The oldest documented member of the Silesian Branch is one Fajwel Rotenberg, who was born around 1788 but probably not in Silesia, but most likely in Mazovia — in the town of Magnuszew, 59 Km south-east of Warsaw. The origin of the Jewish population settling in Magnuszew is not entirely clear. They most likely arrived from parts of Germany in the eastward migration of German Jews in the middle ages.
The Jews of Magnuszew formed a congregation that had approximately 330 members by 1827. The most well-known of the congregation was the founder and first Rebbe of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, Yitzchak Meir Alter. Fajwel was supposedly Yitzchak Meir Alter’s brother, but we have yet to find well documented proof to support this.
We do not know much about Fajwel — we have very little information about his life. Fajwel was married to Tauba Ickowicz, and one of his children was named Mordka Rotenberg.
Mordka Rotenberg, a Cantor (חזן) and a Shohet (שוחט), married Chawa Dziadek in 1826 and the couple have around 300 documented decedents, that we know of.
These decedents have reached all corners of the earth, including The United States, England, Denmark, China, South Africa, and Israel.
The Silesian Branch
1. Fajwel Rotenberg b. c. 1788
└ +Tauba Rotenberg
2. Mordka Rotenberg b. c. 1807
└ +Chawa Rotenberg b. c. 1807; m. 1826, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
3. Sora Kohn b. c. 1827
└ +Dawid Kohn b. c. 1793; m. 1844, Pilica, Kielce, Poland
4. Jacheta Kohn b. 1853, Pilica, Kielce, Poland
4. Eliasz Kohn b. 1864, Pilica, Kielce, Poland
3. Rubin Szaja Rotenberg b. 1832, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
└ +Laja Rotenberg b. 1835, Checiny, Kielce, Poland; m. 1851, Checiny, Kielce, Poland; d. 1860
4. Tauba Rotenberg b. 1860, Checiny, Kielce, Poland; d. 1860
└ +Sura Rotenberg b. 1841, Checiny, Kielce, Poland; m. 1860, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
4. Eliasz Faiwel Rotenberg b. 1862, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
└ +Rywka Rotenberg b. 1866, Checiny, Kielce, Poland; m. 1881, Kielce, Poland
5. Ester Rotenberg b. 1883, Kielce, Poland
5. Szymon Rotenberg b. 1883, Kielce, Poland; d. 1886, Kielce, Poland
5. Mordka Rotenberg b. January 24, 1890, Kielce, Poland
5. Dwojra Tarter b. June 18, 1891, Kielce, Poland
5. Maryem Rotenberg b. October 29, 1892, Kielce, Poland
5. Nuchim Josef Rotenberg b. April 19, 1895, Kielce, Poland
5. Joel Zelman Rotenberg b. April 22, 1898, Kielce, Poland
5. Chaia Rotenberg b. December 27, 1901, Kielce, Poland
4. Szymon Hersz Rotenberg b. 1864, Checiny, Kielce, Poland; d. August 26, 1923, Lodz, Poland
4. Dyna Laia Rotenberg b. 1866, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
4. Rifka Rotenberg b. 1869, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
4. Szimcha Binem Rotenberg b. 1875, Jedrzejow, Poland
4. Idesa Rotenberg b. 1877, Jedrzejow, Poland; d. 1877, Jedrzejow, Poland
4. Moszek Rotenberg b. 1878, Jedrzejow, Poland
4. Estera Rotenberg b. 1891, Wislica, Busko, Poland
3. Estera Rotenberg b. circa 1835; d. 1836, Pilica, Zawiercie, Silesia, Poland
3. Icyk Rotenberg b. 1839
└ +Fraidla Klera Rotenberg b. circa 1845; m. 1870, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
4. Henoch Josek Rotenberg b. 1877, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
└ +Golda Maria Rotenberg b. 1876, Chmielnik, Kielce, Poland; m. 1895, Chmielnik, Kielce, Poland
5. Ephraim Rotenberg b. 1897
5. Chava Rotenberg b. Warsaw, Poland
5. Bella Rotenberg
5. Leib Rotenberg
4. Majer Dawid Rotenberg b. 1879, Checiny, Kielce, Poland
4. Fajwel Rotenberg b. 1883, Checiny, Kielce, Poland; d. 1885
3. Abram Hersz Rotenberg v Szachter b. 1842, Pilica, Zawiercie, Poland
3. Shraga Faivel Rotenberg b. 1844, Pilica, Kielce, Poland; d. June 30, 1924, Bedzin, Poland
└ +Chaja Rywka Rotenberg b. 1843, Szczekociny, Zawiercie, Poland; d. 1916, Bedzin, Poland; m. 1864, Bedzin, Poland
4. Szprynca Hajda b. 1865, Szczekociny, Kielce, Poland
└ +Cyna Sinai Hajda; m. 1886, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
5. Mordka Hajda b. 1887, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
5. Hersz Dawid Hajda b. 1890, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
5. Nosson Yitzchak Hajda b. 1892, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland; d. August 3, 1943
5. Isucher Jakob Hajda b. 1895, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
5. Brucha Hajda b. circa 1904; d. August 19, 1925, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
4. Tauba Rotenberg b. 1867, Szczekociny, Zawiercie , Silesia, Poland; d. 1868, Szczekociny, Zawiercie , Silesia, Poland
4. Shaya Rotenberg b. 1869, Szczekociny, Kielce, Poland; d. circa 1943
└ +Rachel Rotenberg b. 1869, Janów, Sokolka, Podlaskie, Poland; m. 1892, Janow, Sokolka, Podlaskie, Poland
5. David Rotenberg b. 1902, Warsaw, Poland; d. 1976
4. Icyk Majer Rotenberg b. 1871, Szczekociny, Zawiercie, Silesia, Poland
└ +Szajndla Tauba Rotenberg; m. 1888, Stopnica, Busko, Swietokrzyskie, Poland
4. Henoch Heinrich Rottenberg b. June 17, 1875, Szczekociny, Kielce, Poland; d. February 1942, Auschwitz, Malopolskie, Poland
└ +Taube Rottenberg b. July 12, 1875, Sławkow, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland; d. February 1942, Poland; m. 1896, Olkusz, Olkusz, Lesser Poland, Poland
5. Lipa Rottenberg b. August 10, 1897, Bedzin, Poland; d. December 28, 1993, Tel Aviv, Israel
5. Ewa Rottenberg b. December 20, 1899, Bedzin, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland; d. 1942, Auschwitz, Malopolskie, Poland
5. Bluma Szatan b. January 14, 1903, Bedzin, Slaskie, Poland; d. 1942, Auschwitz, Malopolskie, Poland
5. Izrael Dawid Rottenberg b. 1904, Bedzin, Malopolskie, Poland; d. 1905, Bedzin, Malopolskie, Poland
5. Sura Rajzla Stiller b. November 27, 1906, Poland; d. October 31, 2003, Israel
5. Lejbus Arye Rottenberg b. August 12, 1908, Bedzin, Slaskie, Poland; d. 1942, Auschwitz, Malopolskie, Poland
5. Aron Rottenberg b. February 25, 1910, Bedzin, Bedzin County, Silesia, Poland; d. 1943, Dachau, Bavaria, Germany
5. Edith (Jacheta) Kupferman v Fromowicz b. 1913, Bedzin, Bedzin County, Silesia, Poland; d. November 24, 1988, London, England, United Kingdom
5. Hersz Dawid Rottenberg b. 1914, Bedzin, Malopolskie, Poland; d. July 8, 1986
4. Mendel Rotenberg b. 1879, Szczekociny, Zawiercie, Silesia, Poland
└ +Miriam Rotenberg
5. Dawid Rotenberg b. circa 1900; d. 1901, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
5. Mordka Rotenberg b. 1904, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland; d. 1911, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
5. Lejb Rotenberg b. 1905, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland; d. 1905, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
5. Ajzyk Rotenberg b. 1906; d. 1909, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland
5. Andre Rotenberg b. 1916, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland; d. 1942
5. Regina Chana Rotenberg b. 1918, Bedzin, Silesia, Poland; d. 1942
5. Jacheta Dranger
5. Paul Rotenberg
3. ? Rotenberg b. 1846, Pilica, Zawiercie, Silesia, Poland
3. Perec Rotenberg b. 1849, Pilica, Kielce, Poland; d. 1853, Pilica, Kielce, Poland
If any of these names ring a bell or if you have information to complement this tree, please let me know.
While researching and building our Rottenberg family tree on Ancestry, I run across coincidences that strike me as sad and ironic and also confusing. There are so many common names, such as Majer Dawid Rotenberg (b. 1879, transported to Lodz in 1941, deported again in 1943 . . .) and then a record of Majer Rorenberg (b.1880, departed from Liverpool, England and arrived at New York 5 December in 1927). Are these the same man, and if so, why did this man return to Europe during such a dangerous time? There are other Rotenbergs who seem to have left for America and also returned, perhaps to bring their partents or siblings back with them, and who may have gotten caught in the Nazi roundups. This pulls at my heart in any case. They could be different people, of course. But still.
Hi Cynthia,
Thank you for the comment. It is Jewish tradition to name children after deceased grandparents. Therefore many times if you look at family lines of European Jewry you see the same names popping up over and over again (sometimes with some generation gaps). If the names are common Jewish names like David then they occur even more often (when family lines merge). So most likely these are different people but one can’t know for sure without further research.
Thanks so much for your reply.
Do you know if any descendants of these Rotenbergs ended up in Busk, Poland (later Ukraine)?
(sorry about the typos!)
Another example is Bluma Rottenberg, born in 1903 in Poland, arrived in New York 17 September 1921, died 1942 in Poland. Perhaps the family took a trip to visit relatives then returned home. I have not found the return ship information yet, though.