Dear Jewish-Genners,I am in serious need of advice and guidance. I
have written about this before but new documents have surfaced. This is a
little long but details are really necessary so thanks for bearing with
me on this.

For years now I've been trying to figure out if my Great-Grandfather
(MOsiek/Moses/Max KLINGER born November 10, 1860 on most documents)
had been twice or three times. The following documents led me to
believe that there were three wives. Marriage to Chana (Ewa)
Marja/Maryjem "Marion" ROZENCWAJG >from marriage certificate as well as
Strasbourg Census of alien residents. She dies April 04, 1900.
Birth Certificate of my Grandmother (Lea Elisabeth KLINGER LUSTIG
born in Herxheim formally Herscheim, Alsace) as well as the marriage
certificate of her older sister (Rifke "Regina" KLINGER FACTOR born
in Pietrokov) has Mother as Anna JOSKOWITZ/CHEENY NISLI JOSKWITCH b.
July 07, 1879 Pietrokov, Russia/Poland (birth date and place >from
(Strasbourg Census of alien residents). No death certificate has ever
been found for her in Strasbourg or Dortmund and I have not been able to
locate a birth certificate or marriage certificate in Pietrokov.
Birth record of my Great-Uncle Herman KLINGER (born November 04, 1921)
received >from Dortmund as well as several German records >from before
WWII as well as >from her arrest and deportation papers shows his mother
as Nisle LEVI/LOWI born August 22, 1881 in Koeningshofen, Alsace.
No birth certificate has been found for her in or around Strasbourg.
Now with three different names and three different birth dates and
birth places, it would seems like a done deal that there were three wives
but one of my Aunts insist that there were only two wives, another says
there were three, and today I received a form for emigration >from the
Netherlands that show my Great-Grandfather with wife Cheeny Nisli Joskowitch
(now born August 22, 1876 in Peterhof, Poland) and children leave the
Netherlands September 15, 1919 for Alsace. The birth date listed,
the fact that they leave the Netherlands in September, 1919 and
arrive in Dortmund, Germany February, 1920 has now given me doubts
about there being three wives. (For clarification, family leaves Alsace
during WWI to Netherlands, leave Netherlands after war ends to Strasbourg,
then Germany.)

And it continues:Per notes on his death papers, (information sent
to me) there are notes that my Great-Grandfather changes his date of
birth to January 1, 1872 and being born in Strasbourg. Per researcher:
The name of his wife is again denoted as Niler Klinger, born as "Lewi".
His age is declared as 70 years, which goes along with his real age.
This entry did not change, allthough later in a sidenote the information
"born on 1.1.1872 in Strasbourg" was added, what would have made him to
a 59 year old man.

A researcher in Germany sent me this explanation about the differences in
birthdates for my Great-Grandfather:You can see that the dates of Max
Klingers birth are different >from those in the "Record Office"
in Strasbourg. The interpretation of the facts leads to the idea, that
Max Klinger intentionally gave wrong dates about his person to the
authorities. With his place of birth in Lodz, the german authorities
would have seen him as a polish citizen. If he had told his date and
place of birth in Strasbourg, they would have seen him as a french citizen.
Only by changing his date of birth into a time, when Strasbourg and the
Alsace was annexed by Germany and was made to german territory after the
war between Germany and France, he could insist on becoming a citizen of
a german state, in this case Prussia. In the "Hausstandsbuch" of the
Schwarze-Brueder-Str. you can see, that this was successful and the whole
family had the prussian citizenship.

So the question remains, is wife #2 and wife #3 the same person? Would she
also changed her birth date and place of birth as well as her last name
as well to be officially considered German or eligible for a German
citizenship? And other note: June 6, 1896 my Great-Grandfather stays
with a family named Levy in Strasbourg. Is there a connection?

All documents (except the record of birth for my Uncle Herman) and the
information received >from Dortmund can be found at my website

http://geocities.com/gincig/klinger/klingerfam.htm
and

http://geocities.com/gincig/factor/factorfam.htm
Also, I am still looking for information on Germann Klinger >from my
Great-Grandfathers first marriage. He was born April 24, 1896 in
Zurich and probably died before 1921 when my Uncle Herman is born.
(Two other children >from my Great-Grandfather's first marriage pass away
and he names two children >from second marriage with same name.)

Thanking all in advance for help, advice or anything offered.
This is a family mystery that really needs to be solved and I'd
really like to put it away once and for all!

Debby Painter
Michigan