Second Stop: Brutovce, Slovakia (formerly know as Brutocz, Hungary)
Elias Szendrovics and Hani Fischmann were married in the town of Polanocz, Hungary on November 1, 1868 (click on the word "married" and go to line 8 in the pdf file to see their marriage record). Soon after they moved to Brutocz where they had their first child, Albert.
The 1969 Census of Hungarian Jews (pg. 1, pg. 2, pg. 3) recorded that Elias was an inn-keeper living in house number 7. The house was one story and had 2 sleeping rooms, 1 store room, 1 kitchen and a cellar. In addition, Elias and Hani had one shed, 3 stalls, one barn and a cow. Both Elias and Hani were recorded as being able to read and write. The last page of the census was signed by Elias on January 4, 1870. It is the only document in existence with his signature (click on "last page" to see Elias' signature).
Visit
The drive to Brutovce was very beautiful and the village itself was quaint and pictoresque. As I walked around the town, the first sign of life came from a small barn-like structure where pigs were squealing very loudly. I stood outside for a few minutes to see why there was so much noise. Eventually a man came out and we talked briefly in German. He explained that they were feeding the pigs. I don't know what they were being fed but the squealing was so loud you would have thought they were being slaughtered!
After walking around the village for a short time, I met another man who spoke a little bit of German and I was able to tell him that my ancestors used to live in the village. He found this very interesting and then told me that my face resembled the face of the village priest. He insisted that I come with him to meet the priest. When we reached the priest's house, he knocked several times but no one was home. Nonetheless, he insisted that I wait until the priest returned. He was convinced that there was a possibility that we might be related because, according to him, we looked so alike. I explained to him that my ancestors were Jewish but that didn't dissuade him from his belief that there might be a connection. I waited for a while and then told him that I really had to leave. As I was walking to my car, he spotted the priest and his wife walking outside and called me back. After introducing me to the priest, we shook hands, and then asked a boy from the village to take our photo. After the photo was taken I wanted to get on my way, thanked the man, the priest and his wife and was on my way. Here is the photo of me and the village priest, you be the judge of whether we have similar features or not:
And here is a photo of me with the man I met (on my left), the priest and his wife:
On my way out of Brutovce and back to the main road, one of the striking images was the view of the ruins of the 12th century Spis castle. It was a beautiful image and became a landmark in my travels. Where ever I went in the region to retrace where our ancestors lived, the castle was usually visible in the distance but from a different perspective. This is a view that all of our ancestors would have been familiar with that looks the same way as it did when they lived there.
Here is a view of the castle as I drove away from Brutovce:
