Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

The following letter refers to the Zerzawy family tree which we saw on February 13.

Although sharing a last name, the author of the letter, Dr. Herrmann Zerzawy, appears not to have been Jewish and not to have been related to the Zerzawys in my family. He mentions that Paul’s and Robert’s family tree was created by their father (Helene’s brother-in-law) Julius Zerzawy and his cousin Berthold. After spending the last few years in the land of genealogy, I am in awe of all that these people accomplished without access to the internet or computers.

When Roslyn translated this document, I thought it would be of interest to people interested in the history of genealogy. I have yet to find the correct person or organization. I put the question to a listserve on JewishGen and received replies about the origin of the last name. Here is one response: “Zerzawy is clearly a Germanized version of the Czech adjective ‘zrzavy’, which means ‘red-haired’ or ‘red-headed’ (‘zrzava’ for women -- normally with diacritics in both cases). A Czech acquaintance told me that the root of the word is ‘rez,’ which means ‘rust’ in English.” When I attended a Jewish genealogy conference last summer, I learned that Jewish surnames (last names) were not officially used in some communities in Europe until the 18th and 19th century. When surnames became required, in some places wealthy Jews could pay for a “good” name and poorer Jews were “given” a name, often one which was less than flattering. I don’t know into which category “red-headed” would have fallen.

In this letter, Hermann Zerzawy consults with Dr. Samuel Steinherz, a prominent history professor in Prague who, after being driven from his post by anti-semitic students, focused his research on the history of the Jews in Bohemia.

Vienna, April 23, 1937

Dr. Herrmann Zerzawy, Governmental Advisor, Vienna

Honorable University Professor Dr. Samuel Steinherz, Prague

Dear Professor,

During my recent visit to family members in Brünn, my friend and longtime colleague Bruno Trapp gave me a gift, the Book about the Jews and the Jewish Community of Moravia by Hugo Gold, which greatly interested me. My next question was: Is there something similar for Bohemia? My friend Trapp then gave me your address, Professor, since you are the President of the Society for the History of the Jews in the Czechoslovak Republic and an author of forthcoming publications. Thus, encouraged by my friend Trapp, I am politely requesting your help re my personal situation.

To introduce myself perhaps it is all right if I mention that I have been involved with genealogy and local history, have often spent vacations on personal research in archives in Moravia and Bohemia, have been a member of the war archive for 18 years, and I have put together, through tenacious work, a family archive of all instances I have found of the names Zerzawy, Zrzavy´, Sersawy, ze Rzawy, Vitus, Veit, Witha ze Rzawy, Lapaczek ze Rzawy (von Zerzawy, etc., etc.) with numerous documents, impressions of (family) seals, family trees, all with strict historical evidence, not considering filial proofs not currently possible (to determine) for some of the older, as well as younger, bearers of the name.

1)    Original noble bearers of the name. There is extensive literature about this: [many citations]

2) Middle class (civil) Zerzawy (Zerzawey, Zrzavy´, Sersawy); in Bohemia, Moravia, Vienna, etc.)
-    Attested 1671 in Teplejšowice and Wranow, east of Beneschau (Šimak confession list/index)
-    1674 in Slawikow near Časlau (entry list/registry of the vicar or priest)
-    From 1665 on in Kreuzberg (Krucembnik) near Deutschbrod. This is the ancestral home of about 1000 Zerzawy with their descendants, and mine. My birthplace is Auspitz in Southern Moravia. Proof in the Kreuzberg registry, Prague property and tax rolls, Polna ruling class documents, etc.
-    1680 in Ronow. Časlau district
-    1616 a Hans Zerzawy, actual name Richter, locksmith in Třeboň (Wittingau) (this is still to be verified in the Prague property rolls!)
-    1717-1745, head guard Wendel Anton Zerzawy in Erlau

3) Zerzawys of Jewish origins, in Bohemia, Moravia, Vienna
Their ancestor, as far as I can document this, is Veit Zerzawy, a Jewish businessman from Upper Cerekwe. [citing information on Paul Zerzawy’s family tree below]

Great-grandchildren are:
Merits Zerzawy, Rabbi in Sobieslou (born December 15 1864 in Upper Cerekwe) and
Julius Zerzawy, mountain (mining) engineer in Brüx. His sons:
Dr. Jur. Paul Zerzawy, Vienna, Creditors Association and
Robert Zerzawy, an official (civil servant) in the textile industry in Prague.

Thanks to the collaboration of Julius Zerzawy and a Berthold Zerzawy (deceased, Vienna) I have an exact family tree, at least as much as was possible up to now.

The following questions remain:
1)    Where are the Jewish Zerzawys from?
2)    What was their name prior to the Josephine (re)naming?
3)    How did they get the name Zerzawy?
4)    Where are the Jewish, or other relevant, registry items from Cerekwe and the earlier places of origin? a) Samuel Houbitschek apparently is responsible for the registry in Upper Cerekwe. b) Earlier Jewish registry entries may be in the Catholic priest’s office in Upper Cerekwe. c) Earlier documents supposedly in the Bishop’s office in Budweis [modern name: Česke Budejovice]. These are extremely important questions!!
5)    The district rabbinate in Tabor is apparently not an archive. (?)
6)    What is in the books Prague Property and Property Taxes, as well as the ruler’s books about these questions with the ascendancy sought? (Need to research this in the books in the relevant locations - towns, cities, districts, etc.) National Archives (former cemetery archive, Prague)

Dear Professor, by chance, while this letter was half completed, Mr. Robert Zerzawy from Prague visited me, along with his brother Paul. The former will take the letter with him to Prague and take the liberty of contacting you. - Please be so kind as to advise him, so that he may, following your kind advice/direction, complete the relevant research, either alone or with the assistance of a friend. He is very interested in the family’s history. He will then be so kind as to report to me what you, Honored Professor, have said about the individual questions listed above, what reference material you may be able to name, and where your extensive knowledge might best be put to use in order to gain academic clarification. This is certainly in the best interests of the (works about) the Jews in Bohemia. In this way, you will, through my initiative, and collaboration a perhaps not uninteresting family tree of the ancestor, hopefully with a successful answer to the question of the name’s origin.

With friendly thanks and the expression of my most excellent esteem