JewishGen Discussion Group #JewishGen (Slovakia) Do You Know This Family--Possessions Found in Family Attic 70 Years After Deportation #general
Jan Meisels Allen
Do you know the survivors of this family >from Presov Slovakia: Samuel
GOTTSCHALL born in 1878? Family photographs and other family reassures were found stashed away in an attic. They were found by a handyman who was fixing his neighbor's leaking roof. Mr. Gottschall and family were deported to concentration camps in 1942 the year the deportation of the city's Jews started. Part of the items found were apparently looted over time- such as a jewelry box that is now empty. But newspaper clippings and family photos may be of interest to surviving family members. The items were given to the city's Museum of Jewish Culture with the hope the family could be identified and relatives located. The head of the Presov Jewish Museum said they went through material and compared the photos with the Museum's historic archival photographs. >from that comparison the Museum believes the materials belonged to the family of the Jewish Neolog cantor Samuel Gottschall. The items were found in a house next to the building that was the Neolog Synagogue. Before WW 2 there were 136,000 Jews, today Slovakia has about 4,000 Jews. Between 1942-1945 about 6,000 Jews were deported >from Presov. After the war about 800 persons returned to Presov and then relocated to Australia, North America, Israel and the United Kingdom. Mr. Gottschall may have had a son who survived the war: Benjamin Bela Vojtech - who became a rabbi. After the war he immigrated to Australia and died in Sydney in 1978. Any relatives who get in touch with the museum can claim the items To read the story and see photos go to: http://tinyurl.com/ntcvmyg Original url: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2891431/Haunting-images-grave-Chilling-family-photographs-treasured-possessions-left-Jewish-family-sent-Nazi-concentration-camp-discovered-hidden-attic-70-years-later.html Presov is one of my ancestral towns. Jan Meisels Allen Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee |
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