Answers held in a 21 Sep 1958 letter

I remembered getting a copy of a letter that spoke about the STEUER family lore. I decided to read it again and dissect it. Since I keep want to go backwards and find out more on our ancestors, I wanted more clarity in where to look.

There is a letter from Minnie & Barney Steuer, dated 21 Sep1958, to Kermit & Henrietta states that the STEUER name doesn't go back more than three generations. It does state that Bernhardt, Aaron and Julius were brothers and about 6 brothers stayed behind in Hungary as as they knew. The descendants of those brothers had either been lost track of or were murdered in the holocaust.

Pg 1 of Barney Steuer's letter to Kermit, 1958

This letter continues to state that the father of these brothers was not STEUER but Yudkovitch (Judkowitz, Judkiewicz (Hungarian spelling), Judkovics). The story came from Max David Steuer, known as "Pop" to his family, the son of Bernhardt. The story was one of Bernhardt's brothers was bethrothed to a young lady whose last name was STEUER. She was an only child and her father, anxious to have the family name perpetuated asked the prospective son-in-law (whom is still unknown at this time) to take the name of Steuer when he married his daughter.

This brother did take on the name STEUER and the, gradually, one by one the other brothers did the same. The only one who didn’t do it was Bernhardt who came to the USA as Judkowitz, not Steuer, so said by Barney. I do have Hungarian birth records for six of Bernhardt’s children, all born in Bihar Megye, Hungary and some had the last name of Judkiewicz and Mary and Max were born as Steuer.

Some birth records for Bernhardt (Berl) & Fanny's children

The brother I have as not changing his name was Hersk Judkiewicz. His grandson, Josef/Joseph Judkovic was born in Csebinye, Zemplen Megye, Hungary and arrived in New York on 11 February 1898 at the age of 17. He had been told by his father, Abraham Judkiewicz, never to change his name. Marc Judkowitz is a known DNA match to Arthur and Michael, Bernhardt’s great-grandsons and to one of Julius Steuer’s (Cleveland branch) great-great-grandson.

Josef Judkovic Passenger Record

Bernhardt and Fanny may have emigrated under the name of Yudkatitch/Judkiewicz/Judkowitz or someother spelling for the name. The story Max Steuer told, after his father Bernhardt arrived in New York and being introduced as Mr. Steuer, he found the conflict of names embarrassing and then took the name of Steuer as well. Max went on to state that the family was Hungarian and mentioned they were from Grossvardein (the German name for Nagyvarad) and Homona (where the famous Max D Steuer was from).

I have often wondered why Max referred to the place he was born as Grossvardein instead of Nagyvarad if the family had always been Hungarian. The letter from Barney continues to state that the place where Max was born was at one time part of Bohemia, hence could be the reason for the German name. Bernhardt’s brother Aaron was a vintor in Bohemia before he and his family emigrated to New York (before Bernhardt emigrated).

Nagyvarad (Grossvardein) are known today as Oradea, Romania. In Hebrew and Yiddish texts the German name was used. It’s known that Jews in Nagyvarad were immigrants from Bohemia and Moravia. These Jews adopted the Hungarian language and culture earlier than other Jewish communities in Hungary.

 

Nagyvarad, Hungary

I haven’t been able to find any Bohemian records. I do have some theories as to other family members because of their spouses family names are names that others in the extended Steuer family married into, so this tends to lead to the general areas they were from. Still missing other brothers, so there still are large puzzle pieces missing. Maybe one of these days I will find more records and be able to go back a few more generations.

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.