"It's Carved in Stone"

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Madeleine isenberg10 OcTOber 2010

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AgendA Beginnings Kezmarok, Spis Region, Slovakia

Cemetery, Miki, Family stones, as examples Getting the information

Mapping a cemetery Cleaning the stones Photographing

Content on Tombstones Inscriptions Issues/Puzzles/Difficulties Engraving and text

Reference Materials Research Tools Art of the Engraver Statistics/Findings Closing Remarks Q & A

It's Carved in Stone 110 October 2010

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Beginnings• “Who am I?” and “Where do I come from?”• 1992, joined Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles • 9/1994, in Jerusalem, purchased book about Kezmarok,

“History of the Jews of Kezmarok and its Surroundings,” by Shmuel Dov Gvaryahu-Gottesman

• 8/1996, visit to Kezmarok, Slovakia for Kever Avot • 1996 began and maintained Steiner family website• Since 2004, on-going systematic research, in Spis region

– over 20 cemeteries– over 3200 tombstones– capturing, comparing, extrapolating, vital records data

(death/tombstones, marriages, births, census, pages of testimonies, …)


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Just what is the area am I talking about and where does it lie with respect to other countries?

The hisTorical area of The spiš region


Czech Republic - NWPoland - N

In the heart of Europe!Austria –W

Hungary - S Romania - SE

Ukraine - ESlovakia

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KezmaroK CemeteryHow it looked, August 1996

4

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Some of our DiScoverieS

5

רחל

In 1996, Finding the tombstone of Rachel Steiner Goldmann, our great-grandmother

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10 October 2010 It's Carved in Stone 6

KezmaroK Cemetery “my crude map”

Current entrance on Tehelna Ulica (Street). Also, entrance for Cohanim.

This is an approximation: The number of rows and the number of graves in each row was not counted.

CoveredGrave of Rav

AvrahamGruenberg

d. 1918? 34

2 17

5Shifra Wurm(Shaulich Gassner’s grandmother)

Rivka Goldmann

Shed

Go to the black marble tombstone, walk in 7 tombstones and turn to left, that is where ShmuelDavid Steiner (1) is buried. In front of his grave, is that of the baby Chaim Avraham Yaakov Goldmann (2) and in front of his is Ferdinand (Feri or Pesach) Goldmann(3). Also, Nathan Zollman (4).

Rachel Goldmann’s grave (5)

Original entrance to Cemetery and place where bodies were prepared for burial

Yitzchak Wurm (7)Husband of Shifra?

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• A devout, Evangelical Christian• Accidental meeting with Shaul

Gassner in 1999 – Interest in the “lost Jews”

• April 2001, we met on-line• 2002, Cemetery clean-up begins • Our collaboration to photograph,

translate, capture information• Jewish museum in Kezmarok• Jewish Days of Culture

– Dr. Nora Barathova

• Our interesting findings: Book/CD• Help people find their families

Mikulas “Miki” Liptak

10 October 2010 7It's Carved in Stone

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Clean-up project, 2004


Thanks To The asTRa socieTy

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KezmaroK Cemeteryafter restorationin 2004, and with

On-going Maintenance

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Mapping a CeMetery

More accurate map, with rows designatedby alpha characters, each stone by a number, starting from right to left, e.g., D02, D03, H38, …

Miki’s Method

10It's Carved in Stone

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JGSLA’s Roots-Key Article, Summer 2004

“Reviving” the Kezmarok Jewish Cemetery

• Financial Support – grants• Cleaning up the Kezmarok cemetery• Photographing, reading tombstones• Help of high school children, their

projects: mapping, recording• First projects, 5 cemeteries:

Kezmarok Slovenska VesHuncovce Spisska BelaPoprad


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Samuel DaviD Steiner1830 - 1927

• classical shape, “Torah like”• engraving at the top (a tree)• נ"פ (or ט"פ , here is buried)• given names in a cartouche• family name below that• son of father’s name• person’s age • date of death in Hebrew - dots• .ה.ב.צ.נ.ת (actually, dots on top)• mother’s name ( א"ש(


An example of a readable, well-made, engraved stone withimportant and useful information:

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It's Carved in Stone 1310 October 2010Eroded sandstone

Betti (Beila née langer) Goldmann

“the mother-in-law,” died Jan 1889

בילה


1996 2004

בי

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700 Jewish Cemeteries in

Slovakia

Jewish Communities & Cemeteries

in the SpiSRegion

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The hard Work –getting to the stone

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getting to the stone …


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almost there …


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photograph-Ready


YEHUDA son of ZE’EV a”h NEUSTADT

d. 25th Tishri TRP”Z (5687)3 Oct 1926

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InscrIptIons• Vertical name acrostics• Content includes praise or

special achievements• Mother’s name, rarely• Often long and difficult to

translate• Heritage or dynasty:

e.g.,Chatam Sofer, Maharal,or author of a scholarly book

• Occasionally, names of Holocaust victims added to a family member’s stone, on the back.


the given nameson/daughter of the father’s name

wife of husband’s first name(s),family name(s) (sometimes)

General Format

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DescenDAnt of ChatamSofer

Rashei tevot (acronym) for the esteemed Chatam

Sofer

ס"חתThis was a granddaughter

Note her name appears also as an acrostic in the

base section.


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Issues/PuzzlesSpelling variations

town names: Hungarian, German, Czech, Slovak Polish first names (e.g, איוד,ודה_י,יהודה )family names (umlauts over Hebrew!)

Broken/eroded stones: what’s left to read?Different sizes & confusing lettersDots and single/double quotesBad paint-over jobsRashei Tevot (Local) and “lifrat katan” References to writers of booksIndirect dates:

Chol Hamo’ed Pesach Parsha of the weekRosh Chodesh

Who composed the content?Who were the engravers?

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ExamplE of IssuEsA, B Badly painted over; causes confusion, have to read “under the paint” or know what to expect:

נדיב > --יב רנר'בה> --ללה

C Family connection to writer of a Hebrew work, שמן רוקח (ShemenRokeach), have to research (Rabbi Eliaser Leib Rokeach)

D Combined letters, e.g, א and לOther observations:

E Rhyming coupletsF Engraver’s “signature”


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Difficultiesdistinguishing letters

note that every letter can have a problem!No matter what the engraver’s “font” was, there would be problems.

Below is just an example in a simple font.


ז ו ע צ ש א ה ח ת י ו ן

ק,פ,ללפרט

קטן

ק ך ף ט מ ג נ

ד ר ס ם ב כ פ

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It's Carved in Stone 2410 October 2010 My “Remote FingeRs”

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My RefeRence MateRialsMicrofilms from Mormon Church:

Rabbi’s birth, marriage, and death recordsState registry records from regional archives, in Levoca

List of Professions in KezmarokYad Vashem TestimoniesWWII Deportation Lists (edited by Prof. Eduard Niznansky, Bratislava)Census Records (Hungarian, 1869); (Slovak, 1938)Books: Megiddo Hebrew-English Dictionary

Dictionary of the Targumim,…Midrashic Lit., by Marcus Jastrow

Ozar Rashe Tevot, by Shmuel Ashkenazi and Dov Jarden (Hebrew)

Jewish Personal Names, by Rabbi Shmuel Gorr

A Field Guide to Visiting a Jewish Cemetery, by Rabbi Joshua L. Segel

Dr. Nora Barathova – Historian in Kezmarok Maps -- some hand-drawn; some old ones purchased from e-bayPersonal histories


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ReseaRch Tools• Internet, search engines (Google), and e-mail• Spreadsheets -- to collect large quantities of information• Imaging software: to enlarge, view negative image, etc.,• RAV-SIG website: Information about rabbis, their acronyms,

books, etc., (Thanks to Chaim Freedman)http://www.jewishgen.org/Rabbinic/infofiles/main.htm

• Rashei Tevot (Hebrew acronyms in Hebrew & English translation), Dr. Ronald Doctor includes former abbreviations from Judi Langer-Surinamer-Caplan, Ada Holtzman, and others, dated 24 June 2008

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~orjgs/Abrrev.pdf

• Calendar-Maven software – for corresponding secular dates• Hebrew months, Hebrew alphabet with its numerical values

(Warren Blatt) http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/tombstones.html

• Hebrew-secular calendar calculator: http://www.jewishgen.org/jos/josdates.htm

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My Hebrew year Conversion MneMoniC

10 October 2010 27It's Carved in Stone

OgLE3760

5770 – 3760 = 2010Caution: Rosh Hashana 5771, 9/2010

5771-3760 = 20115534 – 3760 = 1774

Let’s “look at” (i.e., ogle) the year

3760Rotate 180

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Other UsefUl references

• Slovak Jewish Heritage– http://www.slovak-jewish-heritage.org/73.html?&L=0

• IAJGS International Cemetery Project– http://www.iajgs.org/cemetery/

Some Books about Cemeteries and Tombstones The Old Prague Jewish Cemetery, by Jindrich Lion, Photography by Jan

Lukas, Praha Artia, 1960. (English, German, & French)Old Bohemian and Moravian Jewish Cemeteries, by Arno Parik and Jiri

Fiedler, Photography by Petr Ehl, Paseka Prague, 1991 A Tribe of Stones, Jewish Cemeteries in Poland, by Monika Krajewska,

Polish Scientific Publishers Ltd., Warsaw 1993.

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ExamplE of a puzzlE

It's Carved in Stone 29

פ ה רש ו ב

A “funny looking” Ashkenazi name: Shubrafah?

פ ה דש ו ב Not a name at all – Rashei Tevot!

דפהודק ובוחט שShochet (slaughterer) and

Bodek (checker) Here

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The ArT of The engrAver

Beautifully engraved, vertically “Gela Braindel” -- no family name -- 1851

Elaborate carving,1865,for two people,

but names eroded


Artfully carved stone of Roza Hollander Kirz,

1888

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Carved SymbolS Noah Jacob Duneitz, 1878, probably a scribe

Note where date of death is on top of stone;Engraver’s signature at bottom left

(Yeshaya Moshe Weiss, Hunsdorf)

Deer symbols for someone named “Hirsch” or “Zvi”


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More Carved SyMbolS


Keter TorahCohen Levi

Candelabrum Weeping Willow Carrot ???

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Some StatiSticS

• Miki photographed 22 cemeteries so far• I have read, translated, captured

information from 20 of these• Out of 3270 tombstones (so far!):

– 2084 had some readable information– 1819/2084 (87%) had recognizable family names– 1819/3270 (56%) success rate from the effort


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The CemeTeries & Numbers of StoneS


Cemetery# Readable

Stones %Kežmarok 540 25.9%Huncovce 392 18.8%Spisske Podhradie 256 12.3%Poprad 159 7.6%Spišská Stará Ves 138 6.6%Spišská Nová Ves 125 6.0%Krompachy 91 4.4%Stara Lubovna 73 3.5%Markusovce 54 2.6%Betlanovce 53 2.5%Margecany 45 2.2%Podolinec 43 2.1%Slovenská Ves 37 1.8%Velky Lipnik 24 1.2%Spišské Vlachy 12 0.6%Jakubany 9 0.4%Kolackov 9 0.4%Hranicne 8 0.4%Spisska Bela 8 0.4%Jaklovce 8 0.4%

total 2084 100.0%

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Findingsmost common or popular names, out of 4620 rows of information found on

tombstones AND death registry records


Family Names

Klein (160)Roth (108)Friedman (106)Pollak (91)Kornhauser (85)Her(c)z (79)Schwartz (74)Weiss (72)Pollatschek (48)Stern (47)Zinn (46)

First Names(Men)

Jacob (132)

Joseph (111)

Abraham (105)Isaac/Yitzchak (106)Samuel (91)Armin/Herman (78)Salomon (75)Bernat/Dov (64)Adolph (62)Moses (62)

First Names(Women)

Rosa/Rachel/Rozalia (207)

Anna/Chanah/Hani/Hana/Johanna (157)Regina/Rebecca (132)

Sali/Szeren/Sarah(111)

Esther/Ethel/Ernestine (101)

Maria/Miriam (72)

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Resultant Book, CD, anD on-going work

• Article in Forwards newspaper, “Retrieving the Past, One Tombstone at a Time, One Tombstone at a Time,” by Jeri Zeder, October 2005

• The Jews of the Spiš Region, I. Kezmarok and its Surroundings, Mikulas Liptak & Madeleine Isenberg, March 2006; reprinted June 2010. The CD (of 2006) contained: web pages with maps; the book itself; abbreviated lists from the registries (B, M, D); WW II Deportation list; some history of the area; list of tradesmen; school attendees; Holocaust testimonies and/or family history.

• Support for Miki, his staff and volunteers to continue the work• Translations of related documents from that area• Translation of tombstones from 1937 film of Gombin, Poland, in US

Holocaust MuseumIn Process: • Donation of partial tombstone data from Kezmarok to JOWBR• JewishGen Shtetlinks webpage for Kezmarok


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Why Do I Do It?Providence? Someone has to do it!Perhaps it’s a chesed?Make “shiduchim” between living and deadAct as the missing link, supplying the information that the

Holocaust victims took with them: where their loved ones were buried.

Enlighten others:Preservation of family histories for later generationsConcern over the ravages of timeImportance of providing useful information on stones

Personal basis:Search for more ancestors/relativesShare findings and draw family closer togetherSatisfaction of solving puzzles/mysteries and learning new things


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Cousin Hagit Helps & Is rewarded

“Uncovering” her ggfather’s stone, Josef Tandlich, in Podolinec

Repainting our ggmother Rosa’s

stone


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Closing Quote

“As I carried the Torah scroll through the Manchester streets, I knew beyond the flicker of a doubt thatthose who carry with them the heritage of the past are those who can face the future without fear.”

From Lord Jonathan Sacks’s book, “From Optimism to Hope,” p.88

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Thank You!

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"It's Carved in Stone"