Not so long ago, Arolsen Archive has made some of its collections available on-line, and today I will share information which made it possible to recreate the history of the Templers, who lived in Brzesko at least from the end of the 18th century and, as it turned out, were related to Kohane-Manheimer family (there is a separate article on this website about that family).
Maybe I’ll start with the oldest information that I could find in Brzesko vital records.
Abraham Jakob Kopel Goldstein (1813-1892) and Chane Dwojra Wasserstrom (1823-1895), daughter of Abraham and Gittla Wasserstrom from Jasień, settled in Brzesko after getting married. Mr. Goldstein was a merchant and at least at the end of his life he owned a house in Brzesko, most likely on today’s Jana Sobieskiego Street. The spouses lived relatively long life, died in Brzesko and their matzevot survived in the Jewish cemetery. (And here again, my gratitude goes to the Foundation for Documentation of Jewish Cemeteries for the description of all surviving Brzesko matzevot.)
Goldstein’s daughter, Scheindel Jochweta, married Feiwusch Landau (1830-1890), son of Mojżesz Dawid and Cyrla Perla; their daughter Cyrla Perla, named after her paternal grandmother, was born in 1870.
The Templers lived in Brzesko around the same time: Simche Jehuda Leib (1839-1922), son of Chiel Dawid and Estera Hinda Templer and his wife Feigel nee Bekker. Matzevah of Simche Jehuda Leib Templer also survived at the Brzesko cemetery.
One of the sons of this couple, Pinkas (born in 1868), “writer of the 10 commandments” (that’s how his occupation was described in vital records, meaning that he was a sofer), married Cyrla Perla Landau / Goldstein.
“Pinkas Templer, born in 1868, writer of 10 commandments, living in Brzesko;
Cyrla Perla Landau, born in 1870, daughter of deceased parents Feiwusch Landau and Scheindel Jochwet Goldstein from Brzesko.”
Photo from szukajwarchiwach.pl website.
I’ve found records of 10 children born to Pinkas and Cyrla Perla in Brzesko in the years 1896-1910 (most likely they had more children, whose birth was not registered in Brzesko), it seems that 4 of them survived the war. (When researching the history of this family, I used materials of the Arolsen Archives, Brzesko vital records available at szukajwarchiwach.pl website and testimonies submitted to Yad Vashem).
Most likely, no later than in1917, the family left Poland: Pinkas and Cyrla Perla got legally married in Vienna in 1917, and at least four of their children started families in Slovakia.
But perhaps I will share about these children one by one:
– Scheindel Jochwet, born in 1896, died as an infant;
– Jozef, born in 1898, survived the war, in 1948 he was in Palestine;
– Schaja Chaskel, born in 1900, married Kreindel nee Mendelsohn, lived in Bratislava, perished in the Majdanek camp;
– Ester Hinda, Schaja Chaskel’s twin sister, most likely was murdered in Auschwitz;
– Chaim Mates, born in 1901, lived in Slovakia together with his wife Frida, deported to Auschwitz, prisoner number 32789, murdered on July 6, 1942;
– Chiel Aron, born in 1903, died as an infant;
– Baruch Elias, born in 1906, married Feiga nee Schmeltzer, lived in Slovakia, merchant, during the war was in Poland, murdered together with his son Mosze Abraham (born in 1930);
– Israel Majer, born in 1907, married Chaja (Helena) nee Manheimer/Kohane (I wrote about her in the article on Kohane family), lived in Slovakia, murdered together with his wife and four children;
– Solomon, born in 1909, according to his testimony (see photos), his first wife and two children (and also mother, 4 brothers and 2 sisters) perished in Auschwitz; he was liberated from the Mauthausen concentration camp. After the war, Salomon remarried, his second wife was Kaunas-born Bella Aron. In 1948, the spouses applied for permit to leave Italy for Palestine, where – again, according to Solomon’s testimony – his brothers Josef and Simon and sister Lea Kohn were staying. I couldn’t find any other information about Simon I Leah, but Josef was surely the oldest of Templer brothers.
Salomon Templer, born in Brzesko on December 18, 1909 and his wife Bella Aron born in Kaunas, Lithuania on June 18, 1923.
His first wife and 2 children, mother, 4 brothers and 2 sisters cremated by Germans in C.C.Auschwitz, Poland”
– Feiga, born in 1910, married Meir Tabak, lived in Slovakia, murdered in Auschwitz in 1944 with her children Pinkas (born in 1938) and Shalom (born in 1940).
Another tragic story of a large Jewish family from Brzesko. But we can do at least that much – remember about them. Save from oblivion. May the memory of all Holocaust victims be an eternal blessing.
© Anna Brzyska, 2020