Arnold Daghani

KORN, CORN, KORNSTEIN, CORNSTEIN

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name may derive from lineage (priestly, Levite, convert).

Korn (German for "grain/corn") could be an occupational surname associated with the corn trade. In some cases Korn and its variants were substitutes for the surname Cohen/Kohn. In some cases Korn and its variants were substitutes for the Jewish surname Kohen/Cohen/Kohn. The oldest and probably the most common Jewish family name in existence, Kohen usually indicates descent from the biblical priestly family (Cohanim). According to tradition, the Cohanim are descendants of Aharon, the first high priest. Aharon was the elder brother of Moses who led the children of Israel out from slavery in Egypt to the promised land. The Cohanim performed consecrated duties in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem until the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE and still have certain duties and prerogatives in religious life. A great many variants of the name are documented all over the world. In many cases Cohen was transformed into vernacular-sounding names. This enabled Jews in the Diaspora both to maintain their Jewish tradition, as well as to become part of their host society. This enabled Jews in the Diaspora both to maintain their Jewish tradition, as well as to become part of their host society. Among the forms frequent in the Mediterranean region are Kahin, Al-Kuhen, El-Kohen, Kouihen, Choen, Xohen and Cof(f)en. Variants documented in Europe include: Cowen and Cowan (England); Cohn, Conn, Kahn, Kohn(e) and Kohner (Germany and Austria); Cahn, Cahen, Cahon, Caen and Cain (France); Coen (Italy); Cahan, Cahona, Kahana, Kahano, Kahane, Kon, Koihen, Kagan, Kogan, Kaplan, Kohnowsky, Koganovitch, Kahanow, Kahansky, Konstamm (Eastern Europe). Cohan, Cohane, Cohne, Cone, Coon, Kan and Koon are recorded in the United States. In some cases Cohen became part of an acronym (a name created from the initial letters of a Hebrew phrase, and which refers to a relative, lineage or occupation). The old title Cohen Tzedek, meaning "righteous priest" in Hebrew, was abbreviated to Katz, literally "cat" an animal name, in Yiddish and German, and became the source of numerous family names.

Stein, the second part of the name, is the German for "stone/rock". Stein is a common artificial name that can be found as a prefix (for example, Steinberg) or as a suffix (for example, Goldstein). This term and its equivalents in other languages are frequent family names in their own right or part of such names. It has been translated by Jews into the Yiddish Shteyn. Moreover, a considerable number of towns and villages have names comprising the terms for "rock" or "stone". Korn is documented as a Jewish family name in the late 17th century with Marcus Korn of Prague (Bohemia), who attended the Leipzig (Germany) fair in 1691.

Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Korn include the Czech- born German writer, Selig (Friedrich) Korn, also known as Kohen (1803-1850); the German physicist, Arthur Korn (1870-1945); and the 20th century Polish Yiddish poet, Rachel (Rochl) Korn. In the 20th century Korn is recorded as a Jewish family name with the Korn family, who lived in the town of Zhadova (Jadova) near Chenoweth, northern Bukovina (now Ukraine), prior to World War II (1939-1945). The entire Jewish community of Zhadova was deported by the Nazis to the death camps in July 1941.

DAGAN

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from nature (topographic term, plants and animals) or agricultural produce.

Dagan is the Hebrew for "grain/cereals". The term is closely related to Dagon, the name of the national god of the Philistines, represented as half-man and half-fish. Originally a fish god, Dagon eventually became the god of grain.

Distinguished 20th century bearers of the Jewish family name Dagan include the Israeli diplomat and Czech poet, Avigdor Dagan, originally Victor Fischl; the Romanian-born Israeli scientist, Gedeon Dagan; and the Israeli minister of tourism, Zvi Dagan.

Suceava

In German: Suczawa

A city in Suceava district, Bukovina, northern Romania. Formerly capital of Moldavia, from 1774 to the end of World War I was part of the Austrian Empire..

Jews lived there from the beginning of the 18th century. In 1774, there were 50 at the beginning of Austrian rule, there were 50 Jewish families (209 persons) living in the town. Although the Jews were oppressed by the Austrian authorities, their number increased as a result of immigration from Galicia and Russia. In 1782, 92 Jews were expelled from Suceava, the Austrian authorities claiming that they were unable to pay the taxes. Representatives of Suceava Jewry took an active part in the struggle of the Jews of Bukovina against the oppressions of the Austrian authorities. There were 160 Jewish families in Suceava in 1791, and 272, with the Jews in the vicinity, according to data of 1817. After 1848 their numbers increased rapidly, and the Jewish population numbered 3,750 (37.1%) in 1880; 6,787 in 1901; and 8,000 on the outbreak of World War I. With the advent of Romanian rule, many Jews moved to Chernovtsy and other places; there remained 3,496 in 1930.

The communal institutions included a Jewish school, opened in 1790. A large synagogue was renovated at the beginning of the 19th century. Jews also prayed in many Battei Midrash and a number of houses of prayer (Kloysen). Chasidic influence in the community was strong. Zionist activity had been initiated during the Chibbat Zion period, and an organization of Zionist students existed in Suceava before the first Zionist congress. A number of smaller Jewish communities were affiliated to the Suceava community until they became independent. Jews engaged in the trade of alcoholic liquor, wine, and beer. The cultural orientation was German. Jews played important roles in both municipal and national political life.

The local Jews were persecuted by the Nazi German and Romanian authorities between 1940 and 1941. When deported to Transnistria in 1941, they numbered 3,253. Only 27 remained in the town.

After World War II, when northern Bukovina was annexed by the Soviet Union, many Jews from Chernovtsy and other places in northern Bukovina who arrived in Suceava chose to remain there. Their numbers rose to 4,000, and community life was active during that period. The number of Jews subsequently declined as a result of emigration to Israel and other places. In 1971, there were still about 290 Jewish families in the town and Jewish life was maintained to a limited degree. Prayers were held in the central synagogue and a number of other places.

Bucharest

Romanian: Bucuresti

Capital of Romania

The historic Jewish district of Bucharest used to be centered around the Choral Temple, and spread from Piata Unirii east towards Dristor. However, most of the Jewish buildings that stood there were destroyed during the 1980s in order to make way for the Bulevardul Unirii. As of 2015, there remain a handful of points of Jewish interest in Bucharest, serving the community of approximately 3,500. The Choral Temple, the Yeshua Tova Synagogue, and the Great Polish Synagogue, continue to hold services; the latter also hosts the city's Holocaust Museum. The Beit Hamidrash Synagogue, which dates back to the late 18th century, is abandoned and decaying, though the structure itself is still (barely) standing. Another abandoned synagogue whose building still stands is the Hevra Amuna (Temple of Faith).

The Jewish History Museum (Muzeul de Istorie a Evreilor din Romania) is located in what was once a synagogue called the Holy Union Temple. The synagogue building itself was constructed in 1836; it began serving as a Jewish history museum in 1978. Mozes Rosen, the chief rabbi of Romania from 1964 until his death in 1994, founded the museum and provided a number of items for its collection.

The State Jewish Theater, which is located in Bucharest, is the oldest uninterrupted Yiddish-language theater in the world. The theater features plays by Jewish playwrights, plays about Jewish topics, and Yiddish plays that run simultaneous Romanian translations through headphones. The theater is located next to the Lauder-Reut Jewish school, which has over 400 students enrolled in its kindergarten, elementary, and middle schools.

HISTORY

The Jewish community of Bucharest was formed both by Sephardic Jews who arrived from the south, chiefly from the Otooman Empire, and later by Ashkenazi Jews arriving from the north. A responsum by the rabbi of Solonika during the 16th century that mentions a Sephardic community is the first documented evidence confirming the presence of Jews in Budapest. The Jewish community began to grow and prosper; some were even the creditors of the ruling princes. This economic success, however, eventually came at a steep price (pun intended); when Prince Michael the Brave revolved against the Turks in November 1593, he ordered that his creditors be killed, among whom were a number of Jews.

Ahskenazi Jews began arriving and establishing their own community towards the middle of the 17th century, drawn there after fleeing the Khmielnitski Massacres taking place in Ukraine. Their numbers grew, and eventually the Ashkenazi community became larger than the Sephardic community. For tax purposes, the Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities were organized into a single community by the state, and were forced to pay a fixed tax to the treasury. Meanwhile, the general population, afraid of economic competition, was intensely hostile towards the Jews. In 1793 residents of the suburb Razvan petitioned Prince Alexander Moruzi to expel the Jews who had recently settled in the area and to demolish the synagogue that they had built. Though the prince ordered that the synagogue be closed, he did not remove the Jews from Razvan and, in fact, issued a decree confirming his protection of them. In 1801 there were anti-Jewish riots following blood libel accusations, and 128 Jews were killed or wounded.

In 1819 Prince Alexandru Sutu officially acknowledged both the Sephardic ("Spanish") and Ashkenazi ("Polish") communities, allowing them to operate as separate entities. This continued until 1949 when the Communist regime once again forced the two communities to join together. By 1832 there were 10 Ashkenazi and one Sephardi synagogues in Bucharest. The Great Synagogue, which was Ashkenazi, was dedicated on Rosh Hashanah, 1847.

In spite of the impressive Great Synagogue, the Ashkenazi community of Bucharest had to deal with a number of fissures and tensions during the 19th century. There were tensions between those were born in Romania, and those who immigrated to Bucharest, who were not under the same system of taxation as the native Romanians. This led the immigrants within the Jewish community, who were considered "foreign subjects" to refuse to pay the tax levied on kosher meat. This was a problem, as this tax constituted the sole income of the community council. The authorities, who were drawn into the conflict, at first upheld the traditional rights of the Jewish communal organization. However, following repeated complaints from both sides, as well as constitutional changes that took place in Romania in 1832, the community was given a new constitution that greatly curtailed its autonomy. Instead of operating autonomously, it fell under the direct authority and close supervision of the municipality. Eventually, in 1851, the Prussian and Austrian subjects (about 300 families) were officially permitted to found a separate community.

The increasing influence of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment), also led to tensions within the Ashkenazi community. It is important to note that this conflict also reflected the economics of the community; those in favor of the Haskalah and who wanted the community to undertake more progressive reforms tended to be from the upper classes, while those who were more traditional tended to be further down the socioeconomic ladder. At that time, the Bucharest Ashkenazi community was torn by strife between the Orthodox and progressive factions. The controversy began to center around a school with a modern curriculum that opened in 1852, as well as the proposal in 1857, led by Ya'akov Lobel, to build a Choral Temple, that would incorporate modern ideas and principles into its services. The appointment of Rabbi Meir Leib Malbim in 1858 as the chief rabbi did not help quell the disputes. Malbim was a fierce and uncompromising opponent of the Reform movement, and he quickly made enemies among Bucharest's Jewish elite. The conflicts between Malbim and those who were in favor of the Reform Movement came to a head in 1862, when Malbim was arrested. He was freed only after Sir Moses Montefiore intervened, and on the condition that he leave Romania. The Choral Synagogue was completed in 1867, and became the center for the modernists of the community.

Among the most prominent spiritual and religious leaders of the community before World War I were Antoine Levy and Moritz (Meir) Beck, who were rabbis of the Choir Temple Congregation from 1867 to 1869 and 1873 to 1923, respectively. Other outstanding figures within the Choir Temple community were Iuliu Barasch and Yitzchak Leib Weinberg. Yitzchak Esiik Taubes was the rabbi of the Orthodox Congregation from 1894 until 1921. The most prominent lay leader was Adolf Stern. Moscu Asher led the Sephardic community, and Rabbi Hayim Bejarano was a noted scholar and poet. Later, the lawyer and politician Wilhelm Filderman would become the president of the Union of Romanian Jews, and Rabbi Jacob Isaac Niemirower would be the country's first chief rabbi. Filderman, in fact, would in 1941 work successfully to annul the decree forcing Jews to wear an identifying badge.

Between the two World Wars the Bucharest community grew in both numbers and importance. The Jewish population of the city, which had become the capital of Greater Romania and attracted immigrants from all parts of the country, increased from 44,000 in 1912 to 74,480 (12% of the total population) in 1930 and 95,072 in 1940. Most Jews worked as artisans, merchants, clerks, and bankers. Others were active in professions such as medicine and law. Several ironworks and foundries were established by the end of the 19th century. Major Jewish business leaders at that time included Leon Abramovici, Sigmund Prager, and Adolph Solomon.

There were a number of Jewish schools in Bucharest, particularly at the turn of the 20th century. Among the most influential was the abovementioned school established in 1852 by Yisrael Pick and Naftali Popper. These founders sought to imbue their school with the Haskalah principles that they believed in, and the school became extremely influential on Jewish education in Romania. There were also vocational institutions serving Jewish workers, including the Ciocanul (Hammer) school which trained Jewish craft workers.

Communal institutions included over 40 synagogues, two cemeteries, 19 schools, a library and museum, two hospitals, a clinic, two homes for the elderly, and two orphanages. There was also a B'nai B'rith, as long as a number of social and cultural organizations serving the community. A number of newspapers also served the community; the first Jewish newspaper, "Israelitul roman," was founded in 1855 and written in Romanian and French. Other publications included "Fraternitatea," "Revista Israelita," "Egalitatea," and "Curierul Israelit." Yiddish and Hebrew language publications included "Et LeDaber," "HaYoetz," and the Zionist newspapers "Mantuirea" and "Hasmonaea." A Yiddish theater was established in the late 1870s, and reached its peak during the interwar period. This theater would later be banned under Ion Antonescu.

Anti-Semitism continued to be a problem for the Jews of Bucharest. In 1866 the visit of Adolph Cremieux, a French lawyer who advocated for the political emancipation of the Jews, resulted in Jewish synagogues and shops being vandalized. The rise of prominence of nationalist leader Alexandru C. Cuza spurred the development of a number of anti-Semitic organizations, many of which were centered at Bucharest University.

In September 1940, with the rise of the Antonescu-Iron Guard coalition, Bucharest became one of the new regime's main centers of the anti-Jewish activities. This culminated in a pogrom during the rebellion of the Legionary Movement; 120 Jews were killed, thousands were arrested and tortured, synagogues were desecrated, and Jewish homes, shops, and community buildings were looted and destroyed.

Until the end of the Antonescu regime in August 1944, the Jews of Bucharest were subjected anti-Semitic legislation and persecution. Jews were legally downgraded to second-class citizens. They could no longer access state-funded education or health care, and their property was confiscated. These restrictions had major economic effects on the community: in 1942 only 27.2% of the city's Jewish population of about 100,000 were registered as employed, compared with 54.3% of the non-Jewish population. In September 1942 several hundred Jews were deported to Transnistria, where many eventually perished. Thousands of other Jews, particularly the young, were required to work as forced laborers.

The lack of access to education, combined with the growing poverty of the Jewish community, spurred the need for the community to greatly expand their own educational and social welfare activities. In 1943 the Jewish community ran 27 schools and 21 soup kitchens. Bucharest became the center of relief activities for Romanian Jews.

The Jews of Bucharest were saved after Antonescu was deposed on August 23, 1944 and German forces were not able to entering the city. Though Adolf Eichmann had begun making preparations to deport Romania's Jews, the fierce opposition on the part of the Romanian army, coupled with the entry of the Soviet Army on August 30, 1944, prevented any of these plans from being carried out.

After World War II, large numbers of Jewish refugees and concentration camp survivors began arriving in the city; by 1947 the Jewish population had grown to 150,000. The Communist regime, which came to power in 1947, gradually closed all Jewish national, cultural, and social institutions in Bucharest. The welfare institutions were nationalized and the schools were absorbed into the general educational network. A state Yiddish school was opened in 1949, but closed a few years later. A State Yiddish Theater was founded in 1948 and a Yiddish drama school was established in 1957. Two Jewish newspapers, the Romanian "Unirea," followed later by "Viata Novua" and the Yiddish "Ikuf Bleter" were published. Of the 44,202 Jews (3.6% of the total population) registered in the city in the 1956 census, 4,425 of them declared Yiddish to be their mother tongue. In spite of the difficulties in living under a Communist regime, Rabbi Mozes Rosen was able to successfully navigate the opaque policies of the Romanian government, allowing Bucharest to continue to serve as the center of Jewish communal and cultural life.

The rise of Nicolae Ceausescu, who was the dictator of Romania between 1965 and 1989, prompted mass emigrations to Israel. In 1969 it was estimated that there were 50,000 Jews living in Bucharest; by the turn of the 21st century there were only about 4,000.

Chernivtsi

In Ukrainian: Чернівці / Chernivtsi; in Russian: Chernovtsy; In Romanian: Cernauti, In German and in Jewish sources: Czernowitz צ'רנוביץ
A city in Ukraine. Between the two World Wars in Romania.

Chernovtsy, then Cernauti, was the capital of Bukovina. The area was under Austrian rule in the years 1775-1918.

Both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews are mentioned in Chernovtsy from 1408. Later the Chernovtsy community assumed a distinctly Ashkenazi character, with Yiddish as the spoken language. The second half of the 17th century brought Jewish immigrants and culture from Poland. The Russian-Turkish wars (1766-74) caused severe hardship and the Jews had to leave Chernovtsy for a time. After the area came under Austrian rule in 1775 the Austrian military regime immediately began a policy of discrimination with the avowed aim of "clearing" Bukovina of Jews.

Nevertheless, a number of Jews from Galicia immigrated to Bukovina in this period, and many settled in Chernovtsy. Despite the restrictions still in force the Jews there acquired real property and engaged in large-scale commercial transactions. In 1812, during the Napoleonic wars, Jewish goods and property were plundered by the Russian army.

Tension arose within the community between the Chasidim and Maskilim at the beginning of the 19th century, and later intensified. Cultural life developed after 1848, along with trends toward assimilation and the penetration of Haskalah attitudes to wider circles. The foundation of a university there in 1875 attracted Jewish students throughout Bukovina and had a stimulating and diversifying influence on the social and cultural life of the community.

From the end of the 19th century student organizations played an important part in the Zionist movement in Chernovtsy.

In 1872 the community split into independent orthodox and reform sections. A reform temple opened in 1877 was destroyed by the Nazis in 1944. Zionism made headway in the city despite opposition from the assimilationist and orthodox elements. Jews also took an active part in public affairs. As early as 1897 one of the Jewish leaders, Benno Straucher, was returned to the Austrian parliament as representative for Czernowitz (1897-1914).

During World War I, when the city passed from hand to hand between the Russians and the Austrians, the community suffered great hardship, and many left the city. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918 the soldiers of the Romanian army who entered Chernovtsy behaved brutally toward the Jews and started a wave of persecution. After incorporation of the city into Romania and with the institution of the civil government, the situation of the Jews improved. One of the prominent personalities of Chernovtsy Jewry in general was the Zionist leader Meir Ebner, editor of a German-language newspaper there. Other outstanding personalities who represented the Jews in the Romanian parliament were the historian Manfred Reifer, and the socialist leader Jacob Pistiner. The community numbered 43,701 in 1919 (47.4% of the total population). Hebrew works were printed in Chernovtsy for over a century, from 1835 to 1939, and nearly 340 items were issued by nine publishers and printers. Of these the most important was the house of Eckhardt where, with the help of Jewish experts, there were printed a complete Babylonian Talmud, a bible with standard commentaries, the Mishnah with commentaries, and other important rabbinic Kabbalistic-Chasidic works.

The Holocaust Period
In 1941 the Jewish population numbered 50,000, due to the influx of Jews from the smaller towns and villages in Bukovina.

On the night of June 30, 1941, the Soviet army vacated Chernovtsy and gangs broke into Jewish homes, looting and burning them. On July 5, the first units of the German and Romanian armies entered the town, accompanied by Einsatzkommando 10B, which was a section of Einsatzgruppe D. This unit fulfilled its task of inciting the Romanians against the Jews; on the pretext that the Jews were plotting against the government, they murdered the Jewish Intelligentsia, among them the chief rabbi of Bukovina, Abraham Mark, the chief cantor, and leaders of the community.

On July 30, when the anti-Jewish measures introduced by Antonescu's government went into effect, hostages were taken and Jews were compelled to do forced labor and to wear the yellow badge. The authorities permitted Jews to be seen on hunted down in the streets and houses. On October 11 the Jews were concentrated in a ghetto, their property was confiscated, and deportations to Transnistria began. On October 14, 1941, the chairman of the union of Jewish communities, Wilhelm Filderman, obtained a cessation of deportations, but the decision was carried out only a month later, and by November 15, 1941, about 30,000 Jews had been deported. The mayor of Chernovtsy, Traian Popovici, also attempted to stop deportations, issuing about 4,000 certificates of exemption from deportation, but the officials of the municipality, the police and the gendarmerie extorted enormous sums of money in return for these exemptions. Many Jews were deported even after they paid the ransom. After a short break, deportations were resumed and about 4,000 Jews were deported in three waves between June 17 and 27, 1942. Some of the deportees were taken to camps east of the Bug river (an area occupied by the Germans) where children up to the age of 15, old people, invalids, women, and those unfit for work were systematically murdered. About 60% of the deportees from Chernovtsy to Transnistria perished there. Most survivors who returned did not resettle in Chernovtsy, which had in the meantime been annexed to the Ukrainian republic in the Soviet Union, but went to Romania and from there to Eretz Israel.

In the 1950's the government closed five of the six synagogues and all of the Torah scrolls were placed in a museum. One of the synagogues was made into a sports center and another into a movie theater. The other synagogues became workshops and warehouses. One small synagogue still remains for 50-60 worshippers. In 1970, the Jewish population in Chernovtsy numbered 70,000.

Bershad

Small town in Vinnitza district, Ukraine.

The Jews there were butchered by one of the Cossack bands during the Chmielnicki massacres. The community numbered 438 in 1765, 650 in 1787, 3,370 in 1847, 6,600 (out of a total of 8,885) according to the 1897 census, and 7,400 (61%) in 1910. They still formed the majority of the population in 1926 (6,110; 59%), although steadily diminishing.

At the beginning of the 19th century, when the tzaddik Raphael of Bershad lived there, Bershad became a center of Hasidism. It became celebrated for its "tallit" weaving industry which came to an end after many of the weavers immigrated to the United States. Most of the plants for sugar refining and distilling, flour mills, and tanneries established in Bershad toward the end of the century were owned by Jews.

During the civil war of 1919-1920, 150 Jews in Bershad were massacred by Ukrainian gangs and soldiers of Denikin's army. After the German invasion of Russia in 1941 Bershad was included in Transnistria. A ghetto was established in the town and the Jews, who were deported from Bessarabia and Bukovina, were sent there. Many died of hunger and disease.

The Jewish population of Bershad numbered 2,200 in 1959. In 1970 it was estimated at 8,000 and 553 in 1993.

There was once a synagogue and a rabbi, and kosher poultry was available.

Brighton

Town on the south coast of England, UK

Jews began to settle in Brighton in the middle of the 18th century. When the town became a fashionable resort, wealthy Jews flocked there including the Goldsmid family at the beginning of the 19th century and the Sassoons at the end.

A congregation was first organized in 1800 but soon fell apart. It was reorganized in 1821. There are now in Brighton and its sister-town Hove, five synagogues including one Reform and one Liberal. Jewish affairs are coordinated by the Brighton and Hove Jewish Council.

The Jewish population of Brighton and hove was estimated in 1968 at 7,500.

In the mid 1990's the combined Jewish population numbered approximately 10,000.

The 2001 British census found that there were 3,358 Jews by religious affiliation in Brighton and Hove, although the actual figure was probably much higher.

In 2004, Brighton continued to have a wide range of Jewish Institutions, including four synagogues, two Orthodox, one Liberal and one Reform.