It all started on a Facebook group I belong to: A posted photo of a Holocaust victim who had committed suicide rather than be captured by the Nazis led to a larger discussion of the topic. Somehow, I hadn’t realized that many Jewish women and men took their lives, either to avoid being taken or… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Tarnow
The Kornmehl-Schmerling Connection, Past & Present
I have a tendency to be a bit long winded. I can’t quite make this a Wordless Wednesday — or even an (Almost) Wordless Wednesday — but I’m going to try to keep my foray into the past and present of the Kornmehl and Schmerling families as brief as possible. Kornmehls and Schmerlings, Past I… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
Geography Lessons: Wandering Jews
Did you know that, for a significant period of time (1795-1919), the country we now know as Poland ceased to exist, that it was divided up between Prussia, Russia, and Austria-Hungary? And did you know that, before 1795, approximately half the world’s population of Jews lived in the region that was thus divided up, some… Continue Reading
Family History Writing Challenge, Day 8: When Ezriel Met Ernestyna
It turns out Ezriel Kornmehl married well. Mazel tov. His wife, the former Ernestyna Karp, didn’t do too badly either. The History of the Jews of Jaslo says of the couple: [Ezriel] was the son in law of Mordechai Karp and a doctor. He was the only Jewish doctor to work for the general governmental… Continue Reading
