Barth Family

About authors:

My name is Maria Bartoń and I am a 17-year-old student of Bilingual University High School in Rzeszów in an artistic-oriented class. My passions are dance, music, art history, and the alternative art of folding clothes according to the theory of Marie Kondo. I joined the project because I have been fascinated by Jewish culture for a long time and I would like to learn as much as possible about the Jewish community that once lived in my area.

Representative of the Barth Family – Jacques Barth

What does Jacques know about his family from Rzeszów?

Unfortunately, Jacques Barth does not have much information about his family. The topic of the war and difficult experiences from Rzeszów were avoided in his household, as it would mean having to talk about the death of many relatives.

Jacques tried to find out something on his own but due to the language barrier and lack of access to sources, he was unable to find much of the information he was looking for. He does not even own photos of his relatives from the time they lived in Rzeszów.

Most of what Jacques knows about the Barth family revolves around the history of his father – Jeremiasz Barth. His wife and he wrote an article titled “My Galician Story” published in 2021. Jeremiasz Barth was born in 1894 in Rzeszów into an Orthodox Jewish family. His parents were Jakób Shulem Barth (born in Gorlice) and Sara Leichtag (born in Brzostek) – they were the owners of a tavern. Jeremiasz’s sisters were Etelka (born 1897) and Ester (born 1902).

The family prayed in synagogues located near the Rzeszów square. Jeremiasz began his education in Poland in Rzeszów, and later in Bielsko-Biała and Vienna. When World War I broke out, Jeremiasz returned to Poland to be with his family. However, after the fighting on the eastern front intensified, he decided to take them back to Vienna. There, Jeremiasz, like a lot of his colleagues from Rzeszów, enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian Army and fought in the 40th infantry regiment of the Imperial and Royal Army of the Habsburg Empire.

Jacques remembers his father talking about this time and courage of Jews and their eagerness to fight. Jacques also knows that his father aspired to be an officer and was wounded in the stomach with a bayonet while trying to get to Lviv (in Lutsk). Fortunately, he was saved and then awarded the Cross of Merit for his courage.

During the interwar period, Jeremiasz Barth graduated from the medical faculty at the University of Vienna. It is also known that he was a billiards champion in Austrian Galicja; however, Jacques has no information on which year. In 1938, when the situation in Europe began to deteriorate and the coming war was palpable, Jeremiasz was forced by Nazi Germany to leave Europe As they missed their boat to New York they had to stay in Amsterdam

In Europe, life for Jews was lifetreathening. He tried to survive with his son Peter, as his wife was murdered by the Nazi’s. In 1943, Jeremiasz Barth was arrested for not wearing the Star of David. He was tortured by the Gestapo and sentenced to stay in the German concentration camp in Amersfoort. Thanks to the help of a Dutch police officer, he managed to escape and return to Amsterdam. There he met Maria Goudeket – Jacques’ mother.

After the war, Jeremiasz became very involved in the life of the Jewish community in Amsterdam; in particular he was active in a synagogue where Jews from Galicia and all over Eastern Europe were having meetings. They continued the Jewish traditions in which they were raised and spoke among themselves in Yiddish.

In addition to his father’s story, Jacques sent me his notes with information about the life of his ancestors in Rzeszów. The repeated addresses there are Podzamcze Street 8 and Baldachówka Street 7, where aunt Etelka lived with her husband with the surname Fett.

Unfortunately, the fate of most Jacques’ relatives ends tragically: some of them died prematurely due to diseases (including Etelka Fett née Barth), and some are victims of Holocaust (including second aunt Ester Barth and grandmother Sara Leichtag). Only Jeremiasz managed to survive the war. Nonetheless, it was a difficult time for him – he had to escape many times and experienced numerous tragic events, such as the death of his first wife.

Jacques’ knowledge of his family is partly filled with facts but partly filled with guesses and questions. Jacques wondered, among other things, who Jakób Bitkower was (he appeared in the notes) and what was the fate of his relatives: Izaak Barth and Gittele Barth – they were supposed to be the brother and sister of his father Jeremiasz.

Search effects

My search was mainly based on working with archive documents: both stationary in State Archives in Rzeszów and online. Due to limited information, I often checked a wider chronological scope than the one resulting from Jacques’ information, as I was afraid that the information passed down from generation to generation might not entirely reflect reality.

I visited the State Archives office in Rzeszów many times and went through quite a large stack of various volumes. In archival censuses and lists of bakeries and restaurants in Rzeszów, I managed to find addresses related to the Barth family. One of them is Śreniawitów Street 5 – this is both the address of the apartment and the tavern, whose owner is indicated as Jakób Barth (Jacque’s grandfather). The census of the Rzeszófrom 1902 includes, apart from Jakób, his wife Sara, their son Jeremiasz, and their daughter Etla (there is no Ester, as she was not born yet). Moreover, the nephew Izaak and the “servant” (Agata Mucha) are registered at this address. The employment of the servant proves the family’s wealth.

In turn, in the census from 1910, the address Podzamcze Street 8 appears as the address where the Barth family lived – already with all three children.

To fully wrap up the matter of the addresses, I went on a short walk around the Rzeszów market square to photograph the current state of buildings. I was able to take photos of the building at Śreniawitów Street 5 (but is it the same building as before?) and the building at Baldachówki Street 7, while the former place at Podzamcze Street 8 does not exist anymore.

In the notes sent to me by Jacques, the figure of Jakób Bitkower appears, about whom basically nothing is known. Thanks to the census from 1910 I learned that he was a subtenant of the Barth family’s apartment and that he was a watchmaker. The mystery has been solved.

Apart from the mentioned locations and information about Jakób Bitkower, I also found three birth certificates. One of Jeremiasz Barth (born in October 1894, his father’s profession was simply “publican”, and his mother’s profession was “at her husband’s side”) and birth certificates of his two sisters: Etel Barth ( born in November 1897) and Ester (born in March 1902, she was given two names: Ester Rywka, and was born at Zamkowa Street 5). These documents also provide the information when Jacques’ grandparents got married – it was on May 30, 1888 in Brzostek (Sara’s hometown).

In turn, in later registers on population movement control, I found Etel and her husband with a surname Fett. Thanks to this document, I learned that Etel’s husband was named Mendel and that he was a merchant. However, the register contains an error regarding Etel’s birth date: instead of 1897, the date 1902 is registered – the year of Ester’s birth (Etel’s younger sister). The dates made me quite confused but Jacques confirmed that Mendel Fett’s wife was definitely Etla.

Jacques mentioned that his father and aunts Etel and Ester attended schools in Rzeszów. It was also mentioned in the censuses. Jacques told me that they were not students of the Jewish schools, so I focused on searching the catalogs of regular middle schools. I decided to search through the catalogs of the priest Stanisław Konarski First Middle School and High School in Rzeszów, and the Second State Secondary School and Middle School. Even though these were strictly male schools, there were also female students attending classes – hence I was hoping to find Jacques’ aunts in the catalogs. Unfortunately, I did not find any of the Barth siblings. It was a huge surprise and disappointment.

However, looking through a stack of catalogs was not in vain, as I came across the report card of Mendel Fett – Etel’s husband. According to the document, he was born on April 24, 1891 in Rzeszów and came from a merchant family. Naturally, the report card contains a list of grades for individual subjects, as well as information that the student…  was not classified to the next class,

Jacques has repeatedly said that every little piece of information and discovery will be very valuable to him. In particular, he wanted to learn as much as possible about the tavern/restaurant located in Rzeszów and run by his family, as well as to find photos of his family from the time they lived in Poland.

I found the information about the address of the tavern, but finding photos turned out to be a task beyond my strength. Portrait photos of Rzeszów residents, which are in the collections of the Rzeszów City Photography or the District Museum in Rzeszów, are rarely signed. Most of the people in the photographs are now anonymous to us. I could look for similarities between the people in the photos and Jacques’ father but it is a difficult task. It is also worth mentioning that the oldest preserved photo of Jeremiasz Barth in collections of Jacques is from 1952 – Jeremiasz is 59 years old in it.

Summaries

Jacques Barth

This is a great story about my family. This is more than I even imagined. My father was proud of his Polish heritage and transferred this enthusiasm to me. I hope this will be the beginning of an exchange programme of collaboration between Rzeszow and Aalsmeer, the Netherlands. We have a lot to offer each other.

Maria Bartoń

Even though initially I had doubts whether I would have enough time for the project, I believe that taking part in it was one of my best decisions. Allowing someone from outside the family to delve into their past is an expression of great trust. But it was the strong hope to clarify the history of their ancestors that made our project partners open the doors to very personal worlds. This is how I perceive Jacques with whom I had the opportunity to work. I am touched by his great desire to find out “anything” about his own family and I am very glad that I could help him at least a little. The whole project and its main goal reminded me of the lyrics of the song “When you know” by Scorpions: “When you know where you come from, You know where you’re going”. I have the impression that to some extent it is history that creates our identity and determines our direction in life.

Entry about the birth of Jeremiasz Barth, 1984. Document from the collections of State Archives in Rzeszów

Jeremiasz Barth, 1952. Photo courtesy of Jacques Barth.

Peter Barth, brother of Jeremiasz Barth, uncle of Jacques Barth, at the age of 1. Picture was taken in Rzeszów. Photo courtesy of Jacques Barth.