Ludwig worked in J. Reichenbach, owned Martiniplan 10 and served Halberstadt’s Jewish social and welfare institutions. With Lina or Pauline Asch, he was the father of Paula, Antonie and Kurt.
The 1905 Halberstadt address book lists Ludwig Reichenbach as a merchant of J. Reichenbach, the court supplier for men’s and women’s fashions at Hoher Weg 27, and names him to the board of the registered Casino association. The Casino was an important center of Jewish social life, hosting family celebrations, lectures and events and operating a kosher restaurant. In 1914, the directory names Ludwig and Willy Reichenbach as proprietors of J. Reichenbach and again places Ludwig on the Casino board, as well as on the board of Neweh Menuchoh, the association connected with Halberstadt’s Jewish old-age home. These roles show sustained leadership in the city’s Jewish social and welfare institutions; they do not define Ludwig’s complete religious practice or politics. The listing documents Willy as a proprietor but does not establish his place in the family tree. A land-register extract records Ludwig as the registered owner of Martiniplan 10 in 1920.
Ludwig’s Halberstadt civil death entry, no. 359, records that he died at Lindenweg 42 on 7 May 1920 at 2:30 in the afternoon, aged seventy-four. His son-in-law Georg Wollenberg of Wollstraße 11 reported the death. The act explicitly identifies Jakob Reichenbach and Helene Heinemann as Ludwig’s parents, independently establishing him as a brother of Adolf and Salomon Gustav; the age yields an estimated birth year of 1846.
Three Halberstadt birth acts establish Ludwig and Lina or Pauline née Asch as the parents of Paula, Antonie and Curt, later recorded as Kurt. Paula’s act, no. 343 of 18 April 1877, gives Hoheweg 24 and names Lina. Antonie’s act, no. 312 of 6 April 1879, gives the same address and writes Pauline. Curt’s act, no. 535 of 26 May 1889, places Ludwig and Pauline at Hoherweg 47. The first two acts record the household as Jewish (mosaisch); together the three civil births now match the sibling relationship named on the 1945 tracing card.
A family chart gives Lina’s death as 4 December 1918, while the Halberstadt Jewish cemetery register records Lina Reichenbach née Asch in plot II 9 with death recorded 14 December 1918. The exact day therefore remains qualified pending the original civil or cemetery image.
Family and household
People connected to this life
- Jacob Reichenbach · father, named in Ludwig’s 1920 civil death record
- Helene Reichenbach née Heinemann · mother, named in Ludwig’s 1920 civil death record
- Lina Reichenbach née Asch · wife according to the family chart · death recorded in December 1918 with a 4/14 December conflict
- Paula Wollenberg née Reichenbach · daughter · named with both parents in her 1877 birth act
- Antonie Weiss née Reichenbach · daughter · named with both parents in her 1879 birth act
- Kurt Reichenbach · son · registered as Curt with both parents in his 1889 birth act
- Georg Wollenberg · son-in-law · reported Ludwig’s death in 1920
Sources
Sources
- Halberstadt address books, 1905 and 1914
- Martiniplan 10 land-register extract
- Germany, Saxony-Anhalt, Halberstadt, Civil Registration, 1874–1982, death entry 359 for Ludwig Reichenbach, 7 May 1920 (FamilySearch)
- Halberstadt civil birth act no. 343 for Paula Reichenbach, 18 April 1877 (FamilySearch)
- Halberstadt civil birth act no. 312 for Antonie Reichenbach, 6 April 1879 (FamilySearch)
- Halberstadt civil birth act no. 535 for Curt Reichenbach, 26 May 1889 (FamilySearch)
- National Refugee Service tracing card, Arolsen Archives DocID 131596011
- Reichenbach family descent chart
- Halberstadt Jewish cemetery register
What remains uncertain
Ludwig’s parentage is established by his civil death entry, and Paula’s, Antonie’s and Kurt’s parentage by three civil birth acts. The acts write Lina in 1877 and Pauline in 1879 and 1889; they also record the family at Hoheweg 24 in 1877 and 1879 and Hoherweg 47 in 1889. The chart’s 4 December 1918 death date for Lina conflicts with the cemetery register’s 14 December entry.