Salo Brunn, was the husband of Freida Braunhart.  We have more about Salo below, but first let's present his recently discovered Birth Certificate, followed by the translation:
​

​And here is the translation, thanks to our translator. Matthias Steinke:

Nr. 2164

Hamburg, the 26th September 1898
To the signing registrar came today, the by marriage-certificate identified
Rahel Brünn (Bruenn) born Levin,
residing in Hamburg, Margarethenstreet 6,
house 2, Jewish religion, and reported, that by herself,
wife of the tailor
Moritz Brünn, Jewish religion,
residing also there,
in Hamburg in the residence of her husband
at the 14th September of the year
1898 pre midday at 8:30 o'clock a child
of male gender was born, who got the first name
SALO.
Read, confirmed and signed
Rahel Brünn born Levin
the registrar
in representation
Kellner
The correctness with the main register is herewith certified:
Hamburg, at the 26th September 1898
The registrar
Kellner

So, September 14, 1898 in Hamburg, Germany was the magic day and 8:30 AM was the magic hour!

And just to prove that he knew his own birth date, below is the first page of his Naturalization Application:
​

Salo and Frieda owned a dry cleaning business in Brooklyn where they lived.

What do his family members say about Salo?  Here are a few quotes from some of his family members:

• "Uncle Sol" was good-natured and jovial.
• Had 2 children,  Miriam & Henry. Henry married Doris Bauer (non-Jew). Henry, Doris, & 4 children disappeared & broke Frieda's heart. Frieda apparently hired detectives to find Henry but they were unsuccessful.
• Frieda & Sol owned a dry cleaning store on E. 2nd & Avenue P in Brooklyn. When they lost their business, they moved into the apartment building that Frieda's sister Anna owned at 8411-21st Ave., Brooklyn. All the relatives came to the dry cleaning store on Saturdays - Martha & family (Harold & Kitty, Leo & Ida), Anna & family, etc. They came to do their clothes & visit.

• According to his grandson - He was a gentle, generous, and happy go lucky guy, a decorated war hero (Iron Cross) in WWI with full tattoo sleeves on his arms, and though he owned a laundry in Germany, then in Brooklyn, was a lifelong gambler and bookie, which didn't please my grandmother.
• Salo died of a heart attack in his apartment at 8411 21st Ave.

I have tons of certificates that pertain to Salo. I think the Germans liked certificates. A while back Salo's daughter Miriam sent me a ton of documents and photos and we agreed that I would do some research into the Brunn family, which I am doing.  Anything pertaining to Salo, or Salo and Frieda I will post here in additional Articles.

A piece of information that fellow Braunharts may not know - Miriam is the last remaining of the 4th generation of Braunharts. In essence, she is the matriarch of the family. Betcha didn't know that!
​

​Salo and Frieda Braunhart were married on May 12, 1926 in Berlin, and to prove that there was a wedding, below is my favorite Braunhart wedding photo. Isn't it great that everyone was so happy at such a joyous occasion?

Just four months after the wedding, Salo and Frieda immigrated to America. They were detained for a week because of what I can gather was Salo's illness during the trip across the Atlantic. Below are the three immigration documents pertaining to their trip.

With all the documents that Miriam has loaned me to research and the requisite translation, it will take me awhile to see what treasures about Salo are revealed.

The earliest photos of Braunhart babies and children are from 1900 on. Just for fun, here is a selection of some of them:

In the early 20th century, several of the Braunharts of Schubin immigrated to America. Some were married in Germany and some in the United States. There were many more weddings in the mid-20th century as their sons and daughters tied the knot.

Since this is the time of the year when many weddings occur, we celebrate their nuptials with the photos of these happy events, focusing on those from 1900 through the 1920s. There are more, however many wedding photos have not turned up as yet.

As the title suggests, one is quite the eery photograph - but it is a capture of the wedding party certainly, even if many weren't looking, or were pretending to be asleep.

So raise your glass and Mazel Tov!

In the course of discovering one's ancestry - it certainly is a journey and many times a trek (a journey with obstacles). If we consider Lewin Jacob Braunhart and his wife Wilhelmine Zadek as the first generation of Braunharts; and Bernhard, Samuel, Sara, and Alexander as the 2nd, then the 3rd generation would be the seventeen surviving children of Bernhard, Sara, and Alexander. These I have previously written about as quite an admirable group of ancestors in The Memorable Seventeen.  The 3rd generation was exemplified by immigration and escape.  Half of the 17 immigrated to America, and half escaped from Schubin to Berlin, and many of those escaped Germany from the Nazis, although two were unsuccessful.

So what about the next generation - the fourth? There were a total of 35 children born to the 17 grandchildren of Lewin and Wilhelmine.  Who were they and what makes them special? These 35 were exemplified by the majority being born in America as a result of their parents immigrating. However, holdovers from the 3rd generation still occurred, as a few of these 35 had to also escape Nazi Germany. 

The birth years range from 1892 to 1936 - quite a span. Here is a list, followed by names and photos. Truly an impressive bunch:

• 5 died in childhood (4 via illness, 1 by drowning)
• 2 spent several years in the Shanghai Ghetto
• 1 was murdered at Auschwitz
• 1 escaped to Palestine
• 1 was a vaudeville pianist
  
• 1 was a statistician
• 1 served in both World War 1 and World War 2
• 7 were housewives
  
• 1 broke the record for typewriting speed and broke one of the first electric typewriters
• 1 designed clothing and was an award winning smoothie dancer
• 1 built clocks, watches, and custom furniture
• 3 were attorneys
• 1 was a jazz musician
• 1 was a singer
• 1 was a shoe designer
• 1 was a captain at a world famous hotel
• 2 were successful amateur boxers
• 1 owned a bicycle shop
• 1 was a legal secretary - her sister a secretary
• 1 was a school teacher
• 3 served in the US Army
• 2 were stenographers
• 1 owned a luncheonette for 40 years
• 1 was a track star in high school and college
• As of the date of this publication, 3 are living

And here they are:

Frieda Braunhart was the youngest child of Alexander and Helene Braunhart. She was born in 1902, married her husband Salo Brunn in 1926, and immigrated to America with her husband later in 1926.

In this letter, written to her older sister Anna who was living with her family in Brooklyn, New York, she repeats the refrain written by several of her siblings and parents. That is that life in Schubin had become so difficult that it was time to move.  She apparently was dismissed from her job because of her inability to speak Polish.  She was 19 years old at the time of this letter.

Several of her brothers had already moved to Berlin as well as Leipzig, and life promised to be a bit better, if not perfect for this Jewish family.

Below is the original letter, followed by the English translation.

With thanks to Matthias Steinke, below is the English translation:

Schubin, 12 December 1919

My very dear ones!

I also want to write a few lines to you beloved. You can imagine the joy as your photos arrived early this morning.
The little girl is cute and also you, beloved Anna, look very good. In near future I'll send you and the dear Marta also a picture from me.

As I saw  the image of the little (girl), it reminded me of a photo with Heinz, because he was photographed in exactly the same position. Heinz and Hanna are the children of Karl. I long for them very much, but I hope to be in Berlin in summer, and look forward for it very much.

January we will all be in Labischin with Julius, there will be then Jewish pleasure. Theo and Philip will come home soon for recovery, then hopefully it won't be as boring as now.

I had a job in an office until recently, but I was dismissed because I do not understand Polish. To be honest, I wasn't really concerned about it, because then I can leave Schubin much earlier. 

You wrote, that we shall tell you what we need. We don't need anything so far except the shoes and thank you very much.

You have a very very good heart, and I hope that we can thank you and the beloved Marta for all the good personally.

Now I will close, because it's already time to go to sleep.

Now be all greeted and kissed a thousand times by you of your loving,

Frieda

Over the last month or so - with the help of Martha Lesnitzer Zucker and some contributed photos by family members, new albums have been created and populated with the photos that have been shared.

The Tulman and Sternbach Family Albums have added over 90 photos each and the Brunn Album has also had some additions.  A Gandel Album has also been added.

To see all the new albums - go to the Photos tab at the top of this page and select the album you wish to view from one of the drop down choices.

And remember - these albums do not get new photos added unless you contribute. Hint. Hint.

With complete reverence and respect for the participants in this wedding, especially Frieda Braunhart and Salo Brunn, the bride and groom, I have to say that this is quite the surreal wedding photo.  The photo was taken at their wedding in Berlin, Germany on May 12, 1926.

It reminds me somewhat if one can use their imagination, of the album cover for the Beatles' famous Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.  It almost looks like some of the photos were pasted in, as in the album cover.

Hopefully some of the activities of the day created some happiness, as the participants do not look like they are having a great time.

So let's identify who we can.  The bride is easy to pinpoint and she is of course Frieda Braunhart.  Next to her is her groom Salo Brunn. All the way to the left is the infant Horst Braunhart, in the lap of his mother Else Schmalenbach Braunhart, and behind Else her husband Philipp Braunhart.   In the middle of the photo (next to the bald man with his eyes closed, and behind the bride), is Frieda's older sister Selma Braunhart.  The bald man with his eyes closed is Frieda's brother Carl Braunhart, and next to him is his wife Hedwig Bukofzer Braunhart.  Directly behind Hedwig is another of Frieda's brothers, Theodor Braunhart.  The gentleman who is to the left of Selma Braunhart is Salo's brother Leo Brunn, and the gentleman way to the right who also has a bowtie on is another of Salo's brothers, Maurice Brunn.  Finally, next to Salo is his mother Frieda Brunn.


With appreciation to Miriam Brunn Matranga for providing this photo, and to Stuart Matranga for scanning it.

Thanks to the persistence of my newfound 2nd and 3rd cousins - Martha Zucker, Miriam Matranga, and Laraine Sweberg, we have now connected all the Braunhart "stragglers" that I referenced in a couple of earlier posts regarding the Braunhart family.

We knew that Bernhard Braunhart, Sara Braunhart Bernstein, and Samuel Braunhart were siblings. As I stated, there were several "stragglers" who were named Braunhart and who immigrated from Germany, some from the family "town" of Schubin.

As Paul Harvey would say - "Now we know the rest of the story!"

There is indeed another sibling who ties it all together - Alexander Benedict Braunhart is the fourth sibling. He was the youngest (born in 1853) and married Helene Baschinsky. They had count em' - 13 children who are summarized below:

• Jacob Braunhart immigrated in 1904, settled in San Francisco and was there when Samuel died shortly after the San Francisco earthquake and fire. He joined the US Army prior to World War 1, traveled to Alaska, was investigated by the FBI as a German sympathizer, got married and divorced, stayed in the Army, changed his name to Walter Hart and married a woman Ilse, with whom he had three children, settling ultimately in Wilmington, Delaware.
• Martha Braunhart immigrated with her older brother Jacob in 1904. She married Bernard Sternbach, and had three children, Leo, Harold, and Regina. She stayed in New York after her immigration to America.
• Julius Braunhart married Dorka Asch and had two children, Lothar and Lilly. Lothar and Lilly changed their last name to Hart. Lothar changed his first name also, becoming Leslie B Hart. Doris and the two children, now adults, immigrated to America in the 1950s, passing through New York and ultimately residing in San Francisco. Julius' fate was not so positive, He was captured and murdered by the Nazis in 1943 in the Theresienstadt Comcentration Camp. It is unknown as to how Doris, Lothar and Lilly survived the war.
• Carl Braunhart married Hedwig and had two children, Hanna and Heinz. Carl and Hedwig immigrated in 1939 and 1940 respectively. Hedwig stayed behind because of a broken leg and her daughter Hanna tended to her. Money was left for Hanna to travel to America, but she was turned in to the Nazis by an ex-boyfriend. She was killed in Auschwitz in 1943. Carl changed his name to Carl Hart and opened a bicycle shop in Brooklyn, New York. The bicycle shop still exists today as "Carl Hart Bicycles" in Long Island, New York, although no longer owned by the family.
• Cecelia Braunhart, nicknamed Cilly, married a German WW1 POW veteran Horst Eilenberg. It appears that they stayed in Berlin during the war and died there in the late 1950s and 1960s respectively. They had no children.
• Anna Braunhart immigrated in 1909. She married Harry Tulman in 1915 and had four children - Mildred and Muriel, and the twins Stanley and Helene. She was a successful business woman - she owned several apartment buildings in Brooklyn as well as a hardware store and taught herself the English language by reading 3 newspapers daily. Ultimately she lived a very full life of 96 years.
• Philipp Braunhart stayed in Europe and married a non-Jew and had three children - one named Horst Braunhart. He met the same fate as his brother Julius and niece Hanna though, killed by the Nazis at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in 1942.
• Sara Selma Braunhart immigrated in 1946 from England. She married George Gandel and had no children.
• Theodore Braunhart married Lucie with no children. He escaped to Shanghai, China and was transported to Israel because of the Japanese blockade. Sadly he suffered from TB and malnutrition while in Israel. He then traveled to Berlin to find his wife but succumbed there to his illnesses. Lucie traveled to America in 1956.
• Frieda Braunhart was the youngest child of Alexander and Helene. She married Salo Brunn in Berlin in 1926. Later in 1926 they immigrated to America, staying in New York the rest of their lives.  They had two children, Henry and Miriam.
• Moritz Braunhart lived to adulthood yet little is known of his history.
• Ceasar Braunhart died as a young child and the 13th child was stillborn.

So it appears that the Braunhart family is now complete - except - there may be Braunhart relatives still in Germany who descended from some of Alexander and Helene's grandchildren who survived and stayed there. Here's hoping we will find them some day.