Today’s weekend posting comes to you courtesy of friend-of-these pages Bernd Stracke. Who, if you’re asking, is Mr. Stracke?
Bernd Stracke, 75, is a retired journalist in Innsbruck with Lower Styrian roots, has been researching the history of his ancestors for many years. Recently, with the help of his Swiss cousin and genealogy expert, Thomas Bettschart, he discovered a breathtaking family connection from Cilli (Celje), Marburg (Maribor), Negau (Negova), Graz, and Munich to the Rio Grande do Sul in western Brazil.
The above bio came from him, and without much further ado, here’s a wonderful story about the ties that bind across time and space. I’ve barely edited Mr. Stracke’s text lightly for clarity.
Prologue: The Ties That Bind
Bernd Stracke is a descendant of the worldwide branched Steinbren(n)er family, originally from Winterberg in Bohemia (today Vimperk), from which the Lower Styrian line (Negau, today Negova, and Marburg, today Maribor, both in present-day Slovenia) split off with the families Flappi and Bandek from Cilli (today Celje, Slovenia).
A prominent representative of the Negau/Marburg line was the former master builder of Marburg, architect Karl Wilhelm Steinbrenner, Bernd Stracke's great-grandfather. The wife of the master builder, Stracke's great-grandmother, was the former head of the post office of Iswanzen near Negau (today Spodnji Ivanci), Maria Romana Koller, daughter of the master carpenter Carl (Karl) Koller (1815-1903). Maria Romana’s brother Rupert Koller, born in 1866 in Graz, became a master woodturner; at the age of 31 in 1897, he married the then 21-year-old daughter of master baker Anna Maria ‘Anni’ Röckl in Munich, Germany.
Ill.: The wedding photograph of Anna Maria Röckl and Rupert Josef Koller, dated Munich, 27 Jan. 1897.
A Titanic Error
For decades, the (south)Styrian Steinbrenner family told and retold the story that Maria Koller’s brother Rupert had gone aboard the Titanic in 1912 while trying to emigrate to America shortly before the outbreak of World War I. He and his family—according to family lore—died in the sinking of the ocean liner after its collision with an iceberg. After all, the relatives who stayed behind in Europe never heard again from Rupert Koller.
Today, the Titanic archives list the names of most of the victims, but the list is obviously not 100% complete. A small number of travellers—on the deck of the poor people—have probably not been listed by name, some sources suspect.
Thus, the absence of Koller's name on the official victim list did not necessarily mean that Rupert's family was not on board and thus not perished. Meticulous research by Bernd Stracke's Swiss cousin Thomas Bettschart, however, recently revealed, to the surprise of the family who remained in Europe, that Rupert Koller was still alive in 1942—in South America!
Further research by the ‘Steinbrenner genealogist’ Bettschart, the parish record researcher Inge Friedrich-Steinbrenner, and DNA analyses of a worldwide genealogy platform ultimately led to the unambiguous identification of descendants of the Negau Steinbrenner line and descendants of Rupert—who later called himself ‘Ruperto’—Koller (1866-1942) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Ill.: Passenger manifest of the steamer ‘Aachen’ from the North German Lloyd Bremen showing Ruppert Koller and his relatives.
The last piece of the mosaic was found in the archives of a passenger list of the steamship ‘Aachen’ (North German Lloyd Bremen). The names of Rupert Koller (then 47 years old), Anna Koller (then 37 years old), Max Koller (then 21 years old), Ida Koller (then 18 years old), and Franz Paul Koller (then 15 years old) were found.
Styrian Wine—from Rio Grando do Sul
Diligent, determined, with undeniably great courage, entrepreneurial spirit, and economic flair, the five Kollers who arrived in South America spit into their hands under the most difficult conditions in a country that was completely foreign to them and started, ‘according to Styrian custom’, production of wine, fruit juice, and vinegar.
Ill.: The Koller plant in 1944.
Of course, the popular drink ‘Cachaça’ could not be missing in the product range. Like rum, Cachaça is a sugar cane product. Instead of molasses, fermented sugar cane juice is used for cachaça. The final product must contain between 38-48% alcohol and has a distinctly spicy, sweet, grassy, and slightly fruity taste.
This precursor of rum is the Brazilian national spirit and according to law can only be produced in Brazil. In Central Europe, Cachaça is mainly known as a component of the caipirinha cocktail. Of the 1,500,000,000 litres of cachaça produced annually, more than 99% are consumed in Brazil.
When Rupert ‘Ruperto’ Koller died on October 5, 1942 in Marcelino Ramos, Rio Grande do Sul, he left behind a small but economically healthy company.
On 13 April 1944, exactly 80 years ago, ‘Ruperto’s’ son Franz Paul ‘Francisco’ Koller (1898-1960) and his sons founded the company ‘Bebidas Koller’ that later became ‘Vinagre Koller’.
Over the years, the product range was radically streamlined, the production of cachaça, wine and fruit juices was discontinued, and the focus was set exclusively on high-quality vinegars. Today, the company is one of the largest and most traditional vinegar producers in Brazil. On the company website the proud success story of the company is told as follows:
Our History: A Classic of Taste Since 1944
The history of the Koller company began on 13 April 1944, when Francisco Koller and his sons founded their beverage company. At that time, the company was headquartered in Marcelino Ramos, a municipality in the north of Rio Grande do Sul…
In 1949, the company moved to the city of Erechim, also in the north of Rio Grande do Sul, where it continues to this day and finally concentrated exclusively on the production of vinegar.
The prestige and confidence that the Koller brand enjoys in the market are the result of 70 (note: updated 80) years of experience, customer respect, commitment to quality and modernity, without losing the tradition of producing vinegar with unforgettable flavours and aromas.
Spared From the Horrors of Both World Wars
As if on an ‘Island of the Blessed’, the Kollers of Rio Grande do Sul were spared the horrors of both the First and the Second World War in Latin America.
The joy of family ties rediscovered in 2023 knew no bounds in families on both continents. Rosalie Cristina Koller, born on 5 May 1962 in Erechim, is the most important link between the relatives in Brazil and Austria, who is also very interested in family research and with whom old photos, memories and documents, are exchanged across the Atlantic.
Rosalie Koller is a communication and media scholar, business economist, and entrepreneur with an academic background in Lisbon (Portugal) and Florianópolis (Brazil), who describes herself as ‘retired but not shut down’.
Bernd Stracke is an academically certified translator for French and Spanish, was a long-time expert for courts of law in media and public relations, and is also a journalist ‘retired but not shut down’. In Innsbruck, Austria, he writes commentaries and op-ed on business, politics and culture for various print and online media.
Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil and Brazilian Balsamic Vinegar
Rosalie spontaneously picked up an—admittedly a bit crazy—idea of her cousin Bernd to ship a box of original Koller-balsamic-vinegar to her former European home country to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Koller company. Together with her brother Roland Bernardo Koller, born in 1956 (grandson of company founder Francisco Koller and son of Frederico Maximiliano Koller), and Roland Bernardo’s son Rafael Koller, Rosalie actually organised the shipment of the ‘sample’, which was delivered to Innsbruck on 22 of March 2024.
Ill.: The vinegar sample obtained by Bernd Stracke in April 2024.
The personal evaluation of the Koller balsamic vinegar, which Bernd sent to Rosalie, Roland Bernardo and Rafael, is as follows:
When I tasted the Koller vinegar myself, I noticed the following ingredients in its aroma: sun, earth, meadow, sorell, dandelion, red wine, wine cellar, oak barrel, sugar syrup. Then I analysed its taste in the different areas of my tongue. Here is my perception: Umami (tasty, spicy): 35% sweet: 25%; sour: 15%; salty: 15%; bitter: 5%; spicy (pepperoni): 5%.
Summary: The Koller Balsamic Vinegar occupies an absolute top position on my palate, and its use in my household is reserved exclusively for relatives and close friends. By the way: Pleasant extras are the aesthetics of the bottle, the noble design, the optimal filling size (300 ml), the comfortable and secure original closure and the possibility of re-opening as well as the advantage of unbreakability over conventional glass packaging.
With great care, the vinegar will be transported to the upcoming Steinbrenner family reunion in June in Übelbach near Graz, where there will be served traditionally Styrian ‘Backhendl’ (fried chicken) with potato and green salad specially refined with Styrian pumpkin seed oil and Koller’s Brazilian balsamic vinegar.
Editor’s Note
I promised to check The Erich Sonntag Postcard Collection for images from Brazil, and while I know there are some, I sadly lacked the time this week. I shall see to this in due time.
What an amazing story! It's kind of weird that Roland broke family communication after departure, maybe some family rift, else just too busy getting on with life. The vinegar sounds delicious too, from the description!
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing it.
What an amazing story! It's kind of weird that Roland broke family communication after departure, maybe some family rift, else just too busy getting on with life. The vinegar sounds delicious too, from the description!