ZIERING

“Billy” Brendel Kleinberg (Ziering first cousin by marriage) and his wife Belle traveled the Vaudeville circuit. Billy played

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in The Chocolate Soldier in Denver and was said to look like Michael Todd. He is also listed as Billy Brendel Kleinberg. His

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parents owned a hotel in the Catskills (early 1900s) where the Ziering family vacationed. Billy’s sister Paulie married David

I really doubt that these guys are relatives, but if you meet one of them, it always gives them pause when you tell them about their

Ziering, brother of Wolf Ziering, my grandfather. Paulie and Dave had three children: Lillian Trotsky, Mary LeWitt (sister

Jewish relatives. One Ziering in Austria was recently contacted on Facebook and she admitted that her grandfather had been in

in law of artist Sol LeWitt), and Helen Meltzer. Billy’s sister Josie married a British count. Billy had another sister, Sadie

the SS. He told her the family was Jewish, just to make a point, I guess.

Kleinberg Hyman.

Actually, it was not uncommon for Jews and Christians to share the same last name: Some Jews may even (slyly, of course) asked to be given Christian surnames to make their own families seem “more respectable.”

Ziering means “riches” in German. There is a village in Austria by that name (a crossroads, really). There are lots of Christian Alright. I have a chip on my shoulder.

Zierings: and some even suspect they have Jewish ancestry. This bunch DOES have a (apparently purchased): Zierings turn up all over the place, and with a little bit of investigation, they all seem to be related. This is the case with the actor Ian Ziering’s family. Ian’s grandfather was named Reuvan Wolf (as opposed to our Wolf Reuvan), and was from the same OUR FAMILY CREST!

area of Poland/ Austria/ Moldova/ Galicia – all in the Pale of Settlement. Most likely our Wolf and his Wolf were named after the same Wolf (this takes it back to 1800, as the naming practices skip a generation, because, with the Jews, it’s a sacrilege to name someone after a living person, and in those days, apparently, naming a kid after a grandfather was a “safe” practice. I was told he was a farmer.)

Siggy Ziering who died recently in California was a chemist and Holocaust survivor who became very rich. There was

another Ziering who was a concert cellist in Miami. Still another, Jakub Ciring, contacted me from Canada years ago. He said he was half Russian and half Ziering, and was told by his father, “All Zierings are related, and you have a relative in the U.S. who is a famous actor. Go find him.”

Here is his letter from my voluminous files:

Jakub Ciring

60 Silverview Way, N.W.

Calgary, AB, Canada

Ph: (403) 286-3045

Calgary, February 03, 1992

AUG. 2012 EDITION (for Bob’s book)

Dear Robert,

Thank you for welcoming me into the Ziering clan and for the information about the origins of some of its members (and also for spelling my name the way it should have been spelled).

For the purposes of this letter, I have interviewed my father, Izrael Ciring, who also lives in Calgary (he moved here Fortunately, or unfortunately, I don’t think it belongs to us. Anyway, here are the Christian Zierings (“bunch of drunks”): in 1988 after my Mom’s death).