Breisach is the birth town of my great-grandfather Siegfried Geismar and our Geismar ancestors, as well as Sigfried’s mother Marie Günzburger’s family. The familes were two of the five founding Jewish families of Breisach in the 1600s. One of the only reminders of the former Jewish community is The Blue House (Blau Hause) which, until 1940 was a former Jewish school, synagogue and community center. Dr. Christiane Walesch-Schneller, who I contacted in advance of our visit, was the leader of a group behind the preservation of the historic house.
The Blue House is now used as a Jewish Archive and German Jewish history center. Every Friday night they welcome recent refugees to gather, cook together and establish a community. We happened to visit Breisach on a Friday, but it was still Ramadan, so the refugees weren’t cooking that night. A few Christian families did come through and we had the chance to talk them. One was a journalist from Serbia – he had been jailed four times in Serbia because of his journalism work. He, with his wife and daughter had been in Germany a little over a year. He told us about their journey to safety in Germany. We also met a man from Afghanistan who was in Germany by himself. His wife had been killed by the Taliban, and his sister and daughter were taken. If he had remained in Afganistan, he would have been forced to join the Taliban and had no choice but to escape. The third family had the most difficult journey and it took them months to finally arrive in Germany.
Breisach is a charming mountain town situated along the Rhine in Baden. We drove up a hill to the beautiful Kapuzinergarten hotel where we were met Christiane for dinner and upon her recommendation, stayed the night. The hotel had gorgeous views overlooking all of Breisach, it was quite a gem.
We spent the day Saturday with Christiane touring Breisach and places of interest to our family. My great grandfather Siegfried had left Breisach in XXXX for XX and then landed in Offenburg in 1909 where he raised his family. Because he had left Breisach early on, The Blue House didn’t have quite as much information on Siegfried as some of the other Geismars. Another woman from the Blue House, Sybille took us to visit the “new” cemetery where we saw many Geismar and Guenzburger names including our great great grandparents Israel Geismar and Marie Guenzburger Geismar, and Siegfried’s brother Hermann. Sybille had a map with her so we could find easily find our family’s tombstones. To get to the cemetery we walked down a long grass path to a hidden area behind a locked gate and Sybille handed my mother the key to enter. I’ve always been interested in exploring old cemeteries as I like to imagine the stories behind the lives once lived. This cemetary was probably one of the nicest that I’ve been to and I couldn’t believe was my family. The tombstones were huge. We could see how most of the stones had been repaired after they were destroyed during the war.
Christiane took us to Mackenheim, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Baden area across the Rhine in Alsace, France. Like many other Jewish cemeteries, it was destroyed during the Nazi era – plus, because it was on soft land (the land reserved for Jews) – the broken pieces of stone had sunk into the ground. About 20 years ago Gunter Boll had discovered the cemetery with its history and took the initiative to dig up the stones, restore them and return them to their original home. The gravestones in the cemetery date back to the 1600s.
Christiane pointed out the stone for Joseph Guenzburger – our 4th or 5th great grandfather. He was a well respected, important and wealthy man in the community of Breisach. It was evidenced by the size and sentiment engraved on the stone. Joseph used his wealth for the protection of the Jews in the town who could not afford protection of their own, which at that time was necessary to have. All of his titles (Dr., president of the Jewish community, etc.) and good deeds are listed in Hebrew on his tombstone.
Back at the Blue House, we interviewed Christiane for the documentary. She described for us the chain of events on the day the Baden Jews were deported. Robert Wagner the Gauleiter of Baden (top Nazi official), wanted his region to be the first in Germany to be cleansed of Jews. Hitler gave him 10 years to get rid of the Jews and he did it in one. On the fateful morning of October 22nd, 1940, on Sukkot, they sent 2 guards (Nazi, SS or other) to stand guard inside and outside of every Jewish household, gave them one hour to pack a suitcase and ordered them to only take 100 Reichmark each, and escorted them to the train station. It was planned for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, so that most families would be at home and gathered together.
Walking down the entranceway of the The Blue House we were welcomed by the names of many of our ancestors who once called Breisach home, Geismar, Guenzburger, Weil and Bloch.
Christiane was just as appreciative of our interest her work and in the work of the Blue House as we were grateful for her effort in the preservation of the memory of the Jewish communities in the region. We really enjoyed meeting her, learning from her and establishing a new friendship that we know will last beyond this trip.
rootstravel.blog 
Andrea! I had no idea you had a blog! I’m going to Germany in 2 weeks for Stolpersteine installations in Bruchsal for my Geismar Great Grandfather’s brother’s family. We will be meeting with Dr. Christina when we visit Breisach. So excited. Looks like you had a wonderful time. I’ll be in touch again soon.
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I haven’t publicized my blog, at all – it was really mostly a “journal” of sorts. I’m excited that you are going to the Baden area/Breisach and that you will meet Christiana (and I’m sure you will see the Blau Haus) – Christiana and all the people who work there are wonderful. Please let me know if you have any questions, at all!
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Hi Andrea,
I am also a descendant of the Geismar’s from Breisach. AlthoughI think it is another branch. I would be interested in connecting to ask you some questions.
Best,
Leslie Schaffel
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Hi Leslie – I’m so sorry that I am somehow just seeing your message now – at least I don’t remember responding! I would love to connect and to help answer any questions that you might have! Here is my email: abeecher@mac.com. Andrea
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understand a Mr. Cyril Weil from Tel Aviv did research on Geismar families of Breisach. Andre Convers, Riec sur Belon – France
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I met a Lothar Geismar who originated from Breisach many years ago. He fled to Portugal. Anybody know him ?
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Hello Ralph –
I didn’t know Lothar Geismar personally (and I assume my family didn’t either), but I can see that he is a distant cousin. I found an interesting (and sad) history on Lothar’s family. If you would like to see it I can email it to you (too long to post here)… please let me know!
-andrea
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Hello, yes I met Lothar Geismar long time ago. He was living in Portugal. He is a cousin of mine.
Best regards,
Anne Blozheimer (my grand parents Egon and Recha and my father Frederic are coming from Breisach)
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Hello Anne –
Have you been to Breisach? When did you family leave Breisach? Was their name Blozheimer?
Best,
Andrea
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As a result of my wife’s post on Facebook, I became aware of this Blog. My stepmother, Alma Breisacher, only child of Julius Breisacher left Breisach in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s for England and became an au pare in Sheffield, England for eventually emigrating to the states and initially settling in St. Paul, Mn. My father, a widower was introduced to her by Max and Frieda Model, formerly of Breisach and her cousins who lived a few blocks away from us in upper Manhattan in NYC,
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Hello Irving –
Thanks for writing and I’m glad you found the blog. Through our recent trips (we returned last year again) we’ve been learning more and more of the history of the Jews of Breisach and the Baden area… it’s an interesting journey. That’s great that your stepmother Alma Breisacher got out in time… later in 1940 everyone was deported. One of my great aunts also made it to England around the same time and became a domestic worker, she is now over 107 years old. I can see Alma is a distant cousin, both through blood and marriage! Are you still in the NY area?
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We still live in NYC. My sister lives in White Plains. As was indicated in the Facebook post, I always recalled my mother’s mention of Hugo Geismar. I’ll assume that she may have been related to him. Frieda Model’s brother, David H. Blum had written a book about “Die Juden von Breisach”, but of an earlier era. An English translation of the book is available on Amazon.
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I’m sorry about the delay in getting back to you – your message was somehow lost! I think I have the book “Die Juden von Breisach” although I struggled through it because it was in German. I’ll have to find the English version. Thanks for the heads up on the book. I also live in NYC. Have you heard the name Jenny Breisacher? She was married to my great uncle Hermann Geismar. The names Max and Frieda Model are also familiar to me from the Blue House in Breisach. Have you been there?
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I am a cultural anthropologist researching Briesach. If I am reading correctly, the town of Briesach was founded by Jewish families? It was a Jewish town of Austria? I am hoping that you can clarify this. It is very important for my research. Thank you. Dr. Susan Kirwan, professor of cultural anthropology at Macomb Community College, Warren MI, USA’.
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Hi – from what I understood from my visit to Breisach and from books and historical papers that I’ve read is that there were three Jewish families that helped found the Jewish community in the town, not the town itself. We’ve seen records back to the 17th century. Breisach is in SW Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemburg. I will try to confirm.
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Hello,
By coincidence I have found today your blog. Quite nice you visited Breisach and the Blue Haus. This is also the home town of many of my ancestors Günzburger, Geismar, Wormser, Blum,…. and in that area Levy, Epstein, Burger, Mayer, Zivi, Bloch, Weil, Kahn.
If you wish to know more about all our families, buy the book LEGACY, written by Werner Frank. This is a fantastic book and you will learn more about the origins of our common ancestors.
Looking forward to reading you.
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Hello Francois,
Thank you for your note. I’m glad that you came across the blog and I’m assuming that we must be related as we have Gunzburger, Geismar, Bloch and Weil in our family, as well. And I also assume that you have been to Breisach and have visited the Blaues Haus? Thank you for the recommendation of Werner Frank’s book Legacy – I read through it while I was in Breisach, it but I should get it. I do have his book The Curse of Gurs and I spoke with him many (maybe 20??) years ago when I guess he was putting his book/tree together. Are you connected with the folks at Blaues Haus? Warm regards, Andrea
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Hi Andrea,
I am very much connected with Christiane and the team in Breisach, since I started to dig into my family roots.I meet them about once a year, and I’ll be there again early May.
By coincidence, I worked in Freiburg between 2004 and 2007. On that occasion I found a book in a bookstore “Den Opfer ihre Namen zurückgeben” (= “to give back their names to the victims”) which was about all the stolperstein (stumbling stones) layed down in the city of Freiburg, with many names of relatives who perished during the Shoah. But this allowed me to liaise back with second cousins of my grand mother who left Freiburg in 1938 to France and the USA in 1945. They are descendants of the Günzburger of Ihringen (formerly Breisach in 1793). Their story is extremely well written in the book of Leslie Maitland, daughter of Janine Günzburger-Maitland “Crossing the borders of time – a true story of war, exil, and love reclaimed”. Wonderfull book. Leslie lives in Washington DC.
Regarding Werner Frank, I could meet him in Breisach for a Zivi family gathering, which is another family I share with him (the Zivi and Zivy originated from Müllheim around in 1650, at the same time as the Mayer, or the Bloch in Sulzburg,…… Quite amazing how our families are interlinked in that area, between the villages of Breisach, Ihringen, Emmendingen, Eichstetten, Kippenheim, Schmieheim, Müllheim, Sulzburg.
Have you a full genealogy tree of the Geismar ? I woudl be glad to read it.
Kind regards
François Blum
Lyon – France
Tel : + 33 6 77 07 72 95
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That’s wonderful that you meet Christiane and the BH team regularly, they are special people. My mother and grandparents have Stolpersteine in Freiburg (where they were deported from) but they were just laid over the past few years. That’s amazing that you came across the book by chance while you were living there and found your family names. There was a Blum who wrote an extensive profile on Breisach, are you by chance related?
I have read the book by Leslie Maitland, it was great, and thanks for the reminder, I should read it again now that I know more. I think that Guenzburger family in the book is related to a cousin of my grandmother who had married a Guenzbuirger – but I also have Guenzburger in my direct family, too (my maternal great great grandmother was a Guenzburger. There is another book on the Guenzburger that that Christianne had showed me (you’ve probably seen it), but I can’t remember the name. I also recommend the book The Unwanted by Michael Dobbs (a former Washington Post editor) if you haven’t read it yet, it’s excellent – great perspective on the Baden area during WWII. Have you by chance been on any of the Zoom meetings with the Blaues Haus on October 20th various years? Maybe we’ve met? Here is my regular email: abeecher@mac.com. We have an extensive family tree that I can share with you! The blog is a little all over the place – I need to get in a better sequence…. hope to be in touch via email or to chat!
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Hello, Just found your blog. We are cousins to the Blum who wrote on Breisach (Hans)- through the Weil family of Emmindingen (w. Mayer of Muelheim). Also in NY and I know Irv Weiler- also knew Frieda Modell once. I have a YouTube channel about German Jewish Shuls in NYC.
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Hello! Nice to hear from you. We just actually returned from Germany/Breisach a few weeks ago where we were lucky enough to meet many descendants of the former Jewish community over there. I would love to check out your YouTube channel and maybe connect offline, we likely know many of the same people! Best, Andrea
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Welcome back. The name of the channel is “breuers 2gether”. (That is also my gmail address without a space.)
M. James Meyer Candidate, Master of Jewish Studies @ Touro GSJS German-Jewish History Online (breuers 2gether)
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Just found this. We are cousins to Hans Blum through the Weil’s of Emmindingen and we knew Frieda as well. I have a YouTube channel about German Jewish Shuls in NYC. Best!
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Hello Cousin. I am another Geismar, from the branch that left Breisach and relocated to Grussenheim. The last home they occupied in Grussenheim still stands, on a street called Rue des Juifs, street of the Jews. My mother’s maiden name was Leona Geismar, and she was born in the family home in GEISMAR, beside the levee south of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her father, Leon, and uncle, Louis, had emigrated from Grussenheim when Alsace was German, to start and operate a general dry goods store in what had been called New River Landing. Uncle Louis was a partner with another Jew from Alsace named Picard. Apparently my grandfather’s parents didn’t want him to be subject to compulsory service in the German army, and so sent him to Louisiana in 1911 to work for Uncle Louis. He was followed by his brother Alfred, who settled in New Orleans. The original village of Geismar stands in an industrial area now, beside the levee. There are not traces of any family there, not the homes, nor the store, aside from the place name. Much of this is documented in a work by the late Werner Frank, whose dream was to unite the genealogy of the Breisach Geismars with the Alsatian Geismars: “Legacy, The Saga of a German-Jewish Family Across Time and Circumstance” published 2003 by the Avotaynu Foundation of Bergenfield, N.J., USA. Werner connects our branch of the Geismars to Yehuda Avraham Schlomo Geismar, born around 1636 in Breisach, son of Pinchas David ben Schlomo Geismar, and brother of Aaron, Jakob and Gelle (Spirer). He died Nov. 16, 1696, in Grussenheim, and was buried in Mackenheim, having established the Alsatian branch that remained in Grussenheim until the 20th century. The book quotes conjecture that Yeuda Avraham emigrated from Breisach to the Strohinsel, an island in Rhine at Alt Breisach, and then some time later, relocating to Grussenheim. It also suggests connection with two Jewish families who left Hof-Geismar (in Hesse) in the 17th century. It also cites archival documents connecting Geismars in Breisach with A Simon “Gintzburger.” in February 1688. You may know all of this, but I couldn’t help myself.
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Hello Michael,
Late Werner L. Frank, did not he passed away, are you sure ? Andre Convers – Lorient, France andreconvers@gmail.com
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I have the 1851 census of Jewish families in Grussenheim, Alsace including Geismar, if interested I can mail it, need your an e mail address, can not attached PDF file. Regards. Andre Convers, Lorient, France – andreconvers@gmail.com
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