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Category: History and Culture Related Articles

  • Citizenship status of Galician Jewish refugees after World War I

    Ustrzyki-Dolne in current Poland (source: wikimedia)

    I mentioned already in an earlier post (see “Where to look for old newspapers in Flemish-Belgium“) that my great-grandfather and the children were were stateless citizens before they naturalized as Belgians. The reason for their statless status was that when my great-grandfather Gerschon Lehrer was born in Ustrzyki-Dolne, it was Austrian and after the First World War it became Poland.

    My great grandfather lived since 1919 in Dresden (Germany) and Poland took away the nationalities from all citizens that were not in the country for a long time, hence my great-grandfather and grandfather automatically became stateless (source: naturalization file 21875N).

    That was a short explanation about the stateless status from my great-grandfather and his children.
    I am subscribed to a few mailinglists with an interest in genealogy. One of these lists is from the “Gesher Galicia SIG” (see http://www.jewishgen.org/galicia for more information about that group).
    Recently there was a discussion on the stateless status of Galician Jewish refugees who moved to GERMANY after WWI.
    I’d like to post these discussion in this post because I believe that the information in that discussion goes a bit deeper on the background of my ancestors’ stateless status after the First World War, then what I wrote before.

    In my opinion the last post from Rivka Schirman which you can read below, provides us with the most complete answer. It is mainly the following paragraph which interests me:

    Once the Conference of Ambassadors legally attributed East Galicia to Poland, it also based it on the articles of the Treaty of St Germain en Laye regarding nationality and citizenship (full text available at http://www.forost.ungarisches-institut.de/pdf/19230315-1.pdf). This time, those who opted for Polish citizenship, because it was possible, had, according to article 78, 12 months to move to Poland.

    I’ve got two letters (more…)

  • Photos and documents about Rav Schiff’s coronation as the new ruv of Machsike Hadass-Antwerp

    The (paying) members of the one of the two Jewish communities, the Machsike Hadass, did vote on November 29th and 30th for the then candidate Rov Rav Ahron Schif.
    From the 593 votes, 93.4% were in favour of Rav Ahron Schif as the new Rov.

    Last Sunday, April 3rd, the ceremony took finally place in the packed main synagogue of the Kehille in the Oostenstraat.

    All members of the kehille received two books. One book with the history on the kehille, its founding and an overview with the history on almost all shuls of Antwerp. And the second book has got a collection of essays by Rav Schiff.
    Both books did cost together €10 (only) for non-members.

    You can enjoy the photos I made or read some articles which I did collect from different sources.
    (some articles and/or photos may have שמות, please handle with due respect)

    The cover of the book עיר האם בישראל
    The contents of the book

  • The meaning of the acronym A.A.C.B. in the Belgian immigration files

    During my research in the Belgian archives, I came across a few files in which a document had the following acronym “A.A.C.B.”:

    Source: Antwerp Immigration File no.175159 (Dorf Wolf – Kapelna Frieda)

    I, as curious as I am always, was wondering about the meaning of that acronym.

    During genealogy research (and I assume that this is true for each research), each small part, can have a significant meaning with implications for the outcome of research. Therefore I try to understand as much as possible of each small element. Thanks to this approach I do learn quite a lot new things about history, culture, politics, etc.

    To get back on topic; I did receive the explanation from the very helpful employees at the Antwerp archives (www.felixarchief.be).
    They told me that A.A.C.B. stands for “Ambtelijke Afschrijving College Besluit” which roughly translated into English means cancelling the citizenship by official decision of the authorities and the file was closed for the person in question.

    The reason for a A.A.C.B. can be one of the following:

    • Someone left the city without announcing to the authorities. If they later on returned after their file was closed, it became harder to get an approval for a second residence permit.
      Many Jews who fled during the World War, had to have their closed (more…)

  • Jewish Law – a TV series filmed in the Manchester Orthodox Community

    I came recently across a series which about Jewish Orthodox religion. I’m not sure when the series were filmed, but I’d like to know.
    There are three episodes for you to watch. Have fun!

    Content:
    Episode 1
    An explanation of Jewish culture begins with kosher cooking. Why are there two sinks and two fridges in all Jewish kitchens? What makes food kosher?
    Jewish Law: Episode 1 (Part 1 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 1 (Part 2 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 1 (Part 3 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 1 (Part 4 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 1 (Part 5 of 5)

    Episode 2
    Follow a Manchester rabbi and his family as they prepare for Passover in this insightful exploration of the Jewish faith.
    This next installment deals more with Jewish tradition, holidays and practice. How the sabbath is observed, Passover, circumcision, family purity…
    Jewish Law: Episode 2 (Part 1 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 2 (Part 2 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 2 (Part 3 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 2 (Part 4 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 2 (Part 5 of 5)

    Episode 3
    This part concludes the series and deals with more areas of Jewish practice, such as the festival of Purim, niddah, mourning…
    Jewish Law: Episode 3 (Part 1 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 3 (Part 2 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 3 (Part 3 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 3 (Part 4 of 5)
    Jewish Law: Episode 3 (Part 5 of 5)


    An explanation of Jewish culture begins with kosher cooking. Why are there two sinks and two fridges in all Jewish kitchens? What makes food kosher?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojWgRS3wpqA
    (more…)

  • 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

  • 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…)

  • Transportation lists of the transports which left from Mechelen/Malines during the holocaust

    Update (15 March 2016): I have come across a list on the website of the German ´Das Bundesarchiv´´s Memorial Book (see: www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/chronicles.html.en?page=2).  I have merged their information (mainly the number of deported persons) with the information I have had before (on the website of ´Das Bundesarchiv´, you´ll find similar lists for The Netherlands and France).

    I recently asked for a list of all transports which left the Mechelen/Malines kazerne (barracks) (Mechelen is the Dutch variant and Malines is the French variant of the name of the Flemish city which is about 25 kilometers south from Antwerp) during holocaust.

    I wanted the overview so that I could place the names I received on some lists in the right context.

    As I assume that there might be more out there with an interest in the list, I am publishing it here.

    One transport to note is transport XX. Transport XX was attacked between Boortmeerbeek and Haacht (which is about 15km from Mechelen) by brave Belgians and thanks to these Belgians (Jean Franklemon, Georges Livschitz and Robert Maistriau) 231 deportees out of 1631 succeeded to escape the train. Out of the 231 escapees, 26 people died during the action which happened on 19 april 1943. You can read more about this episode on the following website: http://users.telenet.be/holocaust.bmb/.

    Please note that you can find more about the list and transports in the following publications:

    For more about the museum visit their website at http://www.kazernedossin.be where you can read the following introduction:

    Of these 25,835 people, 576 escaped during the journey. 24,019 of the remainder would die: they were either gassed in Birkenau or died in the slave labour camp of Auschwitz or during the subsequent death march. Just 1,240 deportees – or less than 5% – returned to Belgium in May 1945. 32 Gypsies were among the survivors.
    When war broke out, the Jewish population represented approximately 1% of the Belgian population. At the end of the war in 1945, 50% of all civilian casualties were Jewish.
    The transportation of over 25,000 Jews and Gypsies was a German crime, carried out by the Nazis. However, their plan could not succeed without the cooperation of:

    • the Belgian civil service that, as a whole, principally accepted the persecution of the Jews and within the framework of the law, cooperated with the occupier
    • Belgian collaborating paramilitary parties and organisations who would present themselves as Jew hunters

    This cooperation strongly contributed to the end result: a death toll of 44% of Jews. With this, the figures of the ‘Final Solution’ in Belgium lie between those of France (25%) and the Netherlands (80%).

    Here is the list with the transportations:
    (more…)

  • Rabbi Uri Weinberg’s songs

    Rabbi Uri Weinberg’s songs

    See also Rabbi Uri Weinberg A”H (Uri Ben Menachem Halevi) [18 May 1923 – 17 Adar 5772 (11 March 2012)]

    Me dancing with Rabbi Uri Weinberg at my wedding in Jerusalem (August 2004)

    A few years ago I posted on a newsgroup my request for more information regarding the Dunera story. Rabbi Uri Weinberg from Jerusalem told me about it while I studied at the Mirrer Yeshiva.

    Rabbi Uri escaped from Germany at the age of 16 and went to live in Liverpool. As a German citizen, he was deported to an Australian prisoners camp with the SS Dunera.
    Rabbi Uri Weinberg has an extraordinary memory and remembers every detail from long ago as it was yesterday.

    He is indeed a very special person for which I feel honored to have met him.

    I do remember being told once that tapes are circulating on which he is telling his personal story and also one tape on which he is singing the Shabbos songs. Those songs are how he learned it as a young boy in Germany. As his mind is very sharp, I strongly believe that we can rely on the “Nusach” on the tape as being the correct one for “Yekkes”.

    Not long ago someone from New York contacted me after having found my posted newsgroup message on the Internet. He did send me a copy of the tapes with the songs in mp3-format. I am very glad to have these files.

    Now I am still waiting for the tape with his personal story.

    I uploaded the tape with the songs to give everybody with an interest in the songs, the chance to listen to it, on my website (the links are beneath this article).
    I hope that whoever has got more information on Rabbi Uri Weinberg, will share it with me (Please mail me or use the comment box).
    I in return will share some information which I do have in my possession, but for obvious reasons, I cannot share everything on a public site.

    Enjoy
    Part 1:

    Part 2: