BUNTMANN in GERMANY

JewishGen records indicate several lines with the family name Buntmann, going back to the Janow/Biels Podlasky and Bialostok, Poland, region, and the Kretinga, Lithuania region. Please note that sometimes the cities are sometimes given as in Poland. Kretinga at that time was under Polish rule until after the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth when it became part of the Russian Empire.

The Kretinga Branch of Buntmann

This Kretinga branch of Buntmann traces back to:August 1816, Chaim, age 33 and was thus born around 1783, and whose father was Iosel (Yosef) Buntman) and his wife Chana (age 35), were living in Kretinga, Lithuania, along the Black Sea.

YOSEF ben ? v’ CHANA ? –> CHAIM ben Yosef and his wife Chana–>

Chaim and Chana had two (known) sons:

• Yitzchak (Isaac). Yitzchak (Isaac), born in Kretinga, m. Fania Josephs, They had six children. Continue below with Yitzcak and Fania and their children.
• Movsha (Moshe) Buntman. In 1888, Moshe was. a widower age 57 (so he was born appx. 1832), from Kretinga, m. Tova Norman, a widow from Liepaja, age 36. They married in Liepaja. Below, the year is 1888. This is the branch of my immediate ancestry. Continue with Moshe Buntman’s family below.

Chaim Buntmann Family Tree

Yitchak ben Chaim

YOSEF ben ? –> CHAIM ben Yosef –> YITZCHAK ben CHAIM

Yitzchak ben Chaim

Yitzchak (Isaac) m. Fania (?) in 1930 and they had eight children:

• HYMAN immigrated to the USA and settled in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Click HERE to continue.
• ESTHER immigrated to the USA and settled in New Castle, PA. Click HERE to continue.
• REBECCA immigrated to the USA and settled in New Castle, PA. Click HERE to continue.
• FANNY immigrated to the USA and settled in New Castle, PA Click HERE to continue.
• JOSEPH b.1832 Klaipėda, (Memil), Prussia. On Feb. 22, 1886, Joseph Buntmann, who had left from Hamburg, Germany, sailing on the ship Australia, arrived at Ellis Island, heading for Illinois. He settled in Marinette, Wisconsin. Click HERE to continue Joseph Buntman.
• MENDEL ARON b. 1845 Russia He immigrated to the USA and settled in New Castle, PA Click HERE to continue Mendel Aron Buntman.
• CHANA SARAH (Anna Sarah) b. Russia immigrated to the USA and settled in New Castle, PA. Click HERE to continue.
• MEIR MOSHE b. Nov. 15, 1855 Kretinga. Meir Moshe married LENA (Helen). Moshe and Lena immigrated to the United Kingdom (Scotland then Ireland, then Wales), where their five children were born.

MEIR MOSHE ben CHAIM m. LENA. NEXT GENs: Their children were:

• PHILIP b. Dec. 26,1874 Edinburgh Scotland
• ISAAC b. Nov. 1, 1879 Belfast, Ireland
• JOSEPH b. 1882 Cardiff, Wales. Joseph m. Rebecca Forman. From Wales, they emigrated to the United States. Click HERE to continue the lives of Joseph and Rebecca in the USA.
• DORA b. 1884 Cardiff, Wales
• DAVID TANCH b. 1889 Cardiff, Wales

Numerous families of Buntmanns were still living in Bialystock, Poland, over the border south of Lithuania, as well, sadly, at the time of the murderous Shoah.

Moshe (ben Chaim) Buntmann Family Tree

YOSEF ben ? –> CHAIM ben Yosef –> MOSHE ben Chaim

Moshe ben Chaim

Our known family tree on my maternal great-grandparents’ side begins with Moshe Buntmann who married thrice: his first wife, name unknown, was deceased. His second wife, Rala (Regina), died of typhus in 1887. He married again the following year, to a widower named Taube Norman; Moshe died the following year, leaving her a widower once more. The children from the first marriage are:

• HANNAH SARAH Hannah Sarah Buntmann m. Moshe/Maurice Lavin, and they emigrated to the United States, and settled in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Click HERE to continue with the life and descendants of Hanna nee Buntman in the United States.
• GERSHON b. 1858 Continue below for the life of Gershon Buntmann.
• RIVKA (YETTA) b. 1859. She m. Boruch Brand, in Latvia. Her husband Boruch d. 1882in Mitav, Jelgava, Latvia . No further information about Rivkka (Yetta).
• RACHEL b. 1861 She became known as Rose, or Raelle. She m. Barnett Rendelman; they settled in the Mile End Town, United Kingdom, then Philadelphia, PA. Click HERE to continue with the life and descendants of Rivka Rendelman in the United States.
• TAUBE (TILLIE) b. 1865. She m. Chaim Uritsky and they lived in Germany until 1907, when they immigrated to Philadelphia, PA. Click HERE to continue with the life and descendants of Taube in the United States.

We believe the children from Moshe‘s second marriage to be:

• MINNA (MINA) b. 1878 Minna emigrated and arrived in the United States in 1890 or 1892. She settled in Philadelphia. Click HERE to continue with Minna Buntman’s life in the United States.
• ALBERT b. 1882. He settled in New York City. Click HERE to continue with Albert Buntman’s life in the United States. .

YOSEF ben ? –> CHAIM ben Yosef –> MOSHE ben Chaim –> GERSHON ben Moshe v’Rala

GERSHON and Sarah nee Schnick met in the resort town of Palanga, in western Lithuania, then part of Russia, and on the Baltic Sea. (But it is possible the Buntmanns also had roots also in Berditchev.). We have no information about Sarah’s background or parentage. They married around 1882.

In the summers, Sarah spent the summers in the spa town of Bad Kissingen

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Gershon and Sarah, like many of the amber factory’s Jewish workers who originated in Polanga, Lithuania. soon emigrated to Koenigsburg, as there was the amber factory, the Konigfliche Bernsteinwerke, and a train from St. Petersburg to Berlin, likely passing through Koengbsberg.

*Historical note: Koenigsburg was, in 1901, part of East Prussia which, in 1871, became part of the Deutches Reich, or the "German Empire". Nowadays called Kaliningrad, Koenigsburg was bordered on the north by the Baltic Sea, (at that time Mermel-land), Lithuania on the east, and Poland to the south.

Gershon and Sarah lived at 3 Victorie St., Koenigsburg.*

Their children were:

• BENNO (b. 1883 or 84); born in Koenigsburg. 1898: Benno emigrated to the United Kingdom and from there, likely to Cape Town, South Africa. Click HERE to follow Benno in South Africa.
• twin: FRIEDMAN (FRANK) b. Dec. 29, 1884 in Koenigsburg. In 1901, Rosenbaum Bank records indicate that Laser and Friedman purchased tickets for ship transit to Philadelphia on June 28, 1900 and arrived in 1901 on the vessel Westerland. LASER (Louis), 16 years of age, and FRIEDMAN (Frank), 15, traveled together and arrived at the Port of Philadelphia June 23, 1901, sailing from Liverpool, England on the vessel Westernland, the ship manifest indicated they were (“Hebrew”.  They would be staying with their cousin, Charles M. Lavin in Philadelphia, and they were to be met at the port by their Aunt, Mrs. Rendelman. That is, Edith Rendelman was the daughter of GERSHON’s sister RACHEL BUNTING, who had married BARNETT RENDELMAN.) On June 13, 1905, Friedman returned to Germany. Friedman, now called Frank, m. Bertha nee Borowski (b. 1892) and their daughter was Gisela (b. 1931). Friedman was living either in Guttstadt, Konigsberg, during WWII and his return to Germany also seems to have had a tragic side as Frank and his daughter Gisela were both subsequently murdered in the Shoah in 1942, having been deported with a transport from Frankfurt a. Main – Berlin to Raasiku, on  24/09/1942 or 26/09/1942.
• twin: ABRAHAM MICHAL (MISH) (Dec. 29, 1884 – 1942) born in Koenigsburg. MICHAEL had studied in Germany to be a salesman, and then in Jan. 1905 arrived in NYC on his way to Philadelphia (via NYC) to live with  uncle Charles Lavin, and to apprentice at the Lavin Shoppes furniture store. He remained for two years, then returned to Germany. MISH m. LUISA ANA BONEREWITZ; their children were HERMANN (1927 – 2002) and EVA DORIS (b. 1929). During WWII Mich and his family were living in Konigsburg when his return to Germany from the U.S. took on a tragic element, as he, being Jewish, was arrested in his home. deported to Theresienstadt and murdered in the Shoah in 1942. NEXT GENs: Hermann and Eva experienced miraculous stories of survival, having as children been arrested by the Gestapo and subsequently separated from their parents during the Red Army’s fiery assault on Berlin in March/April 1945, and later reunited with their mother, Luisa. NEXT GENs: See below.
• LASER (Louis) (Jan. 4, 1888. Born in Polanga. Rosenbaum Bank records indicate that Laser and Friedman purchased tickets for ship transit to Philadelphia on June 28, 1900 and arrived in 1901 on the vessel Westerland. Laser (Louis), 16 years of age, and Friedman (Frank), 15, traveled together and arrived at the Port of Philadelphia June 23, 1901, sailing from Liverpool, England non the vessel Westernland, the ship manifest indicated they were (“Hebrew”.  They were met at the port by their aunt, Mrs. Rendelman (Gershon’s sister Rachel nee Buntman/Bunting, who married Barnett (Barney) Rendelman, and would be staying with their cousin, Charles M. Lavin at 310 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, nephew through Gershon’s other sister Hanna nee Buntman Lavin. While Friedman (Frank) returned to Germany, Laser remained living in the U.S.A. Click HERE to learn more about Laser, my grandfather, and his life and family and descendants.
• ARON ORKA b. Sept. 19, 1890 On September 9, 1909, Aron Buntman. age 19, arrived in the United States via Ellis Island traveling on the Deutschland, departed from Hamburg, Germany.  Click HERE to learn more about Aron Orka’s life in the United States.
• SOLOMON (Sälly) (1888-1976), Sälly enlisted in the Germany military. See image, below. Ironically, his brother Laser was in active duty on the Allied Forces side in WWI. Afterward, Solly became a dentist and married LIZZI SCHNEEBERG in Berlin, on March 31, 1927.  He got out of Germany before WWII; he (and possibly Lizzi) emigrated to Hertzelia, Israel, which was a newly founded moshav, and subsequently lived in Europe. In the 1950s he immigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. (We have lost track of Lizzi; she did not accompany him ito the USA.) Click HERE to learn more about Solly’s life and descendants in the United States.
• EUGEN (1882-1882?), Died an infant.
• IDA (June 28, 1892 – 1942), Ida m. Solly Weinstein; their children were MANJA (Dec. 29, 1994 – 1925) and RUTH (b. 1932). They lived in Konigsburg and moved to Berlin. (Ida and Solly possibly divorced.) Ida and the two daughters traveled through Switzerland to France and in July 193, with the Nazis closing in, appealed to Switzerland for a visa, but was denied; she and her daughters were tragically were deported first to the Drancy Interment and Transit Camp and then to the Nazi death camp Auschwitz,  on July 31, 1942, where all three were murdered.  Learn about Manja. Learn about Ruth.
• MAX (Herman ?) (Hebrew name unknown b. 8 Jan. 1900; died an infant.

Sälly served in the German military in 1916, ironically not long before his brother Laser was enlisted in the US Navy and serving in France and England to support the Allied Powers in Europe.

Letters from Gershon to Laser, who was then living in Philadelphia, written from 1919 to as late as July 1934 are in our possession, handed down to me through my mother. From these many letters we have learned much about the rich family history that spanned continents. See an example of what we learned, below.

The map below shows where the Gershon and Sarah Buntmann and Mish and Louise lived in over a period of decades as the Nazis forced Jews to move and then move again, into smaller and smaller less desirable quarters. Courtesy of Frank Raubach for doing this for me.

Sarah died of illness, late 1934, just after President Paul von Hindenburg died and Adolf Hitler declared himself Führer of Germany, becoming head of state as well as Chancellor. August, 1934 . She died in the Jewish Old People’s Home, in Regentenstraße 26/28, which was next door to the Synagogue. She was buried in the Synagogue cemetery.

*Historical note: The roundup of the Jews began in 1938, two years after the photo taken above of four friends in the Tiergarten, and kristalnacht, the night of broken glass, took place on November 8 and 9, 1938.  On November 9th 1938 the residents of the beautiful new Jewish Old People's Home were expelled from the beautiful new Jewish old people’s home. which was then confiscated by the Nazis. 

The notorious summer Olympics of 1936 took place in Berlin.

Without Sarah, and with the Nazi noose tightening around Jews and their lives, Gershon subsequently moved to Berlin, to the Bavarian Quarter. The infamous “Nuremberg Race Laws” that excluded Jews from German citizenship having been declared.

On Jan. 29, 1938, Gershon died at the Jewish Hospital, Regensburger strasse 2, Berlin. .

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NEXT GENs:

HERMANN m. ANNELIESE WüLFRATH.

EVA BUNTMAN m. FRANZ RAUBACH.