Josef Enders

Josef Enders was an ethnic German born in Prague in 1842 and became a circus horse rider. He eventually moved to Timisoara (Temesvar) where he met and married another circus rider, Maria Stutzbart. In 1863 they established an equestrian circus known as Circus Enders. Two of his daughters, Maria and Paula, were horse riders in the circus. The circus traveled throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany and Italy. Josef died in 1894 and his wife continued to operate the circus until it was sold in 1904. His daughter Maria would marry the circus manager, Simon Rieffenach, and they would establish their own act, The Riding Rieffenachs, and emigrate to the United States in 1922 and perform with the Ringling Brothers Circus. His daughter Paula would marry another circus performer, Victor Balasic, and they would establish an acrobatic act. They too would emigrate to the U.S. in 1923 and perform in Vaudeville theaters as the 5 Balasis, World's Only Head-to-head Jugglers.