Moses Haim Lits Rosenbaum

ROSENBAUM, ROSENBOIM, ROSEMBAUM, ROZENBAUM, ROZEMBAUM

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name.

Literally "rose tree" in German, Rosenbaum is in most cases a matronymic (a surname derived from a female ancestor's personal name), associated with the female personal name Rosa. In some cases surnames comprising Rose are derived from a medieval house-sign depicting a rose, as for example in the Jewish quarter (Judengasse) of medieval Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where each house had a sign, usually an animal or a flower. With time, many of the signs became fixed hereditary family names.

Some Jewish family names, comprising the syllable Ros/Roz and their variants, have been Hebraicized as Rozen, which means "prince". Rosenbaum is widespread in Central and Eastern Europe. Other variants include Roux or Rosier/Rozier in post-war France, illustrating the westward migration of Jews after the Holocaust.

Baum, literally "tree" in German, is an artificial name that is commonly found in Jewish family names in its own right, or as a prefix (Baumgarten) or a suffix (Feigenbaum). In Jewish family names it is often used as an indication of belonging to a certain family, clan or tribe of the Jewish people. Distinguished bearers of the name Rosenbaum include Semyon (Shimshon) Rosenbaum (1860-1934), Lithuanian politician and Zionist leader and Morris Rosenbaum (1871-1947), English rabbi and scholar, and the British medical investigator and educator Max Rosenbaum (1908-1972).

Leopold Zunz (1794-1886) Scholar.

Born in Detmold, Germany, he was orphaned at an early age and raised at an institution for poor Jewish children in Wolfenbuettel where the major subject taught was Talmud. He studied Hebrew grammar secretly with a fellow-student, I.M. Jost who was to become a noted historian. His outstanding abilities brought him to the universities of Berlin and Halle, receiving his doctorate at the latter. He first worked as a lay preacher for Reform congregations and in 1819 was a cofounder of the Society for Jewish Culture and Science and in 1823 became editor of the outstanding journal of Jewish studies, Zeitschrift fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums. When a Reform temple was closed down by the authorities on the grounds that preaching in the vernacular was against Jewish tradition, Zunz wrote his classic Sermons of the Jews, which showed the antiquity of vernacular preaching. After a period as a rabbi in Prague, he was appointed in 1840 director of the Berlin Jewish Teachers' Seminary. He wrote many works in a wide variety of fields of Jewish scholarship including a history of Jewish names, a biography of Rashi and a survey of Jewish religious poetry which identified 6,000 poems and 1,000 poets.

Simleul Silvaniei

In Hungarian: Szilagysomlyo

A town in the historic region of Crisana in Sălaj County, Romania. Until the end of WW I part of Austria-Hungary, and between 1940 and 1944 within Hungary.

Jews began to settle there during the 18th century. An organized community was established in 1841; from its inception, the community was orthodox. A synagogue was erected in 1850. In 1885 the community became the official center for the Jews in the surrounding area. The influence of Hasidism was felt, particularly between the two world wars. The Jewish population numbered 838 (18.4% of the total) in 1891; 1,586 (21%) in 1930; and 1,496 (16.4%) in 1941. The community's institutions included an elementary school for boys, opened in 1894, and for girls (1921). The rabbi of the community from 1898 was the extreme orthodox Samuel Ehrenreich (b. 1863), who was deported in the summer of 1944 with the members of his community to Auschwitz.

During WW II Jews from the vicinity, as well as from outlying regions, were interned in the ghetto which was established in Simleu Silvaniei. Jews from other towns were also concentrated there before their deportation to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. About 7,000 Jews passed through this ghetto on their way to the death camps.

Of those who survived after WW II, about 440 Jews gathered in Simleu Silvaniei in 1947; they rehabilitated the community and maintained the synagogue, still standing in 1971. A rabbi headed the community for a while. The number of Jews subsequently declined as a result of emigration to Israel and other countries. In 1971 there were 40 Jews. Between the two world wars there was also a small Hebrew press in Simleul Silvaniei. A Hebrew book was printed there in 1960.

Bratislava

German: Pressburg, Hungarian: Pozsony

Capital of Slovakia. Part of Hungary until 1918

Bratislava was the chartered capital of the kings of Hungary. It was one of the most ancient and important Jewish centers in the Danube region. The first Jews probably arrived with the Roman legions, but the first documented evidence of their presence in the city dates from the 13th century. In 1291 the community was granted a charter by King Andrew the III and a synagogue is first mentioned in 1335.

The Jews of Bratislava mainly engaged in moneylending, but there were also merchants, artisans, vineyard owners, and vintners. The Jews were expelled from Hungary in 1360, but returned in 1367. In 1371 the municipality introduced the Judenbuch, which regulated financial dealings between Jews and Christians.

Money matters between Jews and Christians, however, could unexpectedly take complicated turns. King Sigismund granted Christians an exemption for the year 1392 from paying interest on loans borrowed from Jews. Later, in 1441 and 1450, all outstanding debts owed to Jews were cancelled, and in 1475 Jews were forbidden from accepting real estate as security. Ladislas II prevented Jews from attempting to leave Bratislava in 1506 by confiscating the property of those who had already left. This proved to be somewhat ironic since the Jews were eventually expelled from Bratislava, and Hungary as a whole, in 1526. Instead, the Jews began settling in the surrounding areas of Shlossberg and Zuckermandel. A Jewish community was not reestablished in Bratislava until the end of the seventeenth century when Samuel Oppenheimer resettled the city. He was followed by other Jews, some of whom were born locally and others who came from Vienna, which had expelled its Jews in 1670, Bohemia and Moravia, as well as a small number from Poland. A synagogue was built in 1695 where the first known rabbi to work there was Yom Tov Lipmann. In 1699 the court Jew Simon Michael, who had settled in Bratislava in 1693, was appointed as head of the community. He built a beit midrash and bought land to build a cemetery.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the Jews of Bratislava were leaders in both the business and religious worlds. In business they were among the leaders of the textile trade, while the religious leader Rabbi Moses Sofer (better known as the Hatam Sofer) turned Bratislava into a center of Jewish life. The Hatam Sofer became a leader of Orthodoxy, and is perhaps best known for his (ironically radical) statement that "He-hadash asur min haTorah," "Innovation is forbidden according to the Torah." His status as a rabbi, teacher, scholar, rosh yeshiva, and halakhist was unparalleled. Upon his death his son, Avraham Shmuel Binyamin (otherwise known as the Ketav Sofer) and then his grandson Simcha Bumen, and his great-grandson Akiva succeeded him in turn. Other outstanding rabbis that served in the city before the Hatam Sofer were Moshe Harif of Lemberg, Akiva Eger (the elder), Yitzhak Landau of Kukla, Meir Barbi of Halberstadt, and Meshulam Igra of Tymenitsa. Each was an outstanding Talmudic scholar, and Landau and Barbi established large and prestigious yeshivas.

In spite of the Hatam Sofer's uncompromising Orthodoxy, the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) made important inroads, particularly among the wealthy merchants and intellectuals in the city. In 1820 those who were in favor of the Haskalah succeeded in establishing an elementary school that combined religious and secular studies. Shortly thereafter the community's Orthodox majority also built a Talmud Torah that combined religious and secular studies, under the supervision of the city's chief rabbi.

The community was also split during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. While those who were in favor of reform, led by Adolf Neustadt, enthusiastically supported the revolution, joining the National Guard and advocating for Jewish emancipation, the Orthodox leadership distanced themselves from these actions. Anti-Jewish riots subsequently broke out during the revolution around Easter; the Jews of Bratislava suffered the worst violence. While no Bratislavan Jews were killed, there were many who were severely beaten, and there was enormous damage done to property. The Jewish Quarter was placed under military protection, and Jews who lived elsewhere had to move within it. The violence prompted calls to emigrate to the US.

The Revolution of 1848 would not be the last time that the Jews of Bratislava were the victims of pogroms and anti-Jewish violence. 1850 saw more anti-Jewish riots around the holiday of Easter. Further outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence followed the Tiszaeszlar blood libel in 1882 and 1883, as well as after other blood libels in 1887 and 1889.

Tensions continued to grow between the Orthodox and the maskilim within the community. After 1869 the Orthodox, Neologist, and Status Quo Ante factions in Bratislava formed separate congregations. The Orthodox provincial office (Landseskanzlei) later became notorious for its opposition to Zionism. The Neolog and Status Quo Ante congregations united in 1928 as the Jeshurun Federation.

Jewish institutions in Bratislava included religious schools, charitable organizations, and a Jewish hospital. The Hungarian Zionist organization was founded in Bratislava in 1902, and the World Mizrachi Organization was founded in 1904; the latter sparked protests from over 100 rabbis. The first Hungarian Zionist Congress was held in Bratislava in March 1903 and the city became the Hungarian center for the Zionist Organization in Hungary.

With the establishment of Czechoslovakia, Bratislava also became the center of Agudas Yisroel in Czechoslovakia, in addition to remaining a Zionist center. Several Jewish newspapers and a Hebrew weekly, "HaYehudi," were printed in the city. There were also over 300 Hebrew and Yiddish books printed in the city between 1831 and 1930. The Orthodox Jewish Communities of Slovakia was established in the city, enabling the Orthodox community to cut ties with Hungary.

The German army occupied Czechoslovakia in March, 1938 and soon established an independent Slovak state. Even before the declaration of the independent state, there were attacks on the synagogue and yeshiva on November 11, 1938. Nearly 1,000 Jewish students were expelled from the university and anti-Jewish terror, restrictive measures, and pogroms increased. With the establishment of the Slovak state, Jews continued to suffer from discrimination. Akiva Shreiber and a number of his yeshiva students succeeded in leaving Bratislava for Palestine at the end of 1939.

Nonetheless, the Jewish population of Bratislava peaked in 1940 at 18,000 people (13% of the total population of the city). This was in spite of the fact that Jewish organizations, with the exception of religious communal activities, were prohibited from organizing activities. Additionally, Jews were evicted from various neighborhoods, Jewish students were expelled from public schools, and Jewish properties were confiscated. By the fall of 1941 about half of the city's population had been forcibly sent from the city to the provinces; by the summer of 1942 two-thirds of the Jews of Bratislava were sent to concentration or extermination camps. Gisi Fleischmann of WIZO and Mikhael Dov Ber Weissmandel began organizing an underground resistance movement. They contacted international Jewish organizations, in the hopes that they could save the Jews who remained in the city and the surrounding area. August 1944 saw a Slovak uprising, and the country was subsequently occupied by the Germans. At that point, the remaining Jews in Bratislava were deported.

In the end, approximately 13,000 Jews from Bratislava were killed during the Holocaust. After the war, the city was an important transit point for the thousands of displaced Jews who were making their way to other countries and began to rebuild. The Orthodox and Neolog communities united and maintained two cemetaries, a mikvah, a slaughterhouse, a soup kitchen, a matzah bakery, a Jewish hospital, an old age home, and a Jewish orphanage. Zionist activity resumed; HaShomer HaTzair and Bnei Akiva led activities for orphans preparing to emigrate to Mandate Palestine. Maccabi HaTzair and Beitar were also active. Though there was an attempt to reopen the Pressburg Yeshiva, it ultimately failed.

After the communist takeover, thousands more Jews left the city, most of whom went to Israel. According to an agreement made with Israel, 4,000 Jews were permitted to leave and enter Israel at the end of the 1940s while 2,000 remained in Bratislava. In 1969 there were 1,500 Jews in the city.

The 1990s saw the opening of a number of memorials and places of Jewish interest. A Jewish cultural heritage museum was opened in the old Jewish Quarter. A memorial plaque was added to the Orthodox cemetery in memory of the 13,000 Jewish victims of Bratislava who were killed during the Holocaust. Additionally, in 1997 a monument commemorating the Slovakian Jewish victims of the Nazis was erected on the site where the Pressburg Yeshiva once stood. Jewish organizations and municipal authorities worked together to renovate and reopen the grave of the Hatam Sofer, among other rabbis, to the public.

In the year 2000 there were 800 Jews living in Bratislava.

Kisvarda

A small town in the Szabolcs district, north east Hungary.

Kisvarda is strategically placed, serving as a junction for four districts. This, together with the fertility of the soil, contributed to the rapid development of the town as an agricultural, commercial and industrial center. As a result Jews were attracted to the town.

Jewish settlement in Kisvarda is on record from 1730. The first Jews came to Kisvarda under the special protection of the estate owner, Count Eszterhazy. They played a prominent role in the economic development of the place. The majority were merchants; others managed large estates, leased or owned farms, owned large warehouses to which were brought the produce of the local farmers, and were industrialists. Some of the banks were opened by Jews.

The community was organized in 1796 when the hevra kadisha (burial society) was established. A synagogue was built in 1801 on land donated by Count Eszterhazy. A school was opened early in the 19th century; its high standard attracted Christian students. Other educational institutions included a large yeshiva, Talmud torah and heder. In addition to a women's society there were numerous social and charitable organizations. Zionist activities commenced shortly after the end of World War I.

During the period of the White Terror, pogroms against the Jews instigated by right wing military elements (1919-21) after the fall of the communist regime, leaders of the community were able to curb the wave of hatred to a certain extent. In 1930, in line with the depression which was felt world-wide, many Jews, whose income was derived from agriculture, suffered.

In 1930 the community numbered 3,658, being 25.8% of the total population. In 1900 the figure was 31.6%.

The Holocaust Period

In 1938, following the publication of discriminatory laws which aimed at limiting Jewish participation in the economic and cultural fields, many Jews were deprived of their means of livelihood. Ownership of the banks was taken from the Jews, the majority of clerical workers were discharged and the commercial sector in Jewish hands was seriously affected.

In 1942 young Jews were taken for forced labor; they were sent to the Ukraine where the majority perished. Kisvarda became a center for mobilization of forced labor battalions, which were sent to different parts of Hungary as well as beyond its borders. Even before Pesach 1944, after the German occupation, a ghetto was set up in the area of the synagogue. Jews were ordered to leave their homes and move into the ghetto, to which were also brought the Jews from the surroundings. The ghetto was home to some 7,000 people, who lived 15 to a room. Food was always in such short supply that many people starved to death. The wealthy Jews were interrogated under torture in order to make them reveal where they had hidden their wealth.

On May 25, 1944, on the festival of Shavuot, half of the inhabitants of the ghetto were taken to the town center. Amid the joy of the residents of the town, who watched from the roof tops, a roll-call of the Jews was held and then they were taken to the railway station where they were loaded into cattle trucks and transported to Auschwitz. A few days later they were followed by the remaining Jews in the ghetto.

After the war a few hundred survivors returned. Communal life was renewed, and various organizations, such as the hevra kadisha (burial society) and women's society were reactivated. Also religious and Zionist activities were resumed. In 1949 a monument was erected to the martyrs. However, the numbers began to dwindle, particularly in 1956 after the anti-Russian revolt. By the 1970s the community had become very small.