WEISEL Origin of surname

Belovarec
 

Hungarian: Kiskirva

Czech: Bilovarce

Ukrainian: Bilovartsi

Yiddish: בילוואריץ  

A village in the sub-district Tacovo, Carpatho-Russia, Ukraine.

Belovarec lies 35 km south-east of the town Chust. Until 1918 the region was part of the district of Maramaros in Austro-Hungaria and in the years 1919-1939, part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia. In 1945, after World War II, the region was annexed to the Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.

History

Jews began to settle in Belovarec at the end of the 18th century or beginning of the 19th century. In the population censuses of Hungary in the 18th century no Jews were recorded but at the beginning of the 1830s, 21 Jews were counted among the 322 inhabitants of the village. Conditions in the village were very poor and it was one of the most backward villages in the whole area.  According to the census in 1830, only one Jewish family had a cow, 10 families had only goats, and ten families did not have any.

 In the middle of the 19th century, when the restriction on the settlement of Jews were lifted, many Jews from Galicia came to the region along with their special customs and dress.  Among those who settled at Belovarec was Rabbi Weisel (who was later called Rabbi Abraham Belovaricer). He became the spiritual leader and religious authority of the local community.

In 1880 the number of Jews at Belovarec rose to 101 and in 1910 to 132. Most of them were hasidim of Vizhnitz and some of them hasidim of Spinka. A small stone synagogue was built, as well as a mikveh (purification bath) and a cemetery. When necessary, a shohet (ritual slaughterer) came to Belovarec from a nearby other village. The heder (a school for Jewish children) for the small children was held in summer at the synagogue and in winter at one of the Jewish houses, to save heating costs. The Jews of Belovarec were poor and most of them were wood cutters or stone cutters in the neighboring quarries. Some of them were craftsmen, and two were shopkeepers.
 

The Holocaust Period

Following the Munich Agreement of September 1938, about a year before the outbreak of World War II, the Republic of Czechoslovakia broke up. Areas of Carpatho-Russia were annexed at the beginning of November 1938 to Hungary, an ally of Nazi Germany; while the region around Belovarec was granted   Ruthenian (Ukarinian) autonomy at the end of November. In March 1939 Hungary occupied the autonomous region. The Jewish laws of the pro-Nazi government of Hungary placed restrictions on the Jews, denied them work permits and trade permits, and Jewish men were mobilized for forced labor.

In 1941 there were 141 Jews at Belovarec. In the summer of that year, Hungarian authorities deported  Ukrainian Jews who were not Hungarian citizens to Kamenets Podolski. This was most of the Jews of Belovarec, with the exception of two Jewish families and 12 women whose husbands had been mobilized for forced labor. All the deportees were murdered at the killing site near Kamenets Podolski, where many thousands of the Jews of Hungary perished. On March 19, 1944, the Germans entered Hungary.  In the middle of April, after Passover, the few Jews who were still in the village were taken  to the ghetto of Mateszalka, where thousands of the Jews of the neighborhood were concentrated. In the middle of May 1944 all of them were sent to the extermination camp of Auschwitz.
 

Postwar

Only a handful of Jews of Belovarec survived the war.

Nieder-Weisel

A village in the municipality of Butzbach in the Wetterau district in Hessen, Germany.

First Jewish presence: 1723; peak Jewish population: 104 in 1861; Jewish population in 1933: 41

The Jewish community of Nieder-Weisel (Lower Weisel), founded in the 1830s, established a synagogue (on Weingartenstrasse) in 1835, replacing a former prayer room. The building was renovated in 1885 and, in 1895-1897, the community acquired a building next to the synagogue and established there a community center, a mikveh and a Jewish school, whose teacher also performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. Nieder-Weisel was home to a Jewish cemetery, as was nearby Hoch-Weisel (Upper Weisel). After 1900, the Jews of Ostheim and Fauerbach—who had formerly belonged to the community of Hoch-Weisel—were affiliated with Nieder-Weisel. In 1933, 41 Jews lived in in Nieder-Weisel, five in Ostheim and four in Fauerbach. A charity association was active in the community. On Pogrom Night (Nov. 9, 1938), the interior of the synagogue was destroyed; several ritual objects were plundered. Thirteen Jews emigrated (seven went to Argentina) and others relocated within Germany. Eight Jews, Nieder-Weisel’s last, left in February 1940; the last three Jews of Fauerbach—an elderly couple and their son—were deported in September 1942 (the parents to Theresienstadt, the son to Poland). At least 25 Nieder- Weisel Jews and three from Fauerbach perished in the Shoah. The synagogue building was later demolished; a residential building now stands on the site.

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This entry was originally published on Beit Ashkenaz - Destroyed German Synagogues and Communities website and contributed to the Database of the Museum of the Jewish People courtesy of Beit Ashkenaz.

Korolevo

Hungarian: Kiralyhaza

Czech: Kralovo Nad Tisou

Yiddish: Kalitshava

A small town in south Carpatho-Rus, Ukraine.


Korolevo is situated on the river Tisa, south-west of the town Chust, near the border with Romania, close to a railway junction. Until the end of World War I the town, then called Kiralyhaza, was in the Kingdom of Hungary, and in the years 1918-1939 in the Republic of Czechoslovakia. During World War II the region was under Hungarian rule and in 1945 it was annexed to Carpathian Ukraine of the USSR.

History

There were already Jews living in Korolevo, then called Kiralyhaza, in 1840. In the beginning, they shared communal institutions with the Jews of the nearby village Verocze, including a common cemetery. A synagogue and mikveh (purification bath) were built and a shohet was employed. In 1880 there were 202 Jews.  They used the services of the rabbi of Sevlus, Rabbi Jacob Richter, who had served for many years as rabbi and dayan until he died before WWI.

When Korolevo became part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia (after WWI), the community was made independent and Rabbi Joseph Levy was appointed as its first rabbi. He founded a yeshiva in the town, which functioned until the community ceased to exist. In 1921 the community grew to 513. In 1928, following the growth in size, a synagogue was built and a year later a beth midrash for the Hasidim. When Rabbi Levy died, he was succeeded by Rabbi Yoel Meir Teitelbaum. Joseph Johanan Zissovitz, a wholesale timber merchant, was head of the community during his last years.

In 1932 the Admor Rabbi Haim Moshe Weisel came to settle at Korolevo. Rabbi Dr. Blum of Korolevo was appointed as rabbi in Budapest, later became chief rabbi of Chile, and ultimately went to Israel.

Following the emancipation of the Jews of Hungary in 1867, Jews were integrated into the economy and the public life of the country. David Hegy was the chief notary of the there was also a Jewish doctor and a Jewish engineer. Zionist and religious groups were active among the youth.


The Holocaust Period

Following the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938 the Republic of Czechoslovakia disintegrated. For a short period of time the region of Korolevo was part of the autonomy of Carpathian Rutenia. It was occupied in 1939 by the Hungarians and the anti-Jewish laws of Hungary were applied and many Jews lost their means of livelihood. Following the outbreak of the war (September 1939), Jewish men were conscripted into labor companies of the Hungarian army. Jews who failed to prove their Hungarian citizenship were expelled to Kamenets Podolski, where they were murdered together with scores of thousands of other expelled Jews from Hungary. In March 19, 1944, the Germans entered Hungary. Right after Passover the Jews of Korolevo were gathered in the synagogue and then later moved to the ghetto of Sevlus. Many didn’t have enough food. They were kept in dire conditions of crowding and want, until they were deported in May 1944 to the extermination camp of Auschwitz, where most of them were murdered by the Germans.