Jewish Families from Uhersky Ostroh (Ungarisch-Ostra), Moravia, Czech Republic

This project seeks to list representatives of the Jewish families from the Moravian town of Uherský Ostroh (Ungarsich Ostra until 1846) in what is now the Czech Republic (as Ostroh).

For background on the town, see Ungarisch-Ostra / Uhersk-Ostroh.

See also the JewishGen.org KehilaLinks Ostroh page. The town is also called Ostroh Uherský, Uherský Ostroh, Ungarisch-Ostra, Ungarisch-Ostroh, Mährisch Ostrau

LOCATION: Uherský Ostroh is in Moravian Slovakia at 48.59 longitude and 17.23 latitude, 75 km E of Brno, 9 km ENE of Bzenec (see map, then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to this page).

HISTORY: The earliest known Jewish community in this town dates from 1592. In 1635 there were 22 Jewish houses.

"In 1625 Emperor Ferdinand II had given the entire Ostroh estate to his follower Gundaker von Liechtenstein, whose descendants held the property until 1945. Gundakar of Liechtenstein achieved elevation of the dominions of Kromau and Ostroh to "the Principality of Liechtenstein" with a residence in the city of Liechtenstein (Kromau) in 1633...The name is relevant to Uherský Ostroh because the 1727 Translocation Plan (see below) refers to the area as belonging to Hochfürstlich-Lichtensteinischen Statt. See in Photos.

In the second half of the 17th century, the area was harassed by the Hungarian and Turkish raids. Ostroh suffered further damage in 1757 during Prussian occupation in the Seven Years' War, and in 1762 due to a major city fire. As the Liechtensteiner [family] did not reside in Ostroh, their economic importance declined and the castle gradually fell into disrepair. A Jewish community had been established since the 16th century, which later built a school and a synagogue (which was destroyed in 1944)."^

In 1671 there were 16 Jewish houses in Ostroh, with more than 30 Jewish families, including

• Isak Schulklopper
• Salamon Lateiner
• Israel Isak
• Mandl
• Salamon Chaska
• Benesch
• Friedrich Kojeteiner
• Schmidl
• Jekl Fleischhacker
• Salamon Mojses, Rabiner
• Mojses Stanjetz
• Jakob Gutman
• Israel Strimpfstricker
• Loebl Isak

Reflecting the 1727 imperial mandate for many towns to create a Jewish Quarter, the Translocation plan of Jewish residences in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown from the period of 1727-1728 for Uherský Ostroh designates Jewish residences with Roman Numerals I - XXX (XXVIII is the Synagogue). Written onto the accompanying water-color map, made in the first part of the 19th century, is a list of Jewish house-owners (as distinct from Familiants):

• 1. Lamberg, Abraham
• 2. Aaron Kornblüh
• 3a. Füchsl, Isaak
• 3b. Adler, Schmay (Schmaje)
• 3c. Tauss, Bernard
• 4a. Winter, Salomon
• 4b. Winter, Emanuel
• 5. Kühn, Salomon
• 6a. Kühn, Moises
• 6b. Lamberg, Abraham
• 7. Grünspan, Wittis
• 8. Gallia, Samuel
• 9. Braun, Gabriel
• 10a. Füchsl, Emanuel
• 10b. Nussbaum, Joseph
• 11. Morgenstern, Monat
• 12a. Strauss ......
• 12b. Stern, Mathias
• 13a. Nussbaum, Aaron
• 13b. Strauss, Jakob
• 14a. Singer, Jakob
• 14b. Adler, Schmay (Schmaje)
• 15a. Winter, Pinkus
• 15b. Reif, Jakob
• 15c. Panek, Salomon
• 16a. Schein, Kalman
• 16b. Kühn, Heinrich?
• 16c. Waitzman / Weitzman, Izaak
• 17. Brief, Samuel
• 18a. Gallia, Herschl
• 18b. Strauss, Pauline
• 18c. Sulzbek / Sulzbach, Katharina
• 19. Gallia, Aaron
• 20. page is marked " "
• 21a. Brief, Jakob
• 21b. Adler, Schmay (Schmaje)
• 22a. Fuchs, Simon
• 22b. Hirsch, Gottlieb
• 23. Singer, Moises
• 24 a-b-c. Winter, Aaron
• 25a. Strakosch, Aaron
• 25b. Hirsch, Abraham
• 26. Sommer, Jakob
• 27. Rabinek, Jakob
• 28. SYNAGOGUE (marked F on the image of the Plan in Photos with this Project page).
• 29. Kühn, Heinrich? [same as 16b]
• 30. Krebs, Samuel

With the a-b-c's on the list, well over 40 units / owners are accounted for. The Uherský Ostroh map is not dated, but the comparable one for Prostějov / Prossnitz is -- 1833. The written list of Uherský Ostroh house-owner first-and-last names is consistent with birth / marriage / death records for the town in the periods 1784-1830 and 1830-1846; see links below.

The names written on the 1727 Plan / ~1830s house-owners list also substantially overlap the 1790-1798 list of officially-permitted Jewish heads-of-household, or Familiants, in Uherský Ostroh, who numbered 89 as of the list's signing in 1798. That record, Uherský Ostroh Familianten, updated entries as Familiant spots turned over; ages given for the initial set of Uherský Ostroh Familianten listed in the record seem to be as of the year the person became Familiant, but that may vary. The first page of entries (Image #2) shows column headers for the left-hand side of the book; column headings for the right-hand side of the book are found only at the end of the online file, in Image #34 of 34. (Images #32 and 33 in the online file are for other nearby towns.)

Earlier lists of Uherský Ostroh Jews appear among the photos accompanying this Project page (some short lists, some long), including one that evidently was made around 1727. It is not a Famililants list per se, and the men have old-style double-first-names. It appears on Image 5257, Image 5258, and Image 5259, which are Photos 87, 86, and 85 (in that order) of 186 in this Project's Photos collection. Names are clearly written, and at least one belongs to a woman (Elisabetha Cogodainer; name also seen as Goyetainer 5241).

Another clear list of Uherský Ostroh Jews by Haus number, from the same general era, appears in Image 5248 and Image 5249 (photos 96 and 95, in that order) in Project Photos. It also is not a list of Familiants, as Elisabetha Cogodainer appears again.

In the set of Ostroh records from the 1730s housed online (Dropbox; link uploaded by R. Schoenberg to this Project in "Project Discussions") other types of lists of Ostroh Jews turn up. They include several that name the Jewish Council's members: 1739 / Image 88, 1742 / Image 94, and 1744 / Image 92 and the one following it. They name each year's incoming and outgoing Judges, Jurors, and Observers. Over time, as shown in Images 95 and 97, both for 1746, the Council was expanded.

Later 19th century to present. In 1848 the Uherský Ostroh Jewish community numbered 478 members, but dropped to 220 after the First World War. The Jewish population was 70 in 1930. The present town population is 5,000-25,000, with fewer than 10 Jews.

Noteworthy historical events involving or affecting the Jewish community of Uherský Ostroh were the separation of a Jewish quarter in 1727 and the existence of a self-standing political community from 1890-1920. The old Jewish cemetery was established in 17th century, with the last known Jewish burial in 1862. The Jewish congregation was Conservative.

GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES:

Birth, Death and Marriage records for the region are online at two Badatelna websites: Badatelna/Fond/1073 (the original set of "Czech Jewish Registers") and Badatelna/Fond/241, with additional records for localities in the Czech lands. In both cases, start at the INVENTAR tab. Be prepared to put in the correct "ý" character when you enter "Uherský" in the search box. Entering Uherské Hradiště instead of Uherský Ostroh brings up 1940s-era data. The most reliable way to find the files for Uherský Ostroh is to start at the Badatelna 1073 Inventar page and scroll ALL the way down to UHERSKÝ OSTROH (o. Uherské Hradiště). More information on using these valuable records is here.

The Uherský Ostroh volumes contain Indexes, but it pays to review the pages themselves. Some things to note:

• it's a good idea to start with a look through the Index handwritten in the back of Uherský Ostroh (Ungarische Ostra, o. Uherské Hradiště) N (Births) 1830-1846, Inventar 2256 [Fond 1073]. Names are written clearly, and one can get an idea of some of the surnames in this community. Index covers pages 47-53 on the screen. The numbers to the right of each name are in two parts, for ex. 1/9, which means Page No. 1, Line/Entry No. 9.
• Birth register Uherský Ostroh (Ungarische Ostra, o. Uherské Hradiště) N (Births) 1849-1875; 1876-1879, 1880-1881(i), Inventar 1000 [Fond 241], has an Index at the front of the volume, Images 2-6 on the screen. The numbers to the right of each name are individual entry numbers, not page numbers.
• Marriage registers Uherský Ostroh O (Marriages) 1830-1846 Inventar 2257 [Fond 1073] has an Index at the back, on Images 16-20. Note that while Marriage records show Witnesses' names (always male), they were not necessarily the couple's fathers. The names of Bride's & Groom's Parents [Eltern] are not listed. Women's names often are written with feminizing endings such as "-ina.
• Death registers Uherský Ostroh Z (Deaths) 1830-1846 Inventar 2258 [Fond 1073] has an Index at the back, starting on Image 31/41.
• Earlier Birth, Marriage and Death Records, for 1784-1830, are in Inventar No. 2259 [Fond 1073] with Indexes starting on Image 16/113 for Marriages, Image 65/113 for Births, and Image 103/113 for Deaths. The records are all in one volume, labeled only as O - Marriages, but containing all 113 images referenced here. The contents are accessible only via the "O - Marriages" designation on the Badatelna 1073 site.
• Fathers' names in Ostroh birth records were first-name-only from their record books' start in 1784 until ~1787, then they become double-first-name. Surnames are seen a couple of times in 1788, becoming common after 1789, with father's surname attaching to child. From that point, many of the same surnames written on the 1727 Plan / ~1830s house-owners list, referenced above, are seen in Uherský Ostroh birth records.

A useful aid is the guide to Kurrentschrift, the old German script used in early records. To really immerse in Kurrent, check out this Tutorial.

The actual Birth, Death and Marriage record books for Uherský Ostroh reside in the Czech State Archives in Prague, Statni istredni archiv, tr. Milady Horokove 133, CZ-166 21 Praha 6, Czech Republic, tel/fax: +42 (2) 333-20274.

Search JewishGen Internet resources for Ostroh.

NOTABLE RESIDENTS AND DESCENDANTS:

According to the Ostroh entry in the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Cemetery Project database, Chaim Weizmann, president of the State of Israel, once lived in Ostroh.

The following rabbis served Ostroh:

• Salomo Mose (1592)
• David b. Samuel Halevy (1659)
• Mose b. Hakadosch Elchanan from Fuerth (1655)
• Jesaja b. Sabatai Scheftel (1659)
• Joel b. Samuel from Krakau (1668)
• Mhrr Pinchas (after 1700)
• Mhrr Salomo (before 1719)
• Kolonimos b. mhrr Baruch (from 1720) (Rabiner Calman Baruch on the 1746 Jews' Council List in Ostroh records attached to this Project Page)
• Loeb Steiniz (d. 1760)
• Mhrr Pinchas b. mhrr Aaron (1766)
• Jakob Hirsch b. Mose Loeb (Biach) Pfeilbogen (1790-1853)
• Mose Loeb b. mhrr JA ha-Kohen Mueller (d. 1853)
• Dr. Joel Mueller
• Dr. S. Wolfsohn (1876-1878)
• Dr. Israel Taglicht (1883-1893)
• Dr. Emanuel Lenke
• Dr. D. Herzog (1897-1900)
• Dr. Simon Friedmann
• Dr. Michael Halberstamm (from 1919)

Other notables include:

• Mordechai b. Schalom (community elder and author of the statutes of the chevra kadisha in 1650)
• Schalom b. Jecheskel (landowner 1668)
• Mandl Salamon Steinitzer (land deputy 1732)
• Michl b. R. Sch. David (judge)
• Moises Singer (judge 1835)
• Mandl Duschak (judge 1858)
• Löbl Winter (judge 1860)
• Jesajas Braun (judge 1864)
• Sal. Kihn (judge 1876)
• Salamon Winter (judge 1880-1888)
• Jonatan Lamberg (judge)
• Max Kihn (judge 1898)
• Dr. Eduard Stern (judge 1902)
• Jehuda Diamand (judge 1903)
• Sigmund Klein (judge 1909)
• Loeb Nussbaum
• Samuel Kornblueh
• Sal. Sommer
• Jakob Hahn
• Jakob Strauss
• Jechiel Gruenbaum

Rabbi Dr. Moritz Grünwald was born 29 March 1853 in Uherský Ostroh. He studied at the Universities of Vienna and Leipzig. He founded the Jüdische Centralblatt in Belovar. In 1883 he became rabbi of Pisek and later Jungbunzlau. He was the chief rabbi of Sofia from 1893 until his death in London on 10 June 1895.

Salomon Winter (1829-1917), who served as a Jewish judge in Ostroh, was the grandfather of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.

A great-great-grandson of Amalie Reif Kolisch (who was born in Uherský Ostroh in 1831) is E. Randol Schoenberg, a frequent contributor to JewishGen's Austria-Czech SIG and the submitter of this page.

Tom Beer contributed an interesting piece at JewishGen about his great-grandfather, Adolf Beer, (b. Ung. Ostra). He writes, "Uherský Ostroh, as it is now called, is on the River Morava. The bridge over the river is at the district capital, Hradiste, and the main roads bypass the place. It is now a forgotten small village in Moravia. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was an important town for two reasons: it had a castle and had been an important town in the defense of the region in bygone days; and, it was on the river. In 1800 railroads did not exist, the road system was crude and primitive so that travel in carriages was bumpy and uncomfortable. Rivers and waterways were the trade routes, and the most comfortable conveyances of the time. Viewed in this light, Ostroh offered excellent connections with both Vienna and with Budapest. The River Morava (known in German as the March) flows into the Danube, and Ostroh was the first large town along its banks. The traveler could drift downstream to the Danube and continue downstream to Budapest, or turn right and get to Vienna."

SYNAGOGUES & CEMETERIES: There are two Jewish cemeteries in Uherský Ostroh. The older cemetery location is urban, on flat land, separate but near other cemeteries, and not identified by any sign or marker. It is reached by turning directly off a public road. It is open to all. The cemetery is surrounded by no wall or fence and there is no gate. The approximate size of cemetery before WWII and now is 0.1277 hectares. The cemetery contains no special memorial monuments. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. Within the limits of the cemetery there are no structures. The municipality is the present owner of the cemetery property, which is now utilized for recreation (park, playground, sports field). Adjacent properties are commercial or industrial. The cemetery boundaries have not changed since 1939. Private visitors come rarely to the cemetery. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II and between 1945 and 1981. No maintenance has been done. Now there is occasional clearing or cleaning by authorities. There is a slight threat posed by pollution and proposed nearby development.

The new cemetery is located at 1.5 km to the E, Veselska-Str. This Jewish cemetery was established in 1862. The website Jewish Cemetery in Uherský Ostroh contains many photographs of gravestones in Židovský hřbitov Uherský Ostroh. Located on the eastern outskirts of the Municipal Cemetery in Veselské Street, the Jewish cemetery was founded in 1862. Today it has about 200 tombstones from its more modern period, along with approximately 100 which were relocated to the cemetery from an old, obsolete one. The last known Jewish burials here were in the 1950s and 1960s. The cemetery's location is urban, on flat land, separate, but near other cemeteries, and not identified by any sign or marker. It is reached by crossing the public property of the town cemetery. It is open to all. A continuous masonry wall surrounds the cemetery. There is a gate that does not lock. The approximate size of the cemetery is now 0.27 hectares; before WWII it was about 0.47 hectares. The cemetery has no special sections. The tombstones and memorial markers are made of marble, granite and sandstone. The tombstones vary among flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decoration and obelisks. The cemetery has tombstones with bronze decorations or lettering and metal fences around graves. Inscriptions on tombstones are in Hebrew, German and Czech. The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to Holocaust victims. There are no known mass graves. Within the limits of the cemetery are no structures. The present owner of the cemetery property is the local Jewish community of Brno. The adjacent properties are other cemeteries. The current Jewish cemetery boundaries are smaller now than in 1939 because of the town cemetery. Private visitors come occasionally to the cemetery. The cemetery has been vandalized occasionally, mostly between 1981-91. No maintenance has been done. Local/municipal authorities and Jewish groups from within the country did restoration work, finally completed in 1991. Now there is occasional clearing or cleaning by authorities. There is a moderate threat posed by pollution, vegetation and vandalism; and slight threats are posed by uncontrolled access, weather erosion, and existing and proposed nearby development.

These surveys were completed on 1.3.1992 by Ing. Arch. Jaroslav Klenovsky, Zebetinska 13, 623 00 Brno.

CONTACTS:

• Town officials: Magistrate Jiri Chmelar, Mestsky urad Hradistska 305, 687 24 Uherský Ostroh, tel. 0632/91116.
• Regional officials: PhDr. Jana Spathova, Okresni urad, Referat Kultury, 686 01 Uherské Hradiště, tel. 0632/432.
• Interested parties: Slovacke muzeum, dir. PhDr. Ivo Frolec, Smetanovy sady, 686 01 Uherské Hradiště, tel. 0632/2262.
• Other sources: Bohumil Gelbkopf, Rybare 198, 687 24 Uherský Ostroh, Tel. 0.

SOURCES:

• Gedenkbuch der Untergegangenen Judengemeinden Mährens, Hugo Gold ed. (1974), pp. 116-117
• Die Juden und JudengemeindenMährens in Vergangenheit unde Gegenwart, Hugo Gold ed. (1929), pp: 563-570 (pictures)
• Jiri Fiedler, Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia (1991), pp. 53-54
• International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Cemetery Project, Czech Republic, Ostroh.
• ^Uherský Ostroh in Wikipedia.de; cites Evelin Oberhammer: Mährisch Kromau (Moravský Krumlov) in Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein).