"My paternal grandmother Mathilde NEUBURG was born in Horowitz, Bohemia, now
Horovice, Czech Republic, in 1868. Her parents were Moritz NEUBURG and
Rosalie MEYER who died in Vienna. I would like to find about more about
Mathilde's parents and grandparents and whether she had any siblings. I will
be grateful for suggestions regarding possible contacts in Horovice.
Oliver Bryk, San Francisco"

Dear Oliver and SIGGERS,
My great grandfather Jacob POLLAK was born in Biestin near Horovice and so I
have been trying to research this area myself. In Prague last year I found
some files at the Jewish Museum's new building in an old synagogue in Prague
5. The archivists and librarians there were most helpful. I got a photo of
the old shul at Biestin which is a small town or village 9km SE of Horovice
according to Jiri Fiedler ("Jewish sights of Bohemia and Moravia", Sefer,
Prague 1991). I also got copies of the lists of members of the congregation
and who had paid their dues etc. I noticed they have records >from Horovice
and Hostomice too I think.

Oliver, I suggest you email or write the Jewish Museum of Prague as they
have a lot of material on many towns and villages where Jews once lived in
the Czech Republic. What they don't have is a lot of staff or money but they
can at least tell you if there are any contacts in Horovice today. I suspect
not as so many Jews were forced to leave and even the bigger towns hardly
have anyone left today. But have a look at the Jewish Museum of Prague's
website. They now have a lot of new information on it and some is in
English.

The other place you may be able to get what you are looking for is at the
Central State Archives in Prague which has a collection of all the Jewish
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registers that survived the Nazis and the
Communists. Dr Lenka Matusikova is the curator and she can be contacted on
sua1@.... The email is a bit erratic sometimes so don't give up, try a
few times. Also you can go to the National Archives website on the internet
and find her there. They now have an English page of information and they
too can help you.

Good luck,
Daniela Torsh
Sydney, Australia
danielat1@...