Daniel Abraham

Alternate names and spellings: Paulina Dotnovskaite, Dotnovsky, Frumkiniene, Frumkin, Dr. Pauline Frumkin-Datnowski.

Polja (Paulina) Datnowsky was born July 28, 1892, in Siauliai, Lithuania, the daughter of Moritz and Bertha Datnowsky.

Paulina (Polia) Datnovsky as a baby with her grandparents - maybe Sora and Yossel Meir Datnovsky.

(Photo courtesy of Michael Frumkin)

Paulina (Polia) Datnovsky, Vilna.

(Photo courtesy of Michael Frumkin)

Paulina studied chemistry in Lausane, Switzerland and was a "Doctor of Chemistry", according to the Kaunas registry of 1922.

According to Michael Frumkin's father, she worked with Haim Weizman.

Her dissertation is listed in "Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, 1918:
"Ueber die Kondensation von 3,6-Dinitrothiodiphenylamin8ulfoxyd mit Anisol. Ueber die Konstitution der merichinoiden Salze. Dissert. Lausanne (Prof. Kehrmann und Dr. Piccard)."
Part I: Over the condensation of 3,6 Dinitrothiodiphenylaminsulfoxyd with anisole;: Part II: About the constitution of merichinoiden salts.

Polja Datnowksky

(Photo courtesy of Michael Frumkin)

She married Nicolai Frumkin in 1912 and had a son, Gregory Frumkin.

Polja Datnowksky at her wedding with Nikolai Frumkin, 1912

(Photo courtesy of Michael Frumkin)

Polja Datnowksky

(Photo courtesy of Michael Frumkin)

Paulina (Polia) Datnovsky in Berlin (ca 1923-1933)

(Photo courtesy of Michael Frumkin)

Paulina later divorced Nicolai Frumkin and married Max Soloveitchik.

Max Soloveitchik was the only Jewish minister in Lithuania, from 1918 to 1921, when he resigned.

The couple then moved to Berlin. There, Soloveitchik contributed to the "Encyclopedia Judaica."

Sometimes between 1933 and 1935, she immigrated to Haifa where she resided until 1945. She then moved to Jerusalem, where she stayed until 1948 during the Independance war. In 1949 she went back to Haifa where she lived until 1970.

Polja (ex Frumkin) Soloweitchik

(Collection of the author)

Polja died in 1975 in Ramot Hashavim, Israel.

Ghisa Soloweitchik

Gisa (Ghisa) Soloveitchik (Soloweitchik), from the Frumkin side of the family, married a Drouin.

Ghisa Soloweitchik was the model to Natalia Landauer, one of the characters of Christopher Isherwood's book "Goodbye to Berlin" ("Cabaret").

Small world? Wilfrid (Wilfried) Israel who organized the rescue effort of Jewish refugees in Spain during WW2 - effort which eventually let to Ronya Datnovsky's transit to Palestine in 1944 - appears as Bernhard Landauer in "Goodbye to Berlin"...

Six degrees of separation: Polja was a cousin of Ghisa Drouin, who was Bertrand Dorny's aunt, who himself was Andre Gide's grandnephew. Bertrand Dorny was a very close friend of Uriel, Ronya's son. They discovered the relationship after becoming friends.