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My mother's father was named Abraham Grünburg (1839 – 1918), and her mother was Rebeka, neé Weiss. Abraham Grünburg was the head rabbi in Kezmarok from 1874 until his death in 1918. I don't remember his name anymore. I was only two years old when he died. Up to the end of World War II, Kezmarok was a center of German culture in Spis [Spis: one of the region of Slovakia – Editor's note].
For a long time, the strong German majority prevented Jews from settling there. My grandfather had one son, named Nathan Grünburg, who became the town's new rabbi after his death, and the other son, whose name I don't remember was living in Csenger, a small town in Hungary, where he was a not very successful businessman, materially supported mainly by his brother Nathan.
At first Nathan refused the position of rabbi. He got married to some wealthy woman in Berehov. The way it actually was, was that after Grandpa died, my father, Jakub Singer, became the Kezmarok rabbi. But Nathan returned to his home town, and my father ceded the position of rabbi to him, because the custom was for the son to take over his father's position. Nathan was the last rabbi in that town. In 1944 they shot him in the Polish town of Zakopane. Before the war his community had around 1000 members.
For a long time, the strong German majority prevented Jews from settling there. My grandfather had one son, named Nathan Grünburg, who became the town's new rabbi after his death, and the other son, whose name I don't remember was living in Csenger, a small town in Hungary, where he was a not very successful businessman, materially supported mainly by his brother Nathan.
At first Nathan refused the position of rabbi. He got married to some wealthy woman in Berehov. The way it actually was, was that after Grandpa died, my father, Jakub Singer, became the Kezmarok rabbi. But Nathan returned to his home town, and my father ceded the position of rabbi to him, because the custom was for the son to take over his father's position. Nathan was the last rabbi in that town. In 1944 they shot him in the Polish town of Zakopane. Before the war his community had around 1000 members.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Singer Alexander