Wall of the 
Historically Noteworthy

Latest update - October 8, 2009

To view additional information for an individual, click on the small books ( ) at the end of the entry. Please send with any names you wish to add.  Similarly, send us information on web sites for additional information for those individuals for whom we have no current links.



Richard BEER-HOFFMANN
(1866 Vienna - 1945 New York)  Author. Grew up in Brno (Brünn), Moravia

Hugo BERGMANN
(1883 Prague - 1975 Jerusalem)  Professor of Philosophy and first President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Louis Dembitz BRANDEIS
(1856 Louisville - 1941 Washington, D.C.)  U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1916-1939), first Jew to sit on Supreme Court.  Parents emigrated from Prague to U.S. in 1849

Max BROD
(1884 Prague - 1968 Tel Aviv)  Author, philospher and critic

Leopold EIDLITZ
(1823 Prague - 1908 N.Y.)  Architect

Dr. Heinrich FLESCH
(1875 - 1942) Most important for genealogists, his specialty was his research into the origin of  Jewish names

Felix FRANKFURTER
(1882 Vienna - 1965 Washington, D.C.)  U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1939-1962).  Mother's name was Emma WINTER

Hadassah Lieberman née FREILICH
Wife of U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman

Sigmund FREUD
(1856 Pribor (Freiberg), Moravia  - 1939 London)  Doctor and founder of psychoanalysis.   Mother's name was Amalie NATHANSOHN

Alfred Hermann FRIED
(b. 1864 Vienna, d. 1921), won 1911 Nobel Peace Prize

David FRIEDMANN
(1893 Mährisch Ostrau - 1980 St. Louis, Missouri) - Holocaust Artist
David GANS
(1541 Prague -1613 Prague) Scientist




Sidonie GRUENWALD- ZERKOWITZ
(1852 Tobitschau, Moravia - 1907 Karlsbad, Bohemia).  A writer known for her naturalistic and erotic works and poetry


Rabbi Shabtai Ben Meir HaCOHEN
(1621 - 1663 Holesov, Moravia)  The idea of a comprehensive review of the Talmud each week was revived by Rabbi Shabtai Hacohen, author of the classical Siftei Cohen on the Shulchan Aruch. His Poel Zedek (Worker of Righteousness) was a listing of the 613 mitzvot, each identified by a one-line scriptual source. He divided them into seven sections to enable readers to easily complete a total review each week.  There is a museum in Holesov dedicated to him



Bruno HAMMERSCHLAG EBEL
(May 5, 1904 Vitkovice, Moravia - April 25, 1974 Panama)  A pioneering and well-respected physician in Panama


Hugo von HOFFMANSTHAL
(1874 Vienna - 1929 Rodaun near Vienna)  Author and founder of the Salzburg Festival


Edmund HUSSERL
(1859 Prostejov (Prossnitz, Moravia) - 1938 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) Philosopher, founder of Phenomenology

Rabbi Adolf JELLINEK
(1821 Drslavice (Drslawitz), Moravia - 1893 Vienna)  Chief Rabbi of Vienna, considered to be the most forceful Jewish preacher of his time in Central Europe


Emil JELLINEK
 (1853 Leipzig - 1918 Geneva).  Diplomat.  Son of Rabbi Adolf Jellinek of Drslavice, Moravia.  Involved in the design and naming of the Mercedes automobile, after his daughter Mercedes JELLINEK


Franz KAFKA
(1883 Prague - 1924 Kierling near Vienna).  Author, considered one of the most important of the 20th Century.  Mother's name was Julie LÖWY

(click on the last book icons for family background information)

Eric KANDEL
(b. 1929, Vienna) won 1999 Nobel Prize in Medicine


Hans KELSEN
(Prague 1881 - Berkeley 1973). Prof. Kelsen is generally recognized as one of the greatest jurists and philosophers of law in the20th century. His parents moved from Prague to Vienna.  Kelsen drafted the Austrian Constitution
(video- auf Deutsch)

Egon Erwin KISCH
(1885 Prague - 1948 Prague)  Journalist


Walter KOHN 
(b. 1923 Vienna)  1998 Nobel prize winner in Chemistry.  Father's family was Moravian, mother's family was Galician


Rudolf KOLISCH
(1896 Klammm, Austria - 1978 Watertown, Massachusetts)  Violinist, founder of the Kolisch quartet that championed modern music of his brother-in-law Arnold SCHOENBERG and Bela Bartok.  Son of Rudolf Rafael KOLISCH


Rudolf Rafael KOLISCH
 (1867 Korycany (Koritschan), Moravia - 1922 Vienna)  Doctor, authored several books on the treatment of diabetes.  Nephew of Siegmund KOLISCH.  Also descended from REIF, SINGER and WETTSCHEK in Korycany, Ostroh and Butschowitz, Moravia


Siegmund KOLISCH
(1816 Korycany (Koritschan), Moravia - 1886 Hodonin (Göding), Moravia)  Journalist and author active during 1848 revolutionary period.  Theater critic and feuilletonist for the Neue Freie Presse


Madeline Albright née KORBEL
Former U.S. Secretary of State

 

Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD
(1897 Brno (Brünn), Moravia - 1957 Hollywood)  Composer.  Was considered the greatest child prodigy of his time


Rabbi Noda B'Yehuda the Gaon Rabbi Yechezkel (Ezekiel) LANDAU
(1713-1793) Chief Rabbi of Prague.  For more information, including an extensive genealogy, go to    THE OFFICIAL NODA B'YEHUDA WEBSITE  --->

 
Rabbi Judah LOEW 
(The Maharal of Prague)
(1525 Posen-1609 Praha) The Maharal was one of the most seminal thinkers in the post-medieval period.  He developed an entirely new approach to the aggada of the Talmud and it is likely that no previous author devoted so much space to the interpretation of the non-halachic thought of the rabbis of the Talmud (click on the second "book" to read about Rabbi Loew and the Golem)

Gustav MAHLER
(1860 Kaliste (Kalischt), Bohemia - 1911 Vienna)  Composer and conductor.  Grew up in Jihlava (Iglau), Bohemia.  Also descended from BONDY and HERMANN


Lise MEITNER
(1878 Vienna - 1968) Of Moravian origin, she was an Austrian-Swedish physicist who first identified nuclear fission

I.E. Ludwig MOSER
Founder of Moser Glass - "Glass of Kings, King of Glass"


Max Ferdinand PERUTZ
(b. 1914 Vienna - 2002), won 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry


Sir Karl Raimund POPPER
(1902 Vienna - 1994 London)  Generally regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science of this century.  His father, Dr. Simon Popper, had come to Vienna from Bohemia


Harry POTTER
Fictional Character.  His grandfather, Hessel Potchker, was portrayed as an immigrant from Bohemia and a descendant of the venerable Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel - as reported in Hadassah magazine -->


Max REINHARDT (GOLDMANN)
(1873 Baden, Austria - 1943 New York)  Director.  Founder of Salzburg Festival

Adolph Joachim SABATH
(1866 Zabori, Bohemia - 1952)  U.S. Democratic Representative from Illinois.  Champion of the "New Deal," he introduced several labor, relief and social welfare measures.  He died two days after being reelected to his 24th term in Congress.  Mother was Barbara EISENSCHIMMEL


Fritz SAXL
(1890 Vienna-1948) He became a very famous art historian, working most of his life at the Warburg Institute in Hamburg.  After fleeing the Nazis, he lived in London where he continued to carry out Warburg's legacy


Maximillian 'Max' Rudolf SCHLING
(1874 Horni Cerekev - 1943 New York)  Horticulturist. Schling was particularly known for his success in orchid hybridization. For a time he worked in the Hapsburg Palace Gardens, then emmigrated to the United States and opened a shop in the Savoy in New York City. He cultivated the persona of friendly flower shopkeeper to the New York elite, while quietly building a large corporation, running greenhouses, seeds catalogues, and putting into place the origins of 'teleflorist.' He was one of the few Jews featured in the 1930s New York Blue Book. Schling was celebrated enough for Ogden Nash to pen a poem about his green thumb and for features in the 'New York Times' and 'New Yorker'.

Arnold SCHOENBERG
(1874 Vienna - 1951 Los Angeles)  Composer.  Considered perhaps the greatest of the 20th century, founded the Second Viennese School and developed twelve-tone method of composition.  Mother Pauline NACHOD from Prague.  Also descended from JONTOF-HUTTER, TRITSCH, ZEIMER, ZODEX from Prague and Hreshilavy (Rescholau), Bohemia

Otto (Ota) SITTIG
Prof. Dr Sittig of Prague may have been the world's first neurologist to perform
(scientifically sound) open brain surgery in the 1920s or '30s


Hermann STEINSCHNEIDER (Erik Jan Hanussen)
(1889 Vienna - 1933) Famous clairvoyant and psychic.Extremely well-known throughout Europe in his time, he still retains a modern-day cult following in astrological and paranormal circles

Moritz STEINSCHNEIDER
(1816 Prostejov [Prossnitz, Moravia] - 1907)  Famous Orientalist, one of the father's of modern Jewish learning, and one of the founders of Modern Zionism

Franz WERFEL
(1890 Prague - 1945 Beverly Hills)  Author

Max WERTHEIMER
(1880 Prague - 1943 New Rochelle, NY, USA)  He was an outstanding psychologist and founder of the Gestalt Psychology


Rabbi Isaac Mayer WISE
(1819 Lomnicka (Steingrub), Bohemia - 1900 Cincinnati)


Karl WITTGENSTEIN
(1847 Gohlie near Leipzig - 1913 Vienna).  Entrepreneur, started with mill at Teplice (Teplitz), Bohemia and later owned shares of the Bohemian Mining Company, directed Prague Ironworks.  Father of Ludwig and Paul WITTGENSTEIN

Ludwig WITTGENSTEIN
(1889 Vienna - 1951 Cambridge)  Philosopher, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century.  Motherís name was Leopoldine KALMUS


Paul WITTGENSTEIN
(1887 Vienna - 1961 New York)  Pianist, lost arm in WWI and continued career as famed one-armed pianist

Eric ZEISL
 (1905 Vienna - 1959 Los Angeles)  Composer.   Mother Kamilla FEITLER from Cesky Budejovice (Budweis).  Also descended from BLOCH, KOHN, LEWY, REICHMANN, STAMPFER, STEININGER and ZEISL from Ckyne, Kolodeje (Kalladay), Pardubice (Pardubitz), Rozmberk (Rosenberg) in Bohemia and Rozsochy (Rassoch) in Moravia