Eva Steuer Halas |
Eva Steuer Halas this is for you! It’s
too bad I found this out too late for you to know about it, but I did find
living relatives of your grandfather’s brother!
Up to about 2 weeks ago, I only knew
that Rabbi Abraham Steuer’s parents were Nátán/Náthán Steuer and Adél (Adi) Deutsch
and that he had two sisters. His older sister was Pepi, who married Adolf
Weinberger and his younger sister Tulesa, who married Joszef Samuel.
Nátán was a produce vendor. There is a
Nátán in the 1816 Hungarian census, it states he came to Hungary before 1791, he
was 50 years old at that time (born ca 1766) and living in Varallya, Varad,
Bihar; the same general area. I still don’t know if there is any family
connection between them, perhaps his grandfather.
My newest discovery is that Náthán
Steuer and Adi Deutsch had another son, Salamon Steuer, born 15 Dec 1857,
Nagyvarad.
Salamon Steuer married Rézi/Rozalia
Szipszner on 6 Mar 1878, Chișineu-Criș, Arad, Transilvania, România. They were
married by Salamon’s brother, Rabbi Abraham Steuer [Romania Records].
Salamon and Rezi's marriage record |
I have found 8 children for Salamon and
Rézi in the Romanian Birth Records. Someone else researching this family (Adela
Steuer Bard) stated that Salamon and Rézi had 9 sons and that Salamon had 6
brothers who were rabbis. I haven’t been able to prove either of these two
statements to be true. What I can prove is:
Salamon and Rézi’s children:
David Ahron Steuer, b. 11 Apr 1879,
Chișineu-Criș (Kisjenő), Arad, România
Nandor Steuer, b. 11 May 1884,
Chișineu-Criș (Kisjenő), Arad, România
Dezso Steuer, b. 1885, Chișineu-Criș
(Kisjenő), Arad, România
Szerén Steuer, b. 9 Apr 1886,
Chișineu-Criș (Kisjenő), Arad, România
Ilona (Hana) Steuer, b. 17 Feb 1888,
Chișineu-Criș (Kisjenő), Arad, România
Alexander Steuer, b. 1892,
Chișineu-Criș (Kisjenő), Arad, România
Simon Steuer, b. 1892, Nagyvarad
Adela Steuer, b. May 1900, Oradea,
Bihor, Hungary
Nandor was an optician. During the war he
was in the Hungarian armed forces – labor battalions MUSZ. He was living in
Budapest when he was taken by the Nazis. He did have one son, Nicolas (Shlomo).
Nandor was herded in a “Death March” toward Austria, while the Russians were
closing in from the east. He was shot on the road according to Paul Bard
although he received a “Posthumous Death in Action” decoration in 1948 and they
stated his death was due to exhaustion, age 62. Nandor was buried three times.
His family moved his body twice. His final resting place is in Israel. Nicolas
(Shlomo) was a survivor and had children of his own.
Dezso Steuer changed his last name to Sebestyen.
He married a woman named Serena (Sara) and he was a teacher and Hebrew School
Principal. Dezso was deported to a ghetto. He committed suicide on the train to
Auschwitz in June 1944.
Dezso's Page of Testimony |
Szerén Steuer married Jakab Loewy. She was murdered
and was found on the “List of murdered Jews” from Yizkor books found in
Nagyvarad. Her husband Jakob was also murdered.
Ilona (Hana) Steuer married Armin Levi (Lowy).
Ilona was murdered in 1944 the gas chamber of Auschwitz. They did have at least
one child since her Page of Testimony was submitted by her granddaughter who
lives in Canada.
Alexander Steuer lived in Dej, Somes, Transylvania,
Romania. He was a mining engineer and had two sons and he saw them killed in
front of him. He was deported to Auschwitz and was murdered in the gas chamber
due to being unfit to work.
Alexander's Page of Testimony |
Simon Steuer was an engineer. Helived at
Kiraly Utca 23, Pecs, Hungary. Simon was in the Ghetto in Dej, Hungary (now Romania).His
wife was Erzsébet Weisz. They had two sons, Viktor, b. 1924, Felsö-Bánya, Saut-Mare,
Romania and Erno, born in 1926. It’s believed that Simon was murdered in 1944.
Adela |
Adela Steuer married Alexander Bard. They
had two children: Istvan/Stefan (Shlomo Zalmen) Bard, b. 24 Oct 1920, Nagyvarad
and Paul. Stefan was a law student and
then in a forced labor betalion and was sent to Ukraine. Jews had to go
everywhere on foot and weren’t given guns. [Interview with Paul] Paul’s
application for university was rejected. Adela was deported to Auschwitz on a
woman's transport. She died in 1944, Auschwitz.
Paul Bard was a survivor and lived in
Canada and Israel until his death. He died at the age of 93 in Montréal,
Quebec, Canada on 23 Jan 2014. He arrived at Aschwitz on 28 Jan 1945 and his
prisoner number was 140205. He was liberated from Mühldorf. His
father also survived and returned to Oradea after the war. Paul submitted Pages
of Testimony for his family members that perished. In 1944 most of the family
were sent to Auschwitz.
Paul lost his mother and brother, as
well as many aunts and uncles on both sides of his family. His father,
Alexander, was very young went he went into the army in WWI. He was sent to the
front and mostly fought on the Italian Alps. Non-commissioned officer. After he
met his wife he changed his name from Blum to Bard to sound more Hungarian.