Ancestral Towns

Mielnitza, Tarnopol, Czernovitz, and Kudrynce--where are they on a map??

All that I knew or remembered about our family ancestral towns was the one called Mielnitza and that it was somewhere in Austria. I used to fantasize what life would be like living under the rule of emperor, Franz Joseph. I joked that we came from "royalty" and I was an Austrian - Jewish princess! History mocks my naivete.

Mielnitza - on the Dniester stream, c 1900s

Mielnitza on the Dniesterstream
Mielnitza on the Dniesterstream
 Two schools (upper) and the palace in the village
Two schools (upper) and the palace in the village
 Mielnitza on the Dniesterstream
Mielnitza on the Dniesterstream

MIELNITZA/MIELNICA, (coordinates, Jewishgen Shtetl Seeker); 4837 2610--231.8 miles WSW of Kiev, Ukraine--5 miles from Kudrintsy, now MEL'NITZA-PODOL'SKAYA, UKRAINE;
"village (1931 pop. 4,750) SE Ternopol oblast Ukrainian SSR, in Dniester R. valley, 14 mi SSE of Borshcev; rail terminus; flour milling, tanning, brickworking , vineyards. Has palace, church with medieval paintings."(5)

Adolph told me Mielnitza, (where he had apprenticed in my grandfather Fischel's tailor shop "Home Page"), was a small village--birthplace of Lena Reiter Blitzer; records of Reiters and Blitzers back to the 1700s)

Czernovitz - antique postcards, c late 1800s - early 1900s

Czernovitz
 My father extolled about the beauty and cultural attributes of Czernovitz, Bukovina where he eventually found work.
The Ringplatz, probably the market place with open stalls
The Ringplatz, probably the market place with open stalls
 The great synagogue of Czernovitz
The great synagogue of Czernovitz
 The great synagogue of Czernovitz
The great synagogue of Czernovitz


Tarnopol - antique postcards c mid-1800s

the market street
The market street
 the market street
The market street
 The Railroad Station
The Railroad Station

"TARNOPOL(POLISH)TERNOPOL, Oblast Ukrainian, SSE in Podolian plane on Seret R. (here forms artificial lake) 490 33' N 250 36L.
Rail junction (3) rail lines, airport, agr. Trading; (cereal, eggs) and processing grain, sugar beet fruit, tobacco center; distilling (liquor, vinegar beer) : mfg. of agr. Machinery , cement, chalk, candies, soap; sawmilling. Stone quarry near by. Has technical schools, mus., several churches and monasteries, including 15th-cent. Synagogue and old castle transformed into church. Founded 1540 by Pol. Hetman Jan Tarnowski, fortified and developed as commercial town. Severely damaged during Confederation of Bar (1770) ; passed to Austria (1772 ) and became a noted horse-trading center. Captured by Russians during First World War and assaulted by Austro-Germans (1915). Reverted to Poland (1919) ; ceded to USSR in 1945.
Jewish population largely exterminated during Second World War. Until 1944 called Tarnopol, its Polish name."(6)

Adolph said Tarnopol was a jewel of a city. (birthplace of Chana Fleischmann ??Reiter)

Kudrynce - summer 1995

along the road to Kudrynce
Along the road to Kudrynce
 local transportation
Local transportation
 view of the village Kudrynce and Dniester river from the cemetary, above
A view of the village Kudrynce and Dniester river from the cemetery, above
KUDRYNCE, Galicia, Austria; KUDRINTSY, Ukraine:
(Jewishgen coordinates) 4837 2617; 226.8 miles WSW of Kiev; About 5 miles NE of Mielnitza; (28 miles NNE of Czernovitz)
Kudrynce, Galicia, Pre WW I --Adolph's birthplace. Pre WW II--Jews, 52 (7)

The above pictures were taken by professional genealogist Miriam Weiner (Routes to Roots). In the summer of 1995, Miriam Weiner visited Mielnitza and Kudrynce. Ms Weiner interviewed Ukrainian residents who remembered the family names REITER, BLITZER, and she visited areas that were formerly cemetaries. (more about this later in the Holocaust chapter)

Kudrynce, Galicia -- pronounced: "Kid-er-unce", birthplace of Adolph Blitzer and his families: Blitzers, Reinsteins, Zukers (records back to the 1700s)

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