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Month: February 2011

  • Immigration files in Archives of Antwerp & State Archives of Belgium

    In the courtyard of the Felixpakhuis complex

    I posted a few times in a few newsgroups/forums with as subject Jewish Genealogy a short explanation on the files in the Belgian archives.
    I hope to publish once an article on my blog with more details about my experience in the archives, for the moment being I think it could be useful for other researchers to read the following short explanation according to my view:

    Hi,
    Usually all documents were kept in twofold. One copy stayed in the city/town and the other copy went to the state archives in Brussels.
    In Antwerp you have a few boroughs which have separate administrations and were independent cities/towns . Nowadays these cities/towns are part of Antwerp, the most interesting boroughs for Jews researching their ancestors is: Borgerhout, Berchem and Antwerpen. The archives from the other boroughs besides, Antwerp, are not in the felixarchief (each city could choose whether to save the files or whether to throw them away). (more…)

  • Labour in the Julius Berger company in North-France during WWII

    Click here to read a follow-up on this post

    © ARA – Brussels – please don't copy without permission

    I posted recently (10 February 2011) a question via soc.genealogy.jewish regarding a company where my great-grandfather’s (Gershon Lehrer) brother Kalman Lehrer worked during WWII. The company was called Julius Berger and was based in France.

    Kalman was born 20th June 1898 in Ustrzyki-Dolne. When the war started Kalman lived in Antwerp, Belgium on the Kroonstraat 205.

    From 26 July 1942 to 31 October 1942 he was forced to work for the “Julius Berger” company in North-France.

    He was deported via Malines/Mechelen in Belgium to Auschwitz on 31 October 1942 with transport 16 from which he did not return. The Belgian authorities confirmed (on 5 May 1955) their assumption that he passed away sometimes between 31 October 1942 and 1 June 1945.

    I am looking for more details regarding the company Julius Berger.

    [slider title=”Click here if you would like to read the message I did post to the newsgroup”]

    lehrer <gershon.lehrer@gmail.com>
    X-No-archive: yes
    Hi,
    I found in documents that my great-great uncle Kalman LEHRER had to work during the
    War in Norht-France in a company which was called Julius Berger. He worked there
    from 26 June 1942 to 31 October 1942.
    Does anyone know more about the company? Thanks a lot in advance for your help,
    Gershon Lehrer
    Antwerp, Belgium
    www.gershon-lehrer.be
    Searching: DORF, ETSIONI, FISZLOWICZ, GERSTNER, GOLDSTEEN, HART, KALLECH, LEHRER,
    PA(C)KTER, PAKTOR, S(Y)(I)LBERBERG, SAIL, SANDERS, SCENIZER, SCHEEN, SJENITZER,
    SCH (O)NITZER, STORK, TIMBERG, VAN STRATEN
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    [/slider]

    I appreciate any ideas or tips, please comment on this post or send me an e-mail.

    Click here to read a follow-up on this post

  • Jews from Antwerp in Cuba

    A while ago I looked on behalf of someone else seek to get more information on why the Cuban authorities allowed Jews from Antwerp to immigrate to Cuba in the 1930’s while they had strict immigration rules.

    Although the Internet has got some interesting pieces of information about the Jews in Cuba, I did not really manage to find details about the episode that deals with the Antwerp Jews in the 1930’s.

    Therefore I sent a message to a newsgroup that deals mainly with Jewish Genealogy (soc.genealogy.jewish) in the hope that I would get somehow more information.

    This post is a means to publish a summary on the responses I got.

    [slider title=”Click here if you would like to read the message I posted to the newsgroup”]
    Date: Fri, Jan 21 2011 5:22 pm
    From: gershon.lehrer@gmail.com (lehrer)

    X-No-archive: yes
    Hello,

    Does anyone know why the Jews were allowed to immigrate into Cuba
    in the 30’s from the previous century?

    Why was an exception made for the Jews whilst I heard that the
    Cuban authorities were very strict to allow immigration for
    white people (does anyone have any source for this claim?)?

    I am mainly talking about the Jews from Antwerp that were working
    in the diamond industry.

    Thank you for your help,

    Gershon Lehrer
    gershon.lehrer@gmail.com
    Antwerp, Belgium

    Searching: DORF, ETSIONI, FISZLOWICZ, GERSTNER, GOLDSTEEN, HART,
    KALLECH, LEHRER, PA(C)KTER, PAKTOR, S(Y)(I)LBERBERG, SAIL, SANDERS,
    SCENIZER, SCHEEN, SJENITZER, SCH(O)NITZER, STORK, TIMBERG, VAN STRATEN
    [/slider]
    I received a few responses which replied to me in the Jewish way, i.e.: they replied to my question with another question. The question some asked was: “Why would the Jews not be allowed entrance if everyone knew that the Jews were being chased by bloodthirsty anti-Semites“. A notorious case was the S.S. St. Louis which was not allowed to disembark its passengers in Cuba or the USA. The USA (then INS) agency restricted immigration very severely during 1920’s and thereafter.

    From the responses it appears that the Antwerp Jews were accepted into Cuba because of their knowledge in the diamond business. During their stay in Cuba they kept their own community and didn’t become part of one of the communities already present (possibly due to the gap in the language and because they intended to stay there only temporary?). After WWII the Jews left Cuba and went back to Belgium. The Belgian state was of course also interested in the diamond business (it seems that Camille Huysmans was one of the big powers behind this Belgian initiative to get the Diamond business back to Antwerp).

    Someone else wrote me that the gangster Meyer Lansky used his connections to the Cuban government, through which he worked out a deal to allow European Jews to land in Cuba.  Visa’s were then bought and entry to the US was granted.

    If you’d like to read more about the history of the Jews in Cuba (including the Antwerp Jews), the following two books do tell the story:

    Some general websites about Jewry in Cuba:

    I’d like to thank the following people for having replied on my request: Burt Hecht, Judite Orensztajn, Sam Lifsh?, Barbara Mannlein, Irene Newhouse, Stephen Denker, Jill Goodman, Helaine ?, Marcel Apsel, Sylvain Brachfeld, Mona Freedman Morris, Joan Parker, Rabbi Moshe Otero, Judy Turbin, Tineke Sjenitzer, Sue Kriloff, Melody Mayes nee Pinkus

  • Women use more words than men

    A husband looking through the paper came upon a study that said women use more words than men. Excited to prove to his wife his long-held contention that women in general, and his wife in particular, talked too much, he showed her the study results, which stated:
    “Men use about 15,000 words per day, but women use 30,000.”
    His wife thought awhile, and then finally she said to her husband,
    “That’s because we have to repeat everything we say.”
    The husband said, “What?”

  • Philantropy

    A visitor to Israel attended a recital and concert at the Moscovitz Auditorium. He was quite impressed with the architecture and the acoustics.
    He inquired of the tour guide, “Is this magnificent auditorium named after Chaim Moscovitz, the famous Talmudic scholar?”
    “No,” replied the guide. “It is named after Sam Moscovitz, the writer.”
    “Never heard of him. What did he write?”
    “A check,” replied the guide.

  • Nu, Judge, so vat vould you say?

    Shmuel had a bad car accident involving a large truck. Weeks later, in court, the trucking company’s fancy lawyer was questioning Shmuel.

    “Didn’t you say, at the scene of the accident, ‘I’m fine,” asked the lawyer.
    Shmuel responded, “Vell, I’ll tell you vat happened. I just put my dog Moshele, into the…”
    “I didn’t ask for any details,” the lawyer interrupted. “Just answer the question.”
    Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, ‘I’m fine!’?”
    Shmuel said, “Vell, I just got Moshele into the car and I vas driving down the road…”
    “The lawyer interrupted again and said, “Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question.”

    By this time, the Judge was fairly interested in Shmuel’s answer and said to the lawyer, “I’d like to hear what he has to say about his dog Moshele.”

    Shmuel thanked the Judge and proceeded.
    Vell, like I vas saying, I just loaded Moshele, my lovely hundteleh (dog), into the car and vas driving him down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I vas thrown into one ditch and Moshele vas thrown into the other. I vas hurting, real bad and didn’t want to move. However, I heard Moshele moaning and groaning. I knew he vas in terrible shape just by his groans.
    Den a Highway Patrolman came along. He could hear Moshele moaning and groaning so he vent over to him. After he looked at him, and saw vat terrible condition Moshele was in, he took out his gun and shoots him between the eyes.
    Den the Patrolman comes across the road, gun still in hand, looks at me and says, ” How you feeling?”
    “Nu, Judge, so vat vould you say?

  • Photo with my grandfather and his paternal grandmother in Karlsbad (26 September 1928)

    Photo with my grandfather and his paternal grandmother in Karlsbad (26 September 1928)

    A while ago I found a postcard photo in my grandmother’s photo album with a group of people standing in front of a building. The text on the photo said that it was taken on 26th September 1928 in Karlsbad which was two days after Yom Kippur. Next to the date there is a name on the photo, Jos. Meisl:

    My Grandfather with his grandmother in Karlsbad

    The only people that my father’s cousin could identify on the photo were the little boy on the right side with a cup, who was my grandfather Bruno/Berish Lehrer and the lady standing behind him with her right hand on his shoulder, who was his paternal grandmother Etti Lehrer- Kalech (they lived at that time in Dresden, Germany).

    I was looking for more information about the photo.

    • Where was the photo taken? (A Google search told me that there is one Karlsbad in Germany and one in the Czech Republic)
    • Why do some people on the photo hold a cup?
    • In front of which building was the group photographed?
    • Who were the other people on the photo?
    • Who was Jos. Meisl? Was he the photographer? Was he a tour guide?
    • (On the other side of the photo, there is a written letter, I’ll try to focus on that in another post)

    To try to get more information, I posted a request for help via the following jewishgen newsgroups:

    • austriaczech – A forum for those researching Jewish genealogy in the areas formerly known as Bohemia and Moravia (now the Czech Republic), plus parts of Austria, especially Vienna, but not Galicia (I’ve been told that there is a Karlsbad in the Czech Republic)
    • gersig – A forum focused on geographic, historic and linguistic Germany, including parts of Switzerland, Poland, and Alsace-Lorraine (there is a Karlsbad in Germany)
    • soc.genealogy.jewish – Main JewishGen Discussion Group

    (For more information about these and other newsgroups, visit the following website: http://www.jewishgen.org/ListManager/)

    The request which I did post via the newsgroups and for which I did received a lot of responses:

    Dear fellow genealogists,

    I did find an old photo postcard in my grandmother’s album on which my paternal grandfather Bruno/Berish Lehrer can be seen together with his family (he is the boy holding the cup on the right side of the photo). The lady with her right hand on his shoulder is possibly my grandfather’s paternal grandmother Etti Lehrer- Kalech.

    I did perform a search on Google and there are two Karlsbad’s, one in Germany and the other in the Czech-Republic. (My grandfather lived at that time in Dresden, the Karlsbad in the Czech-Republic is closer then the German Karlsbad.)

    The date on the photo states 26 September 1928 which was 12 Tishrei (2 days after Yom Kippur and shortly before Sukkos).

    Some questions I do have are:

    • Can someone help me identify the place? Was the photo taken in front of a shul? It definitely looks to be in a Jewish area.
    • Can someone tell me more about the photographer? His name apparently was Jos. Meisl.
    • Can someone tell me why we can see quite a few people on the photo holding a cup?
    • Is there someone who can identify other people on the photo besides my grandfather and his grandmother?

    The photo is on viewmate: http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=17627

    Hopefully someone can help me to shed a light on the photo.

    Warm Regards,

    Gershon Lehrer
    gershon.lehrer@gmail.com
    Antwerp, Belgium

    Searching: DORF, ETSIONI, FISZLOWICZ, GERSTNER, GOLDSTEEN, HART,
    KALLECH, LEHRER, PA(C)KTER, PAKTOR, S(Y)(I)LBERBERG, SAIL, SANDERS, SCENIZER, SCHEEN, SJENITZER,SCH(ö)(O)NITZER, STORK, TIMBERG, VAN STRATEN

    I received quite a lot of e-mails for which I am very thankful.

    I’ll try to put here down a conclusion of the information I gained after having done the research and received the e-mails. (more…)