Looking for Knoepfler ( or Knopfler) originally >from Abony Hungary
Farkas, Wigner and Hajdu ( nee Hirschler) >from around Budapest.
Any information would be appreciated - please email me at
tamas@u.washington.edu
Thank you
Peter T Knoepfler

Looking for Knoepfler ( or Knopfler) originally >from Abony Hungary
Farkas, Wigner and Hajdu ( nee Hirschler) >from around Budapest.
Any information would be appreciated - please email me at
tamas@u.washington.edu
Thank you
Peter T Knoepfler

I have a great uncle who was born in Austria in 1876. He came to this country
about 1887.. Family stories state that he was in an orphanage in San Francisco
in the mid 1880's - supposedly with a brother and sister. His obituary states
that he went to elementary school and a "Hebrew" High School - no mention of
the orphange. I am trying to determine if there are any records of orphanges
and or Jewish High School in SF in the 1880's (probably about 1886) How did he
get to SF etc. etc. Most records seem to have been lost in the 1906
earthquake/fire. I have been unable to locate anyone with his parents names
in the City Directories for the years in question.

Researching: FUTORANSKY.. kiev
BUNCHAK: Tarasha-Ukraine
ZAVATOVSKY: Ukraine
BENDERSKY: Urkraine
RIZNAVSKI/RESEFSKY: Korostyshev, Ukraine
SILVERSTEIN: Austria

I have a great uncle who was born in Austria in 1876. He came to this country
about 1887.. Family stories state that he was in an orphanage in San Francisco
in the mid 1880's - supposedly with a brother and sister. His obituary states
that he went to elementary school and a "Hebrew" High School - no mention of
the orphange. I am trying to determine if there are any records of orphanges
and or Jewish High School in SF in the 1880's (probably about 1886) How did he
get to SF etc. etc. Most records seem to have been lost in the 1906
earthquake/fire. I have been unable to locate anyone with his parents names
in the City Directories for the years in question.

Researching: FUTORANSKY.. kiev
BUNCHAK: Tarasha-Ukraine
ZAVATOVSKY: Ukraine
BENDERSKY: Urkraine
RIZNAVSKI/RESEFSKY: Korostyshev, Ukraine
SILVERSTEIN: Austria

Hello,
Elsa Drezner asked about a book "Memories of my shtetl." Although I
do not know the book, I think I may be able to help with the names. It
is possibly in Polish (or Yiddish); the two towns she mentions are
Dzikow (with an accent on the "o" and so pronounced DZHEE-kov) and
Tarnobrzeg (Tar-NOH-brzheg). Dzikow is not the same as Tarnobrzeg but
is, instread located just a bit to the north (1 or 2km). Both are
located in southeast Poland, about 75 miles northeast of Krakow.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

David Gordon
Chicago, Illinois
Searching: HORWITZ Smolevichi, Lapichi, Bobruisk?
GORDON Vilnius
GEBALOVITCH, BENENSON Borisov
LEVIN Kovno
DRAZIN Bobruisk

Hello,
Elsa Drezner asked about a book "Memories of my shtetl." Although I
do not know the book, I think I may be able to help with the names. It
is possibly in Polish (or Yiddish); the two towns she mentions are
Dzikow (with an accent on the "o" and so pronounced DZHEE-kov) and
Tarnobrzeg (Tar-NOH-brzheg). Dzikow is not the same as Tarnobrzeg but
is, instread located just a bit to the north (1 or 2km). Both are
located in southeast Poland, about 75 miles northeast of Krakow.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

David Gordon
Chicago, Illinois
Searching: HORWITZ Smolevichi, Lapichi, Bobruisk?
GORDON Vilnius
GEBALOVITCH, BENENSON Borisov
LEVIN Kovno
DRAZIN Bobruisk

My question is: Were there any sort of regular lotteries in Russian
society, and (if so) what were they likely to offer in terms of winnings?
I would love to separate out tall tales >from family history here.

Yes. My family has similiar stories. Our story ends a bit different: the
lottory won right around 1917, and soon afterwards the money, now discarded by
the new "Boulshovik" coup, was worthlesss :-(

-Yigal Rechtman
www.rechtman.com

+ Yigal Rechtman email: RECHTMAN@aol.com +
+ http://users.aol.com/rechtman/index.html
+ Genalogical Research: RECHTMAN, Suwalk; Augustow; +
+ WYBRANCZYK, Lomza;FOGGLEMAN, Riga; MILLER, +
+ Mazstrow-Maz.; MARCUS, Kwarsk +

My question is: Were there any sort of regular lotteries in Russian
society, and (if so) what were they likely to offer in terms of winnings?
I would love to separate out tall tales >from family history here.

Yes. My family has similiar stories. Our story ends a bit different: the
lottory won right around 1917, and soon afterwards the money, now discarded by
the new "Boulshovik" coup, was worthlesss :-(

-Yigal Rechtman
www.rechtman.com

+ Yigal Rechtman email: RECHTMAN@aol.com +
+ http://users.aol.com/rechtman/index.html
+ Genalogical Research: RECHTMAN, Suwalk; Augustow; +
+ WYBRANCZYK, Lomza;FOGGLEMAN, Riga; MILLER, +
+ Mazstrow-Maz.; MARCUS, Kwarsk +

Hi Jewishgenners,
Issy Fine >from Canada, with his interesting posting on Belarus/Ukraine has
gone and triggered me off again. I feel that I must throw in my
halfpenny's worth about Eastern-Eurropean Jewry. To anyone who may be bored
by my ravings, I beg your forgiveness in advance.

The Jews in Eastern Europe have, apparently, been there for hundreds of
years, and some communities trace their histories back for a thousand
years or more. The origins vary, but it appears that, for the most part,
the basis of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe comes >from Jews who
settled the Rhineland region of Western Germany/Eastern France during the
period of the Roman Empire and, for various reasons, gradually spread
eastwards and northwards into Central and Eastern Europe.

Because of the generally disorganized and unstable nature of European
Society >from the fall of the Roman Empire until recent times, Jewish
community life has not always been too stable either, and one could find,
in parts of eastern Europe, other influences as well (remnants of the
Spanish exile, Jews >from Khazaria, Karaites, and others) who may have, in
one way or another, influenced local communities.
This would on, the one hand, explain the prevalence of Yiddish ( a dialect
of medieval or old German, or what is sometimes called Plat-Deutch - Flat
German), in many ways similar to some German dialects spoken today in
South-West Germany/Switzerland, with a further Hebrew and possibly Slavic
influence, among Eastern European Jews, while, on the other hand, it
might explain dialectical variations within the Yiddish of various regions.

[By the way, I have a very funny anecdote to tell about this. My late
mother, though born in South Africa, spoke a very fluent Litvak-Yiddish,
as well as English and South African-Dutch. Her younger sister, who spoke
Yiddish, but not so fluently, married a Jew >from Switzerland, and went to
live in Zurich in the 1960's. On one visit to her sister, my mother once
got into a conversation with a neighbour who speaks only German (the
local version). My mother, who knows no German, spoke in Litvak-Yiddish,
and managed to get by reasonably well. A few days later, my aunt told my
mother that the neighbour had commented very flatterngly about her, and
that she had been very impressed that "A visitor >from Africa could speak
such marvelous Schwitzerdeutsch. In fact, she speaks it much better than
you do, and you've been living here for years!"]

To cut a long story short, Eastern/Central European Jewry could be roughly
subdivided into three or four groups: i.e. those who where under German
influence, those who were under Russian influence, those who were
Austro-Hungarian influence and, maybe, those who retained some
independence, (at least for some of the time), >from all these influences.
One must remember that the whole area with large Jewish populations (at
least, so it was before the Nazi era), spreading roughly >from the Baltic
to the Black Sea, and >from the Ukraine/Russia border to Western Germany,
has been bouncing backwards and forwards, through a series of wars and
other major upheavals, between various empires for five hundred years or
more. Given the almost anarchic conditions prevailing for much of this
period in this part of Europe, it's amazing that Jews survived at all,
never mind flourish.

All the best,
Chaim Charutz.

Hi Jewishgenners,
Issy Fine >from Canada, with his interesting posting on Belarus/Ukraine has
gone and triggered me off again. I feel that I must throw in my
halfpenny's worth about Eastern-Eurropean Jewry. To anyone who may be bored
by my ravings, I beg your forgiveness in advance.

The Jews in Eastern Europe have, apparently, been there for hundreds of
years, and some communities trace their histories back for a thousand
years or more. The origins vary, but it appears that, for the most part,
the basis of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe comes >from Jews who
settled the Rhineland region of Western Germany/Eastern France during the
period of the Roman Empire and, for various reasons, gradually spread
eastwards and northwards into Central and Eastern Europe.

Because of the generally disorganized and unstable nature of European
Society >from the fall of the Roman Empire until recent times, Jewish
community life has not always been too stable either, and one could find,
in parts of eastern Europe, other influences as well (remnants of the
Spanish exile, Jews >from Khazaria, Karaites, and others) who may have, in
one way or another, influenced local communities.
This would on, the one hand, explain the prevalence of Yiddish ( a dialect
of medieval or old German, or what is sometimes called Plat-Deutch - Flat
German), in many ways similar to some German dialects spoken today in
South-West Germany/Switzerland, with a further Hebrew and possibly Slavic
influence, among Eastern European Jews, while, on the other hand, it
might explain dialectical variations within the Yiddish of various regions.

[By the way, I have a very funny anecdote to tell about this. My late
mother, though born in South Africa, spoke a very fluent Litvak-Yiddish,
as well as English and South African-Dutch. Her younger sister, who spoke
Yiddish, but not so fluently, married a Jew >from Switzerland, and went to
live in Zurich in the 1960's. On one visit to her sister, my mother once
got into a conversation with a neighbour who speaks only German (the
local version). My mother, who knows no German, spoke in Litvak-Yiddish,
and managed to get by reasonably well. A few days later, my aunt told my
mother that the neighbour had commented very flatterngly about her, and
that she had been very impressed that "A visitor >from Africa could speak
such marvelous Schwitzerdeutsch. In fact, she speaks it much better than
you do, and you've been living here for years!"]

To cut a long story short, Eastern/Central European Jewry could be roughly
subdivided into three or four groups: i.e. those who where under German
influence, those who were under Russian influence, those who were
Austro-Hungarian influence and, maybe, those who retained some
independence, (at least for some of the time), >from all these influences.
One must remember that the whole area with large Jewish populations (at
least, so it was before the Nazi era), spreading roughly >from the Baltic
to the Black Sea, and >from the Ukraine/Russia border to Western Germany,
has been bouncing backwards and forwards, through a series of wars and
other major upheavals, between various empires for five hundred years or
more. Given the almost anarchic conditions prevailing for much of this
period in this part of Europe, it's amazing that Jews survived at all,
never mind flourish.

All the best,
Chaim Charutz.

I am trying to locate relatives in Argentina and Israel.
The family in Argentina would be ELBET(ALBERT) >from LIbovne ,Russia.
The family in Israel would be >from kibbutz Yagur.The relative would be

from the

family of Zipporah Aloni Goldberg.

I am trying to locate relatives in Argentina and Israel.
The family in Argentina would be ELBET(ALBERT) >from LIbovne ,Russia.
The family in Israel would be >from kibbutz Yagur.The relative would be

from the

family of Zipporah Aloni Goldberg.

I came across a most unusual Jewish surname of a person that married into my
family in Lomza Gubernia, Poland: ZWAWY and ZWAWA.

I'm pretty sure it's a distinct surname >from the much more common Szwab
(Schwab).

Does anyone know how the "Zw" would in ZWAWY would be pronounced in Polish?

Any suggestions on a possible "English" equivalent to look for in case the
family emigrated?

Thanks,

Jose Gutstein
JMG-Miami@msn.com

I came across a most unusual Jewish surname of a person that married into my
family in Lomza Gubernia, Poland: ZWAWY and ZWAWA.

I'm pretty sure it's a distinct surname >from the much more common Szwab
(Schwab).

Does anyone know how the "Zw" would in ZWAWY would be pronounced in Polish?

Any suggestions on a possible "English" equivalent to look for in case the
family emigrated?

Thanks,

Jose Gutstein
JMG-Miami@msn.com

Does anyone know if there is a website that contains Passenger Lists on
arrivals >from Ellis Island?

Thanks. (Please reply to my email).......

Does anyone know if there is a website that contains Passenger Lists on
arrivals >from Ellis Island?

Thanks. (Please reply to my email).......

The Polish Gen group has done a wonderful job in preparing a Help List
showing the Polish terms for various job descriptions. This list can be
viewed and downloaded >from the JRI-Poland Home page.

After perusing several Polish death records, I feel that a similar list,
but dealing with the causes of death, would be an immense help.

Is there already such a list? If not, is their anyone out there who
could begin transcribing the Polish words related to cause of death. I
don't think that there would be many entries ...probably less than 100
to 150.

Julian Schamroth

The Polish Gen group has done a wonderful job in preparing a Help List
showing the Polish terms for various job descriptions. This list can be
viewed and downloaded >from the JRI-Poland Home page.

After perusing several Polish death records, I feel that a similar list,
but dealing with the causes of death, would be an immense help.

Is there already such a list? If not, is their anyone out there who
could begin transcribing the Polish words related to cause of death. I
don't think that there would be many entries ...probably less than 100
to 150.

Julian Schamroth

Subject: Jews in the Austrian army
From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@admin.fhda.edu" <leeson@olive.fhda.edu>

I just read Daniel Byrne's note about finding out about his family's
experiences in the Austrian army, and while I cannot be of help to
him in his specific search, I do want to mention a book available

from the Austrian Jewish Museum in Eisenstadt. The title is

"Jews in the Armed Forces of Austria, 1788-1918."

The book costs ATS 160 including shipping.

Fwiw, I got it for a little over a week >from my local library through
Inter Library Loan. It was made available through UCLA at no charge.

//Corin Barsily Goodwin
Cupertino, CA USA

Shalom!
I am looking for a translation as to the firstname of Szapse. The origin is

from Austria and the Hebrew Name would be Yitzchak. Thank you

Mike Greenberg

Even though your ancestor's Hebrew name was Yitzchak, the name Szapse does
not correspond to Yitzhak (which is Itzik in Yiddish, Isaac in English
transliteration). Szapse sounds like a Yiddish abbreviation of the Hebrew
name"Shabbsai" (an Ashkenazic pronunciation of Shabbetai.). Perhaps your
ancestor had two names, Shabbetai Yitzchak or vice versa?

Judith Romney Wegner