Karl Lagerfeld
Lagerfeld in 2011, photo by Prphotos.com
Birth Name: Karl Otto Lagerfeld
Date of Birth: 10 September, 1933
Place of Birth: Hamburg, Germany
Date of Death: 19 February, 2019
Place of Death: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Ethnicity: German, as well as small amount of Swedish
Karl Lagerfeld was a German creative director, fashion designer, artist, photographer, and caricaturist. He was known for being a main designer and director of the fashion house Chanel, as well as the Italian house Fendi, and his own fashion label. He lived in Paris.
Karl was the son of Elisabeth (Bahlmann) and Otto Lagerfeld (Otto Christian Ludwig Lagerfeld), a businessperson. His father founded Lagerfeld & Co, which imported evaporated milk.
Karl had evidently said that he was of Swedish descent. His surname has also been spelled Lagerfeldt, although historically the name was Lagerfeld. He only had a small amount of Swedish roots, though his patrilineal line.
Karl’s paternal grandfather was Tonnies Johann Otto Lagerfeld (the son of Adrian Peter Friedrich Lagerfeld and Johanna Therese Erika Friedlander Gorschy). Tonnies was born in Hamburg, and was a wine merchant. Adrian was the son of Johann Hermann Lagerfeld and Antonetta Maria Elisabeth Thiel. Karl’s great-grandmother Johanna was the daughter of Johann Joseph Gorschy/Gorsky and Anna Margarethe/Margaretha Elizabeth/Elisabeth Duver.
Karl’s paternal grandmother was Maria Wilhelmine Franziska Wiegels/Wiegele (the daughter of Ernst Wilhelm Wiegels/Wiegele and Elizabeth/Elisabeth Caroline Maria Warncke). Karl’s grandmother Maria was born in Hamburg. Elizabeth was the daughter of Franz Lorenz Peter Warncke and Johanna Sophia Maria Goscher.
Karl’s maternal grandfather was Heinrich Maria Karl Bahlmann (the son of Friedrich Wilhelm Bahlmann and Agnes Rath). Heinrich, known as Karl Bahlmann, was a Catholic Centre Party local politician.
Karl’s maternal grandmother was named Emilie Drecker.
Source: Genealogy of Karl Lagerfeld – https://www.geni.com
Her 3th great grandfather Thomas Johan LAGERFELD was Swedish.
His most distant ancestor was Israel LAGERFELT, that indicates clearly some distant Ashkenazi Jewish roots.
He did have more distant Swedish-born ancestors on his paternal line, although some of them have apparent German surnames like Apfelbaum, Von der Osten, and Odenkrantz.
I don’t think he had Jewish ancestry. There were non-Jews named Israel, both first name and last.
RIP
Lagerfeld sounds Jewish
He, a lot of Ashkenazi Jews have strong Germanic sounding surnames.
Lagerfeld sounds Swedish (well, more so if it was Lagerfeldt or Lagerfelt). I can understand why he might’ve thought he had Swedish ancestry.