
Although genealogists are fond of cemeteries, boneyards are not the liveliest places to meet a family member for the first time. Yesterday I introduced Kamilla Bergmann Kornmehl, mother-to-be of Viktor Kornmehl, as the young (age 35) occupant of a plot where her in-laws were already resting. I’d like to go back in time today and give her an entrance on a happier occasion — her wedding to Ferdinand Kornmehl on June 17, 1906.
I’m afraid I don’t have any pictures of the couple, but I found several images of the synagogue where Kamilla and Ferdinand tied the knot: The “Isr. Temple” on Leopoldgasse 29, in the 2nd District, was the Moorish Revival-style Polnische Schul (Polish synagogue), built in 1892/1893 by architect Wilhelm Stiassny.
Here’s an interior shot:
Pretty impressive, no?
Both Ferdinand and Kamilla had roots in Tarnow, Poland; Ferdinand (under the name of Fischel) was probably born there. It makes sense that they would get married in a Polish synagogue.
This would be a nice place to freeze the story. Not only did Kamilla die in the prime of her life in 1920, but the beautiful Polish synagogue where she married Ferdinand was one of the 1,000 Jewish houses of worship (95 in Vienna alone) that were destroyed on Kristallnacht in 1938.
Maybe it’s a good thing that Kamilla died in 1920.
But many of Stiassney’s works live on, including the Jubilee Synagogue, built in 1906 in Prague. It’s the wonderfully colorful confection next to the title of this post.
Stiassney also designed the tomb of the Austrian Rothschild family:
And here we come full circle: The Rothschild mausoleum is in Zentralfriedhof, the cemetery where Kamilla Kornmehl also reposes. I wondered yesterday whether there were many known cases of Jews being buried in a plot together. Researching Kamilla’s life, rather than her death, I got my answer. I doubt that the Kornmehl mausoleum — assuming it is a mausoleum — is anywhere near as grand as that of the Rothschilds. (I need to find someone to take a picture of it.) But I haven’t heard any of the occupants complaining.
This is Day 12 of the Family History Writing Challenge. I haven’t reneged on my pledge to blog about family history every day, but the titles of my posts — and the pictures — were getting boring, so I switched formats. Hope you enjoy these. All of these photographs, except the one of the wedding announcement, are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Lovely diversion…and the ride along the family history challenge month has been interesting and eye opening. There is certainly more to come, as Fishel has an amazing story to share with your readers. I know you will showcase it beautifully in the final weeks of February. It is a short month, so hopefully you will have enough time!!
Thanks, Jill. I’m slowly approaching Viktor’s birth but this is all in the way of context (and I’m waiting for permission to publish a certain letter…)
I imagine there must be a whole other story to how you got the wedding announcement.
One of these days I’m hoping to get my great-grandparents’ wedding documents from the 1880’s in Poland.
I too like this approach for the writing challenge. Lots of info in photos.
You would say that about photos, Diane 😉 (For those not in the loop: Diane is a superb professional photographer).
As for the wedding announcement, I got that from Jill Kornmehl, who got it from Hillel Koren, who is Kamilla Kornmehl’s grandson. But I don’t know the newspaper source.