BREUER Family Genealogy Page

SIMON Jakab

Vital Statistics
Name
Occupation printer[3], delicatessen owner[1]
Parents SIMON Abrahám SIMON Regina
Born 29 Sept 1867 [2][10] in Nagyvárad, Hungary
Residence Nagyvarad, Kispest
Married MAHLER Róza [1] in 15 May 1894[8] 
(possibly June 17th)[16]
Son SIMON Pál (1895)
Son SIMON Dezsö (1897)
Son SIMON Zoltán (1900)
Daughter SIMON Erzsébet (1903)
Died Kispest, 14 October 1941 [5] of a broken heart in after the deaths of his brother, his son and his wife.[6]

NEW! - Jakab SIMON Nagyvarad Newspaper Obituary - NEW!

Obituary for Jakab SIMON (d. Kispest, October 14, 1941) from a Nagyvarad newspaperL

We received the sad news that Jakab SIMON, retired printer, passed away at the age of 74.  The departed was an outstanding worker of Armin LASZKY’s print shop during the heroic age of journalism in Varad.  At that time, Jakab SIMON was one of the major contributors to periodical “Freedom”.  Not only did he do important work for decades, but he was a skilled and assiduous proofreader and editor, greatly improving its quality.  In retirement, Jakab SIMON lived in Budapest surrounded by his beautiful family.  Only a few weeks ago, he came to visit the city of his birth and his old workplace, but, upon his return, the tragic news of the death of one of his son’s [Dezso] was such a blow to his health that, after a few days of illness, he passed away.

BOSKE MOHOS on my father Jakab[8]

My grandmother describes her father Jakab as a very intelligent, warmhearted and giving person. In Nagyvarad, he managed a print shop. On payday, the family went to the print shop to get his paycheck before all his friends would borrow all his money. Jakab was so generous he even gave his friends his pawn tickets and his gold watch fob.

Jakab was in management but he was very sympathetic to labor. There was a strike in the print shop. Despite the fact that he was in management, he was actually leading the strike. After the strike, the workers resumed the work, but Jakab was sacked. He then moved to Budapest to find a new job around 1906. He then got another job in Budapest with a printing company called Palace (sp?).

Later they owned a small delicatessen with only a couple tables and chairs. Jakab's friends would come visit and he would refuse to charge them so they had to sell the business because they couldn't make any money. On the day they moved, Jakab was sitting at the table playing cards with his friends, finally they were asked to stand up so the movers could take the table they were playing on.

Jakab's father and brothers had high school diploma's but Jakab dropped out. His brother Geza failed the 10th grade and had to take it over again so that Geza and Jakab were in the same class the next year. One day, Jakab's teacher said some nasty things to him and Jakab stood up and announced he wasn't going to take it any more. He quit school. He passed a print shop and got a job as an apprentice printer.

Jakab's bride, Roza MAHLER, was from a blue collar family. Jakab's father Abraham, an educated man, couldn't accept that Jakab was marrying "beneath" him. The whole SIMON family boycotted Jakab & Roza's wedding other than Jakab's brother Geza. Abraham didn't want anything to do with Jakab until Jakab's first son was born.

Jakab taught his daughter Boske all sorts of card games.

 

Emoke Brull on Grandfather Jakab[7]
Just as was told by aunt Bozsi, they [the Jakab SIMON family] were living in difficult circumstances after they moved with four children from Nagyvarad to Budapest, and later when they took in the sick Mahler grandmother. According to the custom of that time, only grandfather was working, and they were living within much hardship, since he could not give up cards and other obsessions. It could be said honoring them, that they gave to all of the four children the expected midschool education, and with my father [who completed high school] excepted all finished the 8th grade.

 

Uncle Geza's Diary: My Younger Brother Jakab[9]

He was born on September 29, 1667 in Nagyvárad.  After finishing elementary school and four grades of gymnasium, he went to work for Armin Laszky in his paper [stationary] store as an apprentice; from where, after 6 months, he moved to the book printing shop of the same owner.  After completing [his apprenticeship] there in 2 years, to gain more experience, he started to wander criss-crossing the country while working, spending time in Brasso, Pozsony and Budapest.

He was spending time at his stop [Budapest] at the same time when I was there; then later, he returned to Nagyvárad, where he got a job in the local book printing shop, and presently he supports himself and his family by being foreman of the same print shop, where he was an apprentice.

On May 15, 1894 in Nagyvárad, he married Róza Mahler, daughter of a local tradesman József Mahler, with whom he is living in a most fulfilling bliss.  Thus far, he has begot from this marriage 3 sons: Pál, born on May 15, 1895; Dezső, born on April 4, 1897; and Zoltán, born on June 10, 1900, and I am the godfather of this last son.  His daughter, Erzsi [Elizabeth] was born on March 17, 1903.  He moved with his family to Budapest in April 20, 1905.

They [Jakab and Róza] are celebrating their 25th marriage anniversary this year [1919].  After the war, both he and his sons were unemployed for quite a while and his daughter was also laid off from the Post Office.

LINHARDT | BREUER | SIMON | FISCHMANN | MAHLER | SALZBERGER | BELANSZKY | GRUNBAUM
Home | Agi's Story | Ujfeherto  | Holocaust | About Me | Links | Places

Sources
[1] Böske MOHOS (oral)
[2] SIMON Family Registry (from KELLNER SIMON Magda)
[2B] SIMON Family Registry (from KELLNER SIMON Magda) updated 1997
[3] Tony LINHARDT (oral)
[4] Birth records at Oradea State Archives in Romania
[5] Death certificate
[6] KELLNER Magda: "Jakob was a very nice man and very emotional. He was very sad when Norbert died. He died of sorrow because his son Dezso died in an accident."
[7] Letter Emoke Brull 7 Nov 2001 [Comments in brackets are added by the translator, Anthony Linhardt]
[8] 1997 Video Interview with Boske MOHOS
[9] Uncle Geza's Memoirs
[10] Nagyvarad Temple records (Nagyvarad Archives).  The record lists Rabbi Landesberg as performing the cicumcision. While Jakab was circumcised in an orthodox temple, he does not appear to have been married there even though both the SIMON's and MAHLERs attended
[16] Note: My current Family Tree database lists the marriage date as June 17, 1894.  I'm not sure of the source of this date.  I think Geza's diary's date of May 15, 1894 is more reliable (since that was the source of the SIMON family tree).

25 September 2002