Schirach (noble family)

Schirach/Šěrach

Ethnicity	Sorbian
Current region	Germany, United States
Place of origin	Lusatia
Distinctions	Ennobled on 17 May 1776
Name origin and meaning	George

Schirach or Šěrach is a noble family of Sorbian (i.e. West Slavic) origin. Many family members were noted as theologians, lawyers, historians, writers and artists from the 17th century. The family name is a Germanic form of the given name George (itself of Greek origin), formed under influence from West Slavic languages. Family members are resident in Germany and, since the 19th century, the United States.

Gottlob Benedikt von Schirach (1743–1804), a noted Professor of History, publisher of the Political Journal (Politisches Journal) and later a diplomat in Danish service, was ennobled in the Habsburg Monarchy on 17 May 1776. His son Karl Benedict von Schirach (born 1790) was a lawyer and writer in Germany, before he emigrated to the United States in 1855. His son Karl Friedrich von Schirach was a major in the US Army, fought in the American Civil War on the Union side and was an honour guard at President Abraham Lincoln's funeral in 1865. Karl Friedrich von Schirach married Elisabeth Baily Norris, a member of a prominent Philadelphia family. Their son was the theatre director Carl (Benedikt Baily Norris) von Schirach (1873–1948), who married Emma Middleton Lynah Tillou (1872–1944), who also belonged to a prominent Philadelphia family and who was descended from two signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, a former Governor of Pennsylvania and some of the Mayflower pilgrims. Carl von Schirach was born in Berlin, but was an American citizen until joining the Prussian Army. He left the army in 1908 to become leader of the Weimar Court Theatre. The son of Carl von Schirach and Emma Tillou was the politician Baldur von Schirach, who was leader of the Hitler Youth until 1940 and who was married to Henriette von Schirach. Henriette von Schirach was one of the few people known to have challenged the persecution of Jews to Hitler personally, after which the couple fell into disfavour in the Nazi leadership. They were the parents of lawyer Klaus von Schirach (born 1935), Munich merchant Robert von Schirach (1938–1980) and author and the noted sinologist Richard von Schirach (born 1942). Robert von Schirach's son is the lawyer and novelist Ferdinand von Schirach (born 1964), and Richard von Schirach's daughter is the socialite Ariadne von Schirach (born 1978).

In the 18th century, family members took an active interest in preservation of the Sorbian language, the Slavic language native to the people the family belonged to, which is closely related to Polish and Czech.

The family branch resident in the United States since the 19th century includes musician Otto von Schirach.

References

• Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch, B, 1907
• Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelige Häuser B, Vol. XIV, pp. 460f., Vol 78 (Gesamtreihe), C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1981, ISSN 0435-2408.
• Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelslexikon Band XII, Vol. 125 (Gesamtreihe), C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn), 2001, ISSN 0435-2408.
• Kurzer Entwurf einer Oberlausitz-wendischen Kirchenhistorie, Budissin, 1767.
• Hermann Konrad Eggers, Die Schirach und von Schirach, in: Vierteljahresschrift für Heraldik, Sphragistik und Genealogie Nr. 7 (1879), Berlin
• Max von Schirach, Geschichte der Familie von Schirach, Berlin 1939.
• Gottlieb Friedrich Otto, Lexikon der seit dem 15. Jahrhunderte verstorbenen und jetzt lebenden oberlausitzischen Schriftsteller und Künstler, Görlitz 1800-03. ND Hildesheim 1983
• Jan Brankačk/Frido Mětšk, Geschichte der Sorben, Vol. 1, Von den Anfängen bis 1789, VEB Domowina Bautzen, 1977
• Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie [Hgg. W.Killy & R.Vierhaus] Bd.8. Darmstadt 1998
• Michael H. Kater, http://books.google.com/books?id=v9xJPe0QchcC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17 Hitler Youth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-674-01496-1, ISBN 978-0-674-01991-1. S. 17. (Zur Genealogie von Karl Benedict von Schirach bis Baldur von Schirach)