Origin of the FISCHMANs

According to my great aunt, Eva GILEADI, the FISCHMANN Family were Ruthenian Jews that came to Carpathian Mountains of Hungary by way of Russia and Poland.  Jews lived in this region since the at least the 13th Century, but by the 17th century most Jews had come from later migrations.  Like most Carpathian Jews, the FISCHMANs were probably from the Pale settlement, an area of Poland that had been annexed to Russia.  Tsarist sponsored antisemetics pogroms chased out the Jews through Morovia and Galicia to  more hospitable lands in Hungary.  But of her family origins, Eva only vaguely remembered having uncles in Munkacs and possibly Huzst.   Eva was born in Munkacs (Mukachevo, Ukraine) where her father Samuel FISCHMANN lived with his first wife Viktoria SALZBERGER. 

Etymology

The name FISCHMANN offers only the slightest hint of a clue to the family's origins.  The name is hardly unusual and it's etymology is evident.   Prior to the 18th century, most Jews in the Austrian Empire did not have family names but were known simply by titles such "Jakab, son of Simon".   In 1787, the Austrian Emperor decreed that Jews must adopt Germanic surnames to facilitated taxation and conscription and assimilation of Jews into the Austrian Empire. Surnames were often assigned randomly by Austrian clerks but sometimes reflected the bearer profession.  Thus, FISCHMANN might mean "fisherman" or "fish merchant".  Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that the Central European FISCHMANNs originated from anywhere near a sea port.

The name itself is spelled in records many ways including FISCHMAN, FISMAN, FISHMAN and FIZMAN owing to lack of standardized spellings and the constant changing of land between the Germans, Slavs, Hungarians and Turks.

A search on the name on the JewishGen web site reveals that most FISCHMAN are indeed from Russia or Poland with relatively few from Hungarian territories.

Earliest Records: Jakab FISCHMAN (1823-1904) 

Tracing backwards, we find my earliest known ancestor Jakab FISCHMAN  in the 1848 census of Szabolcs county living happily (let us hope) as an "honest carpenter" or "wood merchant" in the town of Or Ladany (Mezoladany).  Jakab (25) comes from "Szigetu Csarda" and is married to Eszter (20), a local girl.  Jakab hails from an Inn ("csarda") near a town called "Sziget" ("island").

Fast forward 60 years and we find ourselves in the Mezoladany cemetery standing over Jakab's  tombstone (1904).  Here lies "Jacob son of Shimshon FISCHMAN many his soul rest in peace".  At the next stone (1896), we find the "stone for a very resourceful lady, an excellent lady that has all her days done good.  With woman's wisdom she [made his] home.  To the right of her husband, to the glory of her sons, stood [this] dear and honorable woman, Mrs Ester, wife of the old respected and honorable man, Mr Jakab Fischman."  Nearby rests Jakab's son Moritz: "Here [lies] buried the important man who dealt in (?) and loved the bible studying of our teaching rabbi, Moshe son of Jacob Fischman, may his soul be remembers" (1906).

This leads us to a trip to the nearby county archives in Nyiregyhaza.  At the time of his death in 1904, Jakab was a "small land owner" in Mezoladany.  He was born in Maramarossziget (now Sighet, Romania) and died at the ripe old age of 85 of senility.   We find too that his wife Eszter GROSZ, daughter of Mozes and Hani GROSZ, was born in Or Ladany and died at the age of 70 of an intestinal tear.  Their son Mor, who we shall get back to later, died of a heart attach at the age of 56.  Since Eszter's GROSZ's family is from Or Ladany, perhaps it was an arranged marriage that led Jakab to leave Maramarossizget.

Jakab, displayed two hereditary traits of the FISCHMAN traits: longevity and sensility.  My great grandfather Samuel died in a mental hospital in Israel on his 90 birthday.  My grandmother Cecilia died 7 day from her 90th birthday  in an advanced stage of Altzheimer's decease.  Her step-sister Eva passed peacefully at 84 also ailing from less advanced stage of Altzheimers.

Scanning the temple records of Or Ladany, Mantok and the county seat at Kisvarda, we find that Jakab, his wife Eszter and son Moritz are familiar figures in the daily lives of the towns people of Or Ladany.  Many a time their names are marked in the joys and tragedies of the birth and death, sometimes for their own and sometimes witness to their neighbors'.  There is a particularly strong bond with the ADLER family of Or Ladany whose lineage is interwoven with the FISCHMAN's.  There is also indications that Jakab and Eszter had another son Samuel in Ungvar and Wolf (1854) but they did not play part the daily on-goings of Or Ladany.

Consulting YadVashem's online database of Holocaust victims, we see a concentration of FISCHMANs from Sziget.  Although unable to establish a direction connection to the Jakab FISCHMAN family, I nonetheless ponder the pattern of "familiar" (as in the latin sense of the word, "from familia") first names used giving rise to  a possible shared ancestry, given the common Jewish custom of naming newborns after a recently deceased grandfather.

Historical & Religious Context

Perhaps an examination of the cutural setting can give some further clues to the events that led the young Jakab FISCHMAN to fly from his nest  in Maramarossizget and plant his roots in Or Ladany.

Maramaros Sziget, now Sighetu Marmatii, in the Tisa Valley of northern Transylvania was never part of the Galician territory although the majority of the Jews of Maramures County had fled from the violent pogroms of Tsarist Russia passing through the territories of Galicia and Bucovina until they found acceptance.  In the early 18th century, there was only a handful of Jews registered in Maramures.  By 1787, there were already 1200 Jews in Sziget.^[1],  The late 19th century saw a major migration fueled by Galician Hassidic leaders and their followers.^[2]   By 1919, Sziget had 14,000 Jews making up over half the population.^[1]

This migration was fueled by political and religious events including the improved civic rights and the advent of the Hassidic movement.  Early Jews had no property rights and had to pay the local aristocracy "tolerance taxes".  But by 1870, the Emperor Josef II granted their petition to build a synagogue.^[1]  Although today most of Sziget's 8 synagogues have been destroyed by the Nazis and Ceausescu, Sziget's baroque Great Synagogue still stands.  

While the Jews of Central Europe were relatively well treated under the rule of the Muslim Ottoman Empire during the 16th and 17th centuries, during the period of the great migrations from Moravia and Poland starting in the 18th century when Hungary was incorporated into the Austrian Empire, they had fallen into the less sympathetic hands of the Hapsburgs.  Under Maria Theresa, an annual "tolerance tax" of 20,000 guilders was levied on Jews in 1744 which grew to 160,000 guilders by 1900.  The situation improved for Jews during the reforms of the 1830s and 40s where there was growing public sentiment towards granting Jews civic rights.  However, the position of Jews slid backwards after the participation of Jews in the failed 1848-49 Revolution.^[7]

In the 1850s, Jews were still under many legal restrictions requiring Jewish oaths and  marriage permits and prohibiting property ownership.  By 1859-1860 most restrictions were lifted and Jews were authorized to work in any profession or live in any part of the Empire.  The Jewish emancipation bill granting full civic rights to Jews was passed in 1867. This period corresponded to a rapid growth in the Hungarian Jewish population particularly from immigrations from neighboring Galicia.  Increased immigration was followed by a rise in anti-Semitism climaxing in the infamous blood libel case of Tiszeszlar in 1882 where  Jews were accused of ritually murdering a young local girl.

The Hassidic influence in the region created a rich cultural life.  By the early 20th century, the Jews of Sziget had clubs, youth associations, charity activities and Zionist organizations and a strong tradition of Yiddish literature.^[1]  The Hassidic movement originally started in the 1700s in Eastern Europe and emphasized a close connection to God in all aspects of daily life.  It dominated Jewish life through the Ukraine, Galicia and central Poland up through the 1850s when it met increasing intellectual competition from the Enlightenment, Socialism and Zionism.  Followers of the conservative Hassidic movement were characterized by their devotion to their Rabbinical dynasties, their austere manner of dress and their fervent study of the Torah.^[5]

Sziget was a center of the Hungarian Hassidic movement which was founded by Rabbi Ismach Moshe Teitelbaum  in Sátoraljaújhely in the early 19th century.  His sons became the rabbis of neighboring Máramarossziget^[3][4] and even today Teitelbaum Rabbis are still Hassidic leaders in different corners of the globe.^[5]

Thus we see that a young Jakab FISCHMAN left the city of Maramarossizget to seek family and fortune in the village of Or Ladany in a time of gradually improving conditions for Jews in Hungary.  Or Ladany proved a hospitable and fertile land for Jakab and when his bones were finally laid to rest after a long life and many grandchildren he was a Hungarian citizen with full civic rights and a land owner.  

Moritz FISCHMAN (1850-1906)

The next central figure in the FISCHMANN family tree is Moritz FISCHMAN, son of Jakab.  Moritz had 3 wives and a good many children.  Of personal details, little is known other than that Yoli FISCHMAN once told me that her husband's grandfather was so mean that he used to hit people with the back side of his hand because it hurt more than hitting with the front side! Temple records list him as a merchant.  My mother claimed that an aunt told her that Moritz was a "smuggler", a rather meaningless claim at a time when every peddler had to constantly cross over borders that were being redrawn.

Moritz FISCHMAN's died in 1906 and was buried along side of his mother and father in the Mezoladany cemetery.

FISCHMANN/SCHWARZ Wedding

The wedding of "Jerry" SCHWARTZ and "Betty" Rozenberg in Aug 1936 in Kispest was attended by numerous FISCHMANNs.

First row (children) left to right: George Kellner, Charles Schwartz, Agi Linhardt, Maria Schwartz (Hornstein), Ocsi Schwartz, Eva Schwartz (Wolpe), Otto Szekely. Second row (seated): Kalman Kellner, Hanika Kellner, Hani Fischman Schwartz, Betty (Rosenberg) Schwartz (bride), Jerry Schwartz (groom), Herman Schwartz, Cornelia Szekely.  Third row (first standing): Imre Kellner, Bela Schwartz, Eugene Schwartz, Rosemary Schwartz, Reli Neni (Old Aunt), Frank Sarlo, Helena Schwartz, Hermina Schwartz, Kalman Schwartz, Alex Szekely.  Fourth row standing: Lillian Schwartz, Vera Schwartz, unknown young woman, Tibor Szekely.  (Identification by Eva Wolpe, July 2000)

Sources of Information

The FISCHMANN family tree was pieced together from a variety of sources: (1) the oral histories from my great aunt GILEADI Eva and the widow of her stepbrother Adi FISCHMAN were essential, (2) three Hungarian public records had references to our FISCHMANN family: (A) the 1848 for Szabolcs County (covering Or Ladany which is now Mezoladany), (B) the 19^th century temple records for Mezoladany & Mentok and (C) the 19^th century temple records for Hajdudorog which covers the marriage of Moritz FISCHMAN to his second wife Hani HOROWITZ and (3) cemetery photographs of the tombstones of Moritz, Jakab and Eszter FISCHMAN.

New information has just been added from the Szabolcs Archives civil records (Mezoladany birth: 1895-1914, marriage: 1895-1944), and death (1895-1952).  In addition, the Jewish records for Kisvarda look promising, but have not been reviewed yet.