Case study I.: A brief look at the proximity of the Krupa lineage Q1b1a1a1a1/Q-Y2200 and the Oppenheim (von) / Oppenheimer lineages Q1b1a1a1a1/Q-Y2200
A lot has been written on internet about the fact that one of the most known surname in human history belongs to Ashkenazi Y-DNA lineage known as Q1b1a1a1a1 (and further newly detected and still not enough investigated minor recent subclades of the lineage).
That is the lineage not just of the J. Robert Oppenheimer director of the Manhattan Project, known as the “father of atomic bomb” and high Jewish nobility of Europe (Alfred Paul Ernst Freiherr/Baron/ von Oppenheim etc.) but also of the one of most powerful banking dynasties and of one of the most wealthiest families in the world.
From the Jewish “Patriziergeschlecht” Oppenheimer noble families “of Oppenheim”, “Oppenheimer”, “von Oppen field” and the “Lichtenstein” emerged. The family is related to the family Wertheimer, Cohen, Gomperz, Guggenheim, Auspitz, Lieben and Todesco. The narrow band of families provided a substantial international influence in the finance business, the commercial sector and in politics.
According to Forbes: Some 40 family members share in the ownership of Sal. Oppenheim Jr. & Cie. The bank, which was founded in 1789, is Europe’s largest ($8 billion in assets) and perhaps most prestigious private bank. It specializes in asset management and private banking.
Nicky Oppenheimer has a net worth of $6.2 billion as of April 2016, according to Bloomberg. He is the richest person in South Africa and is the 139th richest person in the world. How did he get rich? He is the chairman of De Beers diamonds, of course, and also has a significant interest in Anglo-American plc, the gold mining company. He also owns Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, the largest private game reserve in South Africa.
Due to my profession and family legacy, my particular or primary interest was in the fact that many scientific researchers (archeologist Max Freiherr /Baron/von Oppenheim etc.), scientists ( Dr. Frank Friedman Oppenheimer – the founder of the Exploratorium in San Francisco etc) and visual artists belongs to this surname (for insight in this fact please browse “Allgemeine Kunstlerlexikon – AKL On Line” or just type“artist Oppenheim” in Google).
Robert Oppenheimer with Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and other giants founded The World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS).
From this family comes also Gustav Ludwig Hertz (22 July 1887 – 30 October 1975) who was a German experimental physicist and Nobel prize winner and a nephew of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (22 February 1857 – 1 January 1894) who was a physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of electromagnetic waves theorized by James Clark Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory of light. Hertz proved the theory by engineering instruments to transmit and receive radio pulses using experimental procedures that ruled out all other known wireless phenomena. The unit of frequency – cycle per second – was named the “hertz” in his honor.
Von Oppenheim Coat of Arms (Wappen) – Kruppa von Oppenheim(ers)?
From the Oppenheim family also comes Matthias Graf (Count) von Krockow, Richard Maria Albert Emmerich Wilhelm Graf (Count) von Matuschka, Freiherr (Baron) von Greiffenclau, Freiherr (Baron) von Toppolczan und Spaetgen, gen. Graf Matuschka-Greiffenclau rtc.
Family Lichtenstein (our DNA match too), sometimes called„Liechtenstein“, Lichtstein, von Lichtenstein is Oppenheim family of changed surname after conversion on Christianity.
Research through genetic genealogy
Naturally this intrigues every normal person more or less and in this note I have briefly looked how I am related to him/them. In light of the fact that my family first surname is not known.
There is no conventional records of the direct paternal lineage for my Krupa family
Available or known genealogy of the Oppenheim family claims origin from a single person born some 540 years before the time of my own birth (1971):
Jehuda Löw Oppenheim (born on unknown location abt 1430 – † ca. 1531 in Worms)
Map from Jews of Frankfurt DNA Project, with listed kit numbers
There is a number of branches of this family: German as the largest and principal, French, Moravian-Slovakian etc.. I speculate that there is also a branch from Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth, later Russian Empire.
One of them is baptised in 16th century, but not much data are available – descending from
Loeb OPPENHEIM “of Hirsch”, “of gruenen Schild”, “of Rindsfuss” Frankfurt. Died: 1574 baptised: Paulus Renatus. DNA results not available to me. Due to the reason that my own lineage has been baptised under unclear circumstances this branch can be of potential interest in further research.
In 23&Me closest cousin (3rd-6th) in Q1b lineage is D. Hirsch (dont forget that “Oppenheim of Hirsch”) an architect from Metz and Hague.
Most often surnames include Cohen and Katz, which is important for the von Oppenheim genealogy research:
Most often surnames in Mladen Kruppa M.Sc 23&Me results (criteria is that surname appears 5 or more times among ancestral surnames of DNA matches)
Y-DNA comparison
In my current Y-DNA results at FTDNA (kit 89372) I have found that I match 3 persons on 37 Y markers (no higher number of markers currently available) and one on 67 Y markers (STR). Also, one more distant I have found in YSearch database.
In total 5.
In this article personal names of living people are removed for the privacy protection reasons.
Using well known FTDNATip Calculator (algorithm for calculation of time frame of the most recent common ancestor) in last 16 generations or 400 years (one genetic generation is c.25 years) we share common male ancestor with aprox. 80,19 % certainty with the Hamburg branch. For last 20 generations or 500 years that goes to 93,28%.
One of the calculations of the time frame fot the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA)
The most interesting one – Moravian/Slovakian branch is not tested so far. That is the most interesting one due to the reason that my grandfather has been born in neighbouring Silesia.
On available genealogical resources like Geni.com we can found records of number of Oppenheim/Oppenheimers from Silesia.
Additional insight into 37 Y-DNA comparison:
At level of 400 years with this branch there is probability of 82,52% of most recent common ancestor
One more distant branch than those of Hamburg
Most distant one (unknown Oppenheim) at the public database YSearch:
YSearch, the most distant Oppenheim branch
Autosomal DNA matches (from all other chromosomes but Y and X chr excluded)
Cousin from public database www.Gedmatch.com (7.5 generation distance)
William Milton OPPENHEIM (1918-2008)
GEDmatch Ref: 9871096 : I1156
Ancestral surnames (entire ancestry from federal states Hessen, Oberhessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany): Daub, Goldschmidt, Dewald, Herz, Allendorf, Kahn.
Oppenheim match from the public database/tool at Gedmatch.com. This Oppenheim has known ancestry solely from the Hessen Federal State in Germany with capitol Frankfurt am Main. And it overlaps shared segment on Chr.1 with two Oppenheimer matches at the 23&Me database.
Public details from http://www.Gedmatch.com
Krupa, Oppenheimer autosomal matches at 23&Me
Oppenheim and Oppenheimer matches of Mladen Krupa M.Sc. in 23&Me database on 29th of April 2016
Conclusion:
It has become clear through these limited but instructive findings that paternal lineage of my family (of unknown first surname) and the von Oppenheim/Oppenheimer paternal lineage are the very same lineage.
Therefore, the Krupa/Kruppa family is in various ditances related to the family Wertheimer, Cohen, Gomperz, Guggenheim, Auspitz, Lieben, Hertz and Todesco as well.
What we don’t know for sure is when we branched. Evidences suggest possibility within borders of so-called “genealogical time frame”.
Furthermore, in autosomal DNA Relative Finder at 23&Me database I have found that my father Mladen Krupa M.Sc match two person with one only common thing – ancestral surname Oppenheimer. With triangulation tool it has become obvious that we share common ancestor with common large autosomal segment (IBD) on Chr.1. Also, there is another match with ancestral surname Oppenheim.
In Gedmatch autosomal DNA database one Oppenheim match has been found as well. He share also the very same segment as two Oppenheimers from 23&Me (Chr.1). That is proof of the common ancestor.
That allows relatedness not just via common paternal ancestry/lineage (which is not unique for the Krupa family and shared among number of others in our haplogroup) but also through so-called “side lines” creating sort of more unique “von Oppenheim/Oppenheimer” ancestral genetic matrix for the Krupa family.
Research is far from complete.
As new evidences and test results comes I will take another look and re-examined the proximity between two families or should I say proximity between branches of a single family.
Alfred Krupa – Croatia
Contemporary Art Review 