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NowyTarg_COA

Nowy Targ, Poland

Family Names

Whenever we can memorialize family members who once were born or lived in a specific town -- in this case Nowy Targ -- this is the place to do it.

On this page, family names associated with Nowy Targ are:
BALDINGER, BERG, DITTLER, FEIT, FREI or FREY,
GLÜCKSMAN , GOLDFINGER , HERTZ , LERMER,
MANDEL, SCHIPPER, SILBERING, STEINER, STORCH/STROCH, SYROP

More names can be seen below in the Names from the Cemetery

BERG and LERMER

Georges ROSENFELD shared photos of his maternal grandmother, and some history of Nowy Targ that he wrote (in French) for private publication. With thanks to Georges, below is an extract in translation.  Additional information was provided via e-mails.  Note the name Tosia below, is the reference to Georges mother (1900 - 1976); Tosia is the Polish form of Antonia, Antoinette, or Toni.

"...In 1900 there were 6,546 inhabitants, including 900 Jews (13.7 %). The share of Jews in this region was never very significant. Similarly, their dwellings in the city were not concentrated in a specific part. The entire Jewish community was annihilated during the war.

Link to family history: "Goloma" (Eleonora SCHIPPER) was born in Nowy Targ in 1876. She was the daughter of Wolf LERMER and Adele BERG, who both grew up in Nowy Targ. Her uncle (or, possibly, her grandfather) BERG was on Nowy Targ's town council, which, given the political situation, could not have been possible prior to 1860. Adele told her daughter, Tosia about the famine that took place in her grandmother's (her mother's?) time, possibly at the time of the peasant uprisings in 1846."

From e-mails:

The LERMER family lived in various places, including Buszkowice (in Przemyśl County) where they owned and ran a pub, as well as in Przemysl itself, Rzeszow and Krakow.  A family grouping of the LERMER family in Buszkowice is shown here with a young Eleonora, standing second from left.  The triptych of photos of Eleonora show a rather morose young woman, who apparently suffered with poor eyesight all her life.  In Buszkowice, she married Juda SCHIPPER (b. Narol, Poland) who was a career soldier, for 20 years as a sergeant in the Austro-Hungarian army, and  afterwards became a civil servant, head of the tobacco state monopoly in Rzeszow.  Juda SCHIPPER died in 1926.

During World War II, the family was hidden by non-Jews (a mother and daughter) in Krakow, where Eleonora's eyesight steadily worsened.  Tosia and by then her husband and watchmaker, Sigmund ROSENFELD, were living in Switzerland.  As a neutral country, they could communicate via letters, but could not send money per se to Poland.  However, they were able to send parcels with then valuable items that could probably be sold for goodly sums, e.g., silk stockings, watches, and the like.

Even as a Jew-in-hiding, Eleonora was sent to a hospital to treat her eyes, but to no avail.  When she came to Switzerland after the war in 1945 (transported in a Red Cross hospital train), by then Eleonora had lost one eye and the other was clouded over, and she was essentially blind.  She joined her daughter and the ROSENFELD family in Switzerland, and spent the last 10 years of her life there, and there she was eventually buried.

Georges visited Nowy Targ on 21 July 1999, traveling via the bus that connects Krakow to Zakopane. Nowy Targ had a population of 34,000 in 1990.  He found the small town very airy, spread out over a vast plain. Most houses were single-storied and built either out of wood (traditional style) or stone. The main square, the "Rynek" was surrounded by two-storey buildings dating back to the Austrian era, used either for business or middle-class housing. In the well laid-out center, he saw very few modern, western-style houses.

Family Grouping
 Grandmother LERMER SCIPPER

FEIT Family Tree

This is the FEIT family photo on p. 387:

FEIT Family from Yizkor Book
May They be Remembered Forever

Seated, R to L: Josef FEIT (grandfather), Genendel FEIT (grandmother).
Standing, R to L: Baruch Hirsch, Leibush, Malka, Reikel FEIT

Yom Tov FEIT - father
Tziporah FEIT - mother

of Czarny Dunajec

Provided by granddaughter, Esther (FEIT) NIR

The full title of Michael Walzer-Fass's Yizkor book on Nowy Targ (published in Israel, 1979) also includes material related to several nearby towns that fall within the Nowy Targ district: 
Remembrance Book Nowy-Targ and Vicinity: Zakopane, Charni Dunaietz, Rabka, Yordanov, Shchavnitza, Kroshchenko, Yablonka, Makov Podhalanski

Bette Stoop Mas has an extensive family tree for the FEIT family.  In an e-mail sent 28 December 2017, to this webmaster, she writes,

"My FEIT Family Tree Project database contains 8,950 individuals in 376 unconnected branches from dozens of towns in Galician Poland. Only one branch, the Baltimore branch from Czarny Dunajec, is from the Nowy Targ vicinity. Czarny Dunajec was in Nowy Targ district of Galicia, Austria and later in Krakow province, Poland. Czarny Dunajec is located 8 miles WSW of Nowy Targ and is included in the Nowy Targ Yizkor book, by Michael Walzer-Fass.

Some family members born in Czarny Dunajec were in the Nowy Targ Ghetto in 1942 and are in Yad Vashem Pages of Testimony. Birth records are indexed in JRI-Poland. One family member was born in Zakopane, also in Nowy Targ district and located only 10 miles SSE of Czarny Dunajec.

The following is an extract from [source: “FEIT Family Tree Project” by Bette Stoop Mas, The Galitzianer, a publication of Gesher Galicia, Inc. Volume 15, Number 4, August 2008, Pages 14-15].

“Virtually all of the FEIT families who immigrated to the United States since the mid-1880s from Austria /Poland are Jewish and originated from about 73 villages and towns in the southeastern corner of Poland…   A large FEIT branch in Baltimore is from Czarny Dunajec, south of Kraków near Nowy Targ, on the southern Poland border with Slovakia in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. The Nowy Targ FEITs are related to a much larger FEIT branch from Cholewiana Góra, near Leżajsk…   Many members of the large Baruch Tzvi & Rakhel Eidel FEIT branch from Czarny Dunajec, Chochołów and Rajcza, including a grandson born in Biecz, arrived at the port of Baltimore where they settled. Others perished in the Shoah, including those in the family photo on page 387 of the Nowy Targ Yizkor book, or immigrated to Israel.”

Rabbi Yaakov Yokel HIRSCH, his Wife, and Benefactors

8 January 2018:
Extracted from a page in the Yizkor Book for Nowy Targ as seen in JewishGen site, about Rabbi Yaakov Yokel, this is a translation from the rabbi's book, Birchat Yaakov.  At right is the corresponding text in Hebrew from that book.  The yellow highlights indicate names that are listed below this translated paragraph, but were not included in the Yizkor book's translation.  The boldface is from this webmaster:

"Rabbi Hirsch accepted the call to serve in Nowy-Targ after his material state was impaired by adversity. "When I came there," he writes, "I was a stranger in an alien land, for I had there neither relative nor friend, and although its inhabitants were honest and well-meaning and respectful of my person, each had to attend to his own affairs, but the Almighty moved many charitable and prosperous men to befriend me"; he then goes on to list the names of these men, saying that "these distinguished members of our town are my supporters, both in providing for my household and in refreshing my soul; they are my protection against any foe. May the Almighty repay them as they deserve, and may their years be spent in pleasure and prosperity, in honor and everything good. Amen."

  • Shmuel GLÜCKSMAN
  • Yakov GOLDFINGER
  • Aharon MANDEL
  • Eliezer HERTZ
  • Eliezer SYROP
  • Chaim FREY (who contributed to the publication of the book)

The larger highlighted section, refers to the Rabbi's wife and his praise of her:

       Esther, daughter of the distinguished rabbi, Yitzchak WEISS, of Gorlitz.


 HebrewTextFromBirchatYaakov
HIRSCH Family Tree
At left is a simplified portion of the HIRSCH family tree, based on information given by descendant Yoel HIRSCH, whose ancestor was Meyer HIRSCH.

A big mystery surrounds Esther WEISS HIRSCH.  She was born in Gorlice, but no one knows where she died and where she was buried.  It is estimated that she married around 1835-1836.  Yaakov Yokel HIRSCH settled with her in Gorlice, where he was later appointed Kreis Rabbiner (District Rabbi) and Religionweiser (Religious Authority) from 1862 to 1868 when they moved to Neumarkt to accept his Rabbinical post.

Rabbi If anyone has information about her, please contact Yoel Hirsch.

Update 18 January 2018: Genealogist Jakub Czupryński was able to provide Yoel with some additional information.  From reviewing vital records, Jakub surmised that from no longer seeing a record signed by Rabbi HIRSCH, he may have died sometime in March 1884.  And as for Esther, she required financial support AFTER her husband died, and lived at least until 1890.

GLÜCKSMAN Family

15 January 2018:  The GLÜCKSMAN family is still quite a mystery.  One of the motivators for this webmaster in creating this KehilaLinks site for Nowy Targ was to learn more about her ancestors, including this GLÜCKSMAN family.  Finding the video noted on the home page on Virtual Sztetl, in 26 Feb 2014, she noted that it took a slow walk through the Jewish cemetery and it looked like Samuel GLÜCKSMAN's name was on a matzeva.  But it was not distinct enough to make out more information.  Someone needed to walk that cemetery and find the matzeva.  Sally MIZROCH also shares this family in her ancestry and she planned a trip from Seattle, Washington, USA to Poland, with a stop in Nowy Targ in June 2016.  She photographed all the tombstones that exist in that cemetery -- all those that remained after the desecration and abuse of the other matzevot.  Aside from the special, large memorials to the Holocaust victims, many of whom were killed and buried in mass graves there, all that remain are about 40 stones.

How amazing that not only did Sally photograph that of Samuel GLÜCKSMAN, but also that of his sister, Margita (Gitla) GLÜCKSMAN STEINER! The latter in fact had been a mystery for 20 years:  Not knowing when she died and where she was buried.

Thanks to an e-mail from Yoel HIRSCH, regarding the introduction found in the book written by his ancestor, Rabbi Yaakov Yokel HIRSCH (see above), we can see that Samuel GLÜCKSMAN was a man of prominence, able to provide support for the rabbi. 

Thanks to Sally MIZROCH, here are the two matzevot of Samuel and his sister Margita. 

So now there is an added mystery:  Who might have visited her grave and marked the inscription in black to make it more readable???

GLUCKSMAN_Shmuel_Matzeva
 STEINER_Gitla_GLUCKSMAN_Matzeva

...the famous SHMUEL, Z"L, son of
Avraham GLUCKSMAN, Z"L,
died 18 Iyar (Lag B'Omer) 5651 (= 26 May 1891)
...the leader, pious, and respected Gitla,
daughter of the rabbi, Avraham,
wife of the rabbi and leader,
R' Shmuel David STEINER (still alive)
died Eve of Sabbath portion Ekev,
22 Av 5633 (=15 August 1873)
Note: while stone indicates the men were rabbis,
this  may just mean they were learned men.

SILBER(R)ING Family

This family's name sometimes had one R and sometimes two.  The Nowy Targ cemetery has very few tombstones that remained in tact after the Holocaust.  Who knows why tese few were spared? Here are the stones of the two members of this family.

Silberring_Abraham
 SILBERING_Rivka
The top arc blesses him as the "nagid" which  translates
as an important representative of the Jewish community:
Abraham SILBERRING, son of Baruch, who died at age 72,
on the 16 Adar II 5668 = 19 March 1908
 This stone is for an elderly woman and has a traditional candelabrum
at the top, in this case with five branches. Regina (Rivka, in Hebrew),
daughter of the same Abraham SILBERING, wife of (unnamed) DEMIANY.
She was born in 1853 and died 7 Nisan 5695= 9 April 1935

Rabbi STORCH (STROCH) and Descendants


RabbiStorchLetter&Stamp Note: While in Polish or English letters, the family name is known as STORCH,
in Yiddish and in Hebrew letters (שטראך)
looks like and is pronounced STROCH

Note also in this note written by the Rabbi himself, 31 October 1889, he signs his name as Berisch Stroch, but his rubber stamp shows STORCH!.
11 January 2018: Yoel HIRSCH provided some information about Nowy Targ's next major rabbi, Rabbi Chaim Dov (or Dovber) STROCH. The STORCH family had many members, some of whom live in London.  A granddaughter, daughter of the aforementioned, Rabbi Shmuel Reuven STROCH, married Binyamin MEITELES.  Some MEITELES descendants live in New Square, NY.  These MEITELES are the in-laws of Michael KLAGSBALD.  Her name is found on her matzeva in new Square, NY: Kreindel.
From a book that can be found on HebrewBooks.org  called "Mimini Michael," on the Gemara of Pesachim, by Michael KLAGSBALD, he notes on page 8,
STROCH_01This mentions the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shmuel Reuven STROCH, who was the son of Rabbi Chaim Dov STROCH (the chief rabbi of Neumarkt (Nowy Targ)), who was in turn the son of the righteous gaon, Rabbi Shmuel Reuven, dayan and righteous rabbi of Leżajsk (pronounced Lizensk), Poland....
AnnouncementAccording to a "Mazal Tov" announcement, sumitted by a Mordechai WOLF (a friend of Rabbi Menachem Mendel STERN), that appeared in the newspaper, Machzikei Hadat, 3 August 1907, a daughter of Rabbi Chaim Dov STROCH married Moshe Shmuel STERN, whose father was Rabbi Menachem Mendel STERN, rabbi of Adat Yeshurun, in Bielsko-Biała, Poland. 

In July 2024, family member, Shea MAYTELES, requested that I add a link to a book that he wrote and that is available at HebrewBooks.org. However, I have made that sefer available here, שארית לחיים (Shearit L'Chaim). This small book was published to commemorate the wedding of a descendant of Rabbi STROCH.

Family Names found in the Cemetery


The list of names at right was derived from reading the existing 42 tombstones in Nowy Targ's Jewish Cemetery. 

This is not a complete list of families who once lived in Nowy Targ, but just the few 35 family names that can still be recognized from the tombstones. 

A few old black and white photographs of Nowy Targ tombstones may be found in Yad Vashem's archives.

Note: There may be some spelling variations in the names.
Family Name
BLAU
BELDENGRUN
BRAUN
BRAUNER
DRÖHLICH
FERBER
FREY
GEISSLER
GLÜCKSMAN
GOLDFINGER
GUTFREUND
HAMMERSCHLAG
HERZ
HIRSCH
KATZ
MANDEL
MORGENBESSER
PUPKA
RIEGELHAUPT
SCHOEN
SILBERING
STEINER
STEINSBERG
STILLER
SÜSSMAN
SYROP
WILDFEUER

Personalities

Famous filmmaker, Billy Wilder, had family roots in Nowy Targ.  According to Wikipedia, his mother, was born Eugenia, to Adolf DITTLER and Balbina née BALDINGER, in Nowy Targ, 1885. She was killed in Plaszow, Poland in 1943.  Eugenia "Gitla" she was married to Max WILDAR, and later to Bernard "Berl" SIEDLISKER, who became Billy's step-father.  Eugenia was killed in Plaszow, and her mother  (b. 1867) in the Nowy Targ Ghetto, in 1943.

Details about Billy Wilder and his Wilder Family ancestry can be found on-line. 

More than a year before I developed the KehilaLinks site for Nowy Targ, I photographed Billy Wilder's tombstone, in the Westside Memorial Mortuary, in West Los Angeles, California.  I did not know his connection to Nowy Targ at that time.

Billy Wilder Stone
As a writer and filmmaker, Billy Wilder, was also well appreciated for some of his comedic movies.   The line But Then Nobody's Perfect  comes from the last words in the movie, "Some Like it Hot."


 Compiled by Madeleine Isenberg
1 March 2017
updated 25 Jul 2024
Copyright © 2017-2024
Madeleine R. Isenberg
All rights reserved.


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