My trip to Serbia- מתוך Jewishgen
Subject: My trip to Serbia From: [email protected] Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:42:10 -0700 (PDT) X-Message-Number: 4 My trip to Serbia  Hello all. I was in Serbia from Sept 7-11,2010, in the northern area now called Vojvodina, which was once Hungary. In the course of my trip I spent an afternoon with Antal Kocsis in Topola, who is an amateur historian. An ethnic Hungarian and devout Roman Catholic he has become the historian of the now lost Jewish community of Topola. Among things in the 1970s he saved the Neolog synagogue from being torn down and today it is the local library. He has spent years working on saving the Jewish cemetery and is currently trying to save the house of Adolf ALLEIN who led the Orthodox community. His hope is to make it a Jewish museum. Note (Adolf ALLEIN was my great grandmother's brother.) He has among things an extensive list of the members of the Jewish community pre war. I have the index. The book is in draft form in Hungarian. He would welcome any requests for information from anyone with a surname in the book. Note he is not a genealogist, simply a local historian. We of course visited the cemetery, which, as do all of the cemeteries, had a memorial listing the dead of the Holocaust. Antal knows alot about how the Jews came to this area. For instance he told me the BUCHWALDs are purportedly from Bosnia, he thinks Sarajevo. The HAHNs were a large family based in Sombor. I spent the evening of the beginning of Rosh Hoshanah with the Jewish Community in Subotica/Szabadka. They are Neolog. It was a large happy gathering. The Jewish community in Serbiais intact although small. They are organized into an entitled called the Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia. They were interested in looking at my own genealogy charts, but not particularly interested in the other information I had. However the next day I was escorted by Ernest LICHT who supervises the cemetery in Suboticato the cemetery. There among things was the grave of my great grandparents Jozsef HAHN and Tirza ALLEIN. It is a very well cared for cemetery, with of course a holocaust memorial. The cemetery on site caretaker has a handwritten list of the burials there. In the afternoon I visited the Jewish cemetery in Csantaver, which is a village about 5 miles from Subotica. This is a cemetery hidden behind a small farm, and not very well cared for. It is not a very big cemetery. There is where my greatgrandparentsâ?? parents are buried. I would say from reading the tombstones that many of the occupants are either named Buchwald or Basch, (names in my own genealogy.) I also made several visits to the historical archives in Subotica, where they went out of their way to provide as much help as possible. As probably all of you know, in the nineteenth century the religious communities were supposed to provide vital records to the civil authorities, and here is where the records are for most of northern Vojvodina. For the Jewish records (referred to as rabbinical records) there is a fair amount, starting mid nineteenth century, but they are certainly not complete. I don't know where any other records might be. For instance in my own case, I know my grandfather was born in 1888 in Csantaver, but he is not in these records, although his two brothers and two of his sisters are.  I took a copy of the list of Jewish records available in the archives. Along the way I also visited another Jewish cemetery in Sombor which was not well cared for. We also visited a couple of civil registry offices, which are located in every village. The trip as you can imagine was profoundly moving, walking into the foreign world from which my grandfather came. I would say that doing genealogy there is more feasible than perhaps most people believe. My guide who has done genealogy for Danube Swabians but not Jews was surprised at what we could find.  This is all work which must be done in Serbia. Someone interested in these records will need to arrange to have someone in Serbiaexamine them or perhaps come to Serbiathemselves. I have looked at the surnames many of you sent me and there is no question I saw those same names in the cemeteries and the rabbinical records and the list prepared by Antal Kocsis. I will go through the list and contact you individually if I am confident I saw the name you were seeking. Erica Hahn Monrovia, Ca
Subject: My trip to Serbia From: [email protected] Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:42:10 -0700 (PDT) X-Message-Number: 4 My trip to Serbia  Hello all. I was in Serbia from Sept 7-11,2010, in the northern area now called Vojvodina, which was once Hungary. In the course of my trip I spent an afternoon with Antal Kocsis in Topola, who is an amateur historian. An ethnic Hungarian and devout Roman Catholic he has become the historian of the now lost Jewish community of Topola. Among things in the 1970s he saved the Neolog synagogue from being torn down and today it is the local library. He has spent years working on saving the Jewish cemetery and is currently trying to save the house of Adolf ALLEIN who led the Orthodox community. His hope is to make it a Jewish museum. Note (Adolf ALLEIN was my great grandmother's brother.) He has among things an extensive list of the members of the Jewish community pre war. I have the index. The book is in draft form in Hungarian. He would welcome any requests for information from anyone with a surname in the book. Note he is not a genealogist, simply a local historian. We of course visited the cemetery, which, as do all of the cemeteries, had a memorial listing the dead of the Holocaust. Antal knows alot about how the Jews came to this area. For instance he told me the BUCHWALDs are purportedly from Bosnia, he thinks Sarajevo. The HAHNs were a large family based in Sombor. I spent the evening of the beginning of Rosh Hoshanah with the Jewish Community in Subotica/Szabadka. They are Neolog. It was a large happy gathering. The Jewish community in Serbiais intact although small. They are organized into an entitled called the Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia. They were interested in looking at my own genealogy charts, but not particularly interested in the other information I had. However the next day I was escorted by Ernest LICHT who supervises the cemetery in Suboticato the cemetery. There among things was the grave of my great grandparents Jozsef HAHN and Tirza ALLEIN. It is a very well cared for cemetery, with of course a holocaust memorial. The cemetery on site caretaker has a handwritten list of the burials there. In the afternoon I visited the Jewish cemetery in Csantaver, which is a village about 5 miles from Subotica. This is a cemetery hidden behind a small farm, and not very well cared for. It is not a very big cemetery. There is where my greatgrandparentsâ?? parents are buried. I would say from reading the tombstones that many of the occupants are either named Buchwald or Basch, (names in my own genealogy.) I also made several visits to the historical archives in Subotica, where they went out of their way to provide as much help as possible. As probably all of you know, in the nineteenth century the religious communities were supposed to provide vital records to the civil authorities, and here is where the records are for most of northern Vojvodina. For the Jewish records (referred to as rabbinical records) there is a fair amount, starting mid nineteenth century, but they are certainly not complete. I don't know where any other records might be. For instance in my own case, I know my grandfather was born in 1888 in Csantaver, but he is not in these records, although his two brothers and two of his sisters are.  I took a copy of the list of Jewish records available in the archives. Along the way I also visited another Jewish cemetery in Sombor which was not well cared for. We also visited a couple of civil registry offices, which are located in every village. The trip as you can imagine was profoundly moving, walking into the foreign world from which my grandfather came. I would say that doing genealogy there is more feasible than perhaps most people believe. My guide who has done genealogy for Danube Swabians but not Jews was surprised at what we could find.  This is all work which must be done in Serbia. Someone interested in these records will need to arrange to have someone in Serbiaexamine them or perhaps come to Serbiathemselves. I have looked at the surnames many of you sent me and there is no question I saw those same names in the cemeteries and the rabbinical records and the list prepared by Antal Kocsis. I will go through the list and contact you individually if I am confident I saw the name you were seeking. Erica Hahn Monrovia, Ca