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Kežmarok, Slovakia

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Early Telephone Numbers

We, in the western countries, in the 21st Century have phone numbers that are 10 digits in length. In the United States, we have a 3 digit area code, followed by 7 more digits. If someone in another country calls us, they have to add additional country codes to precede these 10. So have a look and smile at these numbers that appeared in the newspaper, the Karpathen Post, on 13 March, 1920, just a little more than 100 years ago. Some listings have only 1 digit (see at right)! The rest have 2. No indication who or what was privileged to be "Number 1." No. Office or Name Translation 2 Oberstuhlrichteramt Office of Supreme Court Judge 2 Stuhlrichteramt Supreme Court (of the Spis Region) 3 Johann Markovich 4 Bahnbetriebsamt Railway Operations Office 5 Elektrizitätswerk-Zentr. Power Station -- Central office 6 Karl Wein & Co. 7 Stadtmagistrat Kezmarok Kezmarok City Magistrate 8 Rudolf Palencsar 9 Celluloseverein Cellulose Guild

"Kezmarok Theme" (1933)

"Kezmarok Bridge" (1934)

Market Day in Kezmarok

An image of the photo below was sent to Rina and Shaul GASSNER (relatives of the webmaster of this site) who had lived in Kezmarok pre-WW II, but emigrated to Israel. The following is a translation from the Hebrew of the description of Market Days in Kezmarok from their letter dated, 1 September 2008.

Dear cousins,

We received this old, interesting photograph of the “Weekly Market in Kezmarok” from the early part of the last century. What I can remember was that in Kezmarok there was a weekly market every Monday in the main street. Farmers arrived there from around the area and brought their products, like crops, chickens, eggs, potatoes, cabbage, all according to what was in season. Every few months, a few times a year, there was an annual market called Jahrmarkt (Market Fair). This was a much bigger market and sellers came from further away and with different products. In the eastern part of Kezmarok was a cattle market. This market interested the GOLDMAN family since they were cattle traders.

You asked if the cattle wagons could have belonged to the Goldmans. I believe these belonged only to the farmers who came from the surrounding areas and came to sell cattle in there and to buy things they needed from the Kezmarok shops, such as equipment for their farms, clothes, shoes, etc.

A good percentage of the shops in the main street were owned by Jews. In the photo, I recognize only the sign on the lower left side. The sign says MAIBAUM and it was a shoe store.

In the Jewish-owned shops they sold textiles, clothing, building materials, glassware, and there were various workshops. 150 years ago, Jews were not allowed to buy houses or to open shops in Kezmarok. The Jews lived in surrounding towns such as Hunsdorf (Huncovce), and brought their goods to Kezmarok but in the evening they had to leave . This is just a very brief description.

The historian Dr. Nora BARATHOVA wrote much about the Jews of Kezmarok on the internet. She wrote it in Slovak. There are also some writings that have been translated into English and German.

When Reneke and I visited Kezmarok more than 10 years ago, for the first time after leaving Kezmarok 50 years ago, we saw no publication or tourist information that told about the history of the Jews there. At the exhibition we met Miki LIPTAK and he tied himself very closely to us. He wanted us to meet the mayor since he did not know any Jews who had lived in Kezmarok before the war.

I brought to the mayor's attention the fact that they do not remember/mention the more recent history of 50 years ago but only publish what took place 800 years ago.

As you know, Renee advised Mikulas LIPTAK to approach you and ask for your help in translating what was written on the tombstones in the Jewish cemetery.

We hope that this gives you a little information and if we can help answer any additional questions, we’ll be happy to do so.

We hope everything is OK with all of you. We send you many blessings and hope that you will be inscribed for a Happy New Year.

Renée and Shaul

(Written by Yitzchak GASSNER, from his father's words and with his mother's concurrence.)

Note: Renée GASSNER is the daughter of Berta GOLDMAN and Gyula ENGLMAN.

Views of Kezmarok from Old Postcards

You can go to various sources to see how Kezmarok looks today, but it is far more difficult to find old photographs or postcards of what Kezmarok looked like, before either of the World Wars. Below are some photographs sent to Madeleine ISENBERG by several people with connections to Kezmarok. If anyone accessing this site has more photographs to contribute, they will be most heartily appreciated. You may contact and/or e-mail Madeleine directly.

Click on the photos for a larger version.

Panoramic View of Kezmarok with Lubica River in Foreground, 1900

A list of addresses of Jews who lived in Kezmarok in the years 1918-1950 has been compiled but no attempt has been made as of November 2016 to integrate with the table below for more exact addresses.

Jewish Businesses and Trades in Kezmarok

Here are some of the business advertisements that appeared in the "Carpathian Post," aka Karpathen Post.  This newspaper was printed from 1880 until 22 August 1942.  Up through December 2016, on-line access to this newspaper was readily available at www.difmoe.eu/archiv/, but is no longer available, possibly until rehosted somewhere.

At the time this page was created, a person could search in the text field for a family name or town, and a date range, to find ads such as these.  The home page  had boxes that were links to calendar years.  Clicking on a calendar year, dates that were "blackened" were issue dates.   Painfully, one at a time, you could open a weekly issue and page through an average of six pages per issue, if you had the patience. 

Mostly the articles and notices were in German, and printed in Old German Fraktur.  While I cannot be sure, I assume after WW I, some articles were also be in Slovak.  Below is a sampling of advertisements I was able to find.  I did not look through every issue, but it looks like at some time, Jewish merchants stopped advertising, even before the outbreak of WW II. 

Interesting perhaps, is that just after Germany's invasion of Poland, already the next issue on 9 September 1939, had a "Heil Hitler" in the first column.

A Selection of Advertisements of Jewish Businesses in Kezmarok

Moriz FREUND Motor Fuels 1923	B. GLUCKSMANN Building Materials, Metalware 1917	Josef LÖWY Chocolates and Candy  1923	M. FRIEDMAN Metal and Rubber Stamps 1890	Adolf GRÜNAPFEL Tombstone Engraving 1897
Z. PERLROTH Watches and Jewelry 1900	Hermann SICHERMANN Furs 1924	Isaak STERN Petroleum Products 1925	Jeanette  (née BERGSMANN) WINCZER Hats and Hairstyling for Women & Children 1894	Adolf MAIBAUM Shoes 1925

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A List of Businesses by Family Name and when the Businesses were Aryanized