GRUENWALD Origin of surname

Ferenc Mezo (Gruenwald) (1885-1961), pedagogue, athlete and sports writer born in Poloskefo, a village in Zala county, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary). He received his PhD degree in classical philology from the University of Budapest, and was principal of the public school at Zalaszentgrot. He took part in WW I, and published two books on his war experiences. From 1918 on he was a teacher, and subsequently principal, at the King Mathias State Gymnasium at Budapest. A teacher of Latin and Greek, Mezo endeavored to revive the athletic spirit of ancient Greece. In his younger years he had won several prizes in athletics, and devoted himself to research on the history of sports in ancient Greece and modern Hungary.

His main work is a history of the Olympic Games published in Hungarian (1928), in German (1930 and 1936), with which he won the literary gold medal at the Amsterdam Olympic Games (1928). This was followed by "Tibullus a mai irodalomban" ("Tibullus in today's Literature"); "Deak Ferenc viszonya Zalaszentgrothoz" ("Ferenc Deak's Attitude towards Zalaszentgrot"); "Az orosz-osztrak-magyar haboru" ("The Russian-Austrian-Hungarian War"); "Humor a harcteren" ("Humor at the Battlefield"); "A gorog sport" ("Greek Sport"); "Kepek a magyar sport multjabol" ("Pictures of Hungarian Sport in the Past"). They were dealing with the history of marathon races, a survey of the Olympic Games of 1932 and monographs on Hungarian sportsmen. He also wrote for sports journals abroad.
Mezo was awarded by Regent Nicholas Horthy the First Class medal of the citizen's Signum Laudis.
He died in Budapest in 1961.

Moritz  Grünwald (1853-1895), rabbi, born in Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied at the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary. He served as rabbi in Belovar, Croatia (1881-1884), Pisek, Bohemia (1884-1887), Jung-Bunzlau (now Mladá Boleslav), Bohemia (1887-1893) before becoming Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria in 1893, with his seat in Sofia. He also directed the Sofia rabbinical seminary, teaching Talmud and Midrash. An able linguist, Gruenwald was a member of several scientific societies. He published many works in German including a book on Ladino and studies of Czech Jewish history.

Judah Gruenwald (1845-1920), rabbi, born in Brezo, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Brezova, Slovakia). He served as rabbi of Szobotisz for seven years, of Bonyhad a further seven years, of Surany for two and a half years, and of Szatmar (Satu Mare) for 22 years. In Szatmar (now Satu-Mare, Romania) he founded a large yeshiva which became well known.

Several of his works were published after his death. The most important of them is the edition of responsa "Zikhron Yehudah" (Budapest-Satoraljaujhely, 1923-28). In part 1 (no. 187) he discusses whether one may associate with Zionists and he expresses the fear that through Zionism "an opportunity will be given for us to be attacked and to make us disliked by the gentile countries." In another responsum (no. 200) to Joseph Hayyim Sonnenfeld in Jerusalem, dated 1913, he discusses whether it is permitted to associate with the Agudat Israel. This was later removed from the volume and was replaced by a discussion on whether it is permitted to handle food and drink on the Day of Atonement in order to give it to children. Others of his published works are: "Shevet mi-Yehudah" (2 pts., 1922), on the Pentateuch; "Hasdei Avot" (1925), on the tractate Avot; "Olelot Yehudah", a commentary on Psalms (1927); and "Se'erit Yehudah" (1938), on the Pentateuch.

Bela Ivanyi-Gruenwald (1867-1940), painter, born in Som, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary). He studied in Budapest, Munich and Paris, and first exhibited his painting "Sundown in Summer" in Budapest in 1889. In 1892 he won the prize of the Friends of Art of Budapest, and his picture "Conspirators Casting Lots" was purchased by the Hungarian state. In his historic tableaux, "The Sword of God and After the Tatar Invasion" (1896), figures and scenery concur in suggesting dramatic suspense. Ivanyi-Gruenwald painted and taught at the Hungarian Impressionists' School of Nagybanya (now Baia Mare, in Romania) from its inception in 1896 until 1907. In 1904 he won the Fraknoi scholarship, which enabled him to spend two years in Rome, Italy. His paintings from that period "Holdas est" ("Moonlit Evening"), "Antique", and "Est a Villa Borgheseban" ("Evening at Villa Borghese") attest to a decorative art full of mysticism. After his return he exhibited his paintings in the National Salon of Budapest.

At the beginning of his career he was influenced by naturalism. He later turned to a moderate impressionism and finally turned to compositions with figures and forms strongly accentuated by light and shade. In 1907 he became the head of the artists' colony of Kecskemet, Hungary. He won the Association Prize with his "Market Women Selling Fruit among Piles of Snow" (1912), the small golden medal of the state with his "Awakening of Spring", and the large golden medal with his "Women Bathing" (1913). His deep understanding of nature was illustrated by a number of landscapes of Lake Balaton and many of his works reflect the climate and philosophy of his country. Despite his being a Jew, he was entrusted by the anti-Semitic Hungarian government with the painting of a mural for the auditorium of the University of Debrecen. A teacher of several generations of Hungarian painters, he ranked among the greatest artists of his time.