Fanning out. Contracting back. In my last post, I explored the story of a family member who fled halfway across the world from Vienna to escape Hitler--only to have to escape another dangerous dictator in his adopted home. Here I look back to my ancestral roots in a town I'd never heard of until I started this blog, and certainly never knew most of my mother's family came from:
Tarnow Poland
Tarnow Calling
I've gotten used to people contacting me through this blog because they've come across the Kornmehl name on it. Now, for the first time, Freud's Butcher has grabbed the attention of an entire city: Tarnow, Poland. Or at least the attention of Jerry Bergman, the Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Monuments of Jewish Culture in Tarnow, a committee that I didn't
Fish, Fungi & Funny Jewish Words: The Schmerling Name, Revisited
I thought that my recent post about the origin of the Schmerling name had laid the topic to rest. After going through a series of logical steps, I was certain that the source of the name, handed down matrilinealy, was "loach fish," chosen from a list provided by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Jews in 1787 when they mandated the taking of Germanic surnames. I subsequently
An Inspiring Woman: Frances Kornmehl
I often wondered why Jill Leibman Kornmehl, a key contributor to this blog, got so involved with researching her husband's family, the Kornmehls--rather than, say, her own family. Today I present the answer, in Jill's words. It's a story filled with miracles, large and small. An Inspiring Woman by Jill Leibman Kornmehl It was not the most opportune time to have a