First STEUER DNA Match Confirmed Family Connection

 For the first time, I have been able to connect a Steuer DNA match with one of my Steuer branches!

My cousin Michael sent me information on his newest DNA match. His newest DNA match is a Steuer via his maternal side. His mother, Clara Steuer Kord, was the daughter of Desidero/Desider (David) Steuer and Lenke/Lanke Vamos (Ileana Weisz-Vamos).

 

Lenke’s family changed their name from Weisz to Vamos, as many other families. She was born about 1885, Fersig Syatmar Hungary. During WWII she was able to get to Paris. About 1949/1950 she went to Canada and lived with her sister Rose for a while. She crossed the Canadian border at the Buffalo, New York Border Crossing. Her arrival contact was her daughter Clara. Lenke then went to Ohio to live with her daughter Clara and family.

 

Desidero/Desider “David” Steuer was a Literature Professor at a gymnasium in Budapest, as far as we know. He is a mystery to their family because before the war, he and Lenke separated and officially divorced on her border crossing from Canada. I am 99.9% sure he is the second son of Rabbi Abraham Steuer and Sari (Sarlota) Mandelbaum. I have his name as Deszo from my telephone conversations with Eva Steuer Halas. She told me he perished in a concentration camp, but wasn’t sure which one.

 

It was when I learned that Clara “Klarika”, who was born in Budapest, but married in Satu Mare (Crisana-Maramures / Romania) came to light, a light bulb went off for me  . I immediately wrote her son and asked if he recognized the name Eva and George Halas. The reply I got back was "Wow! Eva was Clara's cousin."

I then asked if theyheard about Eva Steuer Halas' grandfather, Rabbi Abraham Steuer. I did have an idea who "David" was in relation to Eva's family, but wanted to know more before coming to a conclusion.

I was sent a copy of Clara Steuer and Joseph Katz's (later Kord) marriage record. A witness listed on their marriage record was Dr. Eugene Steuer. Dr. Eugene Steuer was born Izrael, his Hungarian name was Jeno. It so happens that he was a physician and during his military service, 1915-1918, he was the Head Field Doctor in Albania, Italy. He later perished in 1943 at Auschwitz, along with his wife Margit Friedmann Steuer and daughter Etelka Eszter Steuer.

Dr. Eugene Steuer was one of Eva Steuer Halas' paternal uncles. This makes me even more convinced that "David" was in fact Rabbi Abraham Steuer’s second oldest son, known to me from Eva as Dezso. Up until now I only knew that Dezso Steuer was born 30 Nov 1875, Szatmar, Okorito, Szatmar, Hungary and that he perished in a concentration camp. Eva didn’t remember at the time I spoke with her (on the phone), his profession and I didn’t think about asking about his wife or children.

I then got a couple of photos, one of Eva and George Halas and another of Eva, her daughter Monica, Clara’s daughter Mariana and another relative Fran. Since these photos came from Clara’s daughter, it is one more link between Clara and Eva.

Clara and Joseph first immigrated in 1939 with their son Victor to Canada. Her maternal uncle Ernest Vamos lived in San Francisco, California, who was their sponsor to the United States. Clara and Joseph settled in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Their daughter was born there and both Clara and Joseph were naturalized in Ohio.

 

It’s unfortunate that the cousins are no longer with us, especially since I have found many other cousins via birth records. There were other Steuer cousins living in Toronto that I wished I could have connected Eva with. There still is one living cousin in Calgary who is a descendant of Rabbi Abraham Steuer’s brother, Salamon Steuer.

Still looking for more information on David/Dezso Steuer and "Aunt Borishka."

Rabbi Abraham Steuer’s Brother Uncovered

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's birth record

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.

 

Stefan Bard

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.

The Wachsner Family Descendants of Samuel Steuer

Samuel’s daughter Rosalie (Rosalia), born in either 1828 or 1829, according to her death record. Rosalie married Moses Wachsner, son of Isaac and Sorel Wachsner (b. 05 Feb 1822) in Brzezinka. Moses was a merchant. They had two children: Isidor, born 10 Jul 1851, Brzezinka and Emilie, born 21 Sep 1852, Brzezinka. Rosalie Steuer Wachsner died on 28 Jun 1854 at the age of 24.

Moses is one of ten children. His siblings were Frumet (b. 08 Sep 1810), Abraham (b. 20 Jan 1813), Haye (b. 20 Apr 1814), Israel (b. 08 May 1816), Slatte (b. 03 Feb 1818), Loebel (b. 20 Dec 1819), Rosalie (b. 21 Jun 1824), Blumchen (b. 19 Sep 1826) and Chava [Eva] (b. 01 Nov 1829). Their father Isaac was born 10 Mar 1788 and died in Myslowitz on 01 Feb 1853. [Information is from Centralna Biblioteka Judaistyczna and Myslowitz Births, Marriages, Deaths]

Friederike Steuer, Rosalie’s sister, was the second wife of Moses Wachsner. She was 23 years old when she married her sister’s widower. Moses was 31 years old when he married Friederike on 17 Aug 1853 in Brzezinka. Friederike and Moses had eight children who were all born in Brzezinka: Rosalie (28 Jun 1854), Isaac (13 Aug 1855), Heinrich (2 Mar 1857), Hannchen (28 Dec 1858), Marcus (8 Oct 1860), Siegmund Israel [Siegfried] (16 Mar 1862), Eva (12 Aug 1863) and Selma (10 Mar 1869).  

Rosalie Wachsner died at the age of just 24 days on 22 Jul 1854.

Marriage record for Heinrich & Selma

Heinrich married his niece, Selma Nothmann, daughter of Eva (Chava) Wachsner & Hirshel Nothmann. Heinrich and Selma had two daughters: Ellÿ, born 12 Aug 1887 in Gross Strehlitz, Silesia, Prussia (Groß Strehlitz, Preußen) and Meta, born 20 Jan 1890 in Gross Strehlitz, Silesia, Prussia. Ellÿ married a man named Yaakov (Jack) Lissner. Neither Ellÿ nor Meta had any children (as per the Nothmann Chronicle). Dr. Heinrich Wachsner died on 15 Feb 1913 (one month before turning 56 years old).

 

 

Ellÿ and Yaakov lived in Berlin before and during WWII. She was deported with Transport 33 from Berlin to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp on 03 Mar 1943. Ellÿ was murdered at Auschwitz. Yaakov was born in Berlin and was murdered in the Shoah, according to the Page of Testimony submitted by his cousin Salomon Volf.

Page of Testimony - Yaakov

Page of Testimony - Elly

Birth record for Meta

Meta also lived in Berlin prior to and during WWII. She was deported with Transport 35 from Berlin to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp on 06 Mar 1943. She was listed as missing.

Marcus was living in Bieruń (Berun) before he married Marianna [Marie] Jettel Fernbach on 19 May 1863 in Pless. Marcus was a merchant. They returned to Bieruń to live and their two children (that I know of to date) were born there: Emilene (26 Mar 1864) and Leo (09 Dec 1873). It’s believed that Marcus perished in the holocaust. Leo was deported from Berlin on Transport I/8, no. 488 to Terezín on 18 Jun 1942, He was deported on 19 Sep 1942 on Transport Bo, no. 293 from Terezín to Treblinka and murdered.

Siegfried married Rosa (Raachel) Simenauer (born 28 May 1875, Upper Silesia), daughter of Moshes Simenauer. They had a two daughters Edit Dvora (Edith), born 4 Aug 1895 and Elfrieda (Friedel), born 10 Feb 1897 [Nysa Births 1809,10,12,1813-1928].

 

Edit Dvora (Edith) married Shmuel Meir (Samuel) Jurovics, son of Avrom Leib Yehuda (Leopold) Jurovics and Mirjam Friedman. Shmuel owned a Jewish Literature Book Store in Berlin. Edit Dvora and Shmuel Meir had at three sons: and Benjamin Ze’ev Jurovics (17 Jun 1920), Rafael Jair Jurovics (28 January 1922), Esra Avinoam Jurovics, born 02 Feb 1925, and two sisters: Mirjam (29 September 1926) and Hanna Shifra (3 November 1932), all born in Berlin.

 

1930 Breslau Address List

 

 

Elfrieda married Oskar Lichtenstein. According to the 1930 Breslau Address List, they lived at Herderstrasse 26.

 

 

 

Theresienstadt Ghetto Death Certificate

 Siegfried (Wachsner) was deported to
Theresienstadt and later transported to Auschwitz and perished there in 1944. Rosa Simenauer Wachsner was a bookkeeper. She died from disease at the Theresienstadt Ghetto in 1941.

Esra Jurovics

Esra Jurovics lived in Loosdrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands during the war where he joined the Youth Aliya in Loosdrecht. Esra was on the Dutch Police list. He was deported to Auschwitz and was murdered there on 01 Nov 1942 as per his brother Benjamin Jurovics. His brother Yair Rafael (born Jurovics) said Esra was murdered in Switzerland. 

Samuel Jurovics was born 17 Aug 1888 in Kassa (Kaschau; Košice), Hungary. He arrived at the Port of New York from Brussels via Southampton, England on 16 Sep 1939 as a tourist, where his sister lived. Samuel was listed as “Stateless” and listed that he was going to visit his brother-in-law Sam Klein at E 93^rd Street, New York City. His wife Edith was listed on the passenger list as living at 262 Finchley Road, London.  He died from cancer on 22 Elul 5702 (04 Sep 1942) in New York, USA. Edith (Edit Dvora) Jurovics was able to escape to London, England. She lived and worked as a secretary. Samuel wrote letters to his wife, most of which were saved and were donated to the USA Holocaust Museum in Washington.

Samuel's passenger list - page 1

Samuel's passenger list - page2

Rafael Yair (Rafael Jair Jurovics), Benjamin, Miriam (Mirjam) and Hanna Jurovics and their parents are survivors. 

Benjamin arrived in Palestine in 1939. He was a civil engineer and lived in Haifa (Israel). He married Tzipora Fanny and they had to daughters: Naomi and Vered. Naomi married a Gershon Nir Singer and as 2013 still lives in Haifa. Vered married a Ziv Binyamini and in 2013 lived in California. 

Vered Jurovics Binyamini, Clay Artist

Naomi and Vered have two half- siblings. Naomi and Gershon Nir have two children: Hagit Singer and Yuval Singer. Vered and Ziv have two daughters: Neri Peled and Hadas Binyamini.

Rafael Moshe Yair (Rafael Jair Jurovics)  “Rafa” lived in Tel Aviv and was an architect. When he retired, he moved to Hod HaSharon. He married Rachel Levin and they had two sons: Yoram Yair and Gabriel “Gabi” Yair. Rafael died 12 Apr 2015. His sons are still living in Israel as of 2013.

Gabi is the father of Ofer Ezra Yair, daughter Yair Boazson and three other children. He married Living Vurgan.

Yoram married Living Halperin and they have a daughter Yair Ganor, two sons and another daughter Yair Horesh.

As of 2013, Miriam was living on Kibbutz Sheluhot in the Beit Shean Valley. She married a Mr. Berlowitz and had four children: Hanna Berlowitz (now Amitai), Shmuel Berlowitz, Oved Berlowitz and Deborah Berlowitz (now Kilav). All of Miriam’s children are living in Israel with their families.

Hanna Shifra Jurovics Yaari was living in Haifa as of 2013. She had three children: Ada Rivkah Yaari Cohen, Yitzhak Yaari and Avinoam Yaari (named after Esra Avinoam Jurovics). All of Hanna’s children are living in Israel.

Selma Wachsner died on 21 Mar 1869, just 12 days old.

So far nothing else is known about Moses and Friederike’s children Isaac, Hannchen or Eva.

Home to many of the Steuer &Wachsner Descendants