Paul Alexander (The Father of the Mother of Doron Zeilberger)
Last Update: Aug. 1, 2009 [To post
Elisabeth Alexander's grave
(thanks to Gil Zeilberger)]
Previous Updates: May 15, 2002. (Thanks to John Kuhn)
Jan. 1, 2002 , Nov. 14, 2000,
Sept 2, 2000, Dec. 3, 1999 ;July 3, 1999, Dec. 22, 1996.
Feb. 3, 2003 (thanks to Tom(jr) Furstenberg,
who took pictures from Gitti Weiss's 90th birthday).
Sept. 17, 2005. [To enter Yael Barkai's marriage to Issai Keinan].
Dec. 22, 2005 (To enter
Paul Alexander's Last Letter
(
.doc)
and
Paul Alexander's List of Publications
(.doc)
[both translated by Kathy Wolff]) ;
Jan. 11, 2007: to record the birth of Zohar Alexander.
Sept. 3, 2007 (To update information about Michael Alexander and Dana Alexander).
Dec. 13, 2007 [Thanks to Ernst ("Alex") Alexander]
May 22, 2008 [thanks to Rivka and Shmuel Barkai,
to enter Yael Barkai's daughter Shachar, and exact dates of their other great-grand-children].
June 16, 2009 [to report the death of Brigitte ("Gitti") Weiss z"l]
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.
[here is the
street sign
(taken by Gil Zeilberger)]
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:
-
Michael Alexander (b. Tel-Aviv, Israel, June 6, 1963), graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania, has an M.A. in Political Science/Planning from the
Hebrew University at Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. in social
geography from the University of Amsterdam.
After completing his doctorate,
Michael was Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Haifa, Israel, and
research fellow at its Center for Public Management and Policy.
He previously worked as
consultant in the Long-Term Planning Department,
Municipality of Tel Aviv.
He has contributed chapters to
"Citizenship in European Cities" and other books.
In 2007, Ashgate published his book
"Cities And Labour Immigration:
Comparing Policy Responses in Amsterdam, Paris, Rome And Tel Aviv".
He is now living in
Jerusalem and works there too, as a Field Officer of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in their East Jerusalem office.
-
Dana Alexander (b.
Dec. 9, 1965, Tel-Aviv), graduated from Yale University and received her
Law degree from the Hebrew University at Jerusalem.
She aslo completed an executive course at the Mandel Institute for
Educational Leadership.
Dana works for many
years as a civil rights lawyer for the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI),
and is currently (2007) director of its Legal Department.
On October 28, 2006, Dana gave birth to a boy: Zohar David Alexander.
-
(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:
-
Michael (1930- March 27, 1948), who was killed
in the Galillee during the war of Independence,
-
Rivka (born 1927), who is married to Shmuel (Shmulik) Barkai (born 1922),
a retired member of the Egged bus cooperative, and a farmer.
Rivka and Shmulik have two children. Michal (b. Kfar Bialik,
1949), trained as an
Handasai (senior technician), who later was a bus driver
(one of the first women in Israel to do that job), and who
is also a certified tour guide.
Michal was married to Eli Ayalon, and has
3 children:
-
Guy Ayalon (born 1971), a swimming coach,
(who is married to ?, and is the stepfather of Roi (born April 15, 1999),
as well as the father of
-
Tom (a girl) ( born Dec. 24, 2003)
-
Lehee (born June 2006)
-
Ravit Ayalon(born 1972),
who graduated in 1999 from the Technion,
-
Merav Ayalon (born 1976), who got a master's degree in physics from the
Hebrew University.
Rivka and Shmulik's son is Arnon (b. Kfar Bialik, July 19, 1953), a farmer and
heavy equipment expert, married to (another) Michal,
a teacher and a flower-artist.
Arnon and Michal have four daughters:
-
(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:
