The Too-Long Comment Re Dana Horn's Article

"True, European Jewish immigrants did have to render their names into Latin or Cyrillic letters to create passports, and yes, passports were sometimes forged—but those forgeries or name changes would have been generated by the immigrants themselves. It is also true that many immigrants chose new names for themselves in America, whether for expediency or to avoid discrimination. But that was after they left Ellis Island. I am not revealing state secrets here, or arcane information. Any school child who has been on a field trip to Ellis Island knows all this. But why use facts when rumors will do?"

Yep. My paternal granddad's paternal family did this. "Czerniezka"? Who checked; and, by the way, who questioned when Alexandria "Czerniezka" listed "Katarzyna [?] Czerniezka", to whom she was not talking, as her nearest relative from whence she came (and never mind that they weren't talking after the former had become a Anusit)? (By the way, they were both Danilowiczes somehow. "Katarzyna" certainly was, as she was born a Danilowiczówna.) And on other records..."Czarnecki", "Chernetski", "Czarniecki", "Czerniecki" (the original one, apparently), "Charnetski". Something should've caught on; and, blessedly, it somehow never did (and, by the way, Great-Granddad "spoke perfect English"; and English was neither his nor his extremely-literate parents' native language, and his dad particularly knew how to get around the system. His mom was a little more honest. Still, Great-Granddad was one of those who was marked by "inaccuracies [which] were grounds for deporting improperly documented or unqualified people back to Europe". How Ellis Island, the Luzerne County Courts, etc. never caught on, I can only guess.


As for "facts when rumors will do" on the flip side: one of our surnames is "Foc(z)ko" or "seal". Whether it's a deliberate pun on "Siegel" (and I'll bet that it is), I can only guess. But my cousin (since we were Anusim who fled Poland after the Non-Anusi branch bid us farewell) gets so mad when I point out that "Focko" and "Foczko" are rare, in mainly Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary (and became "Fosko" in many cases in the U.S.); is "Focko" and "Foczko" ("Fo-ts-ko") in Polish, Slovakian (with the non-accented "c"), and Hungarian; and both the Polish and Hungarian use the word "foka" (with the only difference being the Hungarian having the "ó"), and Slovakian doesn't have that word. Also, we immigrated to Upper Hungary, the more-tolerant of the two Hungarys (not Lower Hungary), where we could pass and have Slovakized our name if we so chose (We didn't.). 


He loves to continue to buy the family tripe, which includes all this randomness/coincidences/conveniently leaving out geographical proximity and other relevant factors (e.g., that István Foczko's wife, Jána Hanzóková Foczková, was never noted to be of "hanzók"/Hanseatic descent [and if she was, that would've come out; as one of our ways of passing was to try to link ourselves to gentile notables if we could]; that her mother was a Lázárová, and that her only daughter, Julianna Foczková, was deliberately proposed to by a Levite whose parental grandparents had to be "felmentették" ["acquitted"] to marry). In doing so, he also (whether or not he realizes that he) dumbs us down quite a bit (e.g., as if Anusim weren't smart enough to seek each other out?). 

By the way, he didn't mind using my granddad's old Stefan Czarniecki canard on me. He lost, though: ours was "Czerniecki" (apparently. It could've been "Zernetzky", too. Who knows? It was an Anusi marriage done at Maćkowa Ruda, far from Krasne and Lipsk, and far from the eyes and ears of rabbis who'd've never allowed a Catholic marriage even for "Antoni" and "Katarzyna" to gain freedom from serfdom). We were never near the Anti-Semite Stefan Czarniecki (We are related to Kirk Douglas, though. I don't know the connection; yet, there you go: "Danilovich" wasn't just a patronymic after all, and the Daniloviches are responsible for producing an Exodus denier who raped Natalie Wood. We're also responsible for producing Jack Czarnecki, who hurt a lot of people—including by hiding his Jewishness and trying to connect us to Stefan Czarniecki. 

(Concerning that [i.e., Kirk Douglas, my granddad's self hating, and whatever else that is bad that I didn't know until I began doing the family research] , I was like Darby Conley after he got his cat—"sorry and ignorant.")

Hungary, the Holocaust, And the Russian Pale

As quite a few have requested, Hungary is hopefully starting to work on curbing or eradicating its Anti Semitism (for the time being. After all, (יהוה (ב''ה warned that all nations but for Israel and the remnants of every other nation would come to end.). After all (as at least some people have learned, and I think because of בני אנוסים like me), Hungary was a hub for אנוסים from the Warszawa, Radom, and Lodz Foc(z)kos to (as I found out recently) some Andreloviches (which surprised me) and the Trudnyaks (who, as an 1811 baptism record indicates, originally came from Krakow gubernia after they had already allegedly fled Jablunka in Moravia), to openly-Jewish Jews like the Rusznaks and Uszinskys (and the Uszinskys did indeed sneak out of the Russian Pale and/or Congress Poland into Saros megye—I just don't know exactly when or from where). Incidentally, I think that "Jablunka" was actually "Jablonka" in Nowy Targ—as Great-Great-Granddad Trudnyak (ז''ל) claimed to be born in Kacwin, and his wife (ז''ל) claimed to be born in Lapsze Nizne and resided in Nowa Biala before she left for New Jersey.

Even though Hungary forced all Jews to have surnames by 1787 and had nominal religious freedom by 1868, it was actually a hub for escaping openly-Jewish Jews and אנוסים. It was also a hub for those who became אנוסים in Hungary and stayed there. Even Wikipedia, for example, begrudges that the Hungarian city of Aranyida (now Zlata Idka, Slovakia) is "almost entirely Slovak in ethnicity". The begrudgement was written when the Wikipedia page, which was last edited on September 17th of 2013, was first written on September 15, 2006. So, even Wikipedia concedes that some Non-Slovakian ethnic groups reside there, and has done so since 2006—long before I knew who the Foczkos and Rusznaks really were—and that אנוסים and בני אנוסים resided in an "almost entirely Slovak" small town must really wrangle them, since (as I've learned from experience) they don't like אנוסים and בני אנוסים, or יהודים משיחיים (especially יהודים משיחיים  who are בני אנוסים).

By the way, Kacwin is "Kaczvin" or "Kacvin"; Lapsze Nizne is "Alsolapos"; Jablonka is just Jablonka, and Nowa Biala is Ujbela. As for Saros megye, that covered a broad range of Slovakia and Hungary. Also, notice that the Trudnyaks allegedly fled from Moravia in the Austrian Empire into Hungary (before it was a part of Austria Hungary), the Foczkos and Uszinskys fled in Hungary, and Michael and Anna Munkova Trudnyak (my Trudnyak great-great-grandparents) claimed to be born in Polish-Slovakian Hungarian small towns (and to be fair, Anna Munkova did reside in Nowa Biala and was named after her Levoca [Locse]-born and -baptized sister. Mihaly Trudnyak, however, was baptized in the Nagy hub of Terezvarosi, Budapest—and the Nagys were אנוסים who were far from Kacwin, and certainly not in the Austrian part of Austrian Hungary at any time!).

In conclusion, Hungary (at least for the time being) is hopefully becoming the country to whose dependencies and proper אנוסים and open Jews fled, and where quite a few אנוסים who became אנוסים stayed. 

The Gajdosz Coat of Arms and Explanation

We chose our name deliberately, I realize. "Gajdosz" being a form of "Gaydosh" or "bagpipe", and bagpipes (at least at the end) look very similar to shofarot, we deliberately chose it and kept the "sz" once we escaped to Slovakian Hungary from Polish Russia. Also, Great-Granddad would brag about us being "Russian", and his mother was from an Uszinsky family as well.

"Gajdos Name Meaning Hungarian: nickname for a ribald person, from gajdolni ‘to sing in a raucous or drunken way’ (from Slavic gajda ‘bagpipe’). In some cases it may be an occupational name for a player of pipes or bagpipes.Polish and Slovak (Gajdoš): from a derivative of Gajda." Ancestry.com, "Gajdos"). Ours was never accented and we Americanized it to "Gaydosh" sometimes. We also never accented the "s", and Hungarian "sz" is just "s". On the other hand, "š" or "s" is "sh". In Polish, "sz" is "sh". 

We were very aware of our Poliyshn Yidn roots, and Dad doesn't like that. In fact, he nastily told Great-Granddad (as he told us that he told Great-Granddad), "The only reason that you say that we're Russian is because you work for the Russian Church." It was actually a Slovakian-American Catholic church, and the Rusnaks were Levi'im Anusim as well. So, Dad darned well (in his mind, damned well) knows that we're Jews—and I think that's also part of why we're estranged again—not just because I confronted him on Pop-Pop Czarnecki's obituary, but also because he was waiting to cut me off once I found out the truth and asked him about it. So, as soon as I confronted him about the obituary, he found his loophole and got as nasty and abusive with me as possible.
I had also, by the way, spoken out about the obituary and said how they conveniently skipped over Pop-Pop's Jewish heritage—and maybe that's part of why Great-Granddad Gaydos didn't like Pop-Pop (long story), as I found out—he could probably tell that Pop-Pop was a self loather.We were very aware of our Poliyshn Yidn roots, and Dad doesn't like that. In fact, he nastily told Great-Granddad (as he told us that he told Great-Granddad), "The only reason that you say that we're Russian is because you work for the Russian Church." It was actually a Slovakian-American Catholic church, and the Rusnaks were Levi'im Anusim as well. So, Dad darned well (in his mind, damned well) knows that we're Jews—and I think that's also part of why we're estranged again—not just because I confronted him on Pop-Pop Czarnecki's obituary, but also because he was waiting to cut me off once I found out the truth and asked him about it. So, as soon as I confronted him about the obituary, he found his loophole and got as nasty and abusive with me as possible.I had also, by the way, spoken out about the obituary and said how they conveniently skipped over Pop-Pop's Jewish heritage—and maybe that's part of why Great-Granddad Gaydos didn't like Pop-Pop (long story), as I found out—he could probably tell that Pop-Pop was a self loather.By the way, the long story, as Aunt Mary recalled it to me: Great-Granddad Gaydos came over for dinner and ate quietly. When he ate, he looked up and declared, "Okay; I'm ready to go now." He clearly had no time for Jack Czarnecki.

Update: Then there's that other thing about shepherds playing bagpipes and the kohenim being ro'im l'Yisra'el.

There Are No Coincidences In Life...

The Foczkos of Poland, Etc. and our Foczkos/Fockos have to be related (Yes, Kevin; as much as I love you as my cousin, you're being hard on me--and yourself. We can't control what our relatives did, but we're still Jews and have the right to embrace that identity--and the mitzvah to never forget.). Besides, the following cannot be coincidental:

• "Foczko" and "Focko" (without the accent, "Fots[h]ko") was preserved across the board in Poland and Hungary--and even the same spelling in both. Our "Focko" never had the accent, by the way, and it became "Fosko".
• There's no proof that we came from Germany. Yes, we got hits in Germany; but R1a1a1 is not a Native German marker. It is a Slavic or an Ashkenazi Levite marker. 
• As far as the Denmark hits, I1 originates in Denmark. Our Denmark hits may actually be Finnish hits, and are... 

Adam Focko Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates, 1833-1885	birth: 1829 Hä-Sakoska death: 7 March 1849 Gross-Kolpana, Spanko, Tsarskoe Selo, St. Petersburg
Peter Focko Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates, 1833-1885	birth: 1849 Wopsi death: 4 March 1849 Gross-Kolpana, Spanko, Tsarskoe Selo, St. Petersburg	father:Gabriel Focko
Justina Focko Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates, 1833-1885	birth: 1849 Hä Sakoska death: 1 May 1849 Gross-Kolpana, Spanko, Tsarskoe Selo, St. Petersburg	father:Abraham Focko

• We were spread across Eastern Europe (including Russia, as seen above). Besides, getting between Finland and Russia was going to be easier for anyone--let alone Jews--in those days, especially if we were caught sneaking to and from the Pale--and how the Uszinskys got out to Saros from Russia, by the way, I do not know (Great-Granddad Gajdos never said--he only bragged that we were Russian during the Cold War, to the chagrin of our family.). By the way, Jews were converting to converting to Vaticanism (Roman and Byzantine), Anglicanism (e.g., the Disraeli Family), and Lutheranism (e.g., the Mendelssohns, the Siedenburg Muellers [Mom-Mom's great-great-grandma's family]) at the time to assimilate and escape Anti Semitism--and Vaticanism and Lutheranism especially posed a threat to the Jews at the time, and Lutheranism (given how Anti Semitic Martin Luther was) was an acceptable alternative to Vaticanism (This is also, by the way, why Martin Luther was not a true Reformer. The Reformation actually began with Jan Hus and John Wycliffe, neither of whom have a record of Anti Semitism.).
• We're not a huge family. Foczko, Focko (excluding German Fockos, who aren't ours--since they were Protestant from the beginning, anyway; and we were Pharisees and Vaticanists), and Fosko (excluding the Foskos of Kentucky, etc.--or at least I hope, since I'm not happy if "Foczko" or "Focko" was first changed to "Fusco") are not common. Besides, what does the Biblical prophecy say? "And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you." For the Jewish people to even be formed as a nation that was ready to take Israel, there had to be 600,000 countable people--and children were not counted until they turned 20 years old (By the way, see my note on the age of accountability below.). My point is that since the Jewish people could not take Israel until we numbered at least 600,000 (a tenth of counted and known Jewish victims of the Shoah), we are certainly smaller and indeed left few in number--as Non-Messianic Jews, Anusim v'b'nei-Anusim, and Messianic Jews (I will, by the way, discuss "fewer in number" in a later blog post.).
• The Anusi Foczkos/Fockos married into few families, and especially repeatedly into families like the Hanzok and Filc(z)ak families. Also, Andy Rusnak (the grandson of converts Gyorgy "Gyorgy Kvetkovits" and Elizabetha Molnarova Rusznak) deliberately wrote to the granddaughter of a Lazar. Anusim stuck together, and our family followed the mitzvah to marry cousins as outlined in B'midbar 36.

Did I cover enough? I think so. Anyway, let's embrace our Levite heritage--and certainly not forget Dawid, Hersz, and Mariem:

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Home » Databases » The Lódz Ghetto Work Identification Cards The Lódz Ghetto Work Identification Cards Searching for Surname (phonetically like) Focko Number of hits: 3 Run on Wednesday 7 August 2013 at 14:17:25 Name Date of Birth Worker Number Address in Ghetto Place Assigned to Work Type of Employment Starting Date Photo on Card? Signature on Card? Date of ID Card Learned Trade Acquired Skill Gender Age on 1st January 1943 Worked Since Unemployment / Employment History Comments Reel Image(s) FOCKO, Dawid 22-Jun-1896  52256  Bleigasse 1/16  6 (Schneiderei Mühlgasse 2)  Maschinist    Y  Y  01-Oct-43  Schneider    männlich  47  13-Jul-43  Bekl. Rep. Werkst. vom 22-Feb-1944  Transport 86 14-Jul-1944 677  1074/1075  FOCKO, Hersz 03-Sep-23  3386  Bleigasse 1/16  35 (Kleinmöbelfabrik)  Maschinist    Y  Y  1943    Maschinist  männlich  20  12-Apr-42    677  1076/1077  FOCKO, Mariem 20-May-1899  52257  Bleigasse 1/16  6 (Schneiderei Mühlgasse 2)  Gruppenführerin    Y  Y  01-Oct-43  Schneiderin    weiblich  44  23-Jul-43  Schneiderei 85 Goldschmiedegasse 18 vom 01-Oct-1943; Schn. 2, Hans. 34/36 vom 15-May-1944  677  1078/1079

Endnote: By the way, Yeshua changed this when he sat in the Temple at 12 years old, thus validating the age of bar-mitzvah and bat-mitzvah accountability to be 12 at minimum and 20 at maximum for normally-abled people--e.g., I assure you that my cousin Jamie, who is differently mentally abled, will not be going to Hell. He is 45 at present, but does not have the mental abilities or capabilities of even a three-year-old child--no way on Earth will G-d be as cruel as to require of Jamie more than what he has.

Also, the Vatican took pains to try to replace the Vatican as the Holy Hill, even though Har-Tzion remains the Holy Hill. Thus, any Jew--Messianic or Non Messianic--and any gentile Christian should be a Zionist.

Yeah....No....

There is no proof that we're related to the Romanovs. Russian, yes. Polish, yes. Jewish by ethnicity, and the former two (as well as Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian, among other types of citizens in Eastern Europe) by citizenship, yes and yes. Romanovs? No...and there's no proof that Stefan Czarniecki (to whom we can't even trace our family tree back) was related to the Romanovs.

czarniecki family romanov family	1
czarniecki family romanov family related	1

PS When you find proof that the Czarnieckis or Czerneckis, Uszinskys, Gajdoszes, etc. were related to the Romanovs, please, let me know. By the way, I did see my mispacha from Switzerland. Shalom alecheim, and I'm sorry that I didn't acknowledge you before. By the way, as a PolishForums guy stated, "Andrius is lithuanian equivalent of russian Andrei which comes from greek. Andriulis in lithuanian means 'little Andrius' or 'dear Andrius'. Andriulis + evičius= Andriulevičius. I checked my LIthuanian surnames dictionary and there are a lot of different surnames with root Andr-, and Andrulevičius(without "i") almost exclusively comes from this little town STAKLISKES. Hope it helps."

So, we're Litvaks. Does this help? Incidentally, I'm very Litvake--more intellectual than emotional. 

   

Sirnach, Thurgau arrived from google.ch on "The Nicole Factor: To Begin, Pop-Pop's A Murderer As Well as A Self-Dreading Jew Who Is Ungrateful To His Philosemitic gentile Mother" by searching for andrulewicz.

18:36:08 -- 4 days 1 hour ago

My Foczko Coat Of Arms

I, by using Microsoft Powerpoint, made this with the help of both G-d and the Temple Institute, clip art from Powerpoint, and Google being consulted.

The Hebrew (with Google Translate) reads "Sh'ma Yisra'el". 

I Observed My Blog Shabbat Yesterday...

I was busy with genealogy. I was trying to figure out in particular whether the Trudniaks are Crypto Jews--I think that they are. I think that whoever submitted the Ancestral File erroneously assumed that Rozina Trudnyaková and Martin Trudnyak, her dad, were born in Jablunka as opposed to Jablonka, Nowy Targ, just because her husband, Tomas, was. Besides, all the research that I've done places the Trudnyaks (Trudniaks/Trudnaks) in Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland--not Moravia or the rest of the Czech Republic.


Also--and this the main point--Mihal Trudniak (my great-great-granddad) married a Jew, Anna Monková Trudniak, of Lapsze Nizne; and Jews--with few exceptions--did not marry gentiles back then, and vice versa.