Re: Fwd: RE: village: Kudrynce, Bukovina, Austria

I can add another "fleeing from the tsars" story - my great, great
grandfather from Beylorussia (ObCzernowiczContent: whose daughter married
Leon Muntner (nee Frum) born in the Czernowicz area in New York City) was
forcibly drafted and was being sent to the front to fight for the Tsar
during the Russo-Japanese war. As you can imagine, he wasn't too fond of
this idea. What did a peasant Russian Jew know of Japanese? At the dock
as he was to be shipped out, he slipped from the line to the troop ship to a
line for a passenger ship heading to Canada, then removed and discarded of
his uniform which he had worn over his civillian clothes. It took months
for his wife back in Russia to find out his fate, that he had escaped to
Canada as opposed to being killed in war.

Adam Muntner
Scottsdale, AZ

On Fri, 6 Jun 2003, Marc M. Cohen wrote:

> Dear Bruce and Randy,
>
> I don't know anything specific about Uscie Biskupie, but I do have a
> very similar story in my mother's family. We also have a fleeing the
> Czar's army story from Attaki-Soroka in my wife's family and a
> general fleeing Russia to Moldovia story in my father's family.
> Russia was just a bad place in the 19th Century.
>
> In 1860, my maternal GGF Aron Dovid Barak Kantorji (1843-1927), who
> lived in Khotin, Bessarabia, received a draft notice from the Czar's
> army. The entire Barak family fled the Russian Empire. The crossed
> the Dneister, and settled in Storozynetz, Bukovina, and some of them
> later settled in Chernovitz.
>
> Upon arrival in Austria, they changed the surname to Kantorji, for
> reasons that are obscure at best. He named his one son born there
> Shmuel (there were seven daughters). One uncle or cousin, also
> named Sam went on to Detroit, where they changed the name to Brady.
> We believe that another went to Israel, but have no further contact.
>
> I have recently developed a probably very far-fetched theory to
> explain "Kantorji," which means singer or Canter. According to
> Beiderman's Dictonary of Jewish Surnames in the Russian Empire, the
> Barak family from Khotin and nearby towns were using an acronym for
> Ben Rabbenu Kalonymos. One of the last Askenazic tzaddikim from the
> famous Kalonymos family was Shmuel ben Kalonymos heHazzan. He was
> killed by crusaders in Erfurt, Germany in 1221 CE. For centuries his
> death and the others killed in the Erfurt massacre were the subject
> of a special observance. The theory is that Kantorji is a
> Yiddishization of heHazzan. These Barak-Kantorjis also featured the
> male name Sam very prominently.
>
> Sorry to take this thread on such a tangent . . . but that's my contribution.
>
> Marc Cohen
> Palo Alto, CA
>
>
>
> >Status: U
> >Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 16:07:25 -0400
> >To: czernowitz-l_at_cornell.edu
> >From: Bruce Reisch <bir1_at_nysaes.cornell.edu>
> >Subject: RE: village: Kudrynce, Bukovina, Austria
> >X-MailScanner: Found to be clean
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> > BAYES_30 -1.60)
> >Reply-To: bir1_at_nysaes.cornell.edu
> >Sender: owner-CZERNOWITZ-L_at_cornell.edu
> >
> >Reply-to: fishnet_at_pipeline.com
> >Organization: Fishbein Associates, Inc.
> >
> >Jeanne:
> >
> >My g-g-g-grandmother, Mirele (Miriam) Zimmerman came from Uscie Biskupie
> >(aka Ust'ye). I am very interested in learning more about this town which, I
> >believe, was a point of escape for young men fleeing Army service in Russian
> >Podolia. This, at least, is how my g-g-g-grandfather, Mordechai Gerstein
> >and Mirele met. Once across the Dniester you were in Galicia
> >(Austro-Hungary) and free of the Russian army. Mordechai was from the
> >village of Zhvanets, approximately 3 miles East of Khotin on the opposite
> >side of the Dniester.
> >
> >I am very anxious to know if anyone else on the list has a connection to
> >Uscie Biskupie which translates as "Bishop's outlet."
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Randy
> >
> >Rand H. Fishbein, Ph.D.
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> TEL/FAX (650) 852-0657 marccohen_at_mindspring.com
>
>
Received on 2003-06-07 14:21:52