Family genealogy
The Raabe
It was, once again, a fortunate set of circumstances that allowed me to find an answer to what was a mystery:
Why did Grandfather leave Warsaw under the name Raabe?
I had established through civil status research that my great-grandfather, Yehuda Leizerson, born around 1825, had married Myriem Raabe and that they were the parents of Szlama/Salomon Leizerson or Lejzersohn.
On our way to Warsaw, my nieces, Sarah, Lola, and I made contact with one of the genealogists at the Institute of Jewish Genealogy in Warsaw, located in the Ringuelblum Museum, Noam Silberberg.
It turned out that his own family research had come across Raabe and Leizerson names.
He put us on the trail of our great-grandfather Szlama Leizerson's unsuspected brothers
He confirmed to us that the establishment of state civil records dated back to the 1820s, but many Jewish families continued their community census and postponed the procedures with the Polish civil registry.
Presumably this was the case for them; religious marriage was sufficient. Without a civil marriage, the law stipulated that the mother gave her name to the child.
The couple's first two children were given the surname Raabe/Rabe.
1-Hersch Ber was born in 1841 and died in 1907 in Warsaw'.
2-Gershon Meir was born in 1843 and died in 1912 in Warsaw.
When my grandfather wanted to leave Warsaw in 1911, he had to assume the identity of one of his cousins, Raabe. Why?
That remains a mystery!
Of the 3 brothers, his father, Szlama/Salomon, was the first to die in 1904. He was only 56 years old and his son Herschen was 26 years old.
If my mother hadn't told us that her father had left Warsaw under the name Raabe,
We could have missed out on this branch of the family!
The family of Hersch-Ber Raabe
Hersch-Ber, born in 1841 in Warsaw, married around 1859 to Rebeka-Maria Janover (1841-1891).
He was registered at the civil registry (see JRI Poland) in 1859 by Szocia Raabe, his 62-year-old grandmother, and by a father (his grandfather) who had died just the year before his own marriage. He died in 1907.
They had 7 registered children:
* 1- Moszek-Mauricy Raabe born in (1860-1929 in Vienna);
Moszek-Mauricy was chairman of the board of directors of the Mutuelle des Commerçants and shareholders of the family company, Etablissement Industriel HB Raabe.
He married Zofia From and they apparently had 5 children:
° Léonia (1885-1971) Raabe
° Rebeka-Marja (1892-1966) Raabe
Edward ( 1895-1971) Raabe. He was also a shareholder in his father's company.
° Irena (?-?) Raabe
° Jadwiga (?-?) Raabe
* Bernard Raabe (1864- October 8, 1939 and buried in the Parafi Ewangelicko Reformowane cemetery in Warsaw).
He was also a shareholder in the company Etablissement Industriel HBRaabe.
He married Cecylia Wulff (1865-1938, buried in the same cemetery as her husband); they are therefore buried in the cemetery of the Evangelical Reformed Parish of Warsaw. His wife and daughter Maria Wanda are also buried there.
Apparently the family had converted to the evangelical rite.
They had 3 children:
Maria Wanda (1894 in Warsaw – 1974 in the same cemetery as her parents). Mia thus survived the war in Poland. She married twice: first to Roman Witols Rejs, with whom she had a son, Witold Zbigniew Rejs; this son-in-law of Bernard was also a shareholder in the Raabe family company. Her second husband was Henry Konarek, with whom Maria-Wanda also had a child, Stefan Henryk Konarek.
° Tadeuz-Jan (1896 in Lublin-1975 in Warsaw). It would appear that Tadeuz was also a shareholder in the company founded by his grandfather.
Janina (1905 in Lublin-1966 in Warsaw). Her married name was Wasowiczowa.
° Maria Wanda Raabe (1894 in Warsaw-1974 in the same cemetery as her parents). Maria therefore survived the war in Poland.
She married twice: with
- Roman Witols Rejs with whom she had a child Witold Zbigniew Rejs; this son-in-law of Bernard was also a shareholder in the Raabe family company.
- Her second husband was Henry Konarek, with whom Maria-Wanda also had a child, Stefan Henryk Konarek.
° Tadeuz-Jan Raabe (1896 in Lublin-1975 in Warsaw).
It appears that Tadeuz is also a shareholder in the company founded by his grandfather. No further information is available.
° Janina Raabe (1905 in Lublin-1966 in Warsaw).
Her married name was Wasowiczowa.
* Jacob-Meyer Raabe ( 1869-1938 in Méré, Seine et Oise, near Paris).
In 1911, when Grandfather, already in Paris, wrote to Grandmother to inform her of the progress of their move, he referred to a cousin "Gutmeier" with whom he had lunch: this could well be Jacob-Meyer.
His story is included in his naturalization file submitted in 1926. He was naturalized on May 22, 1929.
Jacob-Meyer was born into a family with some property, a well-to-do family. He was a co-owner of a building on Dzielna Street in Warsaw, a shareholder in an industrial company, and owned a tannery. In France, he lived a life of leisure.
He first came to France in 1910 and stayed until June 1914.
He wrote that he had taken courses at the Museum.
He returned to see his family in Warsaw, but war broke out a few months later, preventing him from going back to Paris. Before leaving, he had rented an apartment on a nine-year lease at 2 Square Delambre in the 14th arrondissement. From Warsaw, he paid the rent throughout the war.
When Warsaw was occupied by the Germans, he took the initiative to transfer his tannery and its 65 employees to Moscow. He wrote that he was in Moscow during the Russian Revolution. What seems strange to me is that he makes no reference to a marriage before 1919; he was 50 years old then!
He first came to France in 1910 and stayed until June 1914.
He wrote that he had taken courses at the "Museum" (?). He was already around forty years old!
He returned to see his family in Warsaw, but war broke out a few months later, preventing him from returning to Paris.
Before leaving, he had rented an apartment with a 9-year lease: 2 square Delambre in the 14th arrondissement.
From Warsaw, he paid the rent throughout the entire war.
When Warsaw was occupied by the Germans, he took the initiative to transfer his tannery and its 65 employees to Moscow.
He writes that he was in Moscow during the Russian Revolution.
What seems strange to me is that there's no mention of a marriage before 1919: he was 50 years old then???
In January 1919, he married Lycia Rachel Rappoport (born in 1892) in Moscow.
His wife was 23 years younger than him.
Their son Constantin-Salomon was born in December 1919 in Riga where his mother had joined her family to give birth.
After repatriating his business to Warsaw, he returned with his family to Paris in 1921, to an apartment on Square Delambre. The couple had a daughter, Maria, born on November 20, 1921.
He bought a small house in Méré in Seine-et-Oise where he lived until his death in 1938 (he was 69 years old). It seems they had another daughter named Jeanne-Germaine.
During the war, his wife and children were investigated, and the information was added to the file for consideration of "denaturalization".
We learn that Constantin was a chemistry student. He must have been involved in resistance activities because he was decorated after the war. At the time, he lived in Montfort Lamaury. He died in 2012 in Jouars-Pontchartrain.
His sister Marie worked in 1942-43 as a bibliographer at the Faculty of Sciences in the department of Dr. Débat. She died in 2015 in the 13th arrondissement of Paris.
We had no knowledge of their existence.
* Vincente Raabe (1871-1927 in Moscow). His marriage to whom is unknown. However, he had a son, Antoni (1915 in Warsaw-1942 in Auschwitz).
* Dawid Raabe (1872-1889)
* Rosa was born in 1874. According to Jacob-Meyer, she was living in Nice in 1926.
*Gastawa born in 1881. According to Jacob-Meyer, she lived at 143 Bd Raspail in 1926.
All this information was gathered either from Jewish-Gen, or from myHeritage and from Jacob's naturalization file provided by the National Archives.
The family of Gershon-Meir Raabe
I found his record on My Heritage and Genie, and his first marriage date in 1864.
He was born in 1843 and therefore married in 1864 to Szyfra Robak, born in 1844. She died in 1875.
They had 3 registered children together:
Shoshana Raabe ( ?-1937)
° Chaya-Dwora Raabe: no information, presumably disappeared in the Holocaust.
° Schmuel-Eliezer Raabe .(?-?) married Golda-Etla Zindeband. They had nearly ten children including
*Chana-Szyfra Raabe (1885-1942) married Meir Roland; they had 3 children:
+ Yitzack Roland (1911-1944); he married Gitel and had Lifa (1940-1944),
+ Gershon Roland (1913-1942) married Mira Lipski, had a daughter Zofia (1938) who lives in Bat Yamn, Israel. She married Amir Tuler (deceased in Israel): two children. Anat Tuler married an unknown Harari (1960 in Holon), 3 children living in Israel (Miri, Naama and Yitzack). Mickael Tuler (1962) married Emmy, they have 3 children (Stav, Yonatan and ?).
+ Henia Roland (1916-1944).
° 3- Schmuel-Eliezer Raabe (?-?) married Golda-Etla Zindeband .
They had nearly ten children, including:
* 1) Chana-Szyfra Raabe (1885-1942) married Meir Roland.
They had 3 children:
+ Yitzack Roland (1911-1944); he married Gitel and had Lifa Roland (1940-1944),
+ Gershon Roland (1913-1942) married Mira Lipski, had a daughter Zofia Roland (1938) who lives in Israel in Bat Yam.
She married Amir Tuler (who died in Israel):
two children
- Anat Tuler , wife of Desconocido Harari (born 1960 in Holon)
3 children living in Israel (Miri, Naama and Yitzack Harari) and
- Mickael Tuler (born 1962) married Emmy, they have 3 children (Stav, Yonatan and ? Tuler)
+ Henia Roland (1916-1944).
* 2) Chaim Raabe (1890-1961 in Tel Aviv), married Feiga; they had 3 children:
- Schlomo Raabe father of Eli Raabe
- Itzack Raabe
- Sarah Raabe married Desconocido Newman; they had 2 children, Shimon and Tzipora Newman (they live in Israel) .
* 3) Justine Raabe (1890-1942) married Jacob Fastag ,
They had 5 children:
- Eva Fastag-Raabe (1917-2021 near Haifa);
- Sara Fastag ( 1920-?) lived in Belgium in Brussels;
- David Fastag (1923-1942); the Rebbe who wrote the tune of "ani ma'amin".
- Gershon Fastag (1926-1942);
- Isaac-Abraham Fastag (1928-1942)
* 4) David Raabe, (1893-1972, in New York). He married Fanny:
A Goldie Raabe girl married to a... Nemeth?
a daughter Elaine Nemeth who became Mrs. Gross. They live in New York.
* 5) Maria Raabe-Zindeband (1898-1934 in Valparaiso, Chile) married Adolfo Lewitt : 2 children:
- A girl who died in Poland before their departure for Chile.
- Genoch Lewitt (1932 in Santiago-2023 in Eilat, Israel);
He married Anna Slavik ; they had two children.
+ Abraham Lewitt (1954 in Santiago, Chile) lives in Alicante, Spain.
I have just made contact with him: to be continued.
+ Itzack Lewitt (1957 in Santiago) lives in Jerusalem.
* 6) Chava Raabe (1900-1944) married a Guelblum.
After the death of his first wife, Gershon Meir remarried, this time to Rikel Mriede.
They had 3 registered children:
° 7) Osnat/Anna Raabe (1878-1944). She was the wife of Yitzack Feferberg.
They had 4 children:
* Benjamin Feferberg (1899-1968 in Israel), he had a son, Moshe Feferberg
* Ester Feferberg married Kohn (1900-1943/44): one daughter, Rajzel Kohn (1927-1944),
* Chayia Feferberg (1903-1974 in Russia), no information
* Sarah Feferberg (1905-1944),
* Rivka Feferberg (1908-1989 in Israel) marries Abrahamer
* Bracha Feferberg (1911-2005) married Gershon Silberberg
(I think the connection with Noam Silberberg, whom I met at the Institute of Jewish Genealogy in Warsaw, lies at this level).
After his death, Gershon Meir remarried Rikel Mriede.
They had 3 registered children:
° Osnat/Anna (1878-1944). She was the wife of Yitzack Feferberg. They had 4 children:
* Benjamin Feferberg (1899-1968 in Israel), he had a son, Moshe.
* Ester Feferberg married Kohn (1900-1943/44): one daughter, Rajzel (1927-1944),
* Chayia Feferberg (1903-1974 in Russia), no information
*Sarah Feferberg (1905-1944),
* Rivka Feferberg (1908-1989 in Israel) married Abrahamer and
* Bracha Feferberg (1911-2005) married Gershon Silberberg (I think the connection with Noam Silberberg, whom I met at the Institute of Jewish Genealogy in Warsaw, is at this point). They had 3 children: David-Zil Silberberg (1941 in Ramat Gan - 1967 Six-Day War, Holon), Ruth Silberberg and Yaron Silberberg (after 1916-?) father of Noam.
Josef Raabe (1880-1944) was married to Zeda Schwartz and they had 3 children: Chana Raabe (1912-1944); Szlomo Raabe (1907-1944); Dwora Raabe (?-1944)
° Chaskiel Raabe , no information, presumably disappeared in the Holocaust.
Feel free to contact me.
Please provide me with the necessary information so that I can contact you.
I am interested in photos, archives, stories of all those from our family who are still unknown.