31 Jul 2007 with her notes added in [ ].
"What concerns the father and mother of our mother's: Mother's father: Edouard Ocipovitch Herzenberg [or Gerzenberg] Edward son of Joseph Herzenberg born: in Mitava [or Mittau] not far ___, Baltic Provinces - not far from Riga. He died at 76 years of age (had diabetes and malaria) from lung congestion after flu. His wife was his cousin.
Rebecca Herzenberg also married a first cousin. I am not sure of the name of her father; she died in Moscow when I was 6 years old (70 years ago). [Death would be approximately 1899?]
They were probably married in Mitawa and came to Moscow young, because all their children were born in Moscow. The eldest 1) Elizabeth 2) Sonja [or Sonia] (Sofia) mother of Manja or Mania who now lives in Moscow, who had a sister Nadja or Nadia who was born in Moscow. Sonia's husband was Adolf Schneider - son of Aaron Schneider - who had 3 more sons: Nicolas, Alexander, Serge and a daughter Elizabeth Schneider. She got married with Martin Behr (English nationality); they had two children and lived in Moscow. Mrs. Elizabeth Behr died in London (after the Russian Revolution she lived in France, later in England.) Her brother Adolf Schneider was a brother-in-law of our mother's of course.) [This is a repeat of the above.] The Behrs had 2 children. Elisabeth Behr died in London (probably her husband Martin Behr died before.) Mrs. Behr's daughter Olga died in London about a year ago [1968-69?], her brother George Behr still lives in London is married (has 1 daughter who is married too and has 2 boys, 8 and 7.
So my mother Elisabeth was the eldest daughter of Edward and Rebecca Herzenberg born in Moscow like her sister Sonia, the next sister Flora born in Moscow. Flora, married Joseph Offenbacher, had one son Lotar (my first cousin as well as yours). She, her husband, and son died in Germany during the war of Hitler (son Lothar). [Irene notes that another family account says that Lothar committed suicide on account of the war.] [His father] Joseph Offenbacher had an older brother Vasily [William or Wilhelm] Offenbacher who married a cousin of our mother's - Fanny, daughter of Abra[ha]m (whom all children of Edward Herzenberg used to call Uncle Abraham.) He was the husband of Grandfather Edward Herzenberg's sister Theresa. His family name was also like all: Herzenberg. Theresa Herzenberg had many children - daughter Fanny, sons Ludwig, Harry, and 2 other sons and another daughter Sophia married to another Herzenberg (all those marriages were between cousins) who had three children, Robby (Robert) who lives in Sweden and 2 daughters Clara and Roberta (died in Riga - Bolshevik Revolution). [I am not sure if Clara and Roberta are correct for this family grouping.] After Flora Herzenberg, the 4th daughter was my Aunt Anjuta [Anna Herzenberg-Landau]. Then there was another one Genga (Eugenie) married Harry Taube from Riga - were killed by Hitler's army. She was the 5th daughter of Edward Herzenberg. The 6th was Lilja [Lilia] (1st wife of Uncle Max Landau - died in Davos, Switzerland from TB.) Then was another daughter Milja, died very young (she was the 7th daughter). The youngest daughter Tonya [Tonia] died in Moscow. Then there were two brothers, the oldest Ivan (John) married a French young girl from Mussidan, Dordogne, France. She was daughter of the Mayor of that town. Died in the north of Russia where - she was sent sick and was sent with her to Mourmansk (north of Russia). Uncle Vanja's [Vania, Ivan, John all same name wife Lydia died there [note her maiden name was Lydie Buisson]. Uncle Vanja died too in Bolshevik Revolution. Their 3 children: Micha (Michel) died probably in Moscow; his brother Andrei (Andre) Herzenberg and Suzanne Hindzee (Herzenberg) - 1st husband (French) Volant. She has a daughter in Toronto married in Toronto (Alja [or Alice Nikitina] knew her) who has two children, boy and girl. The father's family name is A. [Albert?] Statter - wife Lydie (Suzanne's daughter) - son Albert. [Irene's note: last known address was 33 Stonegate Road, Toronto, Canada, M8Y-1V8; phone 416-251-6295.]
There was yet other families related to us through our mother's. It was a well known dentist. His name was Kovarsky. His wife was the cousin of our mother's. They had a lot of children - 3 brothers Misha (Michael), Leva (Leon), 2 daughters Choura (Alexandra). Chura who now is same age as Suzanne [Herzenberg Hindzee] - the only one alive. I forget the name of the eldest brother deceased. Manja (Mania) in Moscow knows more about that family. What was the name of the mother cousin of our mother's-probably it was yet another of the Herzenberg family. As Alja [Alice Nikitina] will be going to Moscow she will be able to find out more form Manja [Mania]. Then there was yet another family related to the wife of our grandfather through the husband or wife Idelson. There was a girl Lisa Idelson and her brother. I think that Manja must know something about them. They lived in Moscow. I used to go see them with my mother when I was about 8 or 10 years old.
Now George Behr has written from London thanking me for my sympathy condolences on account of the death of his sister Olga Behr. She must have been older than 78 years. he thought that his aunt on his father's side, Nina Karlovna died in Moscow, as well as his cousin Leija, but I think it is relatives on the side of his father Bahr, and the cousin is perhaps of the Schneider family (it is possible that the cousin is still living). All these people lived in Moscow.
Now what concerns the Packschwer family. The one that came to see you with the Vietnamese wife has passed away. His name was Julien Packschwer born in Vitebesk, Russia. He was 72. His younger brother Saveijn (Sahva) engineer in London named himself Packshaw, died in England 3 weeks before Julien, leaving a widow (2nd marriage) and 2 children. It was the death of his younger brother that caused reaction on Julien Packshwer. He died 3 weeks after him. He was found on a street in Nice, France with a cerebral hemorrhage-fell in the street. Police took him to the hospital St. Rock where he died at 19 hours in the evening and remained in a coma. His car 2 CV (small) stayed in the parking where he had left it. It was only his Vietnamese wife [Mado] returning from Saigon 1 month after his death that was able to retrieve that car from the parking. Yet another day or two, it would have been impounded. But as it was the widow herself then came. They did not charge her anything. But as the car was her husband's-she has to wait by inheritance law to be able to sell it and divide up in 4 parts to his children. The eldest son of another marriage Leon is an eye doctor in Paris, then 3 other children. Oldest Robert in Montreal, CA; another son in ___ was in the navy for 3 years. The oldest was in the Air force, married a girl from Morocco - they are going to have a child soon. The daughter Irene married, has a little boy, the husband is serving in the military; they live in Cayrons near Vence, France in the Packshwer house. The widow/mother Mado inherited ¼ of the sum, the children ¾ divided in 4 for each of the 4 children. Through a real estate in Vence, Julien's house of 1000 sq. meters is worth 18 million francs. If the children keep the house, they will in turn need to give on fourth of the cost to the widow who also has the right to half of his monthly pension of 30,000 francs. She came to see me day before yesterday and told me all these details. So here you have it-the relatives. The mother of the Packshwer father was 1st cousin of our mother's through the daughter of the sister of our grandfather Edward Herzenberg maiden name Theresa Herzenberg died in Nice, born I think in Mitawa [Mitau], Baltic Provinces. She was buried with her husband in Nice at the Caucade cemetery.
Now I add what George Behr wrote from London that his wife Janet has seen Aunt Anjuta [Anna Herzenberg] in Monte Carlo, then he wrote about his cousin in Moscow who he thinks has passed away (he is going to find out about it from Manja-he asked their address in Monaco). She was the daughter of the oldest sister Polina Aronovna of his mother. Here is what concerns that family... [Balance of letter missing]."

BIRTH:
1. Date is only an unsubstantiated guess by Kerry Petersen.

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, Ludwig (I4088)
 
6881 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
YL017 shows Albert Meisal (Meisel) b. Warsaw, last residing Berlin, md. to Lilly Herzenberg, with one son James, b. Berlin.

MARRIAGE:
1. Ancestry.com's "Latvia: Riga Jewish Marriages, 1854-1921": "Lily Herzenberg, md. 1899 to Albert Meisel." 
Meisel or Meisal, Albert (I4087)
 
6882 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL114/032 shows Roman b. in Riga.

2. Leo Herzenberg per website below indicates he was born in Serbia.

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-UNCLE ISRAEL, WINDAU, and his descendants
[30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my fathers's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec." 
Herzenberg, Roman (I4086)
 
6883 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL114/031 shows Julia b. in Riga and d. Maidanpac, Russia, md. a Serbian.
Was a doctor.

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-UNCLE ISRAEL, WINDAU, and his descendants
[30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my fathers's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec." 
Herzenberg, Julius (I4085)
 
6884 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL114/130 and HE shows b. in Riga and d. in Berlin, md. to Irene ___.
HL030 Elect. Engineer.

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-UNCLE ISRAEL, WINDAU, and his descendants
[30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my fathers's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec." 
Herzenberg, Heinrich (I4084)
 
6885 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL114/033 shows Mery, b. 1973 [s/b 1873?] in Riga, d. 1932, md. to Julius Herzenberg.

2. Censuses:
1940 US
Paul R. Sprohge, head, 38, Latvia
Hedwig Sprohge, wife, 37, Germany
Erik Sprohge, son, 8, Latvia
Mary Herzenberg, mother-in-law, 59, Latvia
Alfred Herzenberg, brother-in-law, 35, Germany
Phyllis Herzenberg, sister-in-law, 27, Massachusetts

3. The following is a link to the website (accessed 19 Mar 2020) of Erik Sprohge, the son of Paul Richard Sprohge and Hedwig Herzenberg: https://www.foltzgallery.com/artist/erik-sprohge
Kenny Petersen spoke with him on 16 Mar 2020 and notes the following:
"Just found and spoke to Erik Sprohge. He remembers a lot. Was born in Latvia.
esprohge@att.net
713-774-5083
He welcomes either of your calls or emails. Has albums and stories.Such as that Abraham Herzenberg was mayor in Mitau/Jeligava. And a street car went to their estate with the name Herzenberg on it. Also that Theresa (Edouard's sister) was very bright. But upset that son Ludvig (Luda the murderer - because maybe joined mafia in Marsellas(sp?)), lost all the family money in a year after his father's death. Also that Alfred Herzenberg brought his mother Mery to America. And that Alfred has a daughter Jeannie, whose son David Post is currently very interested in family history work (about 50yrs old)."

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-UNCLE ISRAEL, WINDAU, and his descendants
[30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my fathers's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec."

2. 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:
"...JULIUS HERZENERG, the second son, studied at the Polytechnic in Riga and graduated as a chemical engineer shortly after Uncle Abraham's death. In the following summer he married the daughter of his cousin Louis, Mery Herzenberg from Riga. It was a love marriage. The wedding took place in Karlbad, on the Riga shore, where all Riga's and some of Mitau's families moved every summer, and most of them had established summer residences. That same night the house burned down, and only the naked lives were rescued.
The parents bought him a gas light mantle factory in Berlin.[47] There their daughter Hedwig was born. When I was in Berlin in the October 1902, she lay in the cradle. The mantle undertaking soon went bankrupt. Julius never again worked as a chemical engineer. He left Berlin and Germany for ever. For a time he was in Irkutsk (in Russia, near lake Baikal) with representation, then back to Russia. There a son, Alfred (Fredy) was born. I did not hear much from them for a long time, after the revolution they were able to return to Latvia. Fredy went to the United States to study. Hedy married the Latvian architect Sproghe. Julius Herzenberg died soon after in Riga. Fredy came to Schenectady as an engineer at General Electric, then, in 1936 as an exploration engineer for Shell Oil in Houston, Texas, where he still works today (1940). In 1937 he brought his brother in law over, in 1938 Hedwig and Mery also came to Houston. Hedwig has a son Erik. So, the great-grandchild of Uncle Abraham, [48] Eric Sproghe, is the first half Latvian in out family. Fredy Married in Houston, but I do not know his wife's name."

3. Ancestry.com's "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957"
A. Arriving on the ship "Champlain" 11 Jun 1937: Paul Sprohge, 35, md., male, architect, reads and writes, German language, nationality of Germany, German race, b. in Riga Latviea, immigration visa QIV:225 issued in Riga 24 May 1937, last permanent address was Berlin, Germany, friend's name: Alfred Herzenberg.
B. Arriving on the ship "Champlain" 10 Jun 1938 having sailed from Southhampton, England.
a. Hedwig Sprohge, 35, md., h.wife, reads and writes, speaks German/english, citizen of Germany, German Hebrew, b. Berlin, Germany, visa issued in Riga, last permanent address was in Riga, Latvia, sponsoring friend is Paul Sprohge.
b. Erik Sprohge, 6, speaks German, German Hebrew, b. Riga, Latvia, visa issued in Riga, last permanent address was in Riga, Latvia, sponsoring friend is Paul Sprohge.
c. Merija or Maria Hercenbergs or Herzenberg, 57, widow, no occupation, speaks french/german/english/russian, citizen of Latvia, Hebrew, b. Riga, Latvia, visa issued in Riga, last permanent address was in Riga, Latvia, sponsoring friend is Paul Sprohge.

MARRIAGE:
1. Ancestry.com's "Latvia: Riga Jewish Marriages, 1854-1921": "July Herzenberg, md. 1901 to Mary Herzenberg."

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, Mery or Merija or Maria (I4083)
 
6886 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HL114/034 shows b. and d. in Riga, md. (1) Albert Meisal and (2) Heinrich Herzenberg.

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-UNCLE ISRAEL, WINDAU, and his descendants
[30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my fathers's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec."

2. 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-UNCLE Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, and descendants. [39] Uncle Abraham in Mitau was the youngest son of my great-grandfather Elias Lemchen Herzenberg. My grandfather Naftali was the second oldest, and I will write more about him later. The second youngest was Uncle Hosias, whom I did not know. When I went to the Russian front in 1916, while passing through Warsaw on the way to Minsk, I spent an hour in his house. But I no longer remember anything. Of his sons I knew Heinrich and Leopold very casually. Heinrich married Lilly Herzenberg, the window of Meisel and lived in Riga..."

MARRIAGE:
1. Ancestry.com's "Latvia: Riga Jewish Marriages, 1854-1921": "Lily Herzenberg, md. 1899 to Albert Meisel." 
Herzenberg, Lilly (I4082)
 
6887 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
YL021 shows Betty b. 1848 in Riga, d. in Riga.

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-Uncle Israel, Windau, and his descendants.
[30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my father's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec." 
Betty (I4081)
 
6888 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Judith (Yehudis) b. 1919, d. Dec 1941.
Shot in either the nearby forest of Libau in July or in Bikernicks Forest, Riga, Latvia in December 1941.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Yehudit Hercenberg was born abt 1919 in Liepaja, Latvia to Yosef and Rakhel nee Friedberg. Prior to WWII she lived at Brivibas IELA 5 (Alexanderstrasse) in Libau, Latvia. Yehudit perished in the Shoah. She was a knitting machine operator and single. Website has photo of her. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 18 Feb 1993 by her sister Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

2. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the Book Published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution."

PHOTO:
1. I have on file a photo of Lena (Kramer) Herzenberg and her descendants taken circa 1927 from Ron Lapid per his email dated 3 Aug 2010 . (Ron's ancestor was the sister to Lydia Raivid and he is not of direct Herzenberg descendancy). The photo is originally from Gail J. Herzenberg and apparently is the same one Peter Bruce Herzenberg references in his notes from Gail. Names are penciled in by Ron after his analysis and in corroboration with Gail. I have a copy of the photo on file. Ron notes: After studying the photo and estimating the ages, I concluded that this photo was taken about 1927 and not 1920 as previously thought. (Lina is in the photo, who died 27 Nov 1929 - but Lydia, who died 8 Sep 1926 is not there.). He also makes the sober comment that everyone in the photo dies in the Holocaust except Tauby who is still alive. Included in the photo are:
-Lena (at an advanced age).
-Lena's sons (missing Max Mordechai and Edward):
-Adolf (Avraham) with no wife but with adult son Leon standing behind Adolf resting a hand on Adolf's shoulder. Leon's name is an error and the son is confirmed by Gail as her father Willy Gabriel.
-Willy Gabriel, wife Sarah Hellman, dau. Frieda, sons Eliezer, Joseph, Zvi (Harry).
-Joseph Jacov, wife Rachel Freudberg, children Klara, Taube, Nichole, Bernie, Judith; son Willy is missing from photo.
-Lena's daughter Sarah Levenstein (seated) and unidentified girl standing behind her with resting an arm on Sarah's shoulder who could be Sarah's daughter Hinda. No husband shown (deceased?) for Sarah. Both seem to be wearing black in the photo (perhaps a sign of mourning?).
-One unidentified adult male sitting on Lena's immediate left (Adolphe sitting in same position on opposite side of Lena). By looks, he appears same age as other brothers. Could this be Max Mordechai (without his wife and Children) or even Edward (on a visit back from the US)? 
Herzenberg, Judith or Yehudis (I4080)
 
6889 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Elsa d. Dec 1941.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Elsa Hertzenberg was born in Liepaja, Latvia to Max Mordekhai and Sophie Hertzenberg. Prior to WWII she lived on Baderstrasse in Libau, Latvia. Elsa perished in the Shoah. Website has photo of her. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 8 Mar 1993 by her cousin Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

2. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the Book Published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution." 
Herzenberg, Elsa (I4079)
 
6890 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Ina d. Dec 1941.
Shot in either the nearby forest of Libau, in July or in Bikemicks Forest, Riga, Latvia in Dec. 1941.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Ina Hertzenberg was born 1913 in Liepaja, Latvia to Max and Sophie Hertzenberg. Prior to WWII she lived on Baderstrasse in Libau, Latvia. Ina perished in the Shoah. Website has photo of her. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 8 Mar 1993 by her cousin Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Jerusalem.

2. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the Book Published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution." 
Herzenberg, Ina (I4078)
 
6891 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Helen b. Bucharest, Rumania and d. Paris, France.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Helen Hertzenberg was born 1908 in Liepaja, Latvia to Max Mordekhai and Sophie Hertzenberg. Prior to WWII he lived in Bucharesti, Romania. Helen perished in the Shoah. She was married. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 8 Mar 1993 by her cousin Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

2. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the Book Published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution." 
Herzenberg, Helen (I4077)
 
6892 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
YL160 notes Flora b. 1899 in Mitau, d. in Riga, md. to Nicholas Friedlander.
HL061 notes Flora.

2. 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:
"...David, son of Robert Herzenberg, born on July 17 of 1864 in Mitau, 2nd guild merchant, since 1915 - 1st guild merchant, the Hereditary Honourable Citizen. His wife Sophia, daughter of Abram Herzenberg was born on August 20 (Gregorian calendar) of 1869 in Mitau. According to the birth records Klara Herzenberg was born on August 8 (Julian calendar) of 1869 in Mitau, her father was Abram Herzenberg and mother Teresa, daughter of Joseph, nee Herzenberg. We suppose that Sophia and Klara might be one and the same person. The marriage of David and Sophia was registered on January 7 of 1890 in Mitau. They had children:
- son Robert, born on December 13 of 1892 in Mitau.
- daughter Jenny (Eugenia), born on October 18 of 1896 in Mitau.
- daughter Flora, born on February 8 of 1898 in Mitau.
Since 1935 a widow Sophia and her daughters Eugenia and Flora lived in Riga at Lacplesa Street 9, apt. 11. In 1939 Robert Herzenberg, a correspondent by profession, his wife Beila and son David-Harry were registered as living in Riga at Lacplesa Street 9, apt. 11. They left for Sweden in August - September of 1939. Eugenia married to Lev Wolozhinski, born on January 15 of 1891 in Riga. Sophia, Eugenia, Lev were struck off the house register of Lacplesa Street 9 in July 19-21 of 1941 (during Nazi occupation), obviously they were sent to ghetto. Lev Wolozhinsky was killed in July of 1941. Flora married to Nechemy/Nikolay Friedlender, born on December 21 of 1880 in Mitau. They lived at Elizabetes Street 27, apt. 2 and were struck off the house register on August 14 of 1941 a moved to Maskavas Street 171, apt. 4. According to the records of the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission for 1945, Nechemy and Flora were killed in 1941."

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:
"SOPHIE Herzenberg was very beautiful and cultured . She played the piano very well, and painted, but only by copying; she also accomplished spottily in burn painting . She married her cousin David Herzenberg in Mitau. It was a very unharmonious marriage, even though there were three children, Robert, Genja, and Flora. [55]
David had very little understanding for Sophie, who was a very modern woman. They lived in Mitau in the nice old paternal house. David led the firm of his late father. When Uncle Abraham died and the firm Abraham Herzenberg was moved to Riga, Sophie and the children moved there also. David usually came to visit in Riga on Sundays - it did not come to a divorce, but in practice they lived separated. David worked and earned in Mitau, and Sophie lived and dissipated [lebte und verlebte] in Riga, always surrounded by a swarm of admirers. I don't know exactly when David died, Robert had finally become a businessman and lived and married in Reval, and lastly lived in Stockholm. Sophie and the girls led a wandering life, alternately in Riga and Germany. Always from the earnings of the business in Mitau and from the sale of the house. Finally they settled down in Riga, where Genja and Flora [56] had married a few years earlier."

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Flora Friedländer nee Herzenberg was born 1899 in Mitau, Latvia to David and Sophie. She was married to Nicolai Friedländer. Prior to WWII she lived in Riga, Latvia. Flora perished in the Shoah. She was a music teacher. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by a nephew 20 Oct 1988 by Harry Herzenberg, Aladdinsvagen 20, 16138 Bromma, Sweden.

2. Email from: "Nina Kossman" Aug 16, 2007 and Aug 19, 2007. She has memoirs written by Isidor Brenson in German. Currently it is being translated into Latvian by Riga's Museum of the History of Medicine. It is also being translated into English for Nina:
Yes, I know of that family [David and Sophie Herzenberg]. In fact, I had stones installed in the Rumbuli forest in memory of Sophie Herzenberg and her two daughters, Yevgenia and Flora, as well as in memory of the daughters' husbands. In the latest installment (part 3) of the translation of my g.gfather's memoir there is a mention of a historical "Herzenberg" house (Herzenbergsche Haus) in Jelgava and, a few pages later, of his meeting, in the summer of 1872, a thirteen year girl, Clara Herzenberg (his future wife), in the home of her parents where he accepted a position as a tutor. But so far there isn't much detail about the Herzenbergs; only that years before 1872, as a seven and eight year old boy, he had played with Clara's little sisters, Rosa and Fanny, until his visits to the house were discontinued due to their illness (and subsequent death). There is a paragraph that describes the historical meaning of the Herzenberg House, yet it doesn't seem that the events that took place there in 1726 have anything to do with the Herzenbergs per se.
Later email: "Here's the translation of the passage from my g.g.father's memoir which mentions the "Herzenberg House":
"Among the oldest buildings of the city which have historical importance is the Herzenberg House (Herzenbergsche Haus) on the corner of Catholic St. and Big St. This house is a historical landmark building because it was there that in 1726 Moritz Saksonski was hiding from the Poles. He was freed by the life guards of the duchess Anna Ioanovna. Moritz Saksonsky was invited to the palace, but due to his thoughtlessness, he lost the good will of his benefactors and had to flee, disguised as a coachman, from his last place of refuge on the Usmas island, which, by that time, was surrounded by the Russians." I couldn't find anything on Google about Moritz Saksonsky. Usmas is a camping site in present-day Latvia. I'll keep you posted if I find anything else that gives clues to the past of the Herzenbergs."

3. There is a website dedicated to the infamous events of Rumbula Forest near Riga. Some comments from the website http://www.rumbula.org/remembering_rumbula.shtml: Rumbula (Rumbuli in German) Forest, near Riga, Latvia, became the mass murder site and grave of 27,800 Jews from the Riga Ghetto on November 30 and December 8, 1941 (10th and 18th of Kislev on the Jewish calendar). Only 3 people who arrived at the Rumbula killing site escaped death. Family members of some who perished survived the war, and a number of them live today in Latvia, the U.S., Europe and Israel. This site is an introduction to the mass murders at Rumbula Forest for educational and research purposes. It is maintained on a non-commercial basis. The acts that took place in Rumbula Forest in late 1941 are documented here through historical accounts and personal memoirs. Also included are accounts of modern-day anti-semitic activity in Latvia and of the dedication of the Rumbula Forest Memorial in 2002.

4. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the Book Published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution."

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/ 
Herzenberg, Flora (I4075)
 
6893 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Willy Gabriel b. 7 Sep 1909, d. Dec 1941, md. to Levenstein.
In regards to Sarah Herzenberg, Willy Gabriel's aunt, Peter notes the following:
References a photo and md. to Levenstein. Includes the following note: She appears in a group photo showing the children of Zvi H. with her daughter. She is named as Sarah Herzenberg Levenstein. Her daughter is not named. All the siblings are shown in the central row and if she is not one, why is she there? Is has been suggested that Willy H., who is not in the photo, married Sarah's daughter, his first cousin.

2. Len Yodaiken in his paid research report "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepaja Latvia," 1 Jan 2000, notes the name Hinda Leye Herzenberg as well as another wife to Willy named Sarah who died 1941. I believe he has two errors. First, he has used the married name of Hinde as her maiden name. Second, he has hooked Sarah to the wrong Willy - she is most likely Sarah Hellman who married Willy Gabriel, the uncle of this Willy Gabriel.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Hinda Hercenberg was born in abt 1914 (variant 1917) in Riga, Latvia to Yisrael. She was married to Willy. Prior to WWII she lived in Libau, Latvia. Hinda perished in the Shoah. Website has photo of her with her husband. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 18 Feb 1993 by her sister-in-law Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

PHOTO:
1. I have on file a photo of Lena (Kramer) Herzenberg and her descendants taken circa 1927 from Ron Lapid per his email dated 3 Aug 2010 . (Ron's ancestor was the sister to Lydia Raivid and he is not of direct Herzenberg descendancy). The photo is originally from Gail J. Herzenberg and apparently is the same one Peter Bruce Herzenberg references in his notes from Gail. Names are penciled in by Ron after his analysis and in corroboration with Gail. I have a copy of the photo on file. Ron notes: After studying the photo and estimating the ages, I concluded that this photo was taken about 1927 and not 1920 as previously thought. (Lina is in the photo, who died 27 Nov 1929 - but Lydia, who died 8 Sep 1926 is not there.). He also makes the sober comment that everyone in the photo dies in the Holocaust except Tauby who is still alive. Included in the photo are:
-Lena (at an advanced age).
-Lena's sons (missing Max Mordechai and Edward):
-Adolf (Avraham) with no wife but with adult son Leon standing behind Adolf resting a hand on Adolf's shoulder. Leon's name is an error and the son is confirmed by Gail as her father Willy Gabriel.
-Willy Gabriel, wife Sarah Hellman, dau. Frieda, sons Eliezer, Joseph, Zvi (Harry).
-Joseph Jacov, wife Rachel Freudberg, children Klara, Taube, Nichole, Bernie, Judith; son Willy is missing from photo.
-Lena's daughter Sarah Levenstein (seated) and unidentified girl standing behind her with resting an arm on Sarah's shoulder who could be Sarah's daughter Hinda. No husband shown (deceased?) for Sarah. Both seem to be wearing black in the photo (perhaps a sign of mourning?).
-One unidentified adult male sitting on Lena's immediate left (Adolphe sitting in same position on opposite side of Lena). By looks, he appears same age as other brothers. Could this be Max Mordechai (without his wife and Children) or even Edward (on a visit back from the US)? 
Levenstein, Hinda Leya (I4072)
 
6894 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG017 shows Tauby (Tobie) md. to Lewis.

2. Len Yodaiken in his paid research report "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepaja Latvia," 1 Jan 2000, notes five Lewis children born of this marriage: Stanley, Moshe, Linda, Joy Beth, and Nicole.

3. Ancestry.com's "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, shows the following two passengers together arriving 23 Oct 1938 on the ship "Britannic" in New York City from Le Havre, France. Both are born in Leipaja, Latvia, and of Hebrew ethnicity; arriving on visa "Sec. 5, QIV 204 and 203, issued in Riga 9 Sep 1938; both read, write, and speak German Yiddish:
-Ben Zuzmanis Hercenbergs, age 21, male, single, locksmith.
-Taube Raika Hercenbergs, age 22, female, single, dressmaker.

BIOGRAPHY:
1. It was Tauby "Hercenberg" who submitted many "Pages of Testimony" in Feb 1993 for many family members including siblings and parents. Tauby Hercenberg Lewis was residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

PHOTO:
1. I have on file a photo of Lena (Kramer) Herzenberg and her descendants taken circa 1927 from Ron Lapid per his email dated 3 Aug 2010 . (Ron's ancestor was the sister to Lydia Raivid and he is not of direct Herzenberg descendancy). The photo is originally from Gail J. Herzenberg and apparently is the same one Peter Bruce Herzenberg references in his notes from Gail. Names are penciled in by Ron after his analysis and in corroboration with Gail. I have a copy of the photo on file. Ron notes: After studying the photo and estimating the ages, I concluded that this photo was taken about 1927 and not 1920 as previously thought. (Lina is in the photo, who died 27 Nov 1929 - but Lydia, who died 8 Sep 1926 is not there.). He also makes the sober comment that everyone in the photo dies in the Holocaust except Tauby who is still alive. Included in the photo are:
-Lena (at an advanced age).
-Lena's sons (missing Max Mordechai and Edward):
-Adolf (Avraham) with no wife but with adult son Leon standing behind Adolf resting a hand on Adolf's shoulder. Leon's name is an error and the son is confirmed by Gail as her father Willy Gabriel.
-Willy Gabriel, wife Sarah Hellman, dau. Frieda, sons Eliezer, Joseph, Zvi (Harry).
-Joseph Jacov, wife Rachel Freudberg, children Klara, Taube, Nichole, Bernie, Judith; son Willy is missing from photo.
-Lena's daughter Sarah Levenstein (seated) and unidentified girl standing behind her with resting an arm on Sarah's shoulder who could be Sarah's daughter Hinda. No husband shown (deceased?) for Sarah. Both seem to be wearing black in the photo (perhaps a sign of mourning?).
-One unidentified adult male sitting on Lena's immediate left (Adolphe sitting in same position on opposite side of Lena). By looks, he appears same age as other brothers. Could this be Max Mordechai (without his wife and Children) or even Edward (on a visit back from the US)?

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Binni Lewis 18 Aug 2007 . Has no dates nor places but lists children of Chaim Leib and Toby (Taube) Lewis as Joy Beth m. Gardin, Linda m. Grossbard, Moshe, and Shnayer. Binni notes age of great-grandmother as 91 in this email. 
Herzenberg or Hercenberg, Taube Reika (I4071)
 
6895 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Gabriel md. Ann Fradkin.

MARRIAGE:
1. There seems to be a conflict with the information above versus the death information below as to whether he was married or not. Len Yodaiken per his research paper "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepeja Latvia," appears to also be confused indicating three children born to him (Joseph, d. 1941; Jacob, d. 1941, and Frieda Herzenberg, m. ___ Rosenberg); however, these are children better associated with Gabriel's uncle Willie Gabriel Herzenberg who married Sarah Hellman. Mr. Yodaiken does not indicate a wife for Gabriel and he also shows the similarly named children with the uncle.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Willi Hercenberg was born 1912 in Liepaja, Latvia to Max and Sophie Hertzenberg. Prior to WWII he lived on Baderstrasse in Libau, Latvia. Willie perished in the Shoah. He was a shop owner and single. Website has photo of him. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 18 Feb 1993 by his cousin Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

2. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the book published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution." 
Herzenberg, Willie or Gabriel (I4070)
 
6896 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Sophie Herzenberg d. bef. WW2.

2. I am uncertain if her maiden name is Herzenberg or not. All the sources cited use Herzenberg as a surname without clarifying whether it is both a maiden and married surname. I suspect it is only a married name. Len Yodaiken per his research paper "The Herzenbergs of Piltene and Liepeja Latvia," 1 Jan 2000, notes her name as Sophie ___.

MARRIAGE:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kerry Petersen.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Sofi Herzenberg was born abt 1881 in Latvia. She was married. During WWII she lived at Alleisti 12 in Libau, Latvia. Sofi perished 3 Oct 1941 in the Shoah at the age of 60. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 12 Jul 1957 by a fellow citizen in Israel, Bentzion Kolman. 
Sophie (I4069)
 
6897 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Klara (Kayla) (Clara-Keila) b. 1911, d. Dec 1941.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Klara Hercenberg was born 1911 in Liepaja, Latvia to Yosef Yaacov Hertzenberg and Rakhel Friedberg or Fridberg. He was married to Hinda bat Yisvael ??. Prior to WWII she lived at Brivibas Iela 5 (Alexanderstrasse) in Libau, Latvia. Klara perished in the Shoah. She was a bookkeeper. Website has photo of her. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 18 Feb 1993 by her sister Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

2. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the Book Published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution."

PHOTO:
1. I have on file a photo of Lena (Kramer) Herzenberg and her descendants taken circa 1927 from Ron Lapid per his email dated 3 Aug 2010 . (Ron's ancestor was the sister to Lydia Raivid and he is not of direct Herzenberg descendancy). The photo is originally from Gail J. Herzenberg and apparently is the same one Peter Bruce Herzenberg references in his notes from Gail. Names are penciled in by Ron after his analysis and in corroboration with Gail. I have a copy of the photo on file. Ron notes: After studying the photo and estimating the ages, I concluded that this photo was taken about 1927 and not 1920 as previously thought. (Lina is in the photo, who died 27 Nov 1929 - but Lydia, who died 8 Sep 1926 is not there.). He also makes the sober comment that everyone in the photo dies in the Holocaust except Tauby who is still alive. Included in the photo are:
-Lena (at an advanced age).
-Lena's sons (missing Max Mordechai and Edward):
-Adolf (Avraham) with no wife but with adult son Leon standing behind Adolf resting a hand on Adolf's shoulder. Leon's name is an error and the son is confirmed by Gail as her father Willy Gabriel.
-Willy Gabriel, wife Sarah Hellman, dau. Frieda, sons Eliezer, Joseph, Zvi (Harry).
-Joseph Jacov, wife Rachel Freudberg, children Klara, Taube, Nichole, Bernie, Judith; son Willy is missing from photo.
-Lena's daughter Sarah Levenstein (seated) and unidentified girl standing behind her with resting an arm on Sarah's shoulder who could be Sarah's daughter Hinda. No husband shown (deceased?) for Sarah. Both seem to be wearing black in the photo (perhaps a sign of mourning?).
-One unidentified adult male sitting on Lena's immediate left (Adolphe sitting in same position on opposite side of Lena). By looks, he appears same age as other brothers. Could this be Max Mordechai (without his wife and Children) or even Edward (on a visit back from the US)? 
Herzenberg or Hercenberg, Klara or Kayla or Keila (I4068)
 
6898 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
HG016 shows Willy Gabriel b. 7 Sep 1909, d. Dec 1941, md. to Levenstein.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Willy Gabriel Hercenberg was born 7 Sep 1909 in Liepaja, Latvia to Yosef Yaacov Hertzenberg and Rakhel Friedberg or Fridberg. He was married to Hinda bat Yisvael ??. Prior to WWII he lived in Libau, Latvia. Willy perished in the Shoah. He was a mechanic. Website has photo of him. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 18 Feb 1993 by his sister Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

2. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the Book Published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution." 
Herzenberg, Willy Gabriel (I4067)
 
6899 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
References Photo and md. to Levenstein. Includes the following note: She appears in a group photo showing the children of Zvi H. with her daughter. She is named as Sarah Herzenberg Levenstein. Her daughter is not named. All the siblings are shown in the central row and if she is not one, why is she there? Is has been suggested that Willy H., who is not in the photo, married Sarah's daughter, his first cousin.

2. Courland (Kurzeme in Latvian, Kurland in German) is the historically distinct area of modern day Latvia bounded by the Baltic Sea to the west, Lithuania to the south, and the Dvina River (now Daugava) to the North. Its historic capital was Mitau (now Jelgava). It had ice-free Baltic ports with commercial and strategic importance. At its height Courland was a prosperous and cultured German-speaking Duchy. Courland was a separate Gubernia (Province) of the Russian Empire from 1797-1918. 50-60% of the Jews living in Riga just north of Courland had family roots in Courland. The names of the various towns have changed now that the area is part of Latvia (new-old as of early 1900s):
Aizpute-Hasenpoth
Jelgava-Mitau
Kuldiga-Goldingen
Liepaja-Libau
Piltene-Pilten
Talsi-Talsen
Ventspils-Windau

3. Email dated 22 Jan 2018 from Gilda Kurtzman of Petach Tikva, Israel : "Outline Descendant Report for Yosef Herzenberg:
1 Yosef Herzenberg
+ Rebecca Iddelson
2 Tzvi Hirsch Herzenberg b: 1836 in Libau, Latvia, d: 1925 in Libau, Latvia
+ Lena Kramer b: Abt. 1834 in Libau, Latvia, d: Nov 27, 1929 in Libau, Latvia
3 Adolph HERZENBERG b: Abt. 1870 in Aizpute (Hazenpoth) or Grobin, Courland, Latvia, d: Dec 1941 in Lativa, Holocaust
+ Lydia RAIVID b: Abt. 1879 in Possibly Telsiai, d: Sep 08, 1926 in Libau, Latvia
4 Leo HERZENBERG b: Jan 04, 1899 in Lativa, d: Mar 06, 1971 in Tel Aviv, Israel
+ Lucy ??? b: Abt. 1900 in Lithuania, m: Bef. 1927 in Lithuania, d: Aug 01, 1969 in Wiesbaden,
Germany
5 Lilli HERZENBERG b: Mar 17, 1928 in Lithuania, d: May 29, 2000 in Wiesbaden, Germany
+ Julius FARKAS b: Jul 02, 1910 in Frankfurt, Germany, m: Jun 27, 1950 in Tel Aviv, Israel, d: Jun 10, 1996 in Wiesbaden, Germany
6 Daniel Josef FARKAS b: Jul 30, 1956 in Wiesbaden, Germany
+ Dalia MIZRACHI b: Sep 11, 1957 in Tel Aviv, Israel, m: Aug 25, 1980 in Wiesbaden, Germany
7 Inbal FARKAS b: Feb 26, 1982 in Wiesbaden, Germany
+ Shmuel COHEN m: Nov 17, 2011 in Haifa, Israel
7 Chaim FARKAS b: Jun 01, 1985 in Holon, Israel
+ Adva MADANES m: Jun 10, 2016 in Chavat Ronit, Israel
7 Avital FARKAS b: Nov 14, 1991 in Holon, Israel
4 Gabriel William HERZENBERG b: Jul 19, 1900 in Libau, Latvia, d: May 27, 1985 in Chevy Chase, MD
+ Toba SCHLOSS b: May 17, 1911 in Pennsylvania, m: May 31, 1938 in Washington, DC, d: May 10, 1997 in North Bethesda, MD
5 Berl Jacob HERZENBERG b: May 07, 1942 in Washington, DC
+ Joanne MAFUCCI b: 1940
5 Gail Joanne HERZENBERG b: Apr 26, 1945 in Washington, DC, d: Jan 17, 2013
+ Jerrold Leslie ZIMMERMAN b: Jan 04, 1946, m: May 30, 1970
6 Joanna Herzenberg ZIMMERMAN b: Feb 22, 1978 in Richmond, VA
+ Jonathan Paul LACROIX b: Sep 01, 1962, m: Jul 08, 2005 in Lexington, VA
7 Tova ZIMMERMAN LACROIX b: May 20, 2008 in Virginia
6 Noah Herzenberg ZIMMERMAN b: Sep 28, 1981 in Washington, DC
4 Irving HERZENBERG b: Nov 03, 1903 in Libau, Latvia, d: Apr 27, 1964 in New York City, NY
+ Janice WILE b: May 15, 1913 in New York, m: Feb 04, 1937 in New York City, NY, d: Nov 07, 1982 in Burlington, VT
5 Linda HERZENBERG b: Jun 21, 1942 in New York
+ Peter W. SPARKS b: Mar 15, 1942, m: Feb 08, 1964 in Burlington, VT
6 Lauren SPARKS b: Sep 18, 1964 in Burlington, VT.
+ Timothy E. WRIGHT b: Oct 16, 1963, m: Jun 11, 1995 in Vermont
7 Liam WRIGHT b: Feb 13, 1998 in Concord, NH
7 Garret WRIGHT b: Jul 15, 1999 in Concord, NH
6 Jennifer SPARKS b: Mar 04, 1967 in Burlington, VT.
+ Ari GOLDSTEIN m: Dec 28, 2002 in Jackson Hall, WY
7 Beatarix GOLDSTEIN b: Feb 27, 2006 in Jackson Hall, WY
5 Carol Joan HERZENBERG b: May 08, 1944 in New York
+ Jake Simon MEYER
6 Cecelia MEYER b: 1971
6 Danielle Neva MEYER b: Apr 29, 1978 in El Paso County, TX
+ Andrew Eric GEISHEIMER b: Sep 01, 1977, m: Nov 02, 2009 in Adams, CO
6 Jared Cephas MEYER b: Aug 06, 1980 in El Paso County, TX
3 Edward Herzenberg
3 Max Herzenberg
3 Joseph Jacob Herzenberg
3 Sarah Herzenberg
3 Willy Gabriel Herzenberg"

BIRTH:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kenny Petersen.

MARRIAGE:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kerry Petersen.

PHOTO:
1. I have on file a photo of Lena (Kramer) Herzenberg and her descendants taken circa 1927 from Ron Lapid per his email dated 3 Aug 2010 . (Ron's ancestor was the sister to Lydia Raivid and he is not of direct Herzenberg descendancy). The photo is originally from Gail J. Herzenberg and apparently is the same one Peter Bruce Herzenberg references in his notes from Gail. Names are penciled in by Ron after his analysis and in corroboration with Gail. I have a copy of the photo on file. Ron notes: After studying the photo and estimating the ages, I concluded that this photo was taken about 1927 and not 1920 as previously thought. (Lina is in the photo, who died 27 Nov 1929 - but Lydia, who died 8 Sep 1926 is not there.). He also makes the sober comment that everyone in the photo dies in the Holocaust except Tauby who is still alive. Included in the photo are:
-Lena (at an advanced age).
-Lena's sons (missing Max Mordechai and Edward):
-Adolf (Avraham) with no wife but with adult son Leon standing behind Adolf resting a hand on Adolf's shoulder. Leon's name is an error and the son is confirmed by Gail as her father Willy Gabriel.
-Willy Gabriel, wife Sarah Hellman, dau. Frieda, sons Eliezer, Joseph, Zvi (Harry).
-Joseph Jacov, wife Rachel Freudberg, children Klara, Taube, Nichole, Bernie, Judith; son Willy is missing from photo.
-Lena's daughter Sarah Levenstein (seated) and unidentified girl standing behind her with resting an arm on Sarah's shoulder who could be Sarah's daughter Hinda. No husband shown (deceased?) for Sarah. Both seem to be wearing black in the photo (perhaps a sign of mourning?).
-One unidentified adult male sitting on Lena's immediate left (Adolphe sitting in same position on opposite side of Lena). By looks, he appears same age as other brothers. Could this be Max Mordechai (without his wife and Children) or even Edward (on a visit back from the US)?

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/

2. Interested researcher: Binni Lewis 18 Aug 2007 . Has no dates nor places but lists children as Sarah, Gabriel Willy, Adolphe, Edward, Max Mordechai, Yosef Yaacov. 
Herzenberg, Sarah (I4066)
 
6900 RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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:
Lib Dir
HG016 shows Max Mordechai, b. 1872, d. Dec 1941, md. to Sophie.
Shot in either the nearby forest of Libau in July or in Bikernicks Forest in Riga, Latvia, Dec. 1941.

2. Email dated 22 Jan 2018 from Gilda Kurtzman of Petach Tikva, Israel : "Outline Descendant Report for Yosef Herzenberg:
1 Yosef Herzenberg
+ Rebecca Iddelson
2 Tzvi Hirsch Herzenberg b: 1836 in Libau, Latvia, d: 1925 in Libau, Latvia
+ Lena Kramer b: Abt. 1834 in Libau, Latvia, d: Nov 27, 1929 in Libau, Latvia
3 Adolph HERZENBERG b: Abt. 1870 in Aizpute (Hazenpoth) or Grobin, Courland, Latvia, d: Dec 1941 in Lativa, Holocaust
+ Lydia RAIVID b: Abt. 1879 in Possibly Telsiai, d: Sep 08, 1926 in Libau, Latvia
4 Leo HERZENBERG b: Jan 04, 1899 in Lativa, d: Mar 06, 1971 in Tel Aviv, Israel
+ Lucy ??? b: Abt. 1900 in Lithuania, m: Bef. 1927 in Lithuania, d: Aug 01, 1969 in Wiesbaden,
Germany
5 Lilli HERZENBERG b: Mar 17, 1928 in Lithuania, d: May 29, 2000 in Wiesbaden, Germany
+ Julius FARKAS b: Jul 02, 1910 in Frankfurt, Germany, m: Jun 27, 1950 in Tel Aviv, Israel, d: Jun 10, 1996 in Wiesbaden, Germany
6 Daniel Josef FARKAS b: Jul 30, 1956 in Wiesbaden, Germany
+ Dalia MIZRACHI b: Sep 11, 1957 in Tel Aviv, Israel, m: Aug 25, 1980 in Wiesbaden, Germany
7 Inbal FARKAS b: Feb 26, 1982 in Wiesbaden, Germany
+ Shmuel COHEN m: Nov 17, 2011 in Haifa, Israel
7 Chaim FARKAS b: Jun 01, 1985 in Holon, Israel
+ Adva MADANES m: Jun 10, 2016 in Chavat Ronit, Israel
7 Avital FARKAS b: Nov 14, 1991 in Holon, Israel
4 Gabriel William HERZENBERG b: Jul 19, 1900 in Libau, Latvia, d: May 27, 1985 in Chevy Chase, MD
+ Toba SCHLOSS b: May 17, 1911 in Pennsylvania, m: May 31, 1938 in Washington, DC, d: May 10, 1997 in North Bethesda, MD
5 Berl Jacob HERZENBERG b: May 07, 1942 in Washington, DC
+ Joanne MAFUCCI b: 1940
5 Gail Joanne HERZENBERG b: Apr 26, 1945 in Washington, DC, d: Jan 17, 2013
+ Jerrold Leslie ZIMMERMAN b: Jan 04, 1946, m: May 30, 1970
6 Joanna Herzenberg ZIMMERMAN b: Feb 22, 1978 in Richmond, VA
+ Jonathan Paul LACROIX b: Sep 01, 1962, m: Jul 08, 2005 in Lexington, VA
7 Tova ZIMMERMAN LACROIX b: May 20, 2008 in Virginia
6 Noah Herzenberg ZIMMERMAN b: Sep 28, 1981 in Washington, DC
4 Irving HERZENBERG b: Nov 03, 1903 in Libau, Latvia, d: Apr 27, 1964 in New York City, NY
+ Janice WILE b: May 15, 1913 in New York, m: Feb 04, 1937 in New York City, NY, d: Nov 07, 1982 in Burlington, VT
5 Linda HERZENBERG b: Jun 21, 1942 in New York
+ Peter W. SPARKS b: Mar 15, 1942, m: Feb 08, 1964 in Burlington, VT
6 Lauren SPARKS b: Sep 18, 1964 in Burlington, VT.
+ Timothy E. WRIGHT b: Oct 16, 1963, m: Jun 11, 1995 in Vermont
7 Liam WRIGHT b: Feb 13, 1998 in Concord, NH
7 Garret WRIGHT b: Jul 15, 1999 in Concord, NH
6 Jennifer SPARKS b: Mar 04, 1967 in Burlington, VT.
+ Ari GOLDSTEIN m: Dec 28, 2002 in Jackson Hall, WY
7 Beatarix GOLDSTEIN b: Feb 27, 2006 in Jackson Hall, WY
5 Carol Joan HERZENBERG b: May 08, 1944 in New York
+ Jake Simon MEYER
6 Cecelia MEYER b: 1971
6 Danielle Neva MEYER b: Apr 29, 1978 in El Paso County, TX
+ Andrew Eric GEISHEIMER b: Sep 01, 1977, m: Nov 02, 2009 in Adams, CO
6 Jared Cephas MEYER b: Aug 06, 1980 in El Paso County, TX
3 Edward Herzenberg
3 Max Herzenberg
3 Joseph Jacob Herzenberg
3 Sarah Herzenberg
3 Willy Gabriel Herzenberg"

BIRTH:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kenny Petersen.

MARRIAGE:
1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kerry Petersen.

DEATH:
1. Http://www4.yadvashem.org Holocaust database: Max Hertzenberg was born abt 1872 in Hasenpoth, Latvia in to Tzvi Hertzenberg and Lena nee Kramer. Prior to WWII he lived on Baderstrasse in Libau, Latvia where he had a hardware store. His wife was Sophie and she died earlier. Max perished in the Shoah. Website has photo of him. Middle name of Mordekhai. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted 8 Mar 1993 by his niece Tauby Hercenberg Lewis residing at Ezion Gaber 3/7 Jerusalem, 97823.

2. The following accounts are copied from JewishGen.Inc and report the holocaust actions of Libau which affected many Herzenbergs. It was also typical of many of the nearby areas as well:
A. Translation of an Excerpt Relating to Libau, From the Book Published by Mr. Mendel Bobee in Yiddish
"With the outbreak of hostilities in the East, Libau was bombarded on 22.6.41 [June 22, 1941]. A very small portion of the local population could flee the next day because the trains were overloaded with the children and families of the officers and civil servants serving in Libau.
Before the war the Russians organised "Workers Guards" in which many Jews participated. These Guards were the first to see action. The first attack on the town was repulsed, but in this first action the number of casualties was very high and, as it happened, most of the casualties were Jewish boys.
The Germans occupied Libau on 29.6.41 [June 29, 1941]. The radio stations of Koenigsberg, Danzig, and Memel broadcast in Latvian highly inflammatory tirades against the Jews. With the entry of the German Army in Libau the Nazis distributed a pamphlet in Latvian to revenge the acts of "the bloodthirsty Jews who have expelled the good sons of the Latvian People to the USSR" The Latvian military and police forces under the command of the Latvian Generals Dankers and Bengersky joined the German forces and gladly participated in their infamous propaganda.
Orders were published to hand over all valuables, radios and other means of communications. The meagre food portions were cut and the infamous "Aizsargi," in their alleged searches for weapons, invaded Jewish homes and robbed, beat up and killed. With the conquest of Libau by the Germans the Jewish population counted 9,000 souls and immediately the systematic extermination started. The first victims were 33 Jewish workers who reported to work the next morning after the occupation. They were killed the same day in the "Rainis Park" in Neu-Libau.
Another order was published saying that all Jewish males between the ages of 16-65 had to come every morning to the "Hauptwachplatz" from where they were dispatched to different stations of work, accompanied by beatings and curses. No one was sure he would return home at night, as indeed many did not. The Jews were commanded to dismantle with their own hands the Great Synagogue - "The Chor-Schul" - and to destroy the Sifrei Tora. After the destruction of the building the Latvian Press claimed that the cellars of the Synagogue contained hidden weapons and Latvian property.
In these first weeks around 2000 Jews were killed and on the 24th [of] July, 3000 more men were assembled on the "Hauptwachplatz" and after their papers and valuables were taken from them, they were transported to a small fishing port near the Lighthouse at the entrance of the Port. They were all killed then and there. The Jewish population of the smaller surrounding towns like Grobin, Hasenpot, etc. were all killed in their different small towns, and only a few were deported to Libau. The murderers took special satisfaction when they killed on Yom Kippur Day 50 old men and women. After complaints from Latvians living near the Lighthouse about the noise, the executions there were stopped.
Soon another order was published saying that Jews were not to leave their homes on the 15th and 16th [of] December. They were then told by Latvians to dress warmly as they were about to be sent to work in distant places. The truth was they did not go far, only 7 kilometres, to Shkeden, and there on the beach another 3000 Jews were massacred. It was later reported that some of the killers could not bear any more the sight of these bestialities and literally went crazy. The German Commissar named Laze heard about these massacres and asked Berlin either to stop these or change the means of exterminations. He argued that the killings were disrupting his plans for the work the Jews were carrying out for the German Army. The laconic reply he received from Berlin was "economic considerations are not to be taken into account in solving that problem."
Another 375 Jews were killed on 12.2.42 [February 12, 1942] and by the end of June 1942 the Ghetto of Libau was founded. On the 1st of July the Ghetto was entirely cut off from the remaining population, and in the Ghetto, 816 people including 175 males were settled. Eleven houses were prepared for the inmates, and the preparation of the buildings, etc. was made by Jews especially selected for their good physical condition. In spite of overcrowding in the Ghetto houses, the inmates led an orderly life which was mostly due to the devotion of Mr. Israelit, a senior Jewish functionary in the town, who was assisted by Mr. Kagansky, the lawyer. Life as such in the Ghetto, with a small synagogue, a library and a small ambulatory clinic was not too difficult. The German Commander named Kretscher was rather an exception between the thousands of German officers, and treated the Jews relatively humanely. The Ghetto existed 18 months and was dismantled on the 18th of October 1943, when all were packed into railway cattle cars and transported to the "Kaiserwald" Camp near Riga. Of those who were sent there, 360 people were sent to the Auschwitz Crematorium. From the "Kaiserwald" Camp many were also sent to the "Riga-Reichsbahn," "A.E.G." and other camps in and around Riga. With the Russians approaching Riga, most of the Libauers were evacuated to Germany through Danzig and Stutthof, and were dispersed between the camps in Germany itself.
When Libau was liberated, 40 living Jews were found out of the 9000 who had lived there until 1941."

B. Libau Revisited, by Raya Westermann-Mazin
"My first visit to Libau was in 1945, less than 2 months after the end of the war. At that time it was a closed city and the special laissez- passer had been difficult to obtain. I found eleven Jews in town, who had survived by miracles. After having dug up all the details available about the destruction of my family and friends, I listened for long hours to their stories, to the whole chronicle of the past 4 years, enveloped and absorbed in a nightmare in a nightmare for which there were hardly any adequate words in any human language. When I left I was sure that this was for good.
In 1961 I came with my family from Odessa to Riga for a summer vacation. It was good to meet old friends, to enjoy the cool Baltic summer, to bathe in the sea and to linger in the white sand of the Riga Bay under the high fir trees. What suddenly made me lose my piece of mind was the last news about Libau: the city had been declared open by the Soviet authorities, with no need for a laissez-passer any more. Even Shkeden, the place in the "Kriegshafen" where the "Aktionen" had taken place, was open territory now; the centres of gravity of the naval port had evidently been moved elsewhere. Human bones had been found in the area of 8 kilometres where the shooting had taken place. The mass graves had been so close to the beach that the sea, penetrating the shallow sands, had washed them up to the surface. The authorities had permitted the Jewish community to take the bones to the cemetery and to bury them. There had been a memorial service, a gravestone had been put up.
The plane which took me to Libau in 45 minutes hardly deserved the proud definition of an aircraft. It was a primitive little thing, not soundproofed, which held 15-20 passengers who sat lulled and dulled by the deafening noise of the engine. It had been raining and the plane was bumping up and down from one cloud to the other. Only at noon when we landed the sun broke through.
Libau had changed. Sixteen years ago the whole centre and the adjoining streets had been a vast heap of ruins with mutilated skeletons of houses sticking out here and there, the grass sprouting out of the dust which had cemented the stones in the four years of the war. I had felt shaken then but I had not felt stranger. It still had seemed a part of myself - this beautiful, small Baltic town. That it looked victimised, violated and ruined was an integral part of the tragedy which had happened to it and to me.
This time, venturing out into the city of my hotel at the Rosenplatz, I felt like a tourist in a strange town. The roses on the square, all shades from white to pink to purple, looked as lush and well groomed on their long stems as before, but now there were some renovated buildings and Russian-style cafeterias around the square. New modern houses were making up a new Weidenstrasse and part of the Kornstrasse which had been destroyed, but these were completely new streets, awakening no memories whatsoever. The names of the streets had been changed, the signs were in Latvian and Russian. There were many uniforms, mostly naval.
"You go straight down the Ulichstrasse till the entrance to the "Fisherhafen," I had been advised by old Libau friends. The street had not changed. Although it looked much smaller and narrower than in my memories, the wide branches of the old lime and acorn trees still cast the same deep shadow over the sidewalk, with the breeze rustling lightly in their ample foliage. The entrance to the "Fisherhafen" was changed: some new stone houses had been put up. The plaque I had come to see was on one of the walls. There was an inscription in Latvian and in Russian: "To the victims of Fascism" killed during the German occupation. One cannot put flowers on a wall, so I put mine down on the ground - to my father and to all the others.
It was already rather late in the afternoon but there might still have been time to drive down to the cemetery. Only...I didn't feel like it. Nobody I had come to visit here had been quietly put to rest in that peaceful place. Then, all of a sudden, I knew where I really wanted to go.
To admit the truth, I have no recollections whatsoever of the 8 or 10 kilometres' drive from Libau to Shkeden on that summer day of 1961. Never during all the coming years would even a single memory surface or a single vision arise of the surrounding landscape. The taxi might have been speeding through a vacuum as far as I was concerned. The last thing which stuck in my memory was hiring it at the stop near the Central Market Place where I had bought a huge bunch of red roses. The driver was a Russian and I had felt relieved that he was not a Latvian. "This is a long drive," he said giving me a strange side-glance as I slipped into the seat beside him. But he didn't ask any questions and we drove in silence.
It was a sunny day but I didn't feel it. In my mind I was in snow and cold and winter, back to all I had been told of this last journey - the death march of the Jews of Libau. This way they had gone in buses in December 1941, and in sledges and carts or more primitive vehicles in February 1942. As many times before I tried to imagine what my mother must have thought and felt, or my aunts, or my friends or other people I had known. I don't think I even came close to it, but there was no getting away from it, neither from the stories I had heard, nor from the photographs I had seen in Libau in 1945, fresh from the lab, pictures of people on the snow, stripped naked, in the background the Latvian "aizsargi" with their rifles, the earflaps of their caps down, and the collars of their uniforms up against the biting cold...
The driver had stopped the car. "Well...?" he said turning to me, "That's as far as we can go." "Leave your taximeter on," I replied getting out of the car.
The vast terrain was unbelievably quiet. One could hear the humming of the insects flitting by in the sun, or a sudden shriek of a seagull from the nearby sea. There was only a very light breeze, the blue surface was scarcely rippled by tiny waves, only far away there were a few white crests. A couple of old wooden watchtowers showed that this had been maritime border region some time ago. The dunes were very low and when I turned away inland from the sea they stopped altogether. The ground was sand everywhere, only a few clusters of sharp grey-greenish sea grass were growing here and there.
I saw the obelisk from afar. It was a simple unspectacular four-edged cone of white limestone. When I came up to it, I read the stereotyped inscription in Russian and Latvian dedicated to the "Victims of Fascism" during the war. This time there was a number of the people killed. I don't remember it exactly but it was unbelievably high. There had never been so many Jews in the whole Baltic states. I had, however, heard that Eichmann's twisted bookkeeping had brought the Hungarian Jews to die on this sandy beach, and probably there had also been others. The word "Jew" was mentioned nowhere on any inscription. By now, however, I was used to this sort of Soviet post-mortem discrimination.
As I had done the day before, I here, too, put down my roses and resumed my wandering. There were many empty cartridge cases of different calibre's on the ground. I bent down to look at them but I did not pick them up. Then I found the bone. It was an ulna, one of the two bones connecting the wrist with the elbow. It looked very dry and frail, it was small, that of a child probably not older than ten or twelve years. I don't know why I saw a little girl before me, it could as well have been a little boy. I took it back to the obelisk and started to dig a hole in the ground having no other instruments than my bare ten fingers. As I could not find a stone on the sandy ground I put some roses on the tiny grave and rose to my feet.
It was a long walk back to the car. If the town had looked much smaller in comparison to what I had remembered, this sandy plain felt vast and endless and larger than life.
A few hours later I was on my way back. Strapped to my seat in the same little bee of a plane I looked down at the city vanishing quickly beneath the wings. There was no regret or nostalgia that this was, I knew, the last time I would be seeing it.

C. Witness for the Prosecution, by Arnold Engel
"I waited a long time for this day. I thought the day would never come. The room in the new hotel - Intercontinental in Hanover - was spacious, warm and well lit. I got up early on this Friday, April 3rd, 1970, shaved and gave a look at my watch.
It was 7:30 in the morning. One more hour. One more hour and I will face him. Will I recognise him? Will I be able to look into his eyes? I opened the curtain and looked outside. The new, modern television tower looked yellowish, as the sun was rising, and the light snow from the night before was starting to melt.
I had a cup of coffee and hailed a taxi-cab: "Zum Landesgericht bitte."
It was a ten minute ride. A police car rushed by blowing its horn, which sounded exactly as the Gestapo horns: pipi-pipi-pipi-pipi, the same sound of the police van which picked up Anna Frank and millions of others.
The guard on duty at the court house directed me to the court room. It was early. I and "his" attorney were first. The court session was called for 8:30. Two minutes before, they started to come. One by one, in groups of three or four.
Then I saw him. I recognised him at once. How could I have ever thought that I would not remember him? Aged, but still tall, slim, blondish and his trade-mark: cool, murderish, motionless eyes.
The court clerk called to order. The judges entered. The jury looked bored. The defenders looked somewhat nervous, the defendant tried to remember if he ever saw me. He whispered something to his lawyer. Everything became quiet in the court room No. 127.
Who is this man? It was said that he was once so powerful, that he helped to wipe out a whole town, he killed Children, shot hundreds of old people, young people, men, women, Jews and others all in one day, and managed to wash his bloody hands, have a few drinks and spend that evening joking or dancing, playing games or reading a newspaper - as if nothing had happened that day.
After stating my name, address and birthday I was asked by one of the judges:
"Mr. Engel, do you recognise any of these gentlemen?"
"I do, sir."
"Please point out, whom do you recognise?"
"Him, Erich Handke."
"Please tell us what do you know about Erich Handke?"
For twenty-nine years I had dreamed about having the opportunity to testify against this brutal man - Handke. I knew that he was alive somewhere in Germany. One week after Hitler attacked the USSR, the Wehrmacht entered our small town of Libau on the Baltic Sea. Close to 9,000 Jews lived in Libau before the war - out of a population of 56,000.
Libau had a rich Jewish community with two noted synagogues, a Jewish trade school, a Yeshiva, a Jewish private school, high school and a Jewish sports stadium, a yacht club and all the usual organisations, including the known sport club "Maccabi"." There were very few real rich Jews, but also very few were poor. Always a shipping and trading city plus its location at the white sandy Baltic seacoast, the city did its share of progress in tourism, in export and in import.
Soon after the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo arrived, under leadership of SS-Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Fritz Dietrich, SD-leader Wolfgang Kigler, and Erich Handke who seemed to be in charge of everything, but mainly to solve the Jewish question.
The first mass destruction of the Libau Jews took place on the hot summer day of July 27, 1941. The Jews were ordered to appear on the Hauptwachplatz. Known as ever law-abiding, the Jews obeyed the orders. At the square they had to stay at attention. Many were beaten up and had to undergo terrible treatment by the SS-men.
Erich Handke was on the warpath. Kicking, shouting and slapping, he ordered hundreds of Jews to be thrown on ready brought trucks. As the number of Jews present diminished, he noticed a tall handsome, grey- haired gentleman, who was none other than Dr. Schwab, a well known local physician. Handke killed him in a brutal manner; this murder was witnessed by the hundreds of Jews who were still standing at attention on the square, where I used to come as a child and watch the fire engines being cleaned. During that day, on a hot July, over three thousand Jews were executed near the lighthouse in the vicinity of the sandy beach, where people used to bathe.
Handke did not stop here. He was everywhere. Almost daily he would appear somewhere. Wait for them with their yellow rag, marked Jews marching from work, tired from their slave labour, hungry from not eating - and with a "blitz" he would start to attack.
It would take up this and many more journals to describe all the "heroic deeds" of this bloodthirsty murderer. When a day passed by and he did not destroy a human life, he would order one of his Jewish slaves to find some pigeons and bring them to him in a hurry. Once they brought him the pigeons, he would take them, one by one and squeeze their heads off, by placing the birds between the door of his office and pulling the door shut.
By 1942, one year later, there were only 800 Jews alive. A Ghetto was created and the 800 moved into it on the 1st of July, 1942. The Libau Ghetto was liquidated on the 6th of October, Yom Kippur day, and the inmates were sent to the Kaiserwald near Riga concentration camp, and when the number dwindled to less than 500 they were sent to the Stutthof death camp near Danzig.
Today, there are less than 80 Jews who survived the war, the camps and Handke. Many do not have the strength to testify against the Scharfuehrer (Staff Sergeant) Erich Handke, born 10 November, 1914 (SS #371241) in Lisa, Germany; many do not recall the exact dates, locations or even if Dr. Schwab was attacked at the Firemen's Square or in the women's jail (where the Jews were once more screened before being sent to their death). The German court at Hanover tried their best to have Erich Handke with his eight other cohorts convicted, they have travelled to the USA and Israel, and were permitted to interview survivors now residing in the USSr.
But, because of the time elapsed, the reasons I gave before, Erich Handke may be walking the streets a free man at Tailfingen. I do not regret that I went to Hanover, that I once more faced this mass-murderer Handke. I am glad, that I was able to be a witness for the prosecution."

SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/

2. Interested researcher: Binni Lewis 18 Aug 2007 . Has no dates nor places but lists children as Sarah, Gabriel Willy, Adolphe, Edward, Max Mordechai, Yosef Yaacov. 
Herzenberg, Max Mordechai (I4062)
 

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