Families

9 November 2016

Hi Eli

Just received the latest bounce-3232056-859764@lyris.jewishgen.org bounce-3232056-859764@lyris.jewishgen.org <danzig@lyris.jewishgen.org> email and came across your message asking if anyone had ancestors in Danzig.

We believe that our great grandfather came from Neufahrwasser, Danzig and I and other members of my family have been searching for many, many years trying to discover who our great grandfather really was and if possible other family members, but have always found nothing. I know that Emil was brought up in the German culture and spoke German and also a few other languages. It was always believed that Emil was either Protestant or Catholic, but I now have reason to believe that Emil was of the Jewish faith and therefore we may have been looking in the wrong religion all this time. I have contacted the German Archives that hold the Catholic Birth, Marriages and Death records to see if they had an Emil Gerowski born around 1870, but they confirmed that although they was a Gerowski family, Albert, wife Maria Magdelana and five children there was no Emil nor was there a birth for/around 1870.

We now believe that Emil/Friedrich was Jewish, as my Mother, who is Emil’s granddaughter and 92 years old has related to me what her maternal grandfather, James Finnigan said about Emil. It was when Emil’s son Frederick was marrying James’ daughter Ann that James asked Emil what he was and Emil is said to have replied, “I’m a German Jew”.

Emil arrived in England around 1890. The little information I have on Emil before he arrived in the UK are from family stories, and I do not know how much of it is true, but what I have I would very much like to relate it to you:

It is believed that Emil was born around 1870 in Neufahrwasser, Danzig. He had a brother, possibly called Karl/Peter and a sister called Adela or Adele. There may have been other siblings which we are not aware of.

Emil’s family were said to be financially secure and owned shipping or were involved in the shipping business. Emil’s Brother Karl/Peter was a ship officer, and may have been a ship Capitan. Karl/Peter’s ship did call into the port of South Shields, County Durham, England around 1921, at which time Emil took his two oldest children on board to meet his brother. Emil did not take his wife to meet his brother.

The story in the family is that Emil was sailing on his brother’s ship around 1890, when he got into an argument with another sailor, and the sailor was killed. The ship arrived at the port of Sunderland, County Durham, England, where Emil was put off with sufficient money from Karl/Peter for Emil to get back to Danzig.

Emil took lodgings in the town of Sunderland and there he met his future wife. He never did get back to Danzig. It is said that his family were totally against Emil’s marriage and they disowned him.

During his time in Sunderland Emil was a Mariner, sailing on various ships. However, no-one knows the names of any of the ships he sailed on. Emil and his family moved from Sunderland to South Shields, County Durham, sometime around 1906 where he gained employment in the local coal mines. It was in the coal mine that Emil was killed by an exploding pressure pipe in 1931 aged around 61 years. Both Sunderland and South Shields are now in the County of Tyne And Wear.

I contacted the Anglo-German Society to see if they had any information on Emil and they informed me that they had, and that During World War I Emil was interned as an Alien from 1915 to 1919, his Internment number was 19317, and was incarcerated on the Isle of Man, which is located in the Irish Sea. The Anglo-German Society also infomed me that Emil was also known to the British Authorities as Friedrich Grosky, as this information was provided by the British Authorities to the Red Cross in Switzerland as the British Authorities had a duty to inform the Red Cross about those who were being interned. I believe that this information validates the story of Emil getting into trouble on his brother's ship, and I also believe therefore, that his true name was Friedrich Grosky. The National Library in Gdansk has kindly checked the Danzig Adress-Buch's for me and there were quite a few people named Gerowski, but only one person named Grosske, a Friedrich Wilhelm Grosske in 1880.

So what I am trying to discover is Emil’s true name; was it Emil Gerowski, was it Friedrich Grosky or was it something else? Also, his birthdate?

If birth records could be found for all three, Emil or Friedrich, and a possible Karl/Peter and Adela around 1870, all with the same parents we may well know his true name, and possibly his family.

Kind Regards

Michael Conway

9 November 2016

Hi

My mother , Fredrika Stuczinski - Luiblinski was born in Danzig, 31/1/1923 .

Her parents came to Danzig from Minsk on 1921.

My mother was lucky to leave Danzig, and came to Israel on November 1939.

Her parents could not make it.

I was born in Israel and live in Jerusalem

חנה הנר <hanner hana

20 October 2016

Eli,

Wish I could contribute something. All I know is that my wife's paternal line was named GODINSKI, which literally means "from Gdansk". They were obviously living elsewhere when surnames were taken around 1820. We do not catch up to them until the 1870s, when they leave Kavaljara for Boston.

Bert

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Herbert Lazerow

Professor of Law, University of San Diego

19 October 2016

Hi:

During WW II I spent several years in a British detention camp on the island of Mauritius. Our illegal transport from Nazi occupied Europe was intercepted by the British near Cyprus and we were all deported to Mauritius. Among the 1600 refugees in the camp were about 500 people from Danzig. A list of these people is available on the JewishGen website.

Henry Wellisch

Toronto