Paul Alexander was born on Dec. 9, 1870, in Tirschtigl, Prussia, the son of Rebecca Pinner Alexander and Solomon Alexander . Paul was very bright, but, in high school only worked on subjects that interested him (science), and hence flunked out after 10th-grade, and at the age of 16, entered a vocational program for pharmacist's assistant, that involved apprentenship during the day, and theoretical studies during the night. The best student in that program was allowed to enter the university without high-school diploma (Abitur), and that happended to be Paul. His University studies culminated with him earning a Dr. phil. in 1897, from the University of Leipzig, under the direction of J. Wislicenus. His dissertation was entitled: `Ueber die Einwirkung von o-Nitrobenzylchlorid und Matriummalonsaeureaethylester'.
In 1900, he married Elfride Pinner Alexander (1875-1942) , and they had six children listed below.
His specialty was the recycling (regeneration) of rubber. He had numerous patents, both German and foreign, for example US patent no. 844,077 (issued Feb. 12, 1907). He started a company for the recycling of rubber, and became a wealthy man. His fortune came to an end in the mid-twenties because of the great decrease in prices of new rubber, that came from the openings of new markets from Africa, and the great inflation of 1923. He was forced to sell his stately mansion, and move to a much smaller apartment. Nevertheless, he continued his research, and constantly published, and was one of the world's great authorities on the regeneration of rubber. He contributed 4 articles to the first edition (1919) of Ullmann's famous Encyclopedia of Technical Chemistry and 3 articles to the second edition (1930).
He had several mentions in the book `History of the Rubber Industry' published in 1952 by the British Inst. of Rubber Industry.
The directory of Greater Berlin: "Jüdisches Adressbuch fü
gross-Berlin" has him listed as follows:
Alexander, Dr. Phil. Paul, Fabrikdirecktor, Chalottenburg,
Insterburgalle 21.
When Hitler came to power, all his children managed to get visas and escape out of Germany, with the exception of Elisabeth, who nobody wanted to grant a visa to, because of her Heart-Illness. Not wishing to leave Bettchen behind, Paul and Elfride stayed in Germany.
In May 23, 1942, which was his 46th wedding anniversay, he wrote his Last Letter ( .doc) summarizing his scientific accomplishments, followed by his List of Publications ( .doc) [both translated by Kathy Wolff]).
When they were taken away, in 1942, to a concentration camp, Betty committed suicide by jumping out of the window. Like more than six million others, they perished in the gas chambers. He died on Sept. 5, 1942 in the concentration camp Theresienstadt.
His list of publications (until 1931) appeared in the famous Poggendorff's directory of scientists.
His children are:
Friedrich Ludwig Alexander ( Berlin, Nov. 7 1902 -Cape Town, South Africa, July 1971). F. L. Alexander was a talented artist and sculptor, training at the Kunstakademie, Berlin. Emigrating from Germany in 1936, he became a leading art critic in South Africa, working for the daily newspaper `Die Burger'. He was also the curator of the Jewish museum, Cape Town. He wrote the books: "South African Book Plates", Cape Town, 1955 (with others); "Art in South Africal since 1900" Cape Town: A.A.Balkema, 1962, and the posthumous (completed and edited by Roman Waher)"South African Graphic Art and its Techniques", Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1974. Ludwig was married to Malvina ("Malve") Mund (Lwow, Poland 20 Nov. 1903-Cape Town, South Africa, August 1971), who died shortly after him. They have one son, Ernest R. Alexander (b. Dresden, Germany 11 Dec. 1933). Ernest ('Ernie' to his family and `Alex' to his friends), is professor emeritus of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and now lives in Israel. He graduated in Architecture at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from The University of California-Berkeley. He has practiced architecture and town planning in Israel, Britain, and Ghana, worked as a senior planner in California, and has been a consultant for local government, state, and national government agencies in Wisconsin and Israel. His books and monographs include: "How Organizations Act Together: Interorganizational coordination in theory and practice", Amsterdam: Gordon & Breach,1995. "Approaches to Planning : Introducing Current Planning Theories, Concepts, and Issues", Amsterdam: Gordon & Breach, 1989 (2nd. Ed. 1992; Arabic edition 1995, Italian edition 1997, Korean edition 1999). "Evaluating Plan Implementation: The national statutory planning system in Israel" (with R. Alterman and H. Law-Yone) Progress in Planning 20 Part II, Oxford: Pergamon, 1983. "Going It Alone: A case study of planning and implementation at the local level" (with R.M.Beckley) Washington, DC: USGPO 1975. Ernest is married to Shulamit ("Shuly") Stock (b. Katowitz, Poland, 15 April 1937). They have two children who live in Israel:
(Louisa) Marianne (Alexander) Ohnstein ( Dec. 10, 1903- March 27, 1989). Marianne was married to Alfred ("Alf") Ohnstein (Aug. 19, 1897- Dec. 21, 1996), a farmer, who lived in Kfar Bialik, Israel, until his death (at the age of 99 and a half), where he was one of the founders and head of village-committe for many years. They had two children:
On Sept. 1, 2005, she was married to Issai Keinan. The wedding took place in her parents' farm in Kfar Bialik and they were about 250 guests. Yael and Issai Keinan have (so far) one child
(Marie) Gertrude Kuhn (June 15, 1906 Charlottenburg (Berlin)- October 31, 2000., Pierport , Michigan). Gertrude Kuhn was married to Paul Wilhelm Kuhn (January 17, 1901. Charlottenburg (Berlin)- Nov 12, 1986). Gertrude and Paul, both artists, escaped from Germany to South Africa, and then emigrated, in the early sixties (when their children were teenagers), to the United States. Gertrude and Paul Kuhn have two children: Anna Charlotte Kuhn (b. October 31, 1944, ? Cape Province, South Africa. ) and Wilfred John Sidney Kuhn (b. March 25, 1946, Somerset West, Cape Province, South Africa). Anne is currently married to ? Howson. With her first husband, ? Levi, she has three children: Arielle Levi (b. ?) Abraham Levi (b. ?) , and Nini Levi (?-?), a girl who was killed in a car accident. John Kuhn's children are: Mark Allan Kuhn (b. July 8, 1971, Brookline, Massachusetts), Jason John Kuhn (b. February 13, 1973., Worcester, Massachusetts) [Jason has a son Jacob Steven Kuhn b. May 5,2000.], Steven James Kuhn (February 9, 1975 - May 5, 1997) [Steven has a daughter Samantha (b. ca. 1996)], Lara Catherine Kuhn Dodson (b. December 9, 1980) [Married to Dustin Andrew Dodson (b. April 10, 1979) on April 5 2001, and whose children are Ashten Andrew Dodson (b. February 26, 2000) and Blaize Erin Dodson (b. November 19, 2001)], and Alexander Paul Kuhn, born July 3, 1988.
(Dora) Elisabeth ("Bettchen") Alexander (March 25, 1909-1941).
(Clara) Brigitte (Gitti) (Alexander) Weiss (b. Jan. 6, 1913). Brigitte (Giti) is the widow of Hans Issac (Yitzhak) Weiss (June 21, 1902- Aug 11, 1983), a lawyer, who was a judge in his native Germay. When he immigrated to Palestine, he worked as a carpenter from 1934 to 1943. He then worked in the legal department of the Israel ministry of Treasure. They have two children: Ada (born May 8, 1944), a lawyer, who is deputy legal advisor of the Isreali Ministry of Transportat (recently Ada was a memebr of a Tenders committee on light rail ), and Matti (born Nov. 15, 1945, Ph.D. 1977) who is supervisor of oceanography at the Israeli Inst. of Meterology. Matti is married to Nili (born June 29, 1949), and they have four children: Ori (b. Nov. 24, 1982), Tom (b. Aug. 5, 1984), Aviv (b. Sept. 13, 1987) and Sachar (b. July 18, 1990).
Added Feb. 3, 2003: On Jan. 11, 2003 we celebrated, in Matti's house (in Ramat Raziel, outside of Jerusalem), Gitti's 90th birthday .
(Eva) Ruth (Alexander) Zeilberger ( Aug. 2, 1915- Nov. 1979), my mother. (See http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~zeilberg/family/ruth.html).
Paul Alexander's parents are:
Solomon Alexander , and Rebecca (Pinner) Alexander.