Kleinstrass

 

To understand how to read the family listings, click HERE.


   Arend Jacob & Fele Saloman (Arend Jacob is first mentioned in a list from 1704)

  1. •   Abraham Arend (before 1704 - )

  2. •   Ernzich (before 1704 - )

  3. •   Bela (before 1704 - )

  4. •   Leiffmann Arend (after 1704- ) & Gelle/Elle/Gellechen LEVI

       Gelle Levi is descended from the BASSEVI family, for which records go back to 1475.  The records are a bit unclear on this, but it looks like she was the daughter of Moses LEVI. See the BASSEVI page.

  1. ‣   Abraham Leiffmann (1763 - 8 September 1811).  Never married.

  2. ‣   Keile (1773 - 29 December 1829)

  3. ‣   UNNAMED

  4. ‣   UNNAMED

  5. ‣   Aron (1754 - 9 April 1816)  This may be the same Aron as in the next line. Some records indicate two people, others don’t.

  6. ‣   Aron Leifmann KLEINSTRASS (1758, Steinheim - 24 November 1834) & Bette (Beile) HEINEMANN (1764 - 26 Jan 1839)

               Aron Leifmann took the name Kleinstrass in 1808.  He had two sons who survived into adulthood (and two who didn’t). Of the two who did survive, Levi stayed in Steinheim and is the ancestor of the Steinheim branch of the Kleinstrass family; Selig went to the nearby town of Bredenborn and is the ancestor of the Bredenborn branch. Bette Heinemann was the daughter of Israel Heinemann and Fratgen Meyer from the town of Lügde close to Bad Pyrmont.

           The Steinheim branch of the family:

  1. -   Levi KLEINSTRASS (7 October 1801, Steinheim - 13 November 1879, Steinheim ) & Sara GOLDSCHMIED (29 January 1811, Lipperode - 7 June 1876, Steinheim)

•   Hanna KLEINSTRASS (5 April 1837, Steinheim - 8 December 1837)

•   Elle KLEINSTRASS (4 October 1838, Steinheim - )

•   Aron KLEINSTRASS (1 January 1841, Steinheim - 6 July 1924, Steinheim ) & Minna KATZ (3 May 1844, Albaxen - 12 Apr 1904 or 1907, Steinheim or Höxter)

           Aron built up the family business, specializing in raising sheep.

  1. ‣   Johanna KLEINSTRASS (27 September 1871, Steinheim - 7 December 1942, Warsaw) & Wolff EISENSTEIN (20 August 1869, Steinheim - 29 February 1904, Steinheim)

  2. -   Irma EISENSTEIN (15 May 1899 - approx 1942, Warsaw)

  3. -   Wilhelmine EISENSTEIN (18 April 1904, Steinheim - August 1971, Wellington, New Zealand) & Rudolf SCHNELLENBERG (2 July 1903, Nieheim - July 1973, Wellington, New Zealand)

  4. •   John SCHNELLENBERG (1935, Berlin -) & Sonia MEADOW (1937 -)

  5. ‣   David Michael SCHNELLENBERG (1963 - ) & Sarah DOHRN (1959 - )

        •   Benyamin SCHNELLENBERG

        •   Yoni SCHNELLENBERG

        •   Elisha SCHNELLENBERG

  1. ‣   Debra Ann SCHNELLENBERG (1961 - ) & Haydn LODGE

        •   Hannah Rachel LODGE-SCHNELLENBERG

  1. -   Paula EISENSTEIN (11 June 1897, Steinheim - 1964, Bethesda, MD, USA) & Sally KLEINSTRASS ( - 1924)

  2. •   Ursel KLEINSTRASS (1922 - ) & Meyer DOLINSKY (11 August 1914 - 25 March 1969)

  3. ‣   Steven DOLINSKY (1947 - ) & Marsha PHILLIPS (1952 - )

        •   Christopher Michael DOLINSKY (1977 - )

        •   David Matthew DOLINSKY (1980 - )

  1. ‣   Robert David DOLINSKY (1951 - ) & Beth-Ellen KERPELMAN (1955 - )

        •   Melissa Bonnie DOLINSKY (1982 - )

  1. ‣   Deborah Joan DOLINSKY (1956 - ) & Harry SEGAL (1955 - )

        •   Mollie Abigail SEGAL (1988 - )

        •   Zachary Arthur Paul SEGAL (1992 - )

  1. ‣   Sally KLEINSTRASS (1873, Steinheim - 22 March 1874, Steinheim)

  2. ‣   Paula KLEINSTRASS (1875, Steinheim - approx 1975, Bolivia)

  3. ‣   Sophie KLEINSTRASS (15 November 1876, Steinheim -?, Bolivia )

  4. ‣   Bertha KLEINSTRASS (13 May 1878, Steinheim - 6 April 1938, Steinheim) & Julius EMMERICH (31 October 1873, Steinheim - 17 June 1933)

        See the photograph from their 25th wedding anniversary, below.

  1. -   Hermann EMMERICH (3 July 1905, Steinheim - 30 April 1943, Auschwitz) & Liesel HOCHHEIMER (23 January 1914, Buer - 26 February 1943, Auchwitz)

  2. •   Juliane EMMERICH (28 March 1936, Steinheim - 26 February 1943, Auschwitz)

  3. •   Hanna Ruth EMMERICH (2 August 1938, Maartensdijk, Holland - 26 February 1943, Auschwitz)

  4. -   Walter EMMERICH (25 October 1910, Steinheim - 12 November 1933, Steinheim)

  5. ‣   Levy KLEINSTRASS (20 February 1880, Steinheim - 2 March 1882, Steinheim)

  6. ‣   Frieda KLEINSTRASS (17 October 1886, Steinheim - ?, Bolivia ) & Sally GOTTLIEB (18 August 1887, Grebenau - ?, Bolivia)

  7. -   Margot GOTTLIEB (5 January 1923, Recklingshausen - ?, Miami)

  8. ‣   Hedwig KLEINSTRASS (9 September 1883, Steinheim - 14 May 1956, La Paz, Bolivia) & Adolf GOTTSCHALCK (15 January 1883, Sansted - 18 June 1965, La Paz, Bolivia)

  9. -   Fritz GOTTSCHALCK (29 May 1920, Sandsted - ) & Karla ROSENSTEIN (4 October 1931, Breslau - )

  10. •   Marion GOTTSCHALCK (1949 - ) & Jonny GELERNTER (1947 - )

  11. ‣   Lizzie GELERNTER (1975 - )

  12. ‣   Debbie GELERNTER (1977 - )

  13. ‣   Peggy GELERNTER (1982 - )

  14. •   Miguel GOTTSCHALCK (1950 - ) & Eliana DEL CASTILLO (1949 - )

  15. ‣   Karen GOTTSCHALCK (1976 - )

  16. ‣   Daniel GOTTSCHALCK (1980 - )

  17. ‣   Nicole GOTTSCHALCK (1982 - )

  18. ‣   Lina KLEINSTRASS (7 December 1881, Steinheim - about 1943) & BLOCH

•   Betty KLEINSTRASS (14 June 1843, Steinheim - 27 December 1870) & Nachmann BLOCK

•   Heinemann KLEINSTRASS (15 August 1845, Steinheim - 20 Feb 1877 or ~1930) & Julie KATZ (20 August 1853, Albaxen - 12 August 1942, Theresienstadt)

  1. ‣   Sally KLEINSTRASS ( - 1924) & Paula EISENSTEIN (11 June 1897, Steinheim - 1964, Bethesda, MD, USA)

For the children of Sally Kleinstrass and Paula Eisenstein, see “Paula Eisenstein and Sally Kleinstrass,” above.  They were cousins, so they are on this page twice.

  1. ‣   Sofie KLEINSTRASS & Hermann MENDELSOHN

  2. -   Herzl KLEINSTRASS (1806 - 18 August 1810)

  3. -   Rachel KLEINSTRASS (2 February 1809 - 17 January 1864)

   The Bredenborn branch of the family:

  1. -   Selig KLEINSTRASS (22 March 1811, Steinheim - 7 January 1894, Bredenborn) & Rachel (Rika) HOCHHEIMER (Nov. 27, 1812 or 1816, Steinheim - 30 May 1878, Bredenborn)

        Rachel HOCHHEIMER came from another Steinheim family.  More about the HOCHHEIMER family can be found HERE.

•   Betty KLEINSTRASS (12 February 1842, Bredenborn - 22 August 1849, Bredenborn)

•   Abraham KLEINSTRASS (22 May 1844, Bredenborn - 30 November 1893, Bredenborn) & Helena (Lenchen) ROSENSTERN (11 December 1848, Fürstenau - 15 January 1911, Bredenborn)     For more about the ROSENSTERN family, click HERE.

  1. ‣   Minna KLEINSTRASS (25 February 1878 - app 1942-43, Zamosc concentration camp) & Max ROSENBAUM (28 August 1865, Udorf - 12 March 1929)

  2. -   Albert ROSENBAUM (18 January 1908, Udorf - 1975, Tel Aviv) & Martha NATHAN (7 December 1907 - 1985, Tel Aviv)

  3. •   Micha ROSENBAUM (1935, Ramat Gan, Israel - ) & Tamar PICK (1939, Tel Aviv - )

  4. ‣   Roni ROSENBAUM (1969 - )

  5. ‣   Shirit ROSENBAUM (1971 - ) & Eyal LEVY (both now LEVY-ROSENBAUM)

        •   Timna LEVY-ROSENBAUM (2004 - )

        •   Yahel LEVY-ROSENBAUM (2006 - )

        •   Eshel LEVY-ROSENBAUM (2011 - )

  1. -   Hilde ROSENBAUM (3 May 1906, Udorf - approx 1980, New York, NY)

  2. -   Ernst ROSENBAUM (29 September 1911, Udorf - 15 November 1938, Buchenwald)  Like the majority of Jewish men in Germany, Ernst Rosenbaum was arrested  and sent to a concentration camp in the days following Kristallnacht (the pogrom against the Jews of Germany on November 9, 1938).  Most men were sent home after a couple of months.  Ernst, however, did not survive; he was murdered at Buchenwald a few days after getting there. For more about Kristallnacht, see the introduction to THIS page.

  3. ‣   Karl Nathan KLEINSTRASS (25 May 1879, Bredenborn - 1941, Bredenborn)

  4. ‣   Rieke (Rickchen) KLEINSTRASS (7 November 1880, Bredenborn - 1944, Auschwitz) & Nathan ROTHENBERG (29 August 1876, Brakel - 18 March 1943, Theresienstadt)

  5. -   Werner ROTHENBERG (15 October 1912 , Brakel- ) & Etel SLOMOVITZ

  6. •   Nathan ROTHENBERG (1954 - ) & Shoshana (Sharon) (1956 - )

  7. ‣   Shiri ROTHENBERG (1983 - )

  8. ‣    Omer ROTHENBERG (1985 - )

  9. ‣    Chen ROTHENBERG (1989 - )

  10. ‣    Shachar ROTHENBERG (1993 - )

  11. -   Margarethe ROTHENBERG (7 November 1907, Brakel - 1944, Auschwitz) & Georg SÄNGER (8 March 1902, Czarnikau - 1944, Auschwitz)

  12. -   Herta ROTHENBERG (7 October 1909, Brakel - 1944, Auschwitz) & Werner FLIESS (26 July 1900, Bernberg - 1943, Auschwitz)

  13. ‣   Albert KLEINSTRASS (8 March 1883, Bredenborn - 1943, Auschwitz) & Johanna BAUM (11 August 1897, Wiesbaden - 1943, Auschwitz)

                       Photo below. For Johanna Baum’s family, click HERE.

  1. -   Paul Louis KESTER (KLEINSTRASS) (1925, Wiesbaden - ) & Susanne Jeanette LUFT (1924, Berlin - )  Born Paul Kleinstrass, he changed his last name to Kester after immigration to the U.S. For the family of Susanne Luft, click HERE.

  2. •   Daniel John KESTER (1954, Los Angeles - ) This is me (creator of this website) & Anna Gunilla THEANDER (1958, Lund, Sweden - )

  3. ‣   Anya Rebecca KESTER (1989 - )

  4. ‣   Shiri Sophia KESTER (1991 - )

  5. -   Helen (Lena) KLEINSTRASS (12 December 1923, Wiesbaden - 1999, Los Angeles) & Max HENLEIN (2 April 1915, Hamburg - 10 January 2005, Los Angeles)

  6. •   Alan HENLEIN (1951 - )

  7. •   Dyan HENLEIN (1955 - ) & Michael NORTON (1951 - )

  8. ‣   Eric NORTON (1986 - )

  9. ‣   Laura NORTON (1988 - )

  10. ‣   Andrea NORTON (1988 - )

  11. ‣   Josef KLEINSTRASS M.D. (11 October 1884, Bredenborn - 1942, Belzec or Sobibor)

        Josef was a physician in Hamm.  He was deported to the ghetto in Zamosc in eastern Poland on 27 April, 1942, from there he was probably sent to the death camp of Belzec or Sobibor. Read more about him (in German) HERE.

  1. ‣   Hugo KLEINSTRASS (13 July 1887, Bredenborn - 15 February 1957, Bredenborn) & Anne RITZENHOFF (1887 - )

  2. -   Irmgard KLEINSTRASS (1927, Bredenborn - 1990, Schlangen) & Robert LEVI (?, Schlangen - March 22, 1985, Schlangen)

  3. •   Walter LEVI (1946 , Schlangen- approx. 2005, Schlangen)

  4. •   Berl LEVI (approx 1956 - ) & Christiane

  5. ‣   Sarah LEVI

  6. ‣   Judith LEVI

  7. -   Hubert KLEINSTRASS (1934, Bredenborn - 1992, Bredenborn) & Magrit

  8. •   Irmgard KLEINSTRASS (1961 - ) & Hans Peter THERLANER

  9. •   Birgit KLEINSTRASS (1964 - ) & Andreas HELMES

  10. ‣   Katarina HELMES (1993 - )

  11. ‣   Johanna HELMES (1995 - )

  12. •   Dietmar KLEINSTRASS (1970 - )

  13. -   Josef KLEINSTRASS (1937, Bredenborn - ) & Marita BÖHLER (1938 - )

  14. •   Vera KLEINSTRASS (1963 - ) & Jan WIEDEL (1963 - )

  15. ‣   Maximilian WIEDEL (1994 - )

  16. ‣   Julia WIEDEL

  17. •   Thomas KLEINSTRASS* (1965 - ) & Elke KURSCHATKE

  18. ‣   Moritz KLEINSTRASS (1998 - )

  19. •   Thomas KLEINSTRASS* (1965 - ) & Valerie

  20. ‣   Marie Alice KLEINSTRASS (2008 - )

  21. ‣   Frieda KLEINSTRASS (8 July 1891, Bredenborn - approx 1942, Warsaw Ghetto or

        Treblinka)   Photo below

•   Hannchen KLEINSTRASS (30 January 1847, Bredenborn - 20 April 1848, Bredenborn)

  1. •   Sara KLEINSTRASS (6 September 1849, Bredenborn - 13 August 1874)

  2.            & Jacob BECHER (30 December 1835, Steinheim - 19 May 1898)

  3. •   Lenchen KLEINSTRASS (1852, Bredenborn - )

•   Aron KLEINSTRASS (16 March 1858, Bredenborn - 2 July 1943, Theresienstadt)

  1. -   Heinemann KLEINSTRASS (19 February 1815, Steinheim - 23 April 1815, Steinheim)

  2. ‣   Abraham Leiffmann (1763 - 8 September 1811).  Never married.

  3. ‣   Keile (1773 - 29 December 1829)

  4. ‣   UNNAMED

  5. ‣   UNNAMED

  6. ‣   Aron (1754 - 9 April 1816) 



*People with asterisks after their names were married two or more times.  They have a separate line for each spouse.

Kleinstrass (or Kleinstraß) is my family name.  Or at least it would be if my father hadn’t changed it to the more pronounceable (at least by Americans) “Kester” when he immigrated to the U.S. (and that’s also why we are not related to any other Kesters).  When Jewish families took on family names, which happened in the early 1800’s, it was common that different families in different places would pick the same name.  This often resulted in one family name being used by many unrelated families.  The name Kleinstrass is different.  As far as I have found, no other family picked that name.  So if you are related to a Kleinstrass, you are related to me.  The name means “Little Street” and was chosen because the family lived on a small street in the town of Steinheim in Westphalia (see MAP).  The street, formerly Lütge Gasse, is now called Hollentalstrasse, and is close to the Steinheim town hall.


The first mention of the family in the Steinheim records is in a list from 1704, which includes Arend Jacob.  So the family most likely came to the town at the end of the 1600’s.  Arend Jacob’s son was Leiffman Arend.  Leiffman Arend married Gelle (or Elle or Gellechen) Levi, who came from a family, the Bassevis, formerly one of the most prominent Jewish families in Europe.  So prominent in fact that they get their own page, HERE. 


Leiffman Arend and Gelle had a son, Aron Liefmann.  In 1808, when Jews were required to take family names, he became Aron Liefmann Kleinstrass.  There is some mystery about him, in that there seem to have been two Aron Kleinstrasses.  I used to think they were the same person, but now I think they were two.  There are two different birthdays, two dates of death, and two names of wives, depending on where you look.  Because people have assumed that they were the same person, facts about one may have been credited to the other.  I’m continuing to try and figure out who was who.


Aron Leifmann married Bette (or Beile) Heinemann, and they had sons Levi and Selig (or Seligmann).  At that time, unless a family was particularly wealthy, the oldest son would inherit the family home and whatever business the family was involved in.  Any additional sons were on their own.  In this case, the oldest son, Levi, continued the family in Steinheim, while his younger brother, Selig, moved to the nearby town of Bredenborn where he started his own family.  This resulted in there being two branches of the Kleinstrass family, which continues to this day.  A few years ago, through the wonders of the internet, the two branches of the family found each other again and reconnected.


Descendants of Levi Kleinstrass remained in Steinheim until the Nazi era (see family photo from 1929, at the bottom of this page).  After their family had lived in the town for 250 years, the last Kleinstrasses to live there, the sisters Sophie and Paula, escaped to Bolivia in 1940.  Others were not so lucky.  For example, Hermann Emmerich and his wife Liesel, together with their small daughter, Juliane, left the terror of Germany for Holland around 1937.  Their second daughter, Hanna Ruth, was born there.  Unfortunately, after the German takeover of Holland they were captured and deported to Auschwitz in 1943.  The mother, Liesel, along with 6 year old Juliane and 4 year old Hanna Ruth, were murdered immediately upon arrival.  Their father, Hermann, survived for two more months.


The other branch of the family (my branch), the descendants of Selig, lived in the town of Bredenborn.  Selig had married Rachel HOCHHEIMER, also from Steinheim, and they had a son, Abraham (1844-1893, see photo at right), who married Helene ROSENSTERN.  They had seven children.  Many of them left the small town of Bredenborn for other places.  However, one brother, Hugo, stayed, and due to his marriage to a Catholic woman, Anne Ritzenhoff, his family was able to survive the Nazi years, and some of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren still live in Bredenborn.


Today descendants of the Kleinstrass family live in Germany, the United States, Israel, Bolivia, and New Zealand.  There still are several people named Kleinstrass living in Germany.


Names in RED are people who were murdered during the period 1933-1945.


Thank you to Johannes Waldhoff in Steinheim, author of the book, “Die Geschichte der Juden in Steinheim” (History of the Jews of Steinheim).  His research into the history of that town proved invaluable. Thanks also to Josef and Guenther Menzes who have done excellent research on the Jews of Steinheim, to Fritz Ostkämper, and to members of the Dolinsky family for the information they provided.  Additional information came from the records of Alex Bernstein (held at the Leo Baeck Institute). Alex Bernstein collected Jewish genealogical records from the Steinheim/Höxter/Brakel region during the 1930’s.

Click here for HOME page.            Click here for INDEX.


If you are related to anyone on this page (or just want to say hello) I would very much like to hear from you.  You can contact me at geneo (at) theKesters.net or



Daniel Kester


Page added:  Feb. 24, 2009        Last update: October 30, 2013

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Johanna and Albert Kleinstrass

(my grandparents)

Wiesbaden

1897 - 1943

1883 - 1943

Abraham Kleinstrass

1844 - 1893

The Kleinstrass and Emmerich families of Steinheim in 1929, on the occasion of the 25th wedding anniversary of

Bertha (Kleinstrass) and Julius Emmerich

(maiden names in parentheses)

Back row, left to right: Helene Emmerich, Selly Emmerich, daughter of Salomon Emmerich, wife of Salomon Emmerich, Irma Eisenstein, Johanna (Kleinstrass) Eisenstein, Paula (Eisenstein) Kleinstrass, Sophie Kleinstrass, Paula Kleinstrass (in front), Lina Hirschland (behind), Anna Emmerich, Hans Emmerich, brother of Julius Emmerich, wife of the brother of Julius Emmerich.

Middle row: Walter Emmerich, Bertha (Kleinstrass) Emmerich, Julius Emmerich, Hermann Emmerich, Salomon Emmerich.

Front row: Alice Emmerich, Wilhelmine (Eisenstein) Schnellenberg, Grete Emmerich.

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Frieda Kleinstrass

1891 - about 1942

The Kleinstrass house in

Bredenborn.

Early 1900s