Family Story Finder

The sweep of family history across the generations

A surprising double marriage in London
  • March 1911 - 2020

Rosa Ringel married Pinkas Twiasschor in a borough of London in January 1911, at the same time that Twiasschor's sister wed another Berlin businessman. What was that all about?

Arson! The Paechter family store is targeted
  • 1898 -

In 1898, Paechter’s Kaufhaus in Tiegenhof came under repeated anti-Semitic arson attacks.  

Edith and Gina — the Ringel cousins in London
  • 1938 - 2007

Betty Ringel's two daughters were able to leave Germany before 1938. They were in the twenties and they settled in London.

Our family during the Nazi years in Berlin
  • February 1933 - September 1942

During the first five years of Hitler's reign of terror, Jewish families of Berlin faced one repression after another.

Paechter diaspora
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Paechter descendants ended up on every continent after World War II. 

Paechter roots in West Prussia
  • April 9 1875 - May 17 1902

Our Paechter family prospered in the Vistula delta town of Tiegenhof. But their roots probably go back further in west Pomerania.

The early history of the Wohlgemuth family
  • March 11 1812 - July 25 1876

In 1812 in Preußisch Stargardt, an elderly Jew Moses and his sons Salomon and Herz took the surname Wohlgemuth in exchange for Prussian citizenship rights. Our family, descended from Herz Wohlgemuth, stayed in Stargardt for the next three generations

The Paechters in Berlin
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Most of the family from Tiegenhof found their way to Berlin by the early years of the twentieth century. At first they prospered—until the coming devastation

The peculiar case of Pinkas Twiasschor
  • -

The estranged husband of Betty Ringel was one of the 1000 war evacuees who found safe haven in the only U.S refugee camp 

The Wohlgemuths in Danzig
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Before moving his family to Berlin in 1912, Isaak Wohlgemuth prospered as a mover in Danzig. His family roots were in nearby West Prussia.

The Wohlgemuths in Elbing
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The Wohlgemuth family settled in Elbing, near to Tiegenhof, during the 1890s, where they owned and operated a water mill.

Twiasschor family in Berlin
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The Twiasschors settled in Berlin in several waves from Kolomiya, Ukraine

Two Ringel sisters manage on their own
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The Ringel sisters, Betty Twiasschor and Rosa Schattner, lived with their children in adjacent apartments on Lothringerstraße.