Helene and Jacob Reichenbach raised the generation that carried the family shop from Halberstadt to Wernigerode. Three records preserve her surname in three close spellings: Heinemann, Heynemann and Heynemann-Loewenhain.
Helene Reichenbach lived with Jacob in Halberstadt while the family clothing house passed into its second generation. Family charts place David Otto, Adolf, Ludwig and Salomon Gustav in their household. Ludwig’s 1920 civil death entry independently names Jakob Reichenbach and Helene Heinemann as his parents.
When Adolf died at Hoher Weg 27 on 27 December 1900, his civil death act named his mother as Helene née Heynemann-Loewenhain and said that she was living in Wernigerode. The spelling is written on that act. It does not name Helene’s parents.
The family Ahnentafel gives Helene’s life dates as 11 January 1823 to 12 October 1903. A Halberstadt cemetery register uses the related form Heynemann-Löwenheyn. Her own 1903 civil death act has not yet been located, so the dates remain those kept in the family genealogy and cemetery record rather than a newly read civil entry.
Older derivative research turned her name into ‘Lea Löwenheim.’ The matching dates and household show that this is a corrupted search alias, not another wife of Jacob. The archive keeps the alias only so that the same error is not mistaken for a second person.
Family and household
People connected to this life
- Jacob Reichenbach · husband
- David Otto Reichenbach · son according to the family genealogy
- Adolf Reichenbach · son
- Ludwig Reichenbach · son · Helene is named in his civil death record
- Salomon Gustav Reichenbach · son according to the family charts
Sources
Sources
- Family-held Ahnentafel for Ernst Reichenbach
- Hand-drawn Reichenbach descent chart, 1997
- Leo Baeck Institute, Rudolf Jakob Simonis Collection, AR 7019 / MF 551
- Ludwig Reichenbach civil death entry no. 359, Halberstadt, 7 May 1920
- Adolf Reichenbach civil death act no. 940, Halberstadt, 27 December 1900
- Halberstadt Jewish cemetery register
What remains uncertain
Ludwig’s and Adolf’s civil death acts name Helene as their mother, but no located record names Helene’s own parents. Her exact birth and death dates still rest on the family genealogy and cemetery register. ‘Lea Löwenheim’ is retained only as a corrupted search alias.