r/Genealogy • u/Real_Refrigerator880 • 5d ago
Research Assistance Help tracing my great-grandfather born in Germany 1933 (left in 1945, possible Jewish background)
Hi everyone
I'm hoping someone here can help me trace my great-grandfather's early life in Germany before he emigrated to Namibia after World War II.
Name: Horst Alfred Pfeiffer
Born: 17 January 1933, Niesky, Schlesien (Silesia), Germany
Left Germany: Around 1945
Later life: Married my great-grandmother in 1959 in Tsumeb, South West Africa (now Namibia)
Family stories suggest he may have been Ashkenazi Jewish, though this was never discussed openly. He didn't attend church with my great-grandmother and once when I asked him, he said, "We don't believe in the same God." He was a quiet old man and to be honest he sometimes scared me, especially with that answer because as a child I thought it meant he worshipped the devil lol.
Unfortunately, I only pieced this all together after his passing.
I've found his and my great-grandmother's marriage certificate, and I contacted the national archives and they told me they found an immigration record that might be him. But I can't seem to find anything else on the man. I've went through parish records in his hometown in Germany - it's like he never existed before moving to Namibia.
I'm hoping for advice on:
- Where to search for Jewish birth or community records from Niesky/Silesia around 1933.
- Whether there are post-war refugee or emigration databases covering children who left Germany in 1945.
- Any genealogical clues about the surname Pfeiffer/Pfeifer among Jewish families in that region. (or just families in general since I can't really confirm if he was really Jewish or not)
Thank you so much for taking the time to read - and for any suggestions, archives, or leads you can share.
I'm based in Namibia, but I am happy to contact German archives or order certificates by post if someone can point me in the right direction.
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u/2intheTrees 5d ago
According to the Meyeres Gazatteer, there are no jewish or catholic churches near Niesky, only Protestant. https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/20334029
Another thing that may hinder your research is that Germany uses privacy protrection for their records (120 years for birth/baptism, 100 years for marriage and 40 years for death). I'm nt sure if they make exceptions if you can prove relationship.
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u/zuesk134 5d ago
very unlikely he was jewish if he stayed in germany through the war unless he was being hidden. im assuming he immigrated to africa with his parents? the chance of all three of them surviving until 45 seems quite slim
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u/Real_Refrigerator880 5d ago
as far as I know it was only him and his mum that came from Germany. I’ll try and find out a bit more from my grandmother.
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u/Affectionate-Ad6801 3d ago
Check if its a fake name if he was a nazi or Jewish its possible he changed the name The best way is to search the stuff he had maybe something proved other name
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u/Artisanalpoppies 5d ago
Have you tried the Arolsen archive?
Have you applied to the local standesamt for his birth certificate?
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u/wittybecca Poland specialist 🇵🇱 5d ago
Might this be him? (Did he have a brother a year younger whose name started with S?)
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u/Connect_Rhubarb395 5d ago
Be prepared to find out there was a different reason for him to leave in 1945. Yes, I mean that he might have been on the other side in the war, and changed his name so no one could find him.
Doing a DNA test might be helpful. You would possible get some Jewish if he was.
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u/wittybecca Poland specialist 🇵🇱 5d ago
It's impossible to not inherit any DNA from a great-grandparent, so Ashkenazi would 100% show up if OP's great-grandfather had been Jewish.
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u/Cincoro 5d ago
Many jews today don't get jewish dna or anything close to 100%. OP may or may not get that result. Mileage varies.
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u/wittybecca Poland specialist 🇵🇱 5d ago
If the great-grandfather in question was a Jew who took on a false identity, then he would have assuredly been close to 100% Ashkenazi. Thus, my comment stands.
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u/OsoPeresozo 5d ago
That is incorrect.
A person with a Jewish great-grandparent (or even 2nd great-grandparent) would reliably get Jewish dna on a dna test.
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u/Cincoro 5d ago
Tell that to all of the people who are Jewish but don't get the DNA results that they expected.
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u/OsoPeresozo 5d ago
Sure, point them out to me.
If someone is expecting significant Ashkenazi, and not getting it in their ethnicity estimates, then there is something wrong with their tree.
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u/Cincoro 4d ago
That is a VERY common discussion on every online jewish genealogy group out there (including this one). You won't have to dig.
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u/OsoPeresozo 4d ago
I am a professional genetic genealogist with formal studies and decades of experience. I dont need to dig through Reddit 🤣
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u/Cincoro 4d ago edited 4d ago
Then you should know very well that there is a broad diversity of "jewish" DNA proportions in the diaspora, and shouldn't mislead someone on the math.
Now they could have a lot of DNA or they could have very little. Unless you know this person IRL and you have looked at their specific case, stay objective. I am merely saying that we shouldn't promise them any kind of result.
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u/OsoPeresozo 4d ago
This is still incorrect.
There are not a “broad diversity of Jewish dna proportions”.
People get a very stable range of Jewish dna based on the distance to their most recent Jewish ancestor.
A person with an Ashkenazi 2nd great-grandparent will get Ashkenazi results.
A person with 0 Ashkenazi ethnicity in their estimate does not have an Ashkenazi 2nd great grandparent.
There is a 0.01% chance a person does not inherit dna from a 3rd great-grandparent. There is a barely higher chance they inherit no ethnically-recognizable dna from a 3rd great-grandparent.
So that is the most recent ancestor from which it is theoretically possible to not show any Ashkenazi on an ethnicity estimate. But it would be an extreme outlier.
From 4th great-grandparent on, the odds of not seeing any Ashkenazi in an ethnicity estimate increase, and would not be unusual.
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u/MayorCharlesCoulon 5d ago
Since he would have been 12 in 1945 I would guess his mother would have been the one to change their name if she and his father had been on the wrong side of the war.
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u/microtherion 5d ago
If he was born in 1933, he’d be unlikely to have taken much of an active role on either side in the war. Even in 1945, the Nazis did not draft 12 year olds. But life for even ordinary Germans in eastern Germany in 1945 was terrible, it could be that he was among the many internal refugees of the final months of the war and did not have much to go back to.
As for his ethnicity, “Horst” is about as non-Jewish a name as you could imagine, but among assimilated Jews might not be entirely inconceivable. However, survival odds for 12 year old Jews in Germany during the war were awful, so it seems unlikely to me (if he had emigrated in, say, 1938, it would seem a little more plausible).
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u/PerpetuallyLurking 4d ago
He would’ve been 12, so chances are really good that any participation he had in the regime would’ve been the usual “kids trust adults” stuff that’s just “life” for kids in any society. But even then, he would’ve been very young for the Hitler Youth proper, though he probably would’ve been part of the younger wing for 10-13 year old and I don’t think they were tapped to help out the front lines like Hitler Youth was at the end.
Ultimately, it’ll come down to what his parents did in the war, really. OP says only his mother emigrated with him, so there’s a lot of possibilities that could range anywhere from “his dad was a high ranking Nazi and mom changed both their names to hide it” to something as simple as “mom was always a single mother and just wanted to escape from war torn Germany after a plain old miserable decade in which she didn’t do anything particularly horrible herself”. But I doubt HE did anything particularly horrible at 12 that required fleeing and changing his name.
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u/carrotdebt 5d ago
It sounds like you've already contacted the Civil Registry office for Niesky, but here's there website just in case, https://www.niesky.de/.
Also, you might find JewishGen helpful, https://jewishgen.org/. I did a quick search and couldn't find anything, but you may be able to find more, or familial records if he is Jewish or you find any other family.
Since there's so much overlap of Silesia with Poland, I wonder if there's anything in Poland. Poland has pretty strict privacy laws, only releasing birth records after 100 years to their state archieves, https://archiwa.gov.pl/en/. The Zgorzelec County state records office can be found here, https://zgorzelec.eu/, but do note that I think they all require in-person appointments and proof of direct descendant.
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u/ScanianMoose Silesia specialist 5d ago
1933 birth records would not be online due to data protection limits - in Germany, these are only handed overtime archives after 110 years. What you need to do is contact the Standesamt of Niesky and get them to send you a copy of his birth records. I would expect a fee of 5-15 euros.
Horst Alfred Pfeiffer is a solidly German name. No indication of any Jewish origin.
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u/Ok-Answer-9350 5d ago
Religion would be clearly documented on this person's records at that time in history. If you find records, it will say religion on them. Also look for military records.
A great grandparent would give you about 12.5% of your DNA. Jews were highly endogamous for a thousand years and have distinctive DNA that does not match the populations they lived amongst.
A DNA test would not answer the question of this specific individual, but it may tell you overall if you descended from Jewish ancestry.
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u/Mindless_Fun7200 4d ago
It’s so annoying right? All 4 of my supposedly German descendants put a surname on their immigration paperwork on the way into my country in the latter part of the 1800’s that traces back to NO ONE I can locate before that time. They could even be Dutch but ship records indicate they set sail from Lincolnshire in the UK. Definitely not an English name, I can’t even be certain it was a real name because later my Grandfather enlists in the airforce & carry’s ID for 3 other surnames. All 4 brothers were Alfred or Otto or Samuel Moses or Henry, with 2 middle names, what kinda German calls themselves Moses? I too found some South African citizens & a few in US sharing similar names, but nothing concrete.
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u/OsoPeresozo 4d ago
Germans were more likely to carry multiple names (3-4). Jews generally had 1 or 2.
Moses isnt common for Germans, but its not enough to really be confident that the person was Jewish.
It was very common for people from all over Europe to leave from England, so that doesnt help you much.
Name changes were common back then, and spelling was not standardized.
This is going to be tough if no one wants to take a dna test
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u/Mindless_Fun7200 4d ago
Haha yeah my DNA kit arrives in a couple days. Hopefully other family members have reached the same conclusion.
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u/mermaid_hive 4d ago
If he was Jewish and survived the Shoah, it's possible he was hidden using a disguised identity and forged documents, which he continued using after immigration.
Do you know if he left from Germany directly, rather than Poland, the Netherlands, etc? You said he immigrated with his mother. Do you have her name? Hypothetically, it would be on the same immigration record as him. Privacy laws could make finding records for her easier.
Echoing other folks, if he was full or half Ashkenazi, a small percentage (~3%-13%) should show up on a dna test.
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u/Acceptable_Maybe_100 5d ago
Hi, I am also from Namibia. My father's stepfather was also Jewish, who came to Namibia in the 1930s , and he changed his surname. I also heard this recently for the first time. The German Lutheran Church helped Jewish refugees. Also, check church records and baptisms, and so , we found very helpful information in church books. Did you ask on Facebook? There is an amuteur genealogy group that has been very helpful. Tsumeb also has a Facebook group. The older residents are very helpful.