People

In 1824, Joseph Behrens (sometimes also called Robert Behrens) was born in Lüchow, southeast of Lüneburg. His parents Jakob Behrens and Henriette Behrens were both originally from Dannenberg. They belonged to the extended Behrens/Ahrons family.

Joseph himself moved from Lüchow to Dannenberg and became a citizen there in 1856. He married Johanne Herzberg from Hitzacker. Together, they had five sons.

As a banker, Joseph Behrens took over a banking house in Dannenberg that had been founded by Jewish banker Israel Marcus Mansfeld and then continued by his widow - Joseph Behren"s aunt. When the widow Mansfeld died in without children, Joseph Behrens became her heir. Although he was now the owner, Behrens retained the traditional name "J. M. Mansfeld Witwe".

In 1880, he moved to Lüneburg, where the "J. M. Mansfeld Witwe" bank was opened in a large house at Am Sande 18 (today the main office of the Lüneburg local newspaper). The family also lived in the house. Joseph"s eldest son Paul joined the business as a partner in 1891. Joseph Behrens died in Lüneburg in 1893 and was buried in the town"s Jewish cemetery.

Sources and info:

Magdeburg Stumbling Stone biography for Bertha Behrens

Autobiographischer Vorspann, Kapitel "Die alten Juden in Dannenberg", in: Peter Rück/Erika Eisenlohr/Peter Worm (Hrsg.), Abraham Bresslau (1813-1884): Briefe aus Dannenberg 1835-1839. Mit einer Einleitung zur Familiengeschichte des Historikers Harry Bresslau (1848-1926) und zur Geschichte der Juden in Dannenberg, Marburg an der Lahn 2007, pp. 128, 158

Name variants: Josef Robert