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Biographical Notes About The Schlesinger Family

The Schlesinger family is another branch of our ancestors, Walter Natt's maternal great grandmother on his mother's side being Charlotte Schlesinger, who was married to Jacob Bischheim.

Charlotte Schlesinger's great grandfather in turn was Loeb Schlesinger, who arrived in Frankfurt in 1762 and died in 1771. His son, Baruch Loeb Schlesinger, married Treitel Falk, whose family in Frankfurt dates back to 1550 and who was the sister of Jackel Falk, who married into the Rapp family, as indicated on the Rapp family tree.

Other than the dates engraved on their tombstones, nothing is known about these ancestors.

As indicated on the family tree, they had 4 children. The only one of the 4 children we know about is Wolf Baruch Schlesinger and his wife Regina Schlesinger, nee Cahn.

This couple had 16 children, one of whom, Charlotte, was married to Jacob Bischheim, who were the parents of Walter Natt's maternal grandfather, Bernhard Bischheim. Wolf Baruch Schlesinger was a chazan (cantor) at the synagogue, and at the same time, a very successful stockbroker.

Since most of the children moved away from Frankfurt, many to England and some to France and Holland, we are aware of a few descendants, in addition to our own family, as follows:

Bernhard Schlesinger (1815-1887) married Kathinka Rapp (1836-1927), whom I still knew as a boy. He took over the operation of the Rapp fabric business and was the main beneficiary of this very profitable firm. Their 2 sons, Eugen and Richard Schlesinger, moved to London, where they were very successful stockbrokers. I was repeatedly invited to their homes during my visits to London as a boy - they were very British. My parents stayed at Richard Schlesinger's house during most of the World War II years, while he with his wife stayed at their country home.

Their son, Bernard Schlesinger, was a pediatrician and also a major general in the British army. He commanded the British garrison in Narvick (Northern Norway) until the British were driven out of Norway by the Germans during World War II. His only son, John Schlesinger, is a movie producer and is the recipient of an Oscar award. He is not married.

Bernhard and Kathinka Schlesinger's daughter Marie had 4 children; Bernard Schuster, a banker in Amsterdam, and his sister Stephany lost their lives in the Holocaust together with the 2 young children of each. Martin and Nellie Schuster were never married and died in 1941 and 1957 respectively.

A picture of the Schuster family in their living room in Frankfurt is shown herewith.