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.

What Glamour? From PolishForums.com

The naysayers like jon357 and Magdalena (who, for whatever reason, want me to continue to fall for Dad's and Pop-Pop's romanticized narrative about Great-Granddad) are the ones who really get my goat. I myself was shocked by the truth--never did I dream that Great-Granddad Czarnecki was born a Chernetski in Tsuman, Ukraine (then Cumań in then-Wołyn, Ukraine-Poland Russia) while his dad was back home in Lipsk nad Biebrzą or Somovo(? So the record says, but would he really have been all the way in Somovo, far from Lipsk; and not, say, Szumowo or Shamovo?)? He was born while his mom may have been making a Rosh Hodesh visit to a cousin, Vil'gel'm Andrulevich, in Buzhanka in the Kiev, Ukraine region. 

The story gets even less glamorous. There is nothing glamorous about converting to Catholicism to fool the Russians into thinking that you finally believe in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah--especially when your family sits shiva for you because you did so. As an e-mail from my Granduncle Tony alludes to (although the poor man still denies that we're Jewish--and that's another discussion. Anyway):

I never seen nor did anyone mention anything special brought from Poland. A friend from Sugar Notch, Mrs. Bertha Wawrzyn, visited Poland every few years to see her family and would visit the family while there. All she ever brought back were photos that she took of the Polish Czarnecki's (see earlier comments).

There was very little discussion of the Polish life and family. Usually, when there was, it was a brief mention of the farm that was left behind. There did not seem to be any regrets about leaving for a better life. After all , they settled among Polish, Slavic, Hungarian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian people just like themselves. Similar language, similar customs, similar faces, houses, churches, etc. But life was much better than on the farm. They were quite happy in America and much better off. The motherland, Poland, was far off and just a memory, not to be forgotten but no regrets for leaving either.

Periodically a church pastor would run a heritage trip back to Poland for a group. Very few of those who immigrated would return. Occasionally someone "in the family" in America would join a relative for the return trip, Usually meeting the Polish or Slovak relatives for the first time and occasionally maintaining a letter writing relationship afterwards. This DID NOT happen in our family.

There was not very much correspondence with the Polish family. Only an infrequent letter. There were no exchanges other than through the Polish Church which would have clothing drives and send clothes to Poland in general, but not to specific family members. Bertha's photos which came after the trips were the only contact until they asked for the deed to be changed in the mid 1960's.

Once the conversion happened and the shiva was sat, that was it "until they asked for the deed to be changed in the mid 1960's"; with the Holocaust being that dark interim in regards to any contact even with Bertha Wawrzyn--and three Czarnieckis, perhaps cousins, are listed on JewishGen as having been Holocaust victims from Białystok:

Bialystok Children's Transport to Theresienstadt, October 5, 1943


Searching for Surname (phonetically like) Czarnecki
Number of hits: 3
Run on Saturday 28 July 2012 at 22:19:31

Child #
Adult # Surname(s), Given Name Father + Mother Born Transport
10

CZARNIECKI, Tewel
Gerszon + Rochl
1934 Bialystok

11

CZARNIECKI, Jankiel
Gerszon + Rochl
1933 Bialystok

12

CZARNIECKI, Oszer
Gerszon + Rochl
1936 Bialystok

What glamour would there be in that for my great-granddad "Antoni" and his parents "Julian" and "Alexandria" (and they gave both sets of his grandparents the names "Antoni" and "Katarzyna"--why that didn't ring bells or raise flags for me at first, I don't know.)? What glamour was there to be had for living as Crypto-Jewish Catholics in Sugar Notch, Pennsylvania to escape WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant) and WEC (White, European Catholic) Anti Semitism? What glamour was in for "Antoni" (later "Anthony") to grow up to become a man like his "holy terror", "tough cookie" mom (who abused his drunkard dad, her drunkard husband), and then commit suicide once he had time to reflect on just what he became? What glamour?

So, my dad and granddad paint this romanticized picture of a lone Polish immigrant who served in Korea and died of Black Lung in 1972, which is far from the Anthony Czarnecki ne G-d-knows-who Chernetski that he was.

I'd Appreciate If Someone Could Translate the Following For Me...

ul. Mickiewicza 1, 16-400 Suwałki
parter budynku
Polska

Attn: Elżbieta Giedrojć

Director Giedrojć:
I inquire of the Suwałki Register Office regarding information on my family. My family was Jewish before my great-great-grandparents converted to Catholicism in or after 1904. Therefore, I have no true birth and paternity information on even my great-great-grandparents. 

For example (and I have attached copies of certain records for your reference per what I am explaining), my great-great-granddad claimed to be Julian John “Felix” Czarnecki né Julian Jan “Feliks” Czarniecki, and the son of Antoni Czarniecki and Katarzyna née Daniłowiczówna. He specifically claimed to be born once on December 24, 1876; and another time on December 24, 1877. However, in a 1920 United States Census Record, he revealed his surname to be “Chernetski”. He also was born or at least made his childhood residence his family’s farm in Lipsk nad Biebrzą.

His wife (my great-great-grandmother), Alexandria Alice Andrulewicz Czarnecki, claimed to have been born on June 26, 1882 in Bose, Sejny Uyezd, Suwałki Gubernia. She claimed to be born Aleksjondria Alicja Andrulewiczówna and the daughter of Antoni Andrulewicz and Katarzyna née Margiewiczówna. Yet, her son (my great-granddad) Anthony John Czarnecki, Sr. was (rather, at least she claimed that he was) born in Cumań, Wołyń. She also had a cousin, Vil’gel’m Andrulevich, in Buzhanka, Zvenigorodka Uyzed, Kiev Gubernia. 

Speaking of my great-granddad, his parents claimed him to be born conversely in Cumań, Wołyń and mainland Poland. They claimed him to be born Antoni Jan Czarniecki on October 23, 1904 and October 24, 1904. He immigrated to Sugar Notch, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States with his mother in May 1908.

As I stated, I have attached copies of certain records for your reference per what I am explaining. I hope that you can provide me with the correct information about my great-granddad, his parents, and his grandparents. I also hope—if I may request—that you can provide me with as many records containing the information as possible. In particular, I am interested in specific records such as their birth, baptism, circumcision (b’rit milah), confirmation, bar- and bat-mitzvah, and death certificates and records.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Sincerely,

Nicole Czarnecki 
Nickidewbear@aol.com 

Enclosed: Certain records mentioned for reference

For My More Sophisticated Readers (e.g., Mostly Not On PolishForums.com)...

Let me lay down exactly why "Czarnecki" may be a Sephardic Jewish name (As you can see, Polish Anti Semites and others hijacked the thread by slandering me, clearly twisting my arguments, etc.. So, let me lay down the argument without any PolishForums.com tsores--or as they might prefer if they read this blog, cores--here.):


Did Sephardic Jews fleeing into Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia bring in "Czarnecki" and its variants? According to About.com Genealogy expert Kimberly Powell:

Definition: One who came from Czarnecki, a wooded place on the bank of a river (there are dozens of places named Czarnecki in Spain). This ancient surname originated in Asturias, Galicia, León, and Castile, according to the Instituto Genealógico e Histórico Latino-Americano.

Surname Origin: Spanish

Alternate Surname Spellings: SOTOS

How do you like that? We Jews might've brought "Czarnecki" into Poland. Sephardic Jews probably brought it in to [sic.. from] Spain; which is important because then it would give even less excuses for any Anti Semitism in Poland and among Poles, especially since some of the "marranos" (Anusim) may have been Messianic Jewish Catholics and otherwise Messianic Jews whose conversions were not taken seriously. 


For my PolishForum.com readers and others who are still in doubt, you're sure that "Czarnia" isn't a Polonized form of "Negro" or something? If you have a problem with it, ask Kimberly Powell; or do the research like I did to confirm what Ms. Powell stated. Let's try Ancestry.com with Google Translate, which is basic but useful, for size:

"Soto Name Meaninghabitational name from any of numerous places named Soto or El Soto, from soto ‘grove’, ‘small wood’ (Latin saltus).Castilianized spelling of Asturian-Leonese Sotu, a habitational name from a town so named in Asturies.Castilianized spelling of the Galician equivalent, Souto."

(Plural is Sotos)

Soto --> zagajnik --> shrubbery

Sotos --> gaje --> groves

But hang on...

saltus --> las --> forest


Czarnecki:

Czarnecki Name MeaningPolish and Jewish (from Poland): habitational name for someone from a place called Czarnca in Kielce voivodeship, or any of the various places called Czarnocin or Czarnia, all named with Polish czarny ‘black’.


"Czarnecki" thus could've come from "Sotos" in terms of there being forests with a name such is, e.g., Sotos Negros (Czarne Gaje).


"Czarnecki" could've easily been (for a lack of a better term) a bastarized form of "Czarnegaje" or "Czarnegaje". As for similar surnames, such as Czerwiński (Tsherviński)...well, let's look at Czerwiński:

Kimberly Powell: 

Definition: One who came from Czerwinski, a wooded place on the bank of a river (there are dozens of places named Czerwinski in Spain). This ancient surname originated in Asturias, Galicia, León, and Castile, according to the Instituto Genealógico e Histórico Latino-Americano.

Surname Origin: Spanish

Alternate Surname Spellings: SOTOS

Ancestry.com: 

Czerwinski Name MeaningPolish (Czerwi(e)nski): habitational name for someone from a place called Czerwin in P{l-}ock voivodeship, Czerwionka, Czerwonka, or other places in Poland named with czerwien ‘red’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

czerwien --> red of -->rojo de

This is a case where "rojo" may have somehow sounded like "soto" and gotten mixed up, or she just confused "Czarnecki" and "Czerwiński" when she typed for About.com. Humans are imperfect. You laugh (at least if you're one of the resident Anti Semites or other resident miscreants of PolishForums.com), but I'd like to see when you're perfect. At least I researched to make my argument.


By the way, how come Polish wouldn't allow corruptions or bastardizations of its own language or other languages if it allows for place and other names such as:

Czernacze...Czarnca..Carncza... Czarcza...Czarnnecz... Carncza...Czarnca

and 

Czarna Rzeka

?

Various formats and corruptions can happen in any language. I'm simply saying that "Czarne Gaje" could've been "Sotos Negros" and could've been confused as "Rojos Negros" (Hence, Czerwinski). The corruption could've even been deliberate on the part of non-native speakers who were looking to Polonize last names such as "Sotosnegros", "Rojosnegros", and "Sotosrojos". I'm also saying that they could've been Polonized forms, and surnames sometimes just fade out of existence or forever become part of another language. It's very possible that all the surname bearers could've left or even been murdered in the Inquisition or even as far back as the Crusades, etc.; and had their records destroyed.

Are you still in doubt? The problem (for my PolishForum.com readers who are miscreants, anyway) is that you think that I'm suggesting that the Poles or only the Poles caused a possible bastardization of "Sotosrojos", "Sotosnegros", etc.. As I said, "I'm simply saying that "Czarne Gaje" could've been "Sotos Negros" and could've been confused as "Rojos Negros" (Hence, Czerwinski). The corruption could've even been deliberate on the part of non-native speakers who were looking to Polonize last names such as "Sotosnegros", "Rojosnegros", and "Sotosrojos"." They could've been trying to come up with different or new surnames.


Again, you know that I'm wrong because? As I stated, "It's very possible that all the surname bearers could've left or even been murdered in the Inquisition or even as far back as the Crusades, etc.; and had their records destroyed." I also beforehand stated, "I'm saying that they could've been Polonized forms, and surnames sometimes just fade out of existence or forever become part of another language." I further stated, "As I said, 'I'm simply saying that "Czarne Gaje" could've been "Sotos Negros" and could've been confused as "Rojos Negros" (Hence, Czerwinski). The corruption could've even been deliberate on the part of non-native speakers who were looking to Polonize last names such as "Sotosnegros", "Rojosnegros", and "Sotosrojos".' They could've been trying to come up with different or new surnames."


 By the way, whole families were murdered and had evidence of their existence destroyed in the Crusades, Inquisition, etc.. "But were the records all destroyed? ;-)" You think that this is funny, don't you? The Spaniards wouldn't have wanted proof that Jews who didn't believe in Jesus were ever in existence in Spain. You can be really evil and Anti Semitic.


As for gentiles with those surnames, "So, are you going to examine the Blacks, Blackwoods, Blackgroves and Redgroves next? It's exactly the same story, isn't it? Aren't they all Spanish Jews who emigrated to the UK/US via Poland?" Not all of them, but the only Spaniards who would've fled into Poland (and I didn't even think about the Mohammedians and Protestants; but besides Mohammedians and Protestants--though I doubt that many of them would've fled into Poland--the only ones who'd've fled into Poland) with names like "Sotos", etc. are Sephardic Jews fleeing the Inquisition or perhaps even the fall of Constantinople.


By the way and back to the records point, the Spaniards wouldn't have wanted proof that Jews who didn't believe in Jesus were ever in existence in Spain. "If that is so, why do all know about medieval Spanish Jews and admire their huge achievements? I'm serious." The Inquisition didn't begin fully until 1492, and some escaped the Inquisition. By the way, I reiterate that you can be really evil and Anti Semitic by asserting that the Spaniards wouldn't have dared wiped out Jewish records in the Inquisition. 


"I probably can (never tried to), but I am not. I am simply not kowtowing to whatever you say just because you call yourself a Jew. Your being whatever ethnicity / nationality / religion has absolutely nothing to do with being automatically right on any subject." By suggesting that the Spaniards wouldn't have dared to try to wipe out the records of the very people that they wanted to wipe out of existence, you are minimizing what the Inquisition was about; and that is really evil and Anti Semitic of you. Also, I never suggested that my ethnicity makes me right. To suggest that I think that I'm right just because I'm a Jew is also perhaps a little Anti Semitic on your part.

From PolishForums.com: My Testimony In Short

jasondmzk asked me to make this thread, so here the thread goes. I've already told you about the Chernetskis, etc.. Next entered Mary Theresa Trudniak, who my great-great-grandma Alexandria Andrulewicz Czarnecki absolutely forbade my fresh-out-of-a-mental-hospital great-granddad from marrying--she made his situation worse when he went against her refusal and married Mary, anyway. In fact, Great-Grandma herself almost had a mental breakdown because of how badly Great-Great-Grandma treated her and him. When Great-Great-Grandma died on April 6, 1936, the situation should've gotten better--it didn't. It actually got worse.

You can thus imagine what kind of environment my granddad, John "Jack" Czarnecki and all but one of his brothers were raised in (with Anthony, Jr. the First being the one who was mercifully spared because he died two days after he was born). As the surviving Granduncle Tony once stated (referring to Great-Granddad, Pop-Pop, and Dad), "Like father, like son." Also, one PolishForums user quoted what is relevant in Pop-Pop's case: "Children who are abused by their fathers come to hate their mothers." Did he ever hate her for not standing up, then the truth especially when she finally took a stand for it! Pop-Pop later murdered her for it.


Meanwhile, in 1959, he married Joan Gaydos--the daughter of Michael Gaydos, Jr. and Maryisa "Mary" Rusnak Gaydos, an American equivalent of a kapo. You can thus imagine what kind of environment my dad and his siblings were raised in (with one spared, having not even survived the prenatal stages). You can furthermore imagine why my dad became so abusive toward my mom (from whom he filed for divorce on February 14, 1996; and from whom he divorced on June 11, 1998), my sister (who's actually inherited quite a few of his characteristics, I'm afraid), and me.


So much to hide, so many secrets--thus, affecting the chaotic environments, the abuse, and (importantly for me, and at the root of much of the chaos and abuse) the so-to-speak dirty little secret that we're Jews. In fact, Dad got mad at Great-Granddad Gaydos who boasted "We're Russian." during the Cold War. "The only reason that you say that is because you work for the Russian Orthodox Church." He actually said it (as I later figured out) in defense of the Soviet Jewish Community being misrepresented by Meir Kahane--after all, he was born to Michael Gajdos (né Mihal Gajdosz of then-Galszecs, Hungary) and Katherine Susan Gajdos (né Katarina Szoszanna Uszinskyová of Saros, Hungary), both Anusim.
I became a Christian on Easter 1996 or 1997. I was baptized Roman Catholic; and was raised in Columbia, Maryland where I attended and was saved at Christ Episcopal Church. Only when I (thought that I) typed in "jewsforjesus.com" or something like that for a joke, and remembered Dad calling me "Nicole Charnetski" did I get interested in finding out if I'm Jewish. Lo and behold, our so-to-speak dirty little secret was revealed--and did Pop-Pop and others get mad. Some (like Pop-Pop) didn't want me to find out, while others didn't want to find out.


Anyway, there's my testimony in short.

Poland and Polish Anti-Semitism, c. 1918-1939: PolishForums.Com

The making of an example of Roman Polański on Ironside's part brought to memory that from the end of Word War One to World War Two, Poland has had vicious Anti Semitism (some of which, from what I searched, had been scarily regrowing even after the Holocaust). This is perhaps best explained, at least in part, by the following along with that Poland was the center for much of Haredi Judaism and Talmudim Bawli w'Jeruszalayimi (Talmudim Bavlim v'Yerushalayimi):

"Surely, if Jesus were the heretic of the magnitude He is purported to be in some Jewish circles, Israel should have been blessed for rejecting Him. Yet, just forty years after His rejection, His prophecy came true: Instead of being gathered to Him as He longed to do, Israel was scattered; and their house (Temple, בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ, Beit HaMikdash, "House of the Holy") was indeed left to [them] desolate. The Romans destroyed it in 70 C.E. when they crushed the First Jewish Revolt, slaughtered or enslaved many thousands, and scattered multitudes out of the Land. In 135 C.E. they completed the job when they crushed the Second Jewish Revolt. Surely Jesus must have been who He claimed to be: the Messiah of Israel (Isaiah 61:1-2 with Luke 4:16-21). Is not the rejection of the long-prophesied Messiah at least as great a sin as idolatry, for which God had previously judged Israel so severely on multiple occasions?
If Israel had received Jesus there would be no anti-Semitism today. He would have gather[ed His] children together, established His earthly Kingdom, the olam haba12, and Israel today would be the head, and not the tail (Deuteronomy 28:1,13). Now, we must wait for His return to see that glorious day, which we will see when Israel receives Him as Messiah."


What does this mean? That (among other matters,) among those who rejected Jeszua (Jesus), there were those who added to and took from the Word of G-d--including many Jews in Poland and vicinities of Poland (e.g., Wołyń):

Jeremiah 8:7-12

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁷ “Even the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.

⁸ “How can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the law of the Lord is with us’?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
⁹ The wise men are ashamed,
They are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;
So what wisdom do they have?
¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to others,
And their fields to those who will inherit them;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is given to covetousness;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
¹¹ For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
¹² Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed,
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
In the time of their punishment
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

Deuteronomy 28:36-38

New King James Version (NKJV)

³⁶ “The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.

[On the forum, I restrained from saying that this included Roman Catholic gods. Incidentally enough and also, some like the Breslovim do worship at gravestones of P'rushi clergymen.].

In conclusion, what Ironside did should neither be shocking nor surprising; as the Torah warned that Anti-Semitic incidents--such as extrapolating Roman Polański's acts to the acts of all Jews--would occur. 

The Travel Distance For the Fockos...

I should've included the travel distance for the Fockos:

1. Bavaria to Diosgyor, a total of six days and 16 hours to walk-- unlikely
2. Diosgyor to Kosice, 19 hours, 14 minutes-- more likely to walk. Frantisek Gyorgy Foczko (Frank George Fosko) was born in Diosgyor on October 5, 1888. His birth could've been because...
3. Hidvegardo is where Johanna Hanzokova Foczkova's family orginated as well as originating in Diosgyor and Miskolc.
4. Hidvegardo to Kosice, eight hours and 35 minutes
5. Kosice to Zlata Idka, five hours and 11 minutes. Remember that there were no cars and hardly (if any) similar types of transportation in the centuries before the 18th Century. If there were, they were for the rich and the royalty.
6. Zlata Idka into Poland, first stop being Kielce; two days and fifteen minutes. Remember that our branch converted around the 1700s. The first Focko noted so far is in 1735. The other branch or branches decided not to be Anusim, thus fleeing then-Aranyida and Kassa, Hungary for Jewish-tolerant Poland.
7. Kielce to Radom, 15 hours and 40 minutes. Finally we come to...
8. Radom to Warsaw, 21 hours and 12 minutes

If you don't believe me, you may search "Focko" or "Foczko" in Poland on JewishGen. By the way, Anusim married fellow Anusim; so the Hanzoks, Filczaks, Rusnaks (which is a given), Molnars (another given), Novaks, etc. were all-- unless otherwise noted or shown-- Jewish and Anusim. Anusim knew and/or sought out each other, and stuck together as well as their Lo Anusi (openly-Jewish) counterparts. Besides, what was the clime of Hungary like in the 17th and other centuries for Jews? Bad and just as pogromic and Inquisitory as Spain. For example:


"In the late 17th century, the Hapsburgs captured Hungary and anti-Semitism grew, along with expulsions of Jews from the cities. Despite the anti-Jewish feelings, migration from Poland and Moravia to Hungary continued and, in 1735, about 11,600 Jews lived in Hungary. 


"The situation for Jews worsened during the reign of Maria Theresa (1740-80). Jews were forced to pay "toleration taxes" and were subject to persecution."

Or Did the Fockos Get "Focko" Forced on Them? Given Travel Distance...

Genealoj probably has the more likely theory (and Kevin is a Levi):

"

In some countries, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Jews were forced to take surnames with a German appearance, and they usually could not choose them. These arbitrary family names have no relationship whatsoever with either the trade or craft, nor the physical description, nor the geographic origin of the person so named. We have already quoted SCHWARZ, WEISS, GROSS, KLEIN, and ROTH. But there are also a long series of names formed with two German roots such as MORGENSTERN, MORGENSTEIN, APFELBAUM, BIRNBAUM, ROSENBERG, ROSENBLUM, ROSENBAUM, WEINBAUM, WEINBERG..... Note that the spelling of these names varies considerably, especially when they transited through Poland or Russia."

So, the theory that the Fockos who did not become Anusim left Slovakia for Poland stands.