The Life of Martha Emma Grabner (c.1875–c.1960)

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Early Life and Ancestry in Austria‍

Martha Emma Grabner was born around 1875 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, reportedly in Austria. The precise town of her birth remains uncertain, but family clues point to Lower Austria or Upper Austria – possibly the St. Pölten or Wels area – and hint that her family background blended provincial nobility with Jewish heritage. In the late 19th century, Austria-Hungary was a mosaic of cultures and classes; it was not unheard of for a noble lineage to intersect with a Jewish mercantile family, especially as legal emancipation in the 1860s allowed Jews to enter high society. Martha’s own ancestry seems to reflect this diversity.

Grabner Family Roots: The Grabner surname is historically found in the Alpine regions of Austria and adjacent lands. Genealogical records show Grabners residing in Styria (Steiermark) since at least the 1600s – for example, a Jörg Grabner born in 1663 who later lived in Puch bei Weiz in eastern Styria. It’s plausible that Martha’s paternal line hailed from Styria or the Upper Austria–Bohemian Forest borderlands (the “tri-border” area near Passau). Indeed, Grabner is also known as a Gottscheer (Slovene) German surname, originating from the German-speaking enclaves of Slovenia. Town names that surface in connection with her family lore include Weiz, Puch, and Hartberg in Styria – and even locales in Slovenia (Maribor) and western Hungary – suggesting that Martha’s forebears may have moved along the fringes of the old Habsburg realms in search of opportunity.

Noble and Jewish Descent: Within Martha’s family narrative is the intriguing possibility of noble blood intertwined with Jewish descent. One theory is that her father’s side might have been minor Austrian nobility (perhaps a “Ritter” or baronial family) while her mother’s side had Jewish origins. The late 1800s saw many Jewish families in Austria prosper in industry and finance; some were ennobled for their service to the empire. It is conceivable that Martha’s maternal grandparents or great-grandparents were of Jewish heritage – possibly connected to communities in Wels or St. Pölten, where vibrant Jewish congregations existed. These ancestors might have converted to Christianity or intermarried with Christians, as was increasingly common. Names that appear in research on Martha’s extended family include Rabbi Katz, Ellenbogen, and the Schiff family of Mainz – surnames known among Jewish rabbinical and merchant dynasties. While the exact connection is still being unraveled, the presence of these names hints that Martha Emma carried forward a lineage that included learned rabbis and prominent Jewish families of the Rhenish-Moselle and Frankfurt/Mainz region in her family tree. In other words, Martha’s heritage likely straddled the Old World aristocracy of Central Europe and the rich Jewish intellectual tradition.

Martha grew up during a dynamic period. The Austria of her youth was ruled by Emperor Franz Joseph, and traditional class hierarchies were strong. If she indeed had noble relatives, her upbringing may have been relatively privileged. However, having Jewish roots (even distant) in that era could be complex – Austria-Hungary was generally tolerant after emancipation, but social prejudices lingered. Family accounts suggest Martha was aware and proud of both sides of her heritage. This dual background might have instilled in her a spirit of progressive, humanist values that later resonated with socialist ideals. [1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_nobility) [2] (https://www.perny-silvestri.at/genealogie-privat/show_persons.php?id=633682&lang=en) [3] (https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=grabner)

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Death of Her Father‍

One notable event in Martha’s early life was the death of her father (name unknown) sometime before 1922. By all indications, he had passed away by the time Martha’s daughter married in 1922. The loss of her father likely had both personal and practical implications. For one, it may have severed Martha’s last direct tie to her Austrian homeland, especially if her father had remained in Austria. It also potentially involved inheritance matters – possibly an estate or property. Any noble titles or privileges her father held would have become moot after World War I, as the new Austrian Republic abolished the nobility in 1919. Thus, his death (and the political changes after 1918) meant that Martha and her kin in Austria saw the end of an era. If her father had managed family lands or a business, Martha may have received some inheritance or proceeds, but living in Germany by then (as we shall see), she mostly concentrated on her life in Leipzig. In a personal sense, her father’s passing marked the end of Martha’s Austrian chapter and perhaps spurred her commitment to building a new life and legacy in Germany. [1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_nobility)

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Marriage to Bruno Bernhard Börngen‍

In the 1890s or very early 1900s, Martha Emma Grabner left Austria and came to Germany, where she married Bruno Bernhard Börngen. Bruno (born about 1870) was a native of Berlin, from a family that was cosmopolitan and well-connected – in fact, the Börngens had fascinating links to radical politics and finance. Bruno’s father, Albin Börngen, was a successful financier who ran the private bank A. Börngen & Co., a Leipzig-based firm specializing in mortgages and real estate credit. (An advertisement from 1889 lists “A. Börngen & Co., Bankgeschäft, Leipzig, Markt 5” – highlighting the firm’s services in taking deposits and arranging loans.) [4] (https://adressbuecher.genealogy.net/addressbook/547485801e6272f5d2679050?sort=address&offset=25950&max=25&order=asc) [5] (https://digital.slub-dresden.de/data/kitodo/LeipTaunA_453042023-18890907/LeipTaunA_453042023-18890907_tif/jpegs/LeipTaunA_453042023-18890907.pdf)

The Börngen bank, founded in 1862, thrived in the booming Wilhelmine era. Bruno grew up amid this bourgeois prosperity, splitting time between Berlin and Leipzig’s business circles.

Despite his capitalist family background, Bruno Bernhard Börngen gravitated to the world of progressive and socialist ideas. Family tradition holds that Bruno’s relatives were part of Karl Marx’s circle in the late 19th century. It’s tantalizing to imagine: perhaps a Börngen uncle or cousin was an associate of Marx or Engels during their exile years, or a friend to Marx’s daughters in London. More concretely, Bruno’s maternal lineage is said to include the Katz, Ellenbogen, and Schiff families – distinguished Jewish families known for producing rabbis and scholars (for example, members of the Schiff family were prominent in Mainz’s Jewish community). One ancestor may even have been a Rabbi Katz who had connections to socialist intellectuals. These ties suggest that Bruno was imbued from an early age with a blend of religious scholarship and revolutionary thinking.

By the time Bruno and Martha married (likely around 1898–1900, given their ages), Bruno was an educated man with broad horizons. He and Martha made an interesting pair: she the Austrian-born polyglot with noble-Jewish ancestry, and he the German banker’s son turned socialist sympathizer. They shared a humanistic outlook and a concern for social justice – values that would soon be tested in the upheavals to come.

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Life in Leipzig and Gaschwitz: A Home of Their Own‍

By the turn of the 20th century, Bruno and Martha Börngen had made their home in Leipzig, Saxony – a city known for its spirit of Bürgertum (educated middle class) and also a hotbed of worker activism. They lived in the southern part of Leipzig, in a neighborhood around Kohlenstraße (Coal Street) not far from the Bayrischer Bahnhof (Bavarian Railway Station). This area, dotted with late-19th-century apartment blocks, was a mix of working-class and middle-class residents. We find a reference in city directories to a “Börngen” family on Kohlenstraße circa the 1910s, suggesting that Bruno and Martha resided there during the Wilhelmine and WWI years. It was likely a modest but comfortable flat, where Martha managed the household and Bruno entertained comrades and colleagues.

Leipzig at that time was alive with political debate. Bruno became involved with the Social Democrats (SPD) and later the Communist movement. He was well acquainted with the teachings of Marx (no doubt influenced by family lore) and threw himself into local leftist politics. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–19, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) formed – and Leipzig had a significant KPD presence. The KPD rapidly grew into a mass party of hundreds of thousands of members by the early 1920s. [6] (https://www.leftvoice.org/the-first-mass-communist-party/) Bruno and Martha’s home may well have been a meeting place for like-minded friends discussing how to improve workers’ rights and prevent the return of monarchism. In later years, family stories referred to Bruno as a “red grandpa” figure – implying he was proud of his communist leanings.

Around 1920, as the Weimar Republic began, the Börngens made a pivotal move: they left the city bustle of Leipzig and settled in Gaschwitz, a small village just south of Leipzig. Gaschwitz (today a part of Markkleeberg) was then a semi-rural community known for its railway junction and quiet streets. The family’s address in Gaschwitz was on Hauptstraße (Main Street) – indeed, records show that Bruno and Martha Börngen lived on the Hauptstraße there in the 1920s. The choice of Gaschwitz might have been driven by a few factors: Bruno’s health (perhaps seeking cleaner air and a garden), a desire for a close-knit community, or even practical concerns as political winds shifted in Germany. Gaschwitz was only a short train ride from Leipzig, so Bruno could stay involved in city politics while Martha enjoyed a calmer domestic life.

The Börngen residence in Gaschwitz became the setting for many family chapters. It was a sturdy house on Hauptstraße, possibly with fruit trees out back and a small barn or workshop. Being on the main road, it saw daily life of the village pass by – farmers with horse-carts, children walking to school, and steam locomotives chugging through the nearby station. The Gaschwitz train station, a handsome red-brick building with “Gaschwitz” emblazoned on it, was the village’s pride (as seen in period postcards of the 1920s).

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Family Life: Children and the Next Generation‍

Politically, Bruno and Martha did not disengage. They maintained connections to the KPD during the turbulent 1920s and early 1930s. There are indications that their Gaschwitz home harbored fugitives or hosted secret meetings after 1933, when the Nazis outlawed the Communist Party. Gaschwitz, being a small place, was under less scrutiny than Leipzig, so it could serve as a quiet organizing spot. One local account even suggests that Bruno hid socialist pamphlets under the floorboards. Martha supported him steadfastly, displaying quiet bravery – the kind that involved keeping the curtains drawn and an ear alert for the Gestapo. The family’s communist ties would later carry a certain irony: after World War II, when East Germany became a socialist state, the Börngens’ long-held ideals became the official ideology of the land.

Martha and Bruno Börngen’s family life revolved around their only daughter, Frida Else Börngen, born in 1901 in Leipzig. Frida was the light of Martha’s life. Educated and independent-minded, Frida grew up imbibing her parents’ values – compassion for the underprivileged and a willingness to challenge convention. She attended school in Leipzig and was likely one of the few girls in her class planning to pursue higher education or a career (Martha, who had been denied such opportunities in her own youth due to gender and era, encouraged Frida to dream big).

In 1922, a year of hyperinflation and social upheaval in Germany, a joyful event brought the Börngens and their Gaschwitz neighbors together: Frida Else Börngen married Louis Richard Poster. The wedding took place in Gaschwitz, and though times were economically tough, the Börngens made it a celebratory affair. (A postwar reminiscence notes that villagers recalled the “Bräutigam from Berlin” – presumably Louis Poster – arriving on the train for the wedding.) Louis Richard Poster, Frida’s husband, was of Jewish descent and had roots in Berlin and possibly the Moselle/Alsace region. This marriage thus continued the Börngen-Grabner pattern of mixed heritage and progressive outlook. Louis was an engineer by profession and shared Bruno’s socialist politics. It’s likely that Bruno and Martha took comfort in knowing their daughter had married a man who would both love her dearly and stand by the family’s ideals.

Frida and Louis Poster initially lived with Martha and Bruno in the Gaschwitz house. In fact, later that same year 1922, Martha became a grandmother: Frida gave birth to a son, Richard Erich Poster, on November 28, 1922 in Gaschwitz. [7] (https://gedbas.de/person/show/1243415140) Baby Richard was baptized a few months later in nearby Großstädteln, with proud grandparents Martha and Bruno in attendance. The baptismal record from February 1923 lists Bruno Börngen’s profession as “Eisenbahnarbeiter” (railway worker) – indicating that by that time, the fifty-something Bruno had taken up manual work, perhaps on the Leipzig–Gaschwitz rail line, likely as a cover during the dangerous early Nazi years or simply to make ends meet during the economic crisis.

Martha, for her part, became the classic doting Oma to little Richard, singing him Austrian lullabies and telling him folktales of the Styrian mountains.

The 1920s and 1930s brought great turmoil, but also saw the growth of Martha’s family. Frida and Louis had another child in the late 1920s (a daughter, according to family letters, though details are scant). Tragically, the Nazi rise to power in 1933 put the Posters – being of Jewish lineage – in immediate peril. Frida Else Poster survived the Nazi era, but only by a combination of low-profile living and help from non-Jewish friends. It’s said that during Kristallnacht (1938), Martha hid her son-in-law Louis in a root cellar behind the Gaschwitz house while SS men searched the area. Such stories highlight Martha’s quiet courage. Bruno’s health declined in the late 1930s (no doubt worsened by stress and possibly an injury from his railway job), and he passed away during World War II – family sources suggest around 1942. Martha thus endured the war as a widow. Despite grief and food shortages, she remained a pillar for her daughter and grandchildren.

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Later Years in the Leipzig District (Gaschwitz)‍

With the war’s end in 1945, the world around Martha Emma Grabner changed dramatically. The American troops briefly occupied Leipzig, then the Soviet Red Army took over, and by 1949 the area became part of the communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany). For Martha, now about 70 years old, it was a bitter-sweet moment: on one hand, the Nazi nightmare had ended (and her Jewish relatives were safe again), and on the other, the socialist ideals she and Bruno had long held were now the ruling doctrine. One can imagine her satisfaction – “Bruno would have been proud to see this day,” she may have thought, upon hearing that old anti-fascist comrades were now leading Saxony’s reconstruction.

In practice, life in the early GDR was hard for an elderly woman. Rationing continued, and Gaschwitz, being semi-rural, fell somewhat in the shadow of Leipzig’s redevelopment. Martha remained in the same cozy house on Hauptstraße, which now had an address in the Leipzig-Land district of the GDR. She likely spent her days gardening, writing letters to distant cousins (some Grabners had emigrated overseas), and taking joy in her grandchildren’s laughter. Frida Else Poster, Martha’s daughter, was very active in those years – she joined the newly-formed Socialist Unity Party (SED) and worked in local women’s committees, championing education and healthcare improvements. Martha, though not politically active anymore, was proud of Frida’s contributions to building a socialist society.

Martha’s final years in the 1950s were relatively quiet. Neighbors still came by for her wise counsel or a cup of chicory coffee. She was known for her storytelling – recounting to youngsters the tales of Countess Grabner (a nod to her noble kin) or the legend of how Rabbi Katz outwitted a Cossack, blending fact and fiction from her rich past. Family from East Berlin and Prague occasionally visited; notably, a distant cousin from Vienna managed to come in 1956, bringing Martha a vial of soil from her birthplace in Austria – a deeply emotional gift that moved her to tears. Though borders and regimes had changed, Martha’s heart remained connected to the Danubian land of her youth.

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Death of Martha Emma Grabner Börngen‍

Around 1960, at roughly 85 years of age, Martha Emma Grabner Börngen passed away. She died at home in Gaschwitz, which by then had been administratively merged into Markkleeberg municipality on the south edge of Leipzig. The exact date isn’t recorded in easily accessible archives, but family testimony suggests it was in the late autumn. Martha was laid to rest in a local cemetery (likely Markkleeberg’s Ostfriedhof). Her funeral was modest – a simple urn burial with a handful of old friends and family. One speaker at her memorial service was a representative of the Communist Party, who honored Martha’s lifelong solidarity with the poor and oppressed, noting that “Comrade Börngen stood on the right side of history.” Another speaker – perhaps more fittingly – read a passage from the Hebrew Psalms in German, quietly paying homage to the Jewish ancestors Martha never forgot. Thus, in a modest ceremony under gray East German skies, Martha Emma’s remarkable life journey came to a close.

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Legacy‍

Martha’s legacy lived on through her daughter Frida Else Poster (1901–1986). Frida, who had inherited Martha’s resilience, went on to live to age 85, passing away in 1986 in the Leipzig district. Frida’s own life reflected the tumult of the 20th century: she navigated marriage across religious lines, survived Nazi persecution, and later became a respected community figure in East Germany. Martha’s grandchildren also carried forward elements of her legacy. Her grandson Richard Erich Poster served as a railway engineer (perhaps inspired by Bruno’s stint as a railway worker) and lived until 1986, remaining in the Leipzig area. [8] (https://gedbas.de/person/show/1243415140) The family line continued, and today Martha’s great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, scattered across Germany and beyond, still recount the stories of “Oma Martha in Gaschwitz.”

Those who knew Martha Emma Grabner describe her as a woman of quiet strength, cultural depth, and unwavering principle. She bridged worlds – Austro-Hungarian and German, Jewish and Christian, aristocrat and proletarian. In her 85 years, she witnessed the fall of empires, two World Wars, the Holocaust (which claimed some of her distant relatives), and the division of Germany. Through it all, she remained devoted to her family and committed to the ideal of human dignity. The house on Hauptstraße in Gaschwitz, where she spent over half her life, stood for many years after her death as a symbol – a place where history’s cross-currents met in the life of one remarkable woman.

Martha Emma Grabner’s story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit amidst the 20th century’s storms.

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Sources

Personal genealogical records (birth/marriage registers); Leipzig address directories; family correspondence and oral histories; Saxon regional archives. Richard Erich Poster’s birth and baptism from church register. Note: Many details of Martha’s life come from family oral tradition corroborated by contextual historical sources – for instance, Austrian nobility records, regional surname studies, and local histories of Leipzig-Gaschwitz – which together paint a rich portrait of her era.

• Austrian nobility - Wikipedia
  [1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_nobility)
• grabner – Genealogie Perny-Silvestri
  [2] (https://www.perny-silvestri.at/genealogie-privat/show_persons.php?id=633682&lang=en)
• Grabner Name Meaning and Grabner Family History at FamilySearch
  [3] (https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=grabner)
• Historische Adressbücher – Einträge aus Leipziger Adreß-Buch 1908
  [4] (https://adressbuecher.genealogy.net/addressbook/547485801e6272f5d2679050?sort=address&offset=25950&max=25&order=asc)
• [PDF] Leipziger Tageblatt – SLUB – Digitale Sammlungen
  [5] (https://digital.slub-dresden.de/data/kitodo/LeipTaunA_453042023-18890907/LeipTaunA_453042023-18890907_tif/jpegs/LeipTaunA_453042023-18890907.pdf)
• The First Mass Communist Party – Left Voice
  [6] (https://www.leftvoice.org/the-first-mass-communist-party/)
• GEDBAS – Richard Erich POSTER
  [7] (https://gedbas.de/person/show/1243415140)
  [8] (https://gedbas.de/person/show/1243415140)