It wasn’t Yiddish though, probably Hungarian, but I don’t know for sure. My grandfather was moderately religious, he wasn’t Orthodox though, he was far from that. Because of that prescription I know that he lived either in Kamenica or in Paragovo. My grandfather had a cold and Jovan Zmaj prescribed him some cough-syrup. I remember that I found a prescription before the war, which was written and prescribed to my grandfather by Jovan Zmaj. I know that for some time he was a manager of a quarry in the village of Paragovo and probably lived either in Paragovo or in Kamenica. I think he must have attended cheder and Jewish elementary school, as all other Jews at the time. I don’t know what education my grandfather had. In 1896 my grandfather changed his last name to Kovacs. The Hungarians willingly accepted this kind of declaration of loyalty of Jews. The rest were Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians, Ruthenians and Ukrainians. The Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy was ethnically so mixed, that Hungarians hardly comprised 50% of the population. It was the first time in two thousand years of Jewish history in the land of Hungary that full equality was given to Jews. Gratitude was expressed this way to the Hungarian nation which acknowledged the equality of Jews. Magyarization of family names was a sign of belonging to a certain milieu. In 1896, during the celebration of the thousand-year anniversary of the arrival of the Hungarians to Pannonia, the Jews collectively changed their names to Hungarian last names. He was born as Kohn later he changed his family name. My paternal grandfather was called Adolf Kovac and he was born in Ruski Krstur. My grandparents on my father’s side died ten or even more than ten years before I was born. During World War II the contact to these relatives stopped, so I’m not in touch with their descendants. With the exception of my grandfather, and apart from those who died, they all went to America. She also had several children before, so probably all together there were 15 or 16 children. He remarried and had many children with his second wife, too. He had several children from his first marriage, then his wife died. I know that my great-grandfather, my grandfather’s father, was married twice. I don’t mean Orthodox, but they probably observed all the holidays that were celebrated anyway. They must have been religious as other people back then. They were probably poor like everyone else at that time. I don’t know about their financial situation, nor their living standards. She was born around 1840 and was about 92 years old when she died in 1932. I only remember my great-grandmother on my mother’s side. I don’t remember my great-grandfathers and my paternal great-grandmother. I’ve found documents that say my ancestors lived here in Backa ever since the beginning of the 19th century. We sat opposite each other and relived the story of his past. There was a beautiful wooden table with six chairs in the room. First they offered me juice and wonderful home-made cookies. He and his wife, Ana, welcomed me in a really friendly way. He was really good-mannered, a real gentleman. He opened the door for me, helped me take off my coat and took me into the room.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |