Volume 19, Number 3 September 2012

GG Matters Feature Articles

2 Research Corner 7 The Holocaust in Stanisławów Pamela Weisberger William Tannenzapf 24 Gesher Galicia Board of Directors 10 The Krosno Airfield William Leibner 24 Key Staff Volunteers 14 Jewish Community Life in Brody Edward Gelles Town Research 20 Hunting a Dead Nazi 13 Jodłowa Susan J. Gordon Russ Maurer 21 A Teacher Returning: Bronia Horn 13 Rohatyn Marla Raucher Osborn 13 Żurów Hazel Sandow Boon

Close-up of the passport application of Martha Itte Berner (see page 2)

Research Corner Pamela Weisberger

Researching Galician Records at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum In early September I spent several days conducting research at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. My focus was microfilmed and digital records from towns that were once part of Galicia. My guide was the indefatigable Peter Landé, a retired Foreign Service officer who works at the museum as a volunteer in the Survivors’ Registry. (Peter, for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him in person or hearing him speak at an IAJGS conference, was also instrumental in helping re- searchers gain access to Interna- tional Tracing Service [ITS] Ar- chives in Bad Arolsen, Germany, and getting the digital files trans- ferred to the USHMM, where they can now be searched on site or by written request.) I was joined by Gesher Galicia founder Suzan Wynne, who assisted me in analyzing the documents and determining the value of indexing these images and having the data eventually appear in the All Galicia Database. We found a treasure trove of records from the state archives of the Ivano-Frankivsk (formerly Stanisławów) region, covering the years 1872–1953 and charting a van- ished population of Galician Jews. In this record group (RG-31.110M) the records are in German, Hungar- 1928 passport application of Martha Itte Berner of Bohorodczany, ian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum According to the USHMM find- ing aid: ganizations; (4) Information docu- records of Jews and Jewish families; Scope and Content: local Ivano- menting violence against Jews car- (9) Birth, death, and marriage rec- Frankivsk (formerly, Stanislav) rec- ried out by Ukrainian nationalists in ords of the main Synagogue in ords pertaining to the following: (1) Stanislav; (5) Various Pre-1917 Stanislav. (Most of these records are Jewish private school records in the Revolution records; (6) Emigration from the 1920s and 1930s.) There city of Stanislav; (2) Government records of Jews throughout the are also birth records from 1937 for surveillance information on Jewish 1920s and 1930s; (7) Jewish philan- the towns of Snyatin and Zabolotov. political parties and organizations; thropic association organizational Many other towns were repre- (3) Information regarding the arrest records regarding a variety of social sented in these records, including of Jews associated with Zionist or- issues; (8) Local court inheritance community documents for Kolomea

The Galitzianer 2 September 2012

and Gvozdets; a charter and minutes political currents in Jewish life were The transcription work will take for charitable, Masonic, and Zionist evident in Stanisławow, one of the a while, but if you are curious you institutions; and one from 1898 for larger towns in Galicia, where 55 can look at these records at the mu- the establishment of the Jewish reli- synagogues and prayer houses, in- seum 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Monday gious community in Bolekhov. cluding one of Sadigura Hasidism, through Friday in the archives on the (Note: Spellings used for place existed between the two world wars. 5th floor. names are the ones that appear in the The census is on 15 rolls of mi- USHMM records.) crofilm in the Museum. The project Voter and Tax Records The most touching (and de- will create a computerized index of Available for Transcribing: tailed) documents were the all the residents of Stanisławow Volunteers Needed! “Applications of Individual Jews for from this 1939 census, which will Gesher Galicia has acquired digital Passports to Travel Abroad” from become a searchable database. Key images of records for various Gali- the 1920’s and 1930’s. These appear Audiences: Jewish genealogists, cian towns from both the Ternopil to cover a range of towns in the seeking to trace their roots in this Archives in Ukraine and the Central Stanisławów district, with a separate part of the world (Galicia, Poland, Archives for the History of the Jew- fond for applications for Jews in the Ukraine), constitute the primary au- ish People in Jerusalem. Most of Bohorodczany district for 1920– dience for the material. However, these are voter and tax records, 1929. Often ten pages of supporting the material has the potential to be highly readable (with a few excep- documentation were found in these of broader interest to scholars spe- tions), because the majority of them files that link several family mem- cializing in Jewish history and the are typewritten! bers, and the applications include Holocaust. Tax and land records place a family photographs. The USHMM also has on micro- person in a town in a specific year. Separately from these USHMM film a 1941 House Registry Book, Voter records provide a birthdate or records, Gesher Galicia has obtained which functions as a census or book age, a profession, and sometimes the digital images of similar (or in some of residents. The streets were re- town of birth—useful in solving a cases identical) records including named, e.g., Radayanska Boulevard mystery of why a family seems to Śniatyn births and various tax rec- became Adolf Gitlera Street. These disappear from a town where you ords from the 1930’s. records are in Cyrillic; the spelling expected to find them. One of the most important rec- used is how it appears in the mu- Insight into what these records ord sets on microfilm at the seum’s finding aid (see below). offer could be gleaned from Alex USHMM is the 1939 Stanisławów Dunai’s lecture, presented at the census. Gesher Galicia, in partner- Page from the finding aid binder at the USHMM showing ship with other interested parties, is Radayanska Boulevard renamed as Adolf Giterla seeking to resurrect what was origi- nally a JewishGen project which was halted many years ago due to usage restrictions by the archives. Here is the synopsis as it was de- scribed on the JewishGenerosity site: In August 1939, approximately a month before the Nazi invasion of Poland and the Soviet occupation of Stanisławow, a census was taken of the entire city. The census encom- passed approximately 14,400 house- holds, averaging 4–5 individuals per household. Since religion was re- corded, Jewish households/indivi- duals can be readily identified. This census is the last pre–World War II list of residents of this very impor- tant city in what was once eastern Galicia. All the religious, social, and The Galitzianer 3 September 2012

IAJGS International Conference on male family members could be regis- Grzymałów: John Diener is Jewish Genealogy in Paris last July, tered as voters. handling the Grzymałów/Hrymayliv “Sources of Jewish Genealogy for transcription project. John has just the 18th–20th Centuries in the Fonds These same 20th-century rec- completed work on an unusual chil- of the State Central Historical Ar- ords exist for the smaller towns and dren’s census, a listing of children chive of Ukraine in Lviv.” In this shtetlach dotting the Galician coun- born in the town between the years excerpt, he used Lwow records as tryside and are often the last records 1913–1925, along with one parent or the focal point: of a vanished population. GG has guardian’s name and the language records for these towns: Bialy- spoken in the home. This is an im- The next kind of records avail- kamień, Borszosow, Brezany, Grzy- portant set of records, as no 20th- able in Lwow (after vital and census małów, Kamionka Strumiłowa, century birth records for this town records) are the Jewish community Ladonka, Mielnica, Olesko, Podha- have survived. We also have several tax records for various years start- jce, Podkamień, Przemyślany, sets of voter and tax records for ing from the 1860’s through till Sassów, Skała, Skałat, Sodobonka, Grzymałów from the 1920’s and 1936. Besides the given name, fam- Sokołówce, Sokroska, Tarnopol, 1930’s. If you are interested in help- ily name, and amount of tax paid, Tłuste, Trembowla, Uścieczko, ing, please contact John at johndiener@ one can usually find the occupation Założce, Zbaraż, Zborów, Złoczów. ymail.com. and address of the taxpayer. What we need now are volun- Skala: Racheli Kreisberg- The tax documents are supple- teers willing to transcribe these lists Greenblatt is overseeing the Skala mented by applications to decrease and contributions to cover the cost records indexing project, and her the community tax. A large number of the acquisitions. What’s required wonderful work on the Skala House of these applications were submitted to help transcribe? You need to be Numbers Project will be uploaded to in 1936–1937 as a result of the eco- familiar with Excel, which is quite the All Galicia Database soon. We nomic crisis. They give an idea of easy to learn, and Gesher Galicia have many Skala voter and tax lists how people lived in the interwar will provide you with the template. from the interwar period. If you period, their economic situations You don’t need to understand have an interest in Skala records, and attendant problems. Polish. You can work at your own please contact Racheli at genealogy@ They did not necessarily work pace under our direction or, if you ibexperts.com. for the landlord; people paid taxes want to volunteer as a project coor- Zbaraż: Tony Kahane is han- to the landlord if they had houses on dinator to oversee the work on your dling Zbaraż records, so please con- the magnate’s land (note that taxes town, so much the better! tact him at [email protected]. for the house on the front side of the Zborów: Ann Harris, who cre- street and on the rear are differ- Projects Underway: Brody, ated the Zborów House Numbers ent).They paid higher taxes if they Grzymałów, Skała, Zbaraż, Project, is coordinating transcription had a shop, and the tax varied de- Zborów work on the tax lists. You can reach pending on the size of the shop, Here is an update of town indexing her at [email protected]. more for a bigger store and less for projects already underway. If you More town names: In some a smaller. Gardens, cows, and even want to assist with transcribing, cases these record sets seem to cover bees were also the subject of taxa- please contact these town leaders districts, and the following town tion. Tax lists were periodically up- directly. (If, however, you only want names were indicated in several of dated because of changes within the access to the records—and not to the records. This might indicate a communities. assist—do NOT contact them. They town of birth or former residence of Another type of document avail- cannot provide you with copies. A someone catalogued in the given able for the interwar period is voter donation to the program is required record. These examples show how lists for elections to the board of the for copies. See the next section for residents from other places can often Lwow Jewish community. They look that information.) appear in a different town’s tax, similar to the tax lists, containing Brody: Ami Elyasaf has coordi- voter or synagogue payment list: given name, family name, occupa- nated and completed the Brody vital Boryszkowce, Brody, Cygany, tion, and address of the elector. records and cemetery projects. We Dzwinogrod, Flipkowce, Gusztynek, They also have birthdates and, more now have a set of 1874 Brody voter Holotki, Horszowa, Iwanie Pusie, importantly, while a family usually records and he is handling the tran- Iwaszkowce, Koszlaki, Kujdance, had only one taxpayer—sometimes scription. Contact Ami at Kurniki, Lukawiec, Lwow, the father, often the mother—several [email protected]. Markopol, Nakwassa, Okopy,

The Galitzianer 4 September 2012

Pankowce, Pieniaki, Czernica, Hankowce (Hankivtsi), Horodenka, Polish Magnate Landowner Snowicz, Uscie Biskupie, Wierz- Horozanka (Horozhanka), Kalusz Records and Jewish Nobles bowcsyk, Xatkowcer, Zosizcz. (Kalush), Knihynicze Two of the documents I acquired on If you don’t feel capable of as- (Kniahynychi), Komarno, last year’s visit to the Stefanyk sisting in transcription work but Kopyczynce (Kopychintsy), Library in L’viv, Ukraine were an want to support this effort and spon- Krystynopol (Khrystynopil), L’viv 1821 tax inventory for the town of sor your town, a minimum contribu- (Lwow, Lemberg), Mosciska Grzymalów and an 1830 Copia tion of $50 per town will give you (Mostys’ka), Nadworna (Nadvirna), Tabularis (“Tabula Copy”) contract. access to the images of the original Nienadowa, Obertyn, Pavshivka The first document begins in Latin record books, so you can search for (Pauszowka), Podhajce (Pidhaitsi), on the first page, followed by a list your own names prior to the indices Podniestrzany (Piddnistriany), Prze- of Jewish taxpayers with column going online. This funding will also myslany (Peremyshliany), Rohatyn, descriptions in Polish. This docu- enable us to hire freelance workers Rozdol, Rozluch (Rozlucz), Roznia- ment was held in the Polish Mag- to assist with thr project. Contribu- tow (Rozhniativ), Skala, Stare Mi- nates files (organized by the name of tions can be made via PayPal (using asto, Strzeliska Nowe (Strilychi the town, not the magnate) at the credit cards if you like), which will Novi), Suchostaw (Sukhostav), library. I’ve transcribed the names work for overseas donors. You can Swirz (Svirzh), Ulaszkowce on this list (which will appear soon donate in dollars, and PayPal will (Ulashkivtsi), Uscie Biskupie (Ustie in the All Galicia Database), an im- convert to your local currency: Episkopske), Uscieczko (Ustechko), portant link to people who were, http://www.jewishgen.org/galicia/paypal.html Zbarazh (Zbaraż), Zurawno most likely, born in the 1770’s– You can also send a check or (Zhuravno). 1790’s. The tax payments were for money order in U.S. dollars to: If you have contributed to one of the synagogue, the Jewish school, Ann Harris, Treasurer these towns and have not received and the Jewish bathhouse. This is Gesher Galicia, Inc. download information for the rec- another example of the usefulness of 1522 S. Point View #2 ords, please contact me. If you have magnate records in genealogical re- Los Angeles, CA 90035-3912 not contributed but want access now, search. Please indicate the name of the the donation is $50 per town. The second document details the town you are donating to and pro- The newest town projects with purchase of the town by a Jewish vide your e-mail address. We will inventories and record acquisition noble, Elkan von Elkansberg, also send you download information for about to take place are for Kanzuga, known as Leopold Antoni Elkan your file. Those of you who have Strzylki, and Zhuriv (Zurow). If you (see illustration on page 6). He was a already contributed to existing town are researching any of these, con- banker in Vienna and was assisted in projects for these towns will also be sider donating. We have set up proj- the purchase by another Jewish no- given access, which will be incorpo- ects for these new towns and are in ble, the lawyer Ferdinand Martin rated into the Cadastral Map and the process of acquiring records— Liebmann, Baron von Rast, a Bavar- Landowner Records Project (see not only in archives in L’viv and ian by birth. Elkan von Elkansberg update below). Ternopil, but, as of early December, purchased the town from a bankrupt in the Przemysl, Poland archives. If Polish countess. Other names men- Cadastral Map and Landowner you have towns that are currently in tioned in the document are lawyer Records Project Update Poland and you want to establish a Leopold Poelt von Poeltenberg, Maps, records, or both have been town project, Gesher Galicia needs a Elizabeth Zechner, and August and acquired for the following towns: minimum donation of $250, after Leonard Walter. (If you are related Berezhany, Bobrka (Bibrka), Bo- which Gesher Galicia will contribute to any of the people mentioned lechow (Bolekhiv), Bolszowce $250 in matching funds. This dona- above, please let me know. I’ve al- (Bilshivtsi), Boryslaw (Boryslav), tion can be from one individual or ready been contacted by one re- Brody, Buczacz (Buchach), Buka- several chipping in with smaller searcher who said a relative of hers czowce (Bukachivtsi), Chodorów amounts. Information can be found who died in Chicago in 1900 had (Khodoriv), Czarnolozce by going to the Cadastral Map Proj- received an inheritance from von (Chornoloztsi), Czeremchow ect page and scrolling to the bottom, Elkansberg!) The document was (Cheremkhiv), Czortków (Chortkiv), or by contacting me at pweisberger@ entered into the Tabula Krajowa Dora, Drohobycz (Drohobych), gmail.com. (“Tabula Registers”), a requirement Gliniany (Hlyniany), Grzymalów by the Austro-Hungarian Empire for (Hrymaliv), Gwozdziec (Hvizdets), contracts to be legal.

The Galitzianer 5 September 2012

It seems that titles of nobility Leadership Positions: Indexing right away. (Consider giving a GG were for sale in Vienna and many Project Manager membership as a Chanukah gift to a Jews took advantage of this opportu- Gesher Galicia is in need of a GG budding Galician researcher!) nity. Since Jews usually had no land Indexing Project Manager who can Remember that we are always or estates of their own, the “berg” oversee the cataloguing of all new updating our Map Room and the All suffix was often appended to their incoming records, member notifica- Galicia Database with new maps and surnames, hence the mythical land tions, and administration of the tran- records, so keep checking http://www. of “Elkansberg.” Josef II was very scription work and volunteer recruit- maps.geshergalicia.org/ and http://www.search. critical of the traditional nobility, so ment. If you have good organiza- geshergalicia.org/. Our newest map is the he created lots of new titles for sale, tional skills and the time to volun- engraved and hand-colored New which was also a way to help the teer your services, please contact me Map of the Kingdom of Galicia and state treasury. Sources mention that for more information. Lodomeria, with the Duchy of for about 6,000 guilders you could Bukovina, showing towns (marked become a baron, for 20,000 a Graf 2013 Gesher Galicia Programs: as four types, from fortified to ordi- [count], and for 500,000 a Furst Toronto and New York City nary to village to hamlet), postal [duke]. Wealthy Jews took advan- I will lecture on Galician research routes, and major geographic land- tage of these opportunities, and for the Jewish Genealogical Society marks. It is annotated in French (and much land in Galicia was purchased of Canada (Toronto) at 8:00 p.m., some Latin), and scaled in miles and by these nobles. Wednesday, 13 March 2012, on the toise d’ordonnance. The map is un- topic “Searching the All-Galicia Da- dated and was produced by Tobias IAGJS 2013 Boston Conference: tabase and Gesher Galicia Map Conrad Lotter and Sons of Augs- Mark Your Calendars Room Online.” The following Sun- burg, Bavaria between 1772–1810, It’s not too early to start planning day, 17 March, at 11:00 a.m. I will probably during Lotter’s lifetime (by your attendance at the IAJGS 2013 conduct a Gesher Galicia regional 1775). Also look for the Brody conference, which will take place in meeting in Manhattan, location Cemetery Database, complete with Boston from 4–9 August. This con- TBA. downloadable headstone photos, ference should have good attendance which should be online by early De- and we are planning an exciting slate Renewals and Reminders cember. (A big thanks to Jay of Galician programming with many Our Gesher Galicia membership Osborn, who keeps our map room in interesting topics, including histori- year was moved last year to begin such great shape, and to Brooke cal surveys of Galicia, BOF meet- on 1 January. Look for your mem- Schreier Ganz, who keeps things ings, and networking opportunities. bership renewal notices to arrive in humming on the AGD.) November and please send them in

The Galitzianer 6 September 2012

The Holocaust in Stanisławów William Tannenzapf

This article was originally published in pharmacists, engineers, and the city Tragic scenes followed one another Jidisze Cajtung (“Jewish Newspaper”) rabbi with the judges of his religious while the executions proceeded the Number 13 (81) on the fourth anniver- court and with the ritual butchers whole day. It happened that the sary of the Stanisławów ghetto liquida- must come to the former courthouse Gestapo chief recognized Dr. tion, February 1947. The author trans- building, then occupied by the Ge- Tanenbaum (from the Judenrat) and lated his own Yiddish article into En- stapo. wanted to send him home. The lat- glish in 1996. More than 1,000 intellectuals, ter, however, replied, “From such cultural leaders of the Stanisławów murderous hands I am not taking my Stanisławów was a city with 37,000 Jewish community, obeyed the or- life back. I prefer to die with my Jews, a Jewish city with a highly der, albeit with mixed feelings. But brothers.” In this Aktion more than developed cultural life. Who in east not a single one was able at that time 12,000 Jews died. Galicia has not heard of the to assess the extent of the sadism in After this Aktion, the OD Stanislawów Jewish theater Gold- the Hitlerite beast, and therefore (Ordnungs-Dienst: Jewish ghetto faden, with its symphony orchestra? they, the most intelligent and best police) was organized and the ghetto Who does not know about the book educated, became the first victims. was created. In December 1941, the Mechajej Hakaraim (“From the Laid out like cords of lumber in ghetto was eventually completely Lives of the Karaites”) by Rubin trucks, covered with tarpaulins, the sealed up with a 2-meter-high plank Fan, the Stanisławów writer? Ukrainian police stabbed their naked fence. Next the sadistic Gestapo Jewish merchants, tradesmen, bodies with the bayonets of their murderers Krueger and Brand classi- doctors, engineers, teachers, manu- rifles on their transport to the exter- fied all ghetto inhabitants into cate- facturers—all played dominant roles mination place (Vernichtungsort). In gories A, B, and C. Jews in the C in the city. There was once even a a small wood outside of the city, category were imprisoned3 in the Jewish mayor and always a Jewish they were shot, humiliated, tortured. Rote Muehle (Red Mill; Ed. note: It deputy mayor. Life pulsated in the Then began the darkest days for was also known as Rudolfs Muehle dozens of Jewish national organiza- the Stanislawów Jewish population, after the Jewish owner who left it tions, in the Jewish high school, in which by then included only a very unfinished before the Nazi inva- the Jewish workshops and factories, few remaining professionals. Every sion), where the Gestapo had earlier and in ten synagogues. day claimed more victims, killed imprisoned the Jews whom they had And now? Destroyed; gone is either individually or in small captured in the provincial shtetlach. the magnificent Jewish community groups, but only on 11 October 1941 Squeezed together, without water, of Stanisławów, except for a few did Krueger, the Gestapo chief their elementary human dignity hundred who returned from Russia, (jimach-szmo [“may his name be abused, some of them died from and a few dozen (among them the extinguished”]), activate a kind of hunger, others from typhus. author of these sorrows) who mi- sadistic devilish strategy for the first In March 1942, the afternoon of raculously survived the ghetto days. mass Aktion2 in Stanisławów. erev Pesach, the Germans, Ukraini- This is the balance left of 37,000 Armed Germans and Ukrainians ans, and OD began to catch Jews in Jews. together dragged out from their the streets of the ghetto. They were May G-d remember their souls. homes in the city all the Jews, in- herded together with the remaining On 2 July 1941, the Madziaren cluding the sick, even undressed, Jews alive from the Rote Muehle (Hungarians) marched into and collected them in the town hall. and were driven in an atrocious Stanisławów, following the retreat From there they herded them to the death march over the main streets of of the Russians. A month later they New Jewish Cemetery. They or- the city to the railway station, where were replaced by German military dered each sick Jew to be grabbed they were einwagoniert (“pressed units. The Gestapo came to by the hands and feet by four into cattle cars”) using by now fa- Stanisławów on 4 August and on the healthy ones and carried. At two miliar methods. The transport with very same day managed to set up the freshly dug long pits, the murderers these several thousand Jews was Judenrat. They also issued orders were shooting their Jewish victims dispatched to the Belzec extermina- that on the 6th at specified hours all individually while they were drink- tion camp. Then continued for a cer- Jewish lawyers, doctors, teachers,1 ing whiskey and snapping pictures. tain interval a chapter of the Rote

The Galitzianer 7 September 2012

Muehle. The old, the sick, the home- ghetto in groups and later returned, families (more correctly, remnants less, orphaned children, Jews from through the “lock”, a gate at which of families) had to crowd together in the province, and those in the B they were subjected to monstrous one room, without food, without category all were systematically im- incidents of chicanery by the Ger- hope, without the barest sanitary prisoned3 in the Rote Muehle. Every man, Ukrainian, and Jewish police. conditions. These unlucky ghetto few days they were driven—starved, On Rosh Hashanah 1942 in the remnants became the victims of tortured, humiliated, living morning, the groups at the “lock” bloody terror, humiliation, and ridi- corpses—to the railway station, were surrounded by Germans5. Si- cule by the German and Jewish po- loaded into cattle cars, and dis- multaneously a wild hunt for Jews lice. Amid piles of garbage, feathers, patched to Belzec. began in the ghetto, which lasted and ripped bedding, amid piles of On Shavuot 1942, it happened three days. Those captured and sur- broken furniture and dishes, moved that a Jew was supposed to be taken rounded were loaded into cattle cars people—living cadavers—with a by a Ukrainian policeman to the and transported, most likely to Bel- chasm of despair in their eyes and Schutzpolizei [police guard] head- zec. The cost of this Aktion was the terrible question on their lips: quarters. Seeing certain death before about 10,000 lives. Some groups “Are they still digging?”7 They were his eyes, the Jew poured gasoline on managed to save themselves, but the referring to the special Jewish work his angel of death, the Ukrainian, Gestapo and Schupo (Schutzpolizei) force ordered to dig 4 m long by 4 m and set him on fire. The policeman captured them later in a few weeks’ wide by 4 m deep graves in the fro- was only wounded, but the Schutz- time at their workstations and sent zen ground of the New Jewish polizei carried out a “revenge Ak- them in cattle cars also. Cemetery. tion.” Ten Jewish OD’s were hung, But the Stanisławów ghetto On 21 February 1943 at dawn, two per lamppost. Three thousand youth by now understood where the Germans and Ukrainians armed with Jews were dragged out from their transports were going. While the hand- and machineguns surrounded homes and hiding places4 and hein- cars were in motion, they jumped the ghetto. The empowered Gestapo ously shot and killed, and then bur- out and returned to the ghetto. So the head for Stanisławów Jews, Schot ied in the very center of the ghetto. Germans stopped sending Jews in (jimach-szmo), entered the ghetto, The Judenrat president, Goldsztain, cattle cars. Instead they started to leading a drunken military rabble, a heavy-set man, was hung, tore off exterminate Jews inside the ghetto and personally shot the then presi- the rope twice, and was finally shot. proper. The victims were lined up in dent of the Judenrat, Schonfield. The leaders of this Aktion were groups, forced to hold each other This was the signal for the final liq- Captain Strege and Lieutenant Grim under the arms, and driven to the uidation of the Stanisławów ghetto. (Schupo), both from Vienna. For extermination place. Every few days The brutal Gestapo showed itself in three days, Aryans received tickets executions were carried out in our its full sadistic bestiality. Drunk with for entry into the ghetto to view the New Jewish Cemetery on alcohol, hatred, and blood, they hanged on display. Stanisławów Jews and Jews from sought to inflict the greatest pain on It was forbidden to bring any the province. One Aktion followed their victims. Splitting heads from produce into the ghetto. People died another, one by day, another by shoulders, chopping live bodies with from hunger like flies. The pull carts night, each at a different time, in a axes and rifle butts, tearing victims full of corpses were a daily sight. different way, with a strategy, a sys- apart with horses, they forced those Several German enterprises— tem, a German precision. The ghetto still alive to completely undress and H.K.P. [carpools], H.U.V. was systematically reduced in size. to lay themselves down alive in lay- [international humanitarian groups], At the beginning of 1943, a perma- ers in open graves. Some they shot Reichsbahn [German railway], nent situation was created there, a and some they covered with earth, Rohstofferfassung [raw materials sort of race with death6. Jewish burying them alive. Only a very few processors], Schneiderei [textile] blood was running at the “lock” and Jews were able to escape through and Strikerei [knitwear] factories, in the streets of the ghetto. canals. Even some of those were and others—began to employ Jews. In February 1943, Jews working caught and killed. These companies were located out- for Reichsbahn, H.K.P., and On 22 February 1943 placards side of the ghetto, and since it was Rohstofferfassung were confined were posted on the streets of more likely to get a piece of bread into labor camps (kaserniert) outside Stanisławów in which the German there, Jews went outside to work. In of the ghetto, which was then com- Authority informed the population military-style formations, every day pressed into a small area with very that Stanislawów had become Jews who went to work left the few buildings. More than twenty Judenrein: clear of Jews.

The Galitzianer 8 September 2012

Epilog 5. My mother, Gisela Tannen- who were killed: my oldest sister, My family’s victims in the listed zapf, was working there and then Klara, her husband, Zygmunt Billig, Aktions: was wagoniert. and their two children, in Luck, Po- 1. My sister Nitka’s husband, 6. My sister, Nitka (Johanna) land; my second oldest sister, Schan- Nusko Feld; and my sister-in-law Feld, and her son Milek. cia (Jeanette), and her husband, Mańka (Amalia) Treibetz. 7. My cousins Munio and Dolek Jonas Karliner, in Drohobycz, Po- 2. My uncle Fishel’s wife, Salcia Tannenzapf, Uncle Fishel’s children. land; Uncle Wolf Karliner, his wife, Tannenzapf; and my cousin Tulo My father-in-law, Leb Mandel, and three children in Auschwitz; my Wuhl’s family. died in the ghetto, but he was not sister-in-law Genya (Evgenia) 3. My wife’s brother, Jumko killed. I don’t know when my uncle Holder and two children in Otynia, (Benjamin) Mandel, and his wife Moyshe Karliner and his family or Poland; and my sister-in-law Frydzia and children. my aunt Lea Shapira and her family (Frederika) Kaswiner, in Pozniki, 4. Uncle Fishel Tannenzapf. were killed. Other family members Poland.

William Tannenzapf’s article as it appeared in Jidisze Cajtung

The Galitzianer 9 September 2012

The Krosno Airfield William Leibner

Batia (Akselrad) Eisenstein (see The them were of German descent and epaulettes and devices. The matter Galitzianer, Volume 17, Number 3, some would later openly identify was subsequently hushed up when “The Akselrad Family of Korczyna with Nazi Germany. One cadet money was placed in the right hand. and Krosno, Galicia”) frequently named Peck later opened in Krosno The air force uniform devices and talked about the Krosno airfield. The the “Deutsches Geshaeft” store that epaulettes remained hidden in the steady activities of the airfield at- sold goods only to Germans during apartment of Jacob and Serl Leibner tracted her attention. In the initial the occupation of Poland. until the war began and they left the stages of the war she saw almost No Jews worked at the airport apartment. daily the column of Jewish workers and the cadets had little if any con- that walked to and from the airfield, tact with the Jewish population. German Control of the Airfield since the base had no sleeping ac- Higher-ranking officers, including Due to the tense international situa- commodations for civilians. She as- the Jewish medical base officer, tion, especially in Eastern Europe, sumed that her brother was one of lived in Krosno. Junior officers, Poland felt forced to expand and the laborers, but she was not sure, noncommissioned officers, and ca- enlarge military defenses at the and she was afraid to get too close dets lived at the base. On weekends Krosno airfield. These expansions and have a look. Police guards were some of them received liberty and were in full swing when the German always walking alongside the col- came to the city center to let off air force bombed the airfield in the umn; it was dangerous for her to some steam. They were often in- early hours of 1 September 1939. reveal herself, and she knew the volved in brawls or fights with reli- The Luftwaffe also bombed the rail- consequences of being caught as a gious Jews who were going to or way station, refinery, and electric Jew. So she observed the Jewish coming from synagogues dressed in power station, and Stuka dive bomb- workers hidden at a distance and their Sabbath clothes, as happened to ers terrorized the industrial section could not identify her brother Avra- my maternal grandfather, Chaim of the city. Polish anti-aircraft mea- ham. (As it turns out, all documents Lang. sures managed to down one German and personal survivor testimonies Chaim was a well established plane. The German air force re- point to the fact that Avraham Ak- clothing merchant in the city of turned in the following days and selrad was not employed at the Krosno. He was going home follow- continued to bomb and strafe every- Krosno airfield.) ing the end of Sabbath services at thing that moved. German armies the synagogue. He was dressed in soon rolled over Poland and reached Beginning of the Airfield Hassidic clothing, since he was a the city and the airfield of Krosno, The Polish government decided to Sandzer Hassid, or follower of the on 8 September 1939. build a military airfield in 1932 on Rabbi of Sandz. Two young air German soldiers began to round the outskirts of the city of Krosno, force cadets came from the opposite up Jews for work details. Some of Galicia. The airfield construction direction, and as they passed him the work consisted of cleaning the took a number of years and gave an they knocked off his shtreimel streets, while some was clearing ex- economic boost to the local econ- (Hassidic hat). His sons, Shimon and tensive bombing debris. Many Jews omy. Local artisans and techni- Shimshon, were walking behind were marched to the airfield to begin cians—among them the Bialy- him, and they lunged at the cadets. cleaning it up. The Germans did a wloses, who were glaziers—helped Both Langs were stocky and well very good job of bombing the air- build the airfield under the overall built. They mauled the cadets and field, so there was a great deal of supervision of the engineer Zale- ripped off their shoulder epaulettes work and the need for many hands. kowski. and uniform devices. Soon other The work was extremely difficult The airport officially opened in cadets and Jewish youths joined the and the pay hardly remunerative. 1938 with the arrival of Polish air free-for-all. The police appeared and The next day, few Jews showed up force cadets. They had previously slowly managed to restore order. for this work detail, which forced been stationed in Bydgoszcz in The Lang brothers took off in differ- the Germans to seize people in the northern Poland. The cadets repre- ent directions and made it to the city and send them to the airport. sented the cream of Polish military home of their married sister, Serl They also forced Jews to clear the youth, were highly nationalistic, and Leibner. The Leibners hid the broth- debris at the bombed railway station, tended to be anti-Semitic. Many of ers in a big wall closet and hid the clear the roads and fix damage, and The Galitzianer 10 September 2012

clear bombed industrial sites. The Major Hildebrand, and Captain according to Batia Eisenstein. Planes official designation of the base was Hoelzl was the officer in charge of constantly flew over her house going Fliegerhorstkommandantur Krosno, sports. These officers set the tone of to and from the airport. So too did Fliegertechnischeschule 4, Luftgau- the base and did not concern them- the Jewish workers go back and kommando 8, Breslau. selves with the Jewish or Polish forth daily to their homes in Krosno. Soon the SS and Gestapo took workers as long as they did their They worked alongside Polish sala- matters in hand. They ordered the work. Of course, Polish workers ried workers and German air force Judenrat headed by Idel (Yehuda) were paid higher salaries than Jew- technicians. These daily contacts Engel of Krosno to provide Jewish ish workers who did the same work. enabled the exchange of goods laborers for the airfield. Engel lived All Jewish workers at the base among the workers. The Jewish for many years in Germany and was were officially the property of the workers traded everything for food, expelled from Germany following SS, and the German air force paid a which was scarce in the city. The air the order to send all Polish citizens daily fee to the SS for each Jewish force police at the base were rather back to Poland regardless of the laborer. The Gestapo and the SS lax and permitted the trades. Occa- number of years they had lived in visited the airfield on occasion to sionally the Gestapo and SS Germany. He spoke German fluently check on the civilian workers and searched workers and found food, and was terrified of the new masters. their quarters. The presence of the which resulted in severe punish- The German air force began to SS created tension even among the ment, but the need for food overrode rebuild the entire airbase, according German military, for they asked all regulations and danger. to Yaakov Breitowicz, a survivor of questions and snooped about. After The situation changed radically the Shoah who worked at the base. these visits, the airfield would return when posters were plastered He said the total number of Jewish to a normal work routine. throughout Krosno that ordered all workers at the airfield reached its Some Germans sympathized Jews to report on 10 August 1942 to peak in December 1942, when be- with the plight of the Jews and even Targowa square (old cattle market) tween 300–500 forced Jewish work- tried to help on occasion. According with small suitcases. Most Jews, ers were there. Most of them were to Dr. Alexander White (formerly including those who had just been from Krosno or the vicinity. Some Alexander Bialywlos), a survivor of expelled from nearby villages, ap- of them, such as Shia Wolf Zafern of the airfield, the Zahlmeister peared at the indicated place. Here Krosno, even smuggled their wives (paymaster) Frankfurter was a real the selection began. All people who and children into the airfield area. mensch (human being) when it came worked for German firms and had At first Jews resisted the work to Jews. During the first big selec- permits were pushed to the side. The details at the base because of the tion of the Krosno Jews in the sum- old, feeble, and sick were taken to a hard work and low pay, but as time mer of 1942, he assembled all the nearby forest and shot. Some young went by, the base became a desirable Jewish workers of the base who and strong people were also pushed place because it offered the opportu- were in Krosno and escorted them to the side. The rest of the crowd nity to buy food from Polish and out of the city to the base. The SS was pushed into a waiting train that even German coworkers and bring it and the Gestapo were not happy headed to the death camp of Belzec. home to starving family members. with the base commander’s attitude The transport included the head of Most of the Jewish stores were toward his Jewish workers, but he the Judenrat, Yehuda Engel. Accord- closed since they could not get sup- apparently had the backing of the air ing to Alexander White, about 80% plies, so the number of workers in- force to continue with his work. The of the Jewish population of Krosno creased daily. Jews worked at the Krosno airfield had become an im- was on that train. There would be no refinery, at the railway, along the portant base where all types of survivors of this transport. Through- poorly maintained roads, and at the planes took off and landed. out the day, the Germans searched airfield. Most workers went home at The airfield played a significant for hidden Jews and on discovering the end of the work day. The base role in the attack on Russia on 21 them shot them. The survivors of the was relatively safe from the harass- June 1941, since it was very close to selection were escorted to a small ment that was a daily event in the the Russian border. The base’s fight- enclosed ghetto. Frankfurter then city of Krosno. The air force person- ing role diminished as the Wehr- came and escorted the Jewish work- nel were by and large indifferent to macht advanced into Russia and the ers to the airfield. the Jewish workers. distances grew. The airfield operated The base commander kept his The head of the base was Oberst around the clock during the initial usual quota of Jewish workers de- (Colonel) Giegold. Below him was weeks of the war against Russia, spite the fact that the activities of the

The Galitzianer 11 September 2012

air base steadily declined, for the few hidden Jews, such as the Aksel- pers and listening to the base radio. front lines were far away in Russia. rads and Pinhas Thaler. The Soviet armies defended Stalin- The SS was anxious to get rid of all grad with determination, the Allies the Jews at the base, but the air force Survivors were in North Africa, and the hopes prevailed and kept all the Jewish The 100 Jewish workers at the base of the Jewish workers became a bit workers and some of the women and were reinforced by the contingent of brighter. children. Occasionally the SS raided 24 Jewish workers from the Krosno The activities of the airfield in- the base, but the pickings were slim. ghetto. The force of 124 Jewish creased as the German armies began Then the Krosno ghetto was ordered workers was headed by Langsam, to retreat. Alexander Bialywlos saw closed on 4 December 1942. All from Gorlice, Galicia. The group Messerschmitt fighter planes, the Jews in the ghetto were marched to continued to work and live at the famous Me-109, Dormier bombers, the railway station, where a train base. They were fed and treated and Heinkel planes at the airport. consisting of cattle cars waited to fairly well in view of the general The Germans also expanded the ship them to the ghetto of Rzeszów, Jewish situation in German- anti-aircraft defense forces at the except for essential skilled workers occupied areas. One worker named base. As the year progressed the who were issued special passes and Frauwirth from Krosno died at the front moved closer to Krosno. The escorted to their places of work. base after a prolonged disease and German press constantly talked of They would no longer return to the was buried at the Krosno Jewish retrenchments, but in reality the Ger- ghetto, which was now closed. The cemetery by his brother. man army was retreating and the Gestapo and SS searched again for Zalman Beim was a religious Krosno airbase was busier than ever. hidden Jews and shot them when man and very involved in commu- Then in December 1943 or January found. nity affairs. He knew that that the 1944, base commander Colonel Gie- Twenty-four Jews were assigned shochet (ritual slaughterer) and gold, his staff, and his entire air for- to the air base, among them Alexan- dayan (religious judge) Klagsbald mation were transferred. A different der Bialywlos, Zalman Beim, and and his family had hidden in a bun- air force unit and 400 Russian Uz- Zalman’s son Zishe Beim. They ker. Zalman had not seen them dur- beck prisoners of war arrived to pro- were immediately taken to their ing the second and final round-up of vide labor. The SS jumped at this place of work at the base. According Jews in Krosno. He therefore as- opportunity, rounded up all Jewish to Zishe Beim, the airfield was ex- sumed that they were still in the now workers at the base, and sent them to tensively enlarged and handled deserted place. He asked his son the closed Szebnie concentration many planes. Simultaneous with the Zishe to help the Klagsbald family. camp, where they dismantled the final action in the city of Krosno, Zishe Beim and his cousin camp’s installations. The work at another selection took place at the Dolek Beim broke out of the en- Szebnie lasted several weeks, at airfield. The entire base was thor- closed camp, cut the barbed wires which point the workers were sent to oughly searched by the SS and only that circled the base, and headed to the Plaszów concentration camp 100 Jewish workers were permitted the ghetto. They reached the area near Kraków, Poland. to remain. The rest of the Jewish and searched for the bunker, which The Krosno base soon attracted workers were marched to the rail- at last they found. They tapped on the attention of the Russian air force, way station in Krosno, where the the door and it opened. They de- which began to bomb the airfield. transport for the Rzeszów ghetto cided to take Klagsbald, his wife, Batia Eisenstein witnessed these awaited them. The horrible trip is and their three children to the air- attacks. The sky was ablaze with still vividly remembered by Dr. Her- field. They re-entered the base anti-aircraft shells that exploded in bert Breite (formerly Herbert Brei- where they had cut the wires. The the air and lit up the skies, as well as towicz), who was then six and a half family was hidden and the cousins large projector lights that searched years old. The train was crowded, presented themselves at their work the skyline. As the Russian armies standing room only, some people posts on time. The Gestapo later dis- advanced into Poland, the attacks were dying or dead, and everybody covered the family, however, and became more frequent by the day, feared the destination. According to removed them from the base. according to Batia. With the ap- Alexander Bialywlos, 124 Jewish All these activities were hushed proach of the Soviet army, the Ger- workers remained at the base; some up, and there were no reprisals. The mans blew up the entire Krosno air- of them were Krosner Jews, the last laborers hoped to survive the war field. Nevertheless, the Russians remnants of the Jews of Krosno. The since they knew the military situa- also bombed the airfield by air and city was now Judenrein except for a tion by reading the German newspa- land.

The Galitzianer 12 September 2012

The Krosno airfield has since Town Research been rebuilt and serves the local re- gion. For Gesher Galicia to do any A sizable number of Jewish Jodłowa additional work on Żurów records, workers at the Krosno air base sur- Russ Maurer we must raise at least $250. At that vived the war thanks to the quiet point Gesher Galicia will match our determination of base commander Clean-up and restoration of the Jew- donated total and our Żurów project Colonel Giegold, who in spite of all ish cemetery in Jodłowa (Podkar- will have $500 to draw upon for pressure stood by his Jewish work- packie province of Poland, between transcription work. ers. Tarnów and Jasło) has begun, under You are probably wondering the direction of the Foundation how this project might benefit you Some Krosno Jews who worked at FPKT (http://www.fpkt.org/pl/) and with and your research. If you think that the airfield: the participation of the Jodłowa civil you might have family from Żurów Szymek Abrahamson, son of authorities. In August 2012, it ap- or family that married someone from Berish Abrahamson peared that half or more of the Żurów, you could learn the house Amsterdam cemetery had been cleared of weeds, and parcel numbers that belonged to Dolek Beim leaves, and other debris, exposing your family; chart who their Joseph Beim; in New Jersey 100 or so matzevot, many substan- neighbors were; trace inheritance Zalman Beim tially intact. Inscriptions that could patterns of how land was handed Zishe Beim, son of Zalman; liv- be seen were generally in quite good down through generations; find out ing in Haifa condition. Plans for the near term how much your ancestors paid in tax Yankele (Jack) Beims, living in include completing the clean-up, and what kinds of buildings they had California turning over the matzevot currently on their land. I know from records Alexander Bialywlos (now Dr. face down and cleaning them, and I've obtained that my Haber family White), son of Mendel transcribing all inscriptions that can lived in house #84. I'm hoping to Mendel Bialywlos be read. Any descendants and re- find other surnames in neighboring Abraham Breitowicz and family searchers of Jodłowa wishing to houses that connect to my family Yaakov Breitowicz know more about the project should and will help me piece together my Henek Breitowicz (now Dr. Her- contact me at [email protected]. great-grandfather's siblings and bert Breite), son of Yaakov cousins. The same could come true Frauwirth, died at the base for your family from Żurów. Frauwirth, brother of above Rohatyn I am asking for your help to Sonia Grayower fund the Zhuriv (Żurów) GG Cadas- Oscar Gross The Rohatyn Shtetl Research Group tral Map Project. Contributions are Klagsbald and family has posted an interactive 1846 deductible for U.S. taxpayers. In Langsam from Gorlice; was in cadastral map of Rohatyn with addition, those who contribute will charge of Jewish workers at the base house numbers, Jewish buildings, receive access to transcribed infor- Moses Mahler and community structures at http:// mation prior to that information be- Raphael Mahler www.rsrg.org/rohatyn/map/hnl/zzz_rhlz7.html. ing posted online. Your contribution Moshe Polaner (Heller) can be made by check, money order, Rachel Polaner, wife of Moshe or PayPal per Pamela Weisberger’s Spitz brothers Żurów instructions at the top of page 5 of Taubenfeld and his son Hazel Sandow Boon this issue. However you contribute, Shiek Trenczer indicate your payment is to go to- Yosek Trenczer My mother’s father was born in ward the Zhuriv (Żurów) GG Cadas- Weinfelds from Gorlice Żurów, Galicia (now Zhuriv, tral Map Project. Shia Wolf Zafern, with his wife Ukraine). I was very excited to see Thank you in advance for your and children that the Gesher Galicia Cadastral help. Please e-mail me directly at Map and Landowner Records Proj- [email protected] when you make a ect listed records from Żurów. I donation so that I can ensure that have agreed to be the new Town Zhuriv (Żurów) gets the benefit of Leader. your generosity.

The Galitzianer 13 September 2012

Jewish Community Life in Brody Edward Gelles

A fragment of the Brody Beth Din records reveals that, at least in this ing families; the apparent youth of records from the early 19th century place and period, it was general the bridegroom; the use of the Rus- has survived. I obtained a copy of practice to refer to men of distin- sian ruble, among other currencies, this manuscript through the courtesy guished ancestry by adding the an- in a town which was an entrepot be- of the Jewish Theological Seminary cestor’s epithet or the title of his ma- tween the Austrian and Russian em- in New York1. It has proved to be an jor work of scholarship4. This cus- pires; and assurance by the bride- invaluable source of genealogical tom of recalling famous forebears groom’s brother to carry out the and sociological material for a town clearly provides useful pointers in chalitza ceremony5, if required. within the Austro-Hungarian Empire rabbinical genealogy. The community was strong in its which had a large Jewish commu- This custom also indicates the religious faith, the winds of enlight- nity and was also for a considerable importance attached to lineage enment blowing from post- time an important center of Jewish (yichus) and to standing in the Brody Revolutionary France not yet having learning. For ten years, from 1808 to community, in which learning made much impact in this distant 1817, the records detail all manner tended to take precedence over outpost of the Austrian Empire. The of transactions that make up the wealth in determining social posi- synagogue was central to the life of warp and weft of a town’s social tion. Families such as Babad, the community, and many smaller fabric, such as the purchase and sale Chayes, Margolioth, and Shapiro houses of prayer catered to special of houses, land, and other property, combined ancient lineage, intellec- groups. Synagogue seats were be- wills and bequests, marriage con- tual distinction, and wealth. The bal- queathed, sold, and rented. A good tracts, and much more. The names of ance between lineage and learning example is provided by Finkel, a people and the details of these trans- on one hand and more material at- daughter of R. Dov Ber Fraenkel actions, when combined with the tributes on the other was delicately and the wife of Reb Wolf Bole- civil records of births, marriages, struck in arranged marriages. The chower, who purchased 35 seats, and deaths and the real estate regis- leading rabbis featured prominently later selling some or using the funds ters, throw light on family connec- in the social hierarchy. from their rental for charitable pur- tions and the life of the community2. The Gelles family owned some poses6. The procedures followed in my land, several houses, and a chan- Many houses and plots of land study of the Gelles family are of dlery (Vaskievonia). They appear to stayed in the same family for several general applicability, and so are have had a monopoly on the supply generations, and numerous entries some of the conclusions. For exam- of candles to the community2. From for property transactions refer to ple, Moses Gelles of Brody was a the mid-1700’s to the early 1800’s, a owners passing property to their scholar of the study group called the part of which is covered by the Beth heirs and to later subdivisions. An Brody Klaus around the middle of Din records, the family was quite analysis of names, property num- the 18th century3. He was variously prosperous. Membership in the bers, and dates of transactions has referred to as Gelles and Levush. I Klaus certainly carried considerable confirmed a number of family links. suggested that the epithet “Levush” prestige. This is the period for which Moses Gelles died before the recalled a descent from the 16th- there are records of marriage alli- period covered by the Beth Din century Rabbi Mordecai Yaffe of ances with the families of Brody document. His property was divided Prague and the title of his magnum Rabbis Heschel Hakohen, Meir between his children and in-laws opus, the Levushim. This Hebrew Fraenkel, Yehuda Leib Zundel, Ber- and then went to their children and epithet is noted for four generations ach Margoshes, and others. The grandchildren. Their houses and par- and is quite distinct from vernacular Gelles connections with Rabbi Pin- cels of land were therefore often trade soubriquets, such as “Wosko- chas Shapiro of Koretz are docu- adjoining one another or the land on boinik” (wax chandler or candle mented and discussed elsewhere. part of which stood the family wax- maker), used by some members of A marriage contract (ketubah) works. the Gelles family. There is evidence from the year 1817 between the In the short span of ten years the of other Levushes who were known Gelles and Margoshes families con- Beth Din record encompasses infor- to be descendants of Mordecai tains several points of interest, viz. mation on four generations of re- Yaffe. A perusal of the Beth Din the relative status of the participat- lated families. Several entries show

The Galitzianer 14 September 2012

that Moses Gelles of the Klaus was Data from the Brody Beth Din Notes one and the same person as Men- records, the civil records in the 1. Records of the Beth Din of achem Levush and that his sons Mi- L’viv archives, and tombstone in- Brody 1808–1817, MS 4037, held at chel Levush or Gelles, Joseph Gelles scriptions have been augmented re- Jewish Theological Seminary, New Vaskievonie, and Mordecai Gelles cently (2012) by the new Gesher York. All entry numbers cited in this had numerous issue known by vari- Galicia Brody Cemetery Database. article refer to entries in these Beth Din ous names. R. Moshe Gershon, a son records. Monetary Currencies of Joseph Gelles, sometimes referred 2. Edward Gelles, “Finding Rabbi to as R. Moshe, can be distinguished In this period the use of a variety of Moses Gelles”, Avotaynu, Vol. 18, No. from the R. Moshe Gelles whose coins was widespread and by no 1, Spring 2002. name is given on the Brody tomb- means confined to Brody. For a cen- 3. Nathan M. Gelber, “Brody: The stone of his son, Rabbi David Isaac tury from 1779 Brody was a Free Jerusalem of Austria”, in An Eternal Gellis. This R. Moshe was probably City with a flourishing trade be- Light: Brody in Memoriam, Jerusalem: a son of the above-mentioned R. tween eastern and central Europe. Organisation of Former Brody Resi- Mordecai Gelles, who was a mechu- Money in the above-mentioned dents in Israel, 1994. Footnote on the tan (in-law) of Rabbi Pinchas of Ko- documents included the Rhenish, a Brody Klaus. retz. More light is thrown on other term for the contemporary German 4. Instances are entries 1116 for R. in-laws. Thus, Rabbi Yehuda Zun- gulden or Netherlandish guilder. The Zalman Margoshes Shach (descendant del, grandfather of another Moshe latter was the standard Dutch coin, of the “Shach”, an acronym for Rabbi Levush or Gelles, appears to be but many other coins were used in Shabbatai Katz) and 1172 for Chaim identical with the Rabbi Yehuda The Netherlands (for references to Zvi Hersh, son of R. Moshe Efrayim Leib Zundel Ramraz who belonged the ryder, worth 14 guilders, see Chacham Zvi (descendant of Chacham to the circle of the wise men of http://www. giacomo-casanova.de/catour16.htm. Zvi Ashkenazi). More relevant to the Brody and died in 1804. Reb Berach This Web page contains interesting interpretation of the Levush name, as Margoshes’ granddaughter married a information on late 18th-century referring to descent from Rabbi Morde- Gelles, and Berach’s wife may have coinage and prices across Europe, cai Yaffe and to the title of his book, are been the daughter of R. Shmuel drawn from various sources, includ- instances of other epithets derived from Gelles. The family of Reb Ahron ing Casanova’s Memoirs, Thomas famous rabbinical works, namely entries Benish seems to be connected Nugent’s Grand Tour, and other 1132, 1138, and 1278 for Reb Mendel through the wives of Ahron’s sons, writings). The pound sterling was Tevuos Shor, Reb Alexander Chaim Reb Simcha and Reb David Hertz. worth about 11 ½ Dutch guilders Tevuos Shor, and Reb Yosef Yisrael The two couples sold their separate and about 5 ½ Russian rubles, which Tevuos Shor (members of the Shor fam- interests in two houses to the broth- were of similar value to the rixdollar ily descended from the author of Tevuos ers-in-law Meir Fraenkel and Moses (a variety of different Netherlandish Shor) and 1350 for Leah, daughter of R. 7 Gershon Gelles . coins each averaging about 448 Avrohom Yitzchak Halevy Turei Zahav The prosperity of the Gelles grains in weight of .885 fine silver). (after his ancestor David Halevy Segal, family declined as candles gave way The new Russian silver ruble, intro- the author of the book Turei Zahav). to gaslight and as Brody suffered duced under Tsar Alexander I in The case for the derivation of the epithet from the siting of new railways, the 1810, was clearly popular in Brody. Levush is certainly strengthened by decline of its importance as a trading The money settlements in the these examples from the Beth Din rec- center, and the loss of its status as a quoted marriage contracts are in the ords. The civil birth, marriage, and Free City. Many Jews left their an- range of a few hundred to a few death records of Brody confirm that cient hometown. Some, such as the thousand Russian rubles or the Gelles and Levush were alternative or Brodskys, flourished in Odessa and equivalent in other currencies. additional names in the family for sev- elsewhere in Russia. In the closing Among the few indications of wages eral generations. A previous record of decades of the 19th century the in- paid in that period (entry 1275, for this epithet is connected to known prog- flux of refugees from Russian po- March 1815) is the fee of one ruble eny of the Levush. The tombstone of a groms led to overcrowding and pov- per week paid to the part-time prayer R. Nehemia Levush of Svierz and later erty in Brody, but by that time many leader of the New Synagogue. of Vilna has an inscription stating that of the old families had been dis- his father Rabbi Zvi Levush was a de- persed throughout Galicia, Austria, scendant of Rabbi Mordecai Yaffe2. and beyond.

The Galitzianer 15 September 2012

Notes for “Some Scholars of the Brody Klaus” 1. R. Todros was a descendant of the Abulafia scholars and courtiers of medieval Spain. 2. R. Yehuda Leib Zundel Ramraz was also grandfather of Shalom Rokeach (1779–1855), the first Grand Rabbi of the Belz Chasidic dynasty. Ramraz is an acronym of his father’s name (Rabbi Moshe Reb Zelig’s) and became the family name.* 3. Jacob Halevi Horowitz was a son of Yehuda Aryeh Leibush Halevi Horowitz of Apt. They claimed descent from Rabbi Isaiah Halevi Ish Horowitz (ca. 1568–1627), known as the holy Shelah.* *See Arim Veimahot Beyisrael, Vol. 6 (Brody), pp. 54, 56, 69–70; Meir Wunder, Meorei Galicia, Vol. 2: 217, Vol. 4: 844– 907 and 967–969, Vol. 6: 475; and Yitzchak ShlomoYudlof, Sefer Yichus Belza, pp. 25–35, 311–315.

5. Entry 1420. Ketubah of Abraham vision for the payment of tuition fees for the 1808 marriage of Yitzchak, a son (a bachelor), son of Rabbi Moshe may indicate the extreme youth of the of Reb Benjamin Zeev Bolechover, Gelles, son of Reb Joseph Vaskievonie bridegroom). Reb Josef Kalischer gave Yitzchak was endowed with 1980 rein- (owner of the waxworks and one of the the sum of 100 Russian rubles. The ish and a promise of five years of sup- sons of Moses Gelles Levush of Brody), bridegroom’s brother Reb Yankel port by the father of the bridegroom and who married Taube, daughter of Rabbi Gelles gave an assurance to carry out separately by the mother of the bride. Josef Kalischer, son of R. Berach Mar- the chalitza ceremony if necessary (the Entries 1391, 1395, 1397, and 1412 goshes, on Friday, 6 Tamuz 5577 (20 ceremony involves release of a childless refer to 2,700 silver rubles and six years June 1817). Reb Moshe Gelles promised bride by the brother of the bridegroom support, 675 rubles and three years sup- to pay the sum of 450 Russian rubles, in the event of the bridegroom’s death). port from the bride’s father, 1,425 new support the couple for the first three Other marriage contracts of the rubles with each side supporting the years of their marriage, and pay for their period refer to varying sums of money couple for four years, and 1,125 Russian clothing, as well as tuition fees (the pro- and years of support. Thus, in entry 277, rubles with support of two years from

The Galitzianer 16 September 2012

the bride’s father and five years from *Menachem Levush in entry 270 is able as the father of the R. Isaac Reich the bridegroom’s father. While the most thus one and the same person as Moses who married a granddaughter of R. Jo- common currency of the period was the Gelles in entry 1133. **An entry in seph Landau, ABD of Zolkiew who Russian ruble, Austrian ducats 1808 gives the value of a shterentuchel became head of the Brody Klaus in (Kaiserliche dukaten) are mentioned in as at least 200 rendelech Hollander, and 17578. R. Moshe Gershon Gelles was entry 1258 dated 1814, Prussian cur- an entry for the wedding in 1813 of probably Bonna’s brother. rency (Preussisch) in 447 dated 1808, Benjamin Wolf, son of Zvi Hirsch Reb Mordechai Gelles, a brother of and Dutch coinage (rendelech Hol- Schonblum of Lvov, to Rikel Landau, Reb Joseph Vaskievonie, is mentioned lander) in 424 and 429 in 1808. daughter of R.Yosef ben R. Shachna, (entries 762 and 1035), and Reb Shmuel 6. Entry 394. “Finkel [the sister of refers to a shterentuchel, earrings, and may be a kinsman of Moshe Gelles of Rabbi Meir Fraenkel, a son-in-law of R. pearls being worth at least 900 Russian the Klaus (entries 481, 530, and 953). Josef Gelles Vaskievonie, who was a rubles. Reb Shmuel’s daughter married Reb son of R. Moses Gelles], daughter of R. Entry 401. “Gittel Malka, the Berach Margoshes. The Margoshes also Dov Ber Fraenkel and wife of Reb Wolf widow of Reb Todros ben Ramraz [of had marriage links with the Shapiro Bolechower, purchased 35 seats in the the Zundel family] sold a seat on the family (entries 860 and 863). The iden- Synagogue.” Entry 1133. “A sale by the eastern wall in the women’s section, tity of Rabbi Yehuda Zundel, whose wealthy Finkel … of a seat in the next to the seat belonging to Malka daughter Sarah Bathya married Morde- women’s section of the New Synagogue Margoshes … Iyyar 5568 [May 1808].” cai Levush, son of R. Michel Gelles, is … in memory of the soul of the late Entry 1308. “Sale by Chaya, widow indicated by the entry for a property sale Feiga, daughter of Reb Yehoshua of R. Shmuel Gelles, of half a seat in the to their son Reb Moshe Levush in Heshel Hakohen, the wife of Rabbi Mi- women’s section of the synagogue to March 1814 (entry 1194) and the entry chel, son of Reb Moshe Gelles … so Ektish, wife of the wealthy R. Yehoshua relating to land belonging to the heirs of that this should be an everlasting memo- Margalioth … 28 Menachem [Av] 5575 the late R. Zundel Ramraz (entry 1131) rial to her soul, never to be sold. The [3 September 1815].” and again to the heirs of Reb Zundel son rental income from the seat is to be used 7. Parts of houses and parcels of of R. M. Reb Zelig’s in December 1814 to pay for a yahrzeit lamp [candle lit on land were conveyed frequently between (entry 1260). Rabbi Yehuda Leib Zun- the anniversary of the deceased’s death] the heirs of Moses Gelles and their de- del carried the epithet “Ramraz”, an and the remainder to be distributed to scendants. These transactions involved acronym for Rabbi Moshe Reb Zelig’s the local poor on the day of her yahrzeit. Leah and Bonna and their in-laws of the (as the son-in-law of Reb Zelig was She appointed a trustee … Elul 5573 Benish family (entries 713 and 813; see called). [September 1813].” also entries 1064 and 1067); Reb Moshe 8. Neil Rosenstein, The Unbroken The husband of the above- Gershon Gelles, a son of R. Joseph Chain, Lakewood, NJ: CIS Publishers, mentioned Feiga is identified in entry Gelles Vaskievonie, and his brother-in- 1990, pp. 755–757. 270. “Reb Michel, son of Reb Men- law Rabbi Meir Shlomo Fraenkel achem Levush* (son-in-law of Reb. S. (entries 713, 786, and 813); the latter’s Edward Gelles, M.A., D.Phil. (Oxford Gelles), signed and sealed to his wife wealthy sister Finkel and her husband 1951), was born in Vienna in 1927 and has Feiga, daughter of Rabbi Yehoshua Reb Benyamin Wolf Bolechover lived in England since 1938. He has pub- Heshel, that if she passes away before (entries 574 and 922); and other sons of lished numerous papers on physical chemis- him, he is obliged to return to her heirs, R. Joseph Gelles, namely Reb Yaakov try in scientific journals, a book and articles or to whomever she instructs, half of the Hersh Feigang and Rabbi Abraham Yo- on antiques and art, and five books and value of her shterentuchel** [the cus- nah Reich with the Reich family (entry many articles on Jewish history and geneal- tomary jewelled headdress], and all 786). These two Gelles family members ogy. He may be contacted at edward.gelles@ clothing, bedding etc, immediately after were referred to by the names of their btinternet.com. This essay will be included in her death … 27 Tishri 5568 [29 October fathers-in-law, a common custom at the a forthcoming volume of collected essays by 1807].” time. Yonah Reich is perhaps identifi- Dr. Gelles.

The Galitzianer 17 September 2012

The Galitzianer 18 September 2012

Notes for “Gelles of Brody” Names in larger type are rabbis of the Gelles family. Names in bold are rabbis connected to the Gelles family through marriage. 1. Moses Menachem Mendel Levush, a scholar of the Brody Klaus, was called Levush in recognition of his descent from Mordecai Yaffe of Prague (1530–1612), who was known as the Levush after the title of his major work. Moses Menachem Mendel Levush married a daughter of Rabbi S. Gelles of Brody, who was probably connected with the line of Lithuanian rab- bis descending from Uri Feivush Ashkenazi of Vilna and Jerusalem. The latter’s great-grandson was Shmuel Gelles, the Chief Rabbi of Siemiatycze. 2. The name of Yehoshua Heschel Hakohen recurred in the family descended from a son-in-law of Abraham Joshua Heschel of Kraków, to whom the Gelles son-in-law of this name may well belong. Moshe Hakohen was the author of a family genealogy called Assifat Hakohen. 3. Yehuda Leib Zundel Ramraz of Brody (died 1804) was a scholar of the Brody Klaus, as were his grandfather and Moses Gelles. Yehuda Zundel was the father-in-law of Mordecai Levush (Gelles) and of Eleazar Rokeach, whose son Shalom Rokeach (1779–1855) became the first Rebbe of the Belz Chasidic dynasty. Todros Zundel Ramraz was a nephew of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Zundel of Brody. There is a connection with Rabbi Todros Zundel Horowitz, the author of Shoresh Miyakov (Lvov, 1858). 4. Meir Shlomo Fraenkel’s sister Finkel, wife of Reb Wolf Bolechower, endowed a trust in memory of Feiga Heschel Ha- kohen, underlining the Fraenkel-Gelles connection. A later Finkel, namesake of the aforementioned, is in the Brody birth rec- ords of 1853 as the daughter of Jacob Fraenkel and Chane Gelles. 5. Abraham, son of Joseph Gelles, was a son-in-law of Jonah Reich, who appears to have been a mechutan of Jacob Sim- cha Landau, ABD of Apt and son of Joseph Landau, head of the Brody Klaus in 1757. 6. Shmuel, son of Mordecai and grandson of Moses Gelles, married a daughter of Rabbi Pinchas Shapiro of Koretz. The latter was a direct descendant of the Shapiro line including Chief Rabbi Nathan Nata Spiro of Kraków (1585–1633) and his grandfather Nathan Nata of Grodno (died 1577). From Pinchas Shapiro there is a line of descent to Rabbi Yehuda Meir Shapira (1887–1934), founder of the Lublin Sages Yeshivah, who taught my cousin Joseph, son of Rabbi Efraim Fischel and grandson of Rabbi Nahum Uri Gelles. The progeny of Shmuel Gelles and Sarah Rachel Scheindel Shapiro were rabbis in the Ukraine for five generations and were known by the name of Polonsky (after the town of Polonnoye). They had a connection by marriage with the Chasidic Friedman dynasty of Czortków. My grandfather and Rabbi Yehuda Meir Shapira were close followers of Rabbi Israel Friedman of Czortków (1854–1933), who died in Vienna. 7. Berach Margoshes’ descent from Efraim Fischl of Lvov (died 1653), president of the Council of the Four Lands, was recorded by Joseph Margoshes in his book Memoirs of My Life. This Efraim Fischel was the father-in-law of Aryeh Leib Fischls aka der Hoiche Rebbe Leib (died 1671), Chief Rabbi of Kraków and scion of the Kloisner line. One of the latter’s sons was Efraim Fischel of Ludmir. 8. My grandfather Nahum Uri was the grandson of Moses Gelles, who was a son-on-law of Moshe of Glogau, eldest son of Shmuel Helman of Metz. There are grounds for believing that this Moses Gelles was the brother rather than first cousin of Shmuel ben Mordecai Gelles. Rabbi Nahum Uri’s eldest son was Efraim Fischel, possibly named after Efraim Fischel Horowitz (ca. 1800–1860), ABD of Munkacz. Rabbi Nahum Uri’s second son was my father, Dr. David Gelles, named after his paternal grandfather.

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The Galitzianer 19 September 2012

Hunting a Dead Nazi Susan J. Gordon

SS Sturmbannfuhrer Hermann school dropout when he joined the On the 38th day of the proceed- Müller was the Gestapo chief who up-and-coming National Socialist ings, Müller broke down in tears, commanded the deportations and German Workers’ (Nazi) Party in shocking everyone in the courtroom, extermination of Galician Jews in 1927. In subsequent years, he was and admitted (at least) some of his the Tarnopol region from 1941 to jailed repeatedly for “agitations” and guilt. Facing Gilson, whose parents 1943. His name is cursed like participation in violent riots. His had perished in the Belzec gas Amalek by Holocaust survivors, and 1938 SS personnel file describes chambers, Müller begged for for- my journey into Jewish genealogy him as Catholic, conscientious, am- giveness. “It was everything terrible, prompted me to learn more about bitious, strongly bold, articulate, and what we did,” he wept. Found him. Most important, I wanted to a good organizer and enforcer. His guilty, he was sentenced to life im- know what had happened to this Nordic appearance is borne out by prisonment. butcher known as blutiger Juden- his pale, austere face in a photo- But few convicted Nazis served feind (“bloody enemy of the Jews”), graph. With his officer’s cap tipped their entire sentences; had Müller? who orchestrated the deaths of thou- jauntily to one side, Müller stares Or did he die peacefully at home, in sands in my ancestral towns. hard at the camera. It is a face that the warm embrace of his family? I came across Müller’s name in could easily haunt your dreams. The answer required a lot of dig- The Encyclopedia Judaica the first At war’s end, Müller evaded ging, but when I learned that he had time I looked up my grandfather’s capture, changed his name, and died in prison, 22 years after being birthplace, Zbarazh, a town not far slipped into the British zone in Ber- sentenced, I felt a grim satisfaction. from Tarnopol, and read that the lin. Hiding in plain sight in the There is world history, and there round-ups, mass slaughter, and de- northwestern city of Espelkamp, he is personal history. Recently, I vis- portations were all directed by him. married his third wife, who bore him ited the Zbarazh section of Beth Subsequently, I pursued my investi- a son, and sold food in a small mar- David Cemetery in Queens, to say gations in history books and yizkor ket operated under her name. Alto- kaddish before a monument for the books, and online at Web sites in- gether, Müller enjoyed 15 years of 5,122 Jews murdered in my grandfa- cluding http://www.ushmm.org/ and http:// freedom until he was arrested in ther’s town, including his first cous- www.deathcamps.org/. I met with Carl 1961. Five years later, he and other ins. The prosecutors in Stuttgart had Modig, an archivist (now retired) at former Nazi henchmen were tried in called them “Jews of Zbarazh”, but the United States Holocaust Memo- Stuttgart for the murders of Jews in were they? As Jews, they had al- rial Museum in Washington, who the Tarnopol area. ways been outsiders, and although found the birth date of the fiend I Müller’s name is on almost they had lived there since the 15th had begun to call “my Nazi”, and every page of the lengthy trial re- century, were they ever really from which narrowed down my search port. My knowledge of German is Zbarazh? immeasurably. Modig also provided scant, but with the help of a Ger- rich biographical material about man-speaking member of my syna- Published 16 November 2010 in The Müller’s military service and fanati- gogue, I understood most of the ma- Jewish Week of New York. © Susan J. cal loyalty to the Nazi party. terial. We read about Dr. Jakob Wolf Gordon, 2010. Reprinted with permis- At the U.S. National Archives Gilson, who had survived imprison- sion from the author. Permission to re- and Records Administration in Col- ment in a slave labor camp under produce this material must be obtained lege Park, Maryland, I uncovered Müller’s control and who testified from the author, at susan@susanjgordon. additional information in the vast that Müller “would shoot children, com, as well as from The Galitzianer. collection of Word War II papers women, any Jew he would chance Susan has just completed a memoir that are part of the Berlin Docu- upon, like one might shoot rabbits.” called Because of Eva: How I Found My ments File. These files reinforced His statement reminded me of an- Deadbeat Dad, the Woman Who Buried my belief in the essential need to other survivor’s story about how My Grandfather, and Why My Mother save historical records as proof of Müller ordered his soldiers to herd Rode to California in the Sidecar of a their authenticity. Jews awaiting transport into impos- Harley, about finding family and mak- Born in Essen, Germany in sibly crowded areas and shoot any- ing peace after two generations of di- 1909, Müller was an uninspired one who couldn’t sit down. vorce.

The Galitzianer 20 September 2012

A Teacher Returning: Bronia Horn Marla Raucher Osborn

I am not her granddaughter, but I in a cafe around the corner from her could have been. 1930 home? Bronia Horn was my paternal After finishing her teaching ap- grandmother’s aunt. There was only prenticeship, in 1932 Bronia secured a six-year age difference between a paid position at a school, then Bronia and my grandmother. Bronia called Gimnazjum Marshal Józef was born in 1904, my grandmother Piłsudzki, in Busko-Zdrój. Busko- in 1910. Zdrój, about 75 km northeast of Both were born in Rohatyn, in Kraków, had been a popular historic what was then Eastern Galicia, today spa town with a reputation for good western Ukraine. Both left Rohatyn. schools. Eighty years later, Bronia’s For my grandmother, the destination academic records, obtained from the was New York in 1914 with her fa- archives at Jagiellonian University, ther Isak (almost 20 years older than led me in 2012 to Busko-Zdrój. younger sister Bronia), her mother, From these academic records I Bronia’s signatures and her two sisters. For Bronia, it wanted to learn more about the was Palestine in 1936, to join her school in Busko-Zdrój, so I searched ber dress with white decorative but- older sister Jute, who had emigrated the Internet, posted inquiries to the ton at the neck in all three shots. there two years prior. Neither online digests of JRI-Poland and Same sad expression. I immediately Bronia, Jute, nor my grandmother Gesher Galicia, and sent an e-mail to recognized her as one would recog- would ever see their beloved Ro- the school asking whether they nize an old friend: my Bronia. hatyn again. might still have prewar records for With this remarkable, unexpect- My grandmother spoke of my Bronia. The school was still at ed reply (unexpected because I had Bronia not as her elder but as her the same location and, as I subse- come to assume my inquiry would contemporary. That is how I, too, quently learned, continued to have go unanswered after so many think of Bronia as I follow in her an excellent academic reputation. months) I went from having but a footsteps in my travels and continu- Today the school is called Liceum single photo of Bronia (from her ing research—from Rohatyn to Vi- T. Kosciuszki. 1936 Polish passport) to having four. enna, to L’viv and Kraków, from Four months later, my husband I quietly cried at the dinner table Busko-Zdrój to Palestine, from New and I moved to Kraków and settled that night when I realized that it was York to Israel. I think of myself as into a new life and a new apartment. also the twentieth anniversary of her granddaughter. I am the descen- Then, about two weeks ago, I re- Bronia’s death. dant she never had. ceived a remarkable e-mail reply And so, almost exactly 80 years As I write this article, my hus- from two of the school’s current after my Bronia had been in Busko- band and I are living in Kraków for teachers. Zdrój—the last place she called three months. I am here to continue Yes, the school still had some home in Poland before reluctantly my research and, in part, to be close records: Bronia’s hand-written cur- leaving for Palestine—I found my- to Bronia: to be able to walk to the riculum for that semester’s courses self walking the halls of Liceum T. apartment where she lived from in German language and literature; a Kosciuszki and sitting in classrooms 1930–1932 at ul. Bozego document showing Bronia’s name where Bronia once taught German Milosierdzia 4 while finishing her on the 1935 list of the school’s language and literature. Before me Master’s degree in German language teachers; Bronia’s signature on a were seated almost a dozen students and literature at Jagiellonian Univer- student record. The school had also from the English department of to- sity; to meander the halls of nearby found some photos: three group pho- day’s school, eager to learn what A. Witkowskiego Gimnazjum at ul. tos of the school’s teachers from the would bring an American all the Studencka 12 where in 1931 she was 1935–1936 school year. There was way to Busko-Zdrój, who was an unpaid apprentice teacher. my Bronia, demurely seated in the Bronia Horn, and how was I related What would she think if she front row, hands tightly clasped on to her? Seated to my right was knew that today I am sipping hot tea her lap, wearing the same dark, som- Dominika Michalska, their English

The Galitzianer 21 September 2012

A 1935 photo of Bronia with other teachers, and a list of teach- ers that includes Bronia’s name

Afterward, I was given a tour of the teachers’ lounge, the school grounds, and the town’s charmingly teacher and one of the two teachers became “Polish” when Poland re- petite rynek (market square). Ac- who had sent the records and photos gained its independence after World companied by Dominika and two of of Bronia and who had generously War I. I described how Rohatyn had her students, I stood before Busko- invited me to come to the school to been devastated in both World Wars Zdrój’s former Jewish synagogue, a meet and talk to her students. because it had been the fighting lovely restored building with Italian- For about an hour and a half I front—sometimes in Russian hands, ate details, today housing a small spoke about Bronia’s life. I spoke as sometimes Polish, sometimes Ger- grocery and notions store. Did a granddaughter would speak as her man—and how in 1941 it was occu- Bronia attend services here 80 years descendant and the keeper of her pied by the Nazis and became a ago, I asked myself? Did she sit in memory. I recounted what I had place of death. I showed the students the park of the rynek gazing at the learned through my research about the few photos I have for some of central fountain, from which radiate Bronia’s studies in Vienna, Lwow the other family members: those five or six bucolic pedestrian path- (today, L’viv), and Kraków, attend- who remained in Rohatyn after Jute ways? Did she too smell the bloom- ing the same prestigious universities and Bronia left for Palestine; those ing lilacs? that her older sister Jute had at- who had been shot by the Nazis and Eighty years after my Bronia tended. I talked about Bronia’s early whose bodies had been dumped into lived and taught in prewar Poland, life in Rohatyn and of the extended unmarked mass graves. I showed where Jews had contributed so much Horn family, including Bronia and them some of the faces that been the to the greater good, I came to Jute’s older brother Isak, my great- sisters’ parents, grandparents, broth- Busko-Zdrój. grandfather. ers, sisters, and cousins. I explained I am Bronia Horn. A teacher I explained how from Palestine that neither sister, Jute nor Bronia, returning. Bronia emigrated in the mid-1950’s ever returned to Rohatyn, and nei- Proof that life can continue. to New York, following again her ther ever had any children. older sister Jute; how Bronia re- The students asked excellent A special thanks to Dr. Alex Feller, founder turned to Israel after Jute’s death in questions, which I did my best to of the Rohatyn Shtetl Research Group, for 1958, where she lived another 25 answer. They were engaged and en- his enthusiasm, encouragement, and prompt- years and where today she is buried. gaging, moved and moving. I felt ing for me to write this story, the latest in my I explained how Bronia’s nationality buoyant to encounter such interest continuing journey to follow in the footsteps had originally been “Austrian” but and share such intimacies. of Rohatyn sisters Bronia and Jute Horn.

The Galitzianer 22 September 2012

Web News A memory stick was found in Jewish Records Indexing-Poland the Jewish cemetery in Tarnów on has a source to identify all vital rec- 13 October 2011. It is possible it ords available in repositories in Po- The Yad Vashem Shoah Victims’ was lost by a Jewish genealogist. It land and Ukraine for towns formerly Names Recovery Project (http:// was posted to a site where people in the Austrian province of Galicia www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/ list found photos and attempt to re- and now in Ukraine. In Poland, the names/index.asp) wants no Holocaust unite them with their owners. If you AGAD Archives house many rec- victim to be forgotten. Submit recognize the photos, the Web site ords that are 100 years old or more names of people you know of who has information on how to contact (up to 1911). The JRI-Poland were killed during the Shoah to Yad the site owner. AGAD project Web page has a link Vashem's Central Database of Shoah http://www.ifoundyourcamera.net/2011/12/poland/ to "Inventory of Jewish Vital Rec- Victims’ Names (http://db.yadvashem.org/ ords for Eastern Galicia" in the sec- names/search.html?language=en). The Vienna Library has digi- tion titled "Sources of Vital Rec- tized and put online for free city di- ords." This link leads to an Excel file A short film documenting the rectories for Vienna, Austria from that you can download or refer to work being done to help the Jewish 1859 to 1942. Click on the title and anytime. community of L’viv (formerly then click on the year(s) you want. http://www.jri-poland.org/agad/index.htm Lvov) in Ukraine has been posted. http://www.digital.wienbibliothek.at/nav/ http://www.youtube.com/watch? classification/2609. The Jewish Virtual Library has a v=YXhggm7X4LY&feature=share page that lists all countries in the The Digitized Collection of Jew- world with Jews living there. You A new yizkor book project has ish Records is a searchable database can scroll down to Europe, click on been started for Skala Podolskaya, of about 5,000 digital copies of Jew- a country, and then on a town in that Ukraine (Memorial Book of Skała). ish vital, communal, organizational, country to read historical informa- http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/skala/skala.html legal, immigration, school, and other tion about that town. records from the area of the former http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/ A new KehilaLinks page has Austrian province of Eastern Judaism/jewpop.html#region been created for Sokal (Skohl, Sikal; Galicia, including Lvov, Stanisła- now in Ukraine) by Martin David wów, and Tarnopol provinces, from The Talergofsky Alamanac, Vol- Lentz. the mid-19th century to the 20th ume 1 (published 1924 in Lvov), http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/sokal/ century. The database is an inven- discusses the “Terror in Galicia” tory of the English language transla- during 1914–1915. The site is in A book titled Jews in Tarnopol tions of these records, sorted in al- Russian. has been posted as individual page phabetical order and searchable by http://www.talergof.org.ua/almanah1.html images. The book is in Ukrainian. surnames. http://vk.com/album12140802_131511476 http://dcjr.org/ Note: All URL’s are valid as of the time of publication.

The Galitzianer 23 September 2012

Gesher Galicia, Inc. Advisory Board ©2012 by Gesher Galicia, Inc. Board of Directors Susana Leistner Bloch The Galitzianer is intended to pro- Pamela Weisberger JewishGen Liaison vide a venue for the free exchange President Alexander Dunai of ideas, research tips, and articles Research and Program Coordinator Ukraine Liaison of interest to members of Gesher [email protected] Mark Halpern Galicia, Inc., who are researching Brooke Schreier Ganz JRI-Poland Liaison Jewish family history in the com- Vice President [email protected] Mark Heckman munities that in 1872 were part of Technology Galicia, a province of the Austro- John Diener Hungarian Empire. Secretary Brian J. Lenius [email protected] Archive Liaison; Cofounder of East European Genealogical Society (EEGS) The Galitzianer welcomes articles, Ann Harris lists of names, photographs, book Treasurer Sandra Malek reviews, and other relevant contri- Chief Financial Officer Legal Counsel [email protected] butions—original or previously Jay Osborn published—from members and Shelley Kellerman Pollero Gesher Galicia Map Room Web Immediate Past President Coordinator nonmembers alike. Submit mate- [email protected] rial, preferably in electronic format, Alexander Sharon Rachel Heller Bernstein Galician Jewish Communties Consultant to the editor at Director [email protected] Corresponding Secretary [email protected] Authors are solely responsible for The Galitzianer assertions and opinions expressed Renee Steinig Director Key Volunteers in their articles. The Galitzianer is Discussion Group Moderator not responsible for fact checking. [email protected] Janice M. Sellers Editor Journals of other genealogical as- Alex Feller [email protected] Director sociations may reproduce material [email protected] Leo Albert from The Galitzianer, provided Associate Editor Tony Kahane they credit this publication. Nonge- Director Carole Feinberg nealogical journals should obtain [email protected] Copy Editor prior permission by writing to the Marla Raucher Osborn Edward Rosenbaum editor at Director Electronic Distribution Manager [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Electronic copies of this publica- Peter Zavon Director tion are for use by the original re- [email protected] cipient only. They may not be for- Webmaster warded to others or reproduced. Committee Chairman Max Heffler [email protected]

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The Galitzianer 24 September 2012