This is the summary of a longer document written originally in German by our father Heinz Goldbaum
(Born 1912) now living in Kiriat Bialik, Israel.
He wrote his own memories of the stories his grandfather Adolf told him, along with a research he did in various public libraries like the Hebrew university in Jerusalem.
His brother Paul Goldbaum from Toronto Canada translated this document to Spanish.

Danny & Neomi & Dor Goldbaum, Israel - 1999.

He chose his name in 1797. In his home town Grabow, a small village in the Prussian province Posen
(now part of Poland). The next biggest town was Ostrowo. The Jews were 6% of the population in the province at the end of the 18th century.
In April 17 th 1797 the Prussian government published regulations concerning the empire's Jewish population in Posen.
One of the regulations was that each Jew must chose a family name by which he and his descendents will be Known, from that day on.
Till then Jews did not have family names in this part of the world. A person would be known as "David the son of Jacob" etc', (Gentiles had already family names).
Jews lived in Posen since the 13th century - escaping prosecution during the second & third crusades, in Germany.
in the 18th century the Jewish Community in Grabow was well organized, active and its members took part in the town administration.
In the 19th century the farmers in Posen were Polish. Administrators, teachers and doctors were German. Most of the Jews were merchants or craftsmen.

David's son Loeb Goldbaum, a grain merchant and a land owner married a nee' Markus, they had twelve sons and one daughter.
The Goldbaums were strong and tall people well respected in the Jewish community. Loeb was active in the "Hevra-Kadisha" having the honorable job of digging the grave before the burial.
He was well respected among the gentiles as well giving the farmers generous credit in paying off their debts for the grain he sold them. He was a wealthy man making between 2000-4000 Thaler annually (Mid 19th century)
He raised his children in the German culture - German was the language spoken at home.
Between 1840 and 1880 many thousands of Jews left Posen, among them 11 of Loeb's children, their families and other members of the wider family circle.
Their immigration was part of a general Jewish immigration wave, caused by a national conflict between Poles and Germans in Posen. Life was getting more and more difficult for Jews even though generally supporting the Germans, suffered restrictions and oppressions from the German administration as well as from the Polish population.
Only the eldest son remained in Europe - Adolf Goldbaum, a physician that studied Medicine in Germany and often came across Anti Semitic feeling among the German students.
Apart from German he also spoke Russian, Polish and French.

After serving in the Prussian army during the Prussian-French war of 1870 - 1871, as an army Doctor, he looked forr work. He went as far as Lodz in Poland where he settled.
There he fell in love and married Bronislava Gruenfeld, daughter of a rich merchant in 1879. Their son Wenzel was born in 1881. Lodz at the time was under Russian regime.
In 1885 expulsion order was published against all Jews with German nationality . He had a chance to convert. Instead Adolf took his family back to Germany. They settled in Frankfurt were he practiced medicine until 1918. His son Wenzel Goldbaum studied law in Berlin. He was trained at the office of Paul Alexander-Katz, lawyer and professor for patent rights. At his home he met his daughter Marie. They got married at 1911. They had five children: George-Heinrich (Heinz) - 1912, Fritz-Ludwig - 1913, Peter - 1917, Suse - 1920 and Paul-Eberhardt 1921.

Wenzel was a German patriot and fought for 4 years in the Prussian army in World War I (1914-1918), even though he was already by then a successful and well known lawyer.
Wenzel specialized in copyrights for cinema and records, which was a novelty between the two word wars. His precedents and verdicts are still used in the German court today.
The family moved to Paris In 1933 because of the Nazi regime. Wenzel, Marie and their younger children Suse and Paul left Europe to Ecuador in 1936. Wenzel was teaching in the university and was a member of the Ecuador delegation to the United Nations. He learned Spanish and besides his books about Law he translated Spanish poetry and plays into German. Heinz the oldest , immigrated to Palestine in 1936, he served in the British army in Africa and Italy during World War II. He now lives in Kiriat Bialik in Israel. Heinz has three children: Margurite (living in England), Neomi and Danny both live in Israel. Danny has three children:
Dor Gili and Michal.
Fritz joined the foreign Legions in France, he managed to join his parents in South America. He had three sons: David, Roberto and Ruben.
David's children are: Melisa Goldbaum Weber, Viviana and Alejandro.
Roberto's children are: Andrea, Federico Luis and Gabriela.
Peter joined the American Intelligence, he returned to Germany after the war, wrote plays and was a producer
for cinema and theater. He had a daughter - Manuela who now lives in Zurich Switzerland and has two sons:
Wenzel and Peter.
Suse lives in San-Francisco, has a daughter - Graciela who lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Leon Garry and her son Timothy.
Paul left Ecuador, first lived in Peru and than in Toronto Canada. He had Three sons: Carlos living in Madrid, Bill living in California and Pepe that lives in Canada. Carlos Adolfo married Maria del Rosario and has three children Paul, Karl Heinz , and Erika.
Bill married Barbara and they have two children Diana and David. Jose (Pepe) married Claudia and they have two children: Matthew Wenzel, and Grace Evangeline.

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