| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. 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
2. Son Ljowka or Lenka Kahn was last of Marseilles, France.
3. 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 108/051 shows Klara (Clara) b. Mitau, d. Marseilles, France, md. to Kahn.
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...
...The two youngest girls, Klara and Roberta were about my age, Roberta almost the same age, Klara a bit older. In the family they were only called Kunkel und Runkel (women and beets?). When I was a student in the last classes I was very much in love with Runkel, especially during the summer when visiting Aunt Therese on the Riga shore [strande], but Runkel preferred the courting of a Russian Captain. There was no way I could compete with him. Then I lived with both of them in Riga in the Schwimmstrasse pension with aunt Therese. My crush dissipated very quickly, and the courting of the Riga students did not make me jealous. But of all of the students who appeared in aunt Therese's home, none made an impression . [57] Perhaps they felt the crackling of the baking [kninskern im geback] of the Herzenberg firm. So they remained unmarried when the firm collapsed. Both were already very handicapped [gehandikapt] by the death of their father, so as with the elder sisters, a dowry was impossible [so war eine standgemassemitgift und Aussteuer wie bei den altern Schwestern ein ding der unmoglichkeit]. They were both dear, brave, hardworking girls, but they had no figure and were no beauties [keinen wuchses und keine schonheiten] although Runkel was rather pretty. They totally lacked the ladylike bearing of the elder sisters, then too, the times had changed, it was no longer the quiet burgerlike life of the 19th century. Russia was involved with the defeats of the Japanese war, the foreboding of the first Russian revolution of 1905 were appearing everywhere, and both girls were almost caught and arrested at student meetings. But before the 1905 revolution broke out came the collapse and the flight [58] to Germany. The girls with the mother lived in Berlin, Wiesbaden, Koln, and then resettled in Warsaw, and married small business people. Klara -Mischa Kahn, and Roberta - Abramovicz. Through the world war I lost largely contact with all relatives on that side of the eastern front, and even more so after my emigration to Bolivia. In the year 1930, during my European vacation, I wanted to visit the relatives in Poland, but I had only two days including travel, so I could only stay in Warsaw for a few hours. Since then Runkel died of a heart weakness caused by smallpox, Then Klara's husband died, and she moved to Paris and Marseille with the only son, Lenka who nourished his mother as a radio mechanic. In 1940 they wanted to come here, but it was already quite impossible to get a visa. So they stayed in [59] Marseille and also surely became victims of the anti-Jewish Petain government."
BIRTH:
1. Date is only an unsubstantiated guess by Kenny Petersen.
SOURCES_MISC:
1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
Abt 1881 - Aft 1940 (~ 60 years)