Joseph Judkowitz

Abraham Jutkovits was born around 1857, in Cabiny, Slovakia, which is in Sub-Carpathia and was a part of Hungary at the time of his birth. Abraham married Ruchel Minz, born around 1857 in Sanok, Poland (then Galicia). He moved to his wife's village and started to raise a family. Not being the oldest male son, Abraham apparently was not in line to inherit his father's forest land in Cabiny at the time of his marriage to Ruchel, under the assumption that he would have brought his wife to Cabiny, rather than move to Sanok. Jewish Polish records record the family name in Galicia as Judkowicz.

In Sanok, Abraham and Ruchel had three children: Feige, born in 1878, Gerschon, born in 1882, and Joseph, born in 1886. Abraham, who may have been a tax collector, was robbed and murdered shortly after the birth of Joseph.

Ruchel remarried a widower, Alter Leibenhaut, born around 1847. He and his first wife, Sarah (Brauner) Leibenhaut had seven children together. Two of them lived long enough to marry, while three died as infants and the other two as teenagers. Ruchel moved with her three children from Sanok to Alter's village of Skole, Galicia. In 1889, a daughter, Dwore Golde Leibenhaut, was born to Ruchel and Alter. Dwore died in 1891. In 1893, another daughter, Jenty Brandel Leibenhaut was born. Jenty died in 1908, at the age of 15, of Cholera.

Unfortunately, on February 16, 1890, when Gershon was 8 years old, he was killed by Alter Leibenhaut. The story told to future generations stated that Gershon was "kicked in the head and killed by his stepfather during a fight". The Polish Death Record of Gershon's death indicates the cause of death to be (in German) "inflammation of the brain"'. It is hard to imagine an eight year old in a "fight" with a 43 year old man, so one may assume this was a disciplinary action that went too far. Gershon was probably buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Skole, which was destroyed during the Nazi occupation in WWII.

The youngest child of Ruchel and Abraham Judkowicz, Joseph, became the heir to his grandfather's forest land. It was said that Joseph was raised primarily by his paternal grandparents. Therefore, it makes sense that upon Gershon's death, Joseph, age 4, was taken by his grandparents, Hersk and Necha (Grunspan) Jutkovits, to Cabiny. Joseph's ship records on his voyage to New York, eight years later in 1898, indicate he was from Cabiny. His WWII draft registration form indicates his birthplace as Sanok.

As for his older sister Feige, Joseph learned his mother and sister were dead by the end of WWII. It is know through Yad Vashem records that Feige was sent to the Lwow Ghetto in 1941. A Yad Vashem Witness Page (Item ID 946244) signed by Avraham Elner, her Uncle, and written in Hebrew, stated that Feige was Murdered in the Shoah.

According to Wikipedia: The Lemberg Ghetto (Lviv Ghetto) was one of the first to have Jews transported to the death camps as part of Aktion Reinhard. Between March 16 and April 1, 1942, approximately 15,000 Jews were taken to the Kleparów railway station and deported to the Belzec extermination camp. Following these initial deportations, and death by disease and random shootings, around 86,000 Jews officially remained in the ghetto, though there were many more not recorded. During this period, many Jews were also forced to work for the Wehrmacht and the ghetto's German administration, especially in the nearby Janowska labor camp. On June 24–25, 1942, 2,000 Jews were taken to the labor camp; only 120 were used for forced labor, and all of the others were shot.

Between August 10–31, 1942, the "Great Aktion" was carried out, where between 40,000 and 50,000 Jews were rounded up, gathered at transit point placed in Janowska camp and then deported to Belzec. Many who were not deported, including local orphans and hospital inpatients, were shot. On September 1, 1942, the Gestapo hanged the head of Lwów’s Judenrat and members of the ghetto's Jewish police force on balconies of Judenrat's building at Łokietka street and Hermana street corner. Around 65,000 Jews remained while winter approached with no heating or sanitation, leading to an outbreak of typhus.

Between January 5–7, 1943, another 15,000-20,000 Jews, including the last members of the Judenrat, were shot outside of the town on the orders of Fritz Katzmann. After this aktion in January 1943 Judenrat was dissolved, that what remained of the ghetto was renamed Judenlager Lemberg (Jewish Camp Lwów), thus formally redesigned as labor camp with about 12,000 legal Jews, able to work in German war industry and several thousands illegal Jews (mainly women, children and elderly) hiding in it.[21]

In the beginning of June 1943 Germans decided to finally end the existence of the Jewish quarter and its inhabitants. As Nazis entered the Ghetto they met some sporadic acts of armed resistance, but most of the Jews were trying to hide themselves in earlier prepared hideouts (so called bunkers). In effect many buildings were suffused with gasoline and burned in order to "flush out" Jews from their hiding places. Some Jews managed to escape or to conceal themselves in the sewer system.

By the time that the Soviet Red Army entered Lwów on July 26, 1944, only a few hundred Jews remained in the city. Number varies from 200 to 900 (823 according to data of Jewish Provisional Committee in Lwów, Polish: Tymczasowy Komitet Żydowski we Lwowie from 1945).

Information from the ships passenger list:

Name as it appears on passenger list: Jozef Judkovic

Ship: SS Munchen

About the SS Munchen: Built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Glasgow, Scotland, 1889. 4,801 gross tons; 390 (bp) feet long; 46 feet wide. Steam Triple Expansion Engines, single screw. Service speed 13 knots. 1,758 passengers (38 first class, 20 second class,1700 third class). Sold to Russian owners, in 1902 and renamed Gregory Morch. Mediterranean-New York service. Scrapped in 1910.

Departure Port: Bremen, Germany

Departure Date: January 29, 1898

Arrival Port: New York

Arrival Date: February 11, 1898

Amount of money in his possession: $3.00

Occupation: Laborer

Age: Ellis Island Records say Joseph was 17 years old. However, examining the actual hand written passenger list, (line 26) the age is not at all distinguishable, perhaps intentionally. Joseph was 12 years old, and born therefore, in 1886, probably in January. Because his father was dead, according to Jewish custom, he could be Bar Mitzvah at the age of 12, rather than 13. Because he was known to be Bar Mitzvah at 12, before he left Cabiny, Slovakia his birthday on the Hebrew Calendar must have fallen in January, before his ship sailed.

Relative to meet in the U.S.: Bernard Eichler, Uncle. According to research, Bernard Eichler, born in Hungary in 1848 is the younger brother of Pepi Jutkovits (Eichler) born around 1844 in Cabiny, Slovakia . She was married to Hersco Jutkovits, born around 1842. Bernard Eichler was married to Pauline (Perel or Rachal) Jutkovits, Joseph's Aunt. Therefore, Bernard was, in fact, his Uncle.