There is are some general observations which can be made about the general movement of the Cassirer "tribe" as this evolved over the years from the early C18 to their virtual expulsion from Germany.
No such description can be perfect since the period being covered is both long and politically turbulent and place names changed as a consequence transmuting in many cases from the Silesian years from ~1742 (the prussian predation) until ~1945. Click here for a map of Silesia, Prussia in 1882.
Borders in a modern sense were established but then shoved around afterwards. (There were also Nazi-renamings, which we ignore altogether). As an example, the division of Silesia in Nieder- and Oberschlesien (which sometimes is marked with 'O. S.' or 'O.-S.' or O/S) is at the same time a short hand designation (for the district Oppeln, and Kattowitz during the war) and sometimes an exact political designation, whereas Lower Silesia had always two districts: Liegnitz and Breslau.
As Expat,1 a contributor to this site, notes, as far as the Cassirer history is concerned, it appears that in a very general view they moved from very poor rural places around Silesia (clockwise: Russia, i.e. occupied Poland, and Habsburg countries like Galicia, small remains of Habsburg-Silesia next to the southwestern border, Moravia and Bohemia) to rural places in Prussia, and as their mobility was less and less restricted they moved from Upper Silesia - first from little Bujakow to bigger Rybnik and then to industrial boom towns like Beuthen! - to Breslau, Goerlitz etc. and then to Berlin.
Places of interest from this perspective (referred to either in documents, history, or family tree) include:
- Bad Ziegenhals (Oberschlesien, Upper silesia; now Głuchołazy, Poland)
- Berlin (until 1945 Prussia, today Berlin)
- Berlin-Charlottenburg (borough)
- Berlin, Grunewald (borough)
- Berlin-Spandau (borough since 1920)
- Berlin, Wilmersdorf (borough)
- Breslau (Niederschlesien, Lower Silesia; 1526-1741 Habsburg Monarchy, then until 1945 Prussia, now Wrocław , Poland)
- Beuthen (Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; now Bytom, Poland)
- Bujakow (Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; now Bujaków, Poland)
- Bujkowitz ('Bujkowitz' is perhaps wrong; Wikipedia (german) refers to 'Bukowitz' instead, in western Prussia, now Bukowiec in Poland, or Bukowice in Moravia, now Czechia; theoretically all of them might somehow have had connections with Cassirers [in one Moravian case even as a place where heavy smuggling of sugar to Silesia was usual].)
- Charlottenburg (Prussia until 1920, then Berlin-Charlottenburg)
- Danzig (1793-1919 Prussia, then Gdańsk, Poland)
- Gleiwitz (Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; now Gliwice,Poland)
- Goerlitz (1815-1945 Prussia, then cut into halves by the river Neisse: west of it is part of GDR until 1990, now Saxonia; east of it is Zgorzelec, Poland)
- Gogolin (Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; now Gogolin Poland)
- Kattowitz (Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; now Katowice Poland )
- Krappitz (Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; now Krapkowice, Poland)
- Nieder Heiduk (also Niederheyduk; Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; 1869 part of the new city Koenigshuette, now Hajduki Dolne, part of Chorzów, Poland)
- Oberglogau (Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; now Głogówek, Poland)
- Oppeln (capital of Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia, now Opole, Poland)
- Posen (Prussia until 1919, now Poznań, Poland)
- Schubin (Posen, Prussia until 1919, now Szubin, Poland)
- Spandau (Prussia until 1920, then Berlin-Spandau)
- Schwientochlowitz (Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia; now Świętochłowice, Poland)
- Wloklawek (until 1919 Russia, then Włocławek, Poland)
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1 Expat, private communication, 11 Jan 2013 ⇑