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Category: genealogy/history/culture

  • 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…)

  • Translation request Polish – English (Grunes, State Archive in Rzeszów (Poland)

    Hi all,

    I posted the following request to 2 newsgroups of which I am a member: jri-pl (http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/join.htm) and jewishgen (soc.genealogy.jewish) (see also http://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen/DiscussionGroup.htm for both and more newsgroups).

    (scroll down for the responses and further explanations on this topic)

    Subject: Translation request Polish – English (GRUNES, State Archive in Rzeszów (Poland)
    Dear all,

    I am looking for a translation and an explanation on a document which I received from the State Archive in Rzeszów, Poland (Archiwum Panstwowe W Rzeszowie).

    Can you please tell me what this document is about and please translate it for me?

    Gershon Lehrer

    Antwerp, Belgium

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

    (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: