Family genealogy
My Kronental family
The Kronental family also originated in Warsaw, certainly around the same time as the Leizerson family, that is, since the end of the 18th century. Where they came from before that remains a mystery.
There is said to be a village in Crimea called Kronental, inhabited by a German minority descended from German-speaking settlers who migrated from Germany or German-speaking Switzerland to settle in Crimea, then part of the Russian Empire. It is said that Catholics and Protestants lived there peacefully. Were there also Jewish settlers? We may never know why our family adopted the name Kronental as our surname.
Investigation into the Kronental family
My grandmother Hava Kronental was born in Warsaw in 1883.
His upbringing does not reflect a "strict" environment.
Clearly, she spoke, read, and wrote Polish. She had a musical education.
I have trouble picturing my great-grandparents' couple.
Around 1900, his mother, Sura Szternis, died. What did she die of? She came from a rather well-to-do family. His brother Abraham was a diamond merchant.
Among those who were present in our early childhood, there was also the "little" and the "big" Charles Berliner.
I remember idyllic Sundays at their home in the Chevreuse Valley.
It was necessary to call upon Madeleine Kronental, my mother's first cousin, to find their trail.
The Parisian archives and Charles Berliner's naturalization file allowed me to establish our family ties.
I don't know the profession of Moshe-Aron, Grandmother's father.
Several testimonies attest that he was religious.
His granddaughter, Marie Kronental, said that he was strict and severe.
Was he a rabbi in Warsaw? And of which denomination?
I found little information about JRI-Poland on my Kronental: Moshe Aron's parents were listed in his death certificate in Paris, in 1933.
From there, I located their marriage certificate in 1847 and the name of Mordka's father: Herschen Kronental.
I do not know when they arrived in Warsaw and where the lineage came from before 1800, because few Jews were admitted to Warsaw before then.
