Neuman Hirsch Jacobi in Copenhagen + the magic of Poznan

August 30, 2025

Neuman Hirsch Jacobi in Copenhagen + the magic of Poznan

Hehe, nope it is not Neuman, it is me in Poznan in 2013

for more, scroll till the end

Who was Neuman Hirsch Jacobi?

He was born on the 9th of January in 1794 in Poznań, Miasto Poznań, Wielkopolskie, Poland. More accurately, in Neustadt in Posen (Germany; now Lwówek, Poland).

He passed away on the 4th of June in 1881, when he was 87 years old. He was buried in Copenhagen in the North Jewish cemetery, Mosaisk Nordre Begravelsesplads.

Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172145324/neuman-hirsch-jacobi

The picture was taken by me in Mosaisk Nordre Begravelsesplads.

His wife was Sarah Moses Jacobi and was born in 1793 in Poznań, Miasto Poznań, Wielkopolskie, Poland. They had six kids:

- Jacob Jacobi (1824-?) married Ida Augusta Levin

- Adelaide Jacobi Saabye (1825-1883) married Joseph Caccavajo, then remarried F. Saabye

- Hanne Jacobi Bentschner (1827-1897) married David Bentschner, and they moved to the USA

- Rosette Jacobi (1831-1918)

- Moritz Jacobi (1832-1895) married Charlotte Phillips

- Louis Salyman "Sally" Jacobi (1835-1871) married to Louise Charlotte Birch

That means, only two of his children did not live longer than him, Jacob Jacobi Louis Salyman "Sally" Jacobi (1835-1871).

How did he get to Denmark?

So he was born in Germany, which is nowadays Poland. But he was born in a part of Germany where Polish people lived. When we think about Jews and Poland, a lot of times, we think about Auschwitz all the time or the Soviet Union.

But he lived in a different time, in the end of the 18th century, and at the beginning of the 19th century, he was a young person.

1806, Napoleon won in Berlin. Nauman Hirsch Jacobi was 12 years old.

Napoleon

Source: https://lex.dk/Napoleon_Bonaparte

Why was it relevant? Berlin is 271 km from Poznan, where Jacobi's family lived.

Source: https://vividmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Napoleons-Creatures.png

If you think the sanction is something new because of the Ukrainian and Russian conflict, then not.

Source: https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/pseudonym-for-Onfray-de-Breville-Jacques-Job/960962/Napoleon-Entering-Berlin-on-27-October-1806.html

After 1805, when the French-Spanish army lost at Trafalgar, Napoleon started a stronger invasion of the continent. That is why the French army conquered Berlin in 1806. In the same year, they also announced a sanction against British goods or products in France.

More: https://lex.dk/Napoleon_Bonaparte

So Neuman Hirsch Jacobi was 12 years old when he had to think about all those sanctions against England.

What more did Napoleon?

Started a war against Russia.

It meant that the French army had to go to Russia through the continent. There were no fast airplans to bring the soldiers to Russia.

War and Peace in Europe from Napoleon to the Kaiser: The defeat of Napoleon, 1806-1815

More: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/war-and-peace-europe-napoleon-kaiser-defeat-napoleon-1806

So we know that Berlin is 271 km from Poznan, where Jacobi's family lived. And Poznan is 299km from Warsaw.

Nowadays, with highways, it is 6,5 hours by car from Berlin to Warsaw through Poznan.

Source: http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/Napoleon_Europe_in_1807.png

So Neuman was 14 years old when his hometown was in the middle of the French and Russian armies.

Battle of Eylau

Source: https://www.napoleon-empire.org/en/battles/eylau.php

So very soon Neuman moved very fast to Copenhagen, Denmark. He was called in Hebrew, spelling "Nachum". His name became: Nachum Zwi Jacobi.

https://slaegtsbibliotek.dk/935236.pdf

https://slaegtsbibliotek.dk/900139.pdf

So as from the beginning of the post, we can see, he was married and had 6 kids.

Morits Jacobi, one of his sons, moved to the USA with his wife, Charlotte Phillips.

Source: https://slaegtsbibliotek.dk/935236.pdf

Unfortunately, nowadays, the cemetery looks much worse... most of the tombs are covered with moss...

But who was Neuman??

He started to work at Moses Isaach, tailor, then he married Moses Isaach's daughter, Sarah.

So Neuman became a tailor. One of his sons, Jacob Jacobi, also became a tailor. Jacob Jacobi also studied in Paris to be a tailor. He got married in Helligåndskirken in Copenhagen, and his wife was baptized in Sct. Petri kirke.

But let's go back a bit to Poznan, Poland

See some photos from Poznan from 2013, when I was there.