Since I learned that my G6father Israel Wolf (1719-1791) moved to Hranice from Tovacov (Tobitschau) in the mid-1700s, I have been looking at information sources from Tovacov, one of which is an interesting article called “The Pinax of Tobitschau”. The article was published in German in the 1931 Yearbook of the Society for the History of Jews in the Czechoslovak Republic ( https://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/.../titleinfo/2644305 ) and studies a book of Synagogue seats (considered at the time to be an important and sometimes the only asset of the Jews) and donations. The original can be found here :
https://collections.jewishmuseum.cz/.../object_id/335524...
The article mentions many names of people during the period ~1640 – 1909 most from Tobitschau but also from many other cities/villages most in Moravia:
• Proßnitz (Prostějov)
• Holleschau (Holešov)
• Vienna
• Metz
• Trebitsch (Třebíč)
• Gewitsch (today = Jevícko)
• Strassnitz (Strážnice)
• Austerlitz (Slavkov u Brna)
• Mähr. Aussee (Usov)
• Krakow
• Kojetein
• Neu -Raußnitz (Rousínov)
• Loschitz (Loštice)
• Kromau (Moravský Krumlov )
• Eiwanowitz (Ivanovice na Hané)
• Boskowitz (Boskovice)
• Prague
• Boschatz (Buczacz)
In the comments part, the article also derives information from many other sources and provides a very interesting picture of the life of the Jews in the 17th-18th centuries. Most people at that period did not have family names and only use the father’s name. Many of these names are still useful for genealogical purposes and I made a summary, listing the names I found in the article.
A word of caution, the article is in written in old German for which I used a translation software and not 100% correct. Some names are also repeated a few times. The translation was done for my personal research, however if anyone is interested in the summary and/or in the full translation please message me.
For those interested there are additional sources for Tovacov some are:
• https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/cemetery/ (search for Tovacov)
• https://cemeteries.zob.cz/tovacov
@omriarnon thank you for your post. My father grew up in Tovacov so I am interested to know if any of the names mentioned are THORSCH or WINTER his mother's maiden name. she came from Straznice. His sister married and became BRANDMANN and lived in Krakow. I'd be grateful for any information you have on these names.
Shalom
Daniela Torsh, Sydney, Australia
@omni Arnon, what an interesting post. Thank you. I too am unable to open the links sadly. Could I ask if you have spotted any references to the name Rabl within the Trebic or the Slavkov u Brno articles? I'm hoping to link the Rabls I have found there through my own research to my own family who were actually from Kardasova Recice where there was a small community with its Schul built in 1708 and I wonder if there is any mention of it? Some of the family moved to the more prosperous town of Jindrichuv Hradec (Neuhuis) early in the 19thC but my G-Grandfather followed in 1876 after his shop was burned out in a pogrom. The JH rabls were far more prosperous and I'm sure would have owned their seats within a far larger community and wonder if you have any article on this town too. My G5father, Abraham Samuel, chose his name in 1778 when Emporer Josef required all to chose family names. Thank you, Nik Rabl-Radcliffe
I am one of the town leaders for Kojetin and would be glad to be in contact with you or anyone else about the town. We have a website and an email group. Please contact me at thausner@gmail.com
Hello all,
I will be glad to send you the research through email (I didn't find a way to upload it in Geni.).
As mentioned the book/s were mostly from the 1600-1700s and there are only a few family names among the people mentioned and most of them are mentioned by the father's name.
I'm not sure why the links don't work. here they are again :
https://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/cm/periodical/titleinfo/2644305
https://collections.jewishmuseum.cz/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/ob...
Omri -
arnon.omri@gmail.com
Thank you Omri for all your good work and for the new links. I was just looking at the book and was wondering whether it is in Yiddish or Hebrew. I do see some areas where there are also notations in Czech/German??? I can read Hebrew, not well, but really know I won't be able to decipher this. Is anyone working on translating or indexing this. As you say, it will be an incredible resource for many families.
Ben Tysch
Los Angeles
Hi Benjamin,
I think that most of the book is in Hebrew, though in the Hebrew they used at the time. also the writing is a bit difficult to read.
the article from 1931 I mentioned, deciphered many of the names , some of which I can read looking at the original pages. I started translating it with google translate and DeepL for myself and later thought it would also interest others. If you wish email me and I will send you two files (in English) one with the names and one translating the whole article.
Omri