Michael Kohn-Zerkowitz lived for many years in his native community of Mahr. Weisskirchen. Jewish record books show that he was known both as "Michael Zerkowitz" and as "Michael Kohn". Following the death of his father in 1809, he and his wife moved to nearby Leipnik, Moravia [now Lipnik nad Becvou,
Czech Republic] where their eldest son had already settled several years before. The Zerkowitz family was considered among the most prominent in Leipnik's Jewish community, and Michael and his wife occupied household #29 in Leipnik's Jewish quarter. Michael Zerkowitz died of inflammation of the lung
membranes.
In Hugo Gold's "Jews and Jewish Communites, Past and Present in Moravia" (1929), the following statement is found: "Of the oldest families living in Leipnik for hundreds of years, the family Zerkowitz, No. 29... must be mentioned." For many years, the Zerkowitz plot in Leipnik's Jewish cemetery was marked
with a distinguishing arch. Sadly, this no longer exists. In a visit to the cemetery in 2002, descendant
Avinoam Zerkowitz found no evidence of any Zerkowitz graves. All had fallen victim to destruction by both
the Nazis and then the Fascists behind them.
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