Family genealogy
My Maternal Family
From Warsaw to the Pletzl
My mother's family came from Warsaw before the First World War.
What were the reasons for their exile, beyond the difficulties of living with dignity in Poland and chronic anti-Semitism?
They were not the only ones to leave Poland; there would be more than two million between 1881 (assassination of Tsar Alexander II) and 1914.
Most of them went to America, but a number came to settle in France, particularly in Paris.
A first cousin of my grandfather had preceded him: Léon-Alter Chwast, son of one of his mother's brothers, who had settled in 1907 near the "Pletzl," the Jewish quarter of the Marais. This had facilitated my grandparents' settlement. Léon-Alter was a leatherworker like my grandfather.
The Society of Friends of Warsaw
My grandparents were members of a Mutual Aid Society: "The Society of Friends of Warsaw".
I don't know when they joined, but through my investigation I uncovered their story.
Originally, it was a mutual aid society (the Social Security system did not yet exist) created on April 19, 1910 under the name "Sickness Fund for Jewish Leatherworkers".
In 1915, it changed its name to "Société des maroquiniers juifs de Paris" (Society of Jewish Leather Goods Makers of Paris).
And on March 26, 1921, it took the name "Society of Friends of Warsaw", because more and more descendants of the founders were no longer leatherworkers!
Parisian life
My grandparents began a life in Paris: they married in August 1914 and my aunt Marie was born a month later. They would later have 3 more children: Annie (1916), Salomon/Raymond (1918) and my mother, Suzanne, in 1926.
They experienced the First World War in the capital, then the major strikes of 1936 and of course the occupation.
My grandparents were naturalized in 1928.
Their four children, born in France, fully integrated into French society. All obtained their school-leaving certificate. By right of birth, they were French citizens.
My grandfather died in October 1945, he was 67 years old and my grandmother, twelve years later in 1957, she was 74 years old.
A small family
We remained in contact with some of my grandparents' family, while others were affected by the Holocaust or simply severed ties with our family, or even with Judaism itself. Why? That remains a mystery, although my research has allowed me to find some of them, but not to understand the reason for their estrangement.
I was able to find some of my ancestors in the meager civil registry archives of Warsaw, around the year 1800.
On my grandmother's Kronental side, her father had died, but his death certificate in Paris listed his parents' names. This allowed me to trace my lineage back to the previous generation.
On the Leizerson side, the investigation was more "hard" and involved two families. I found nothing prior to my great-grandfather's father.
To my families today
If you see any errors,
if you have any additional information I could add,
or even photos, please don't hesitate to send them to me.
I deliberately limited my research to my own generation. If you think it possible or desirable for me to extend it to current generations, children, grandchildren, etc., please let me know.
- If you have any additional information, photos, or archives
Feel free to contact me