von Kleist
Pomerania · Neumark
Arms: Adolf Matthias Hildebrandt, in: Max von Spießen, Wappenbuch des Westfälischen Adels, Wikimedia Commons, gemeinfrei
Otto Lebrecht von Gerlach was a Prussian major. The family's first connection with the ancient Pomeranian Kleist nobility.
August von Gerlach was Landrat of the Fürstenthum and Köslin districts and later a member of the Reichstag and the House of Lords.
One of the oldest and most significant ancient noble families of Pomerania, documented since 1289 with Klest de Densin. Over the centuries the family shaped the history of Pomerania and Brandenburg as landowners, officers and state officials. Its most famous member is the poet Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811). With Asta von Kleist, the Parsow-Schwemmin main line entered a second, close connection with this family in 1861.
Sources: Degener Verlag, Deutsches Familienarchiv vol. 160 »von Gerlach – Lebensbilder einer Familie« (in German); Wikipedia articles on the families named; Wikimedia Commons (coat-of-arms images). Given to the best of our knowledge. Jürgen von Gerlach: von Gerlach. Lebensbilder einer Familie in sechs Jahrhunderten (Deutsches Familienarchiv 160), Insingen 2015 (in German). All sources. For corrections or additions, please contact the family administration.