Litzmannstadt

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Gott
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Litzmannstadt

#1

Post by Gott » 04 Sep 2003, 14:28

I don't have much knowledge about Jewish surnames, but when the Germans formally annexed Lodz, Poland into the Third Reich, the city was renamed Litzmannstadt. How exactly did the name of Litzmannstadt came about? To me, 'Litzmann' sounds quite Jewish...

LEVE
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#2

Post by LEVE » 04 Sep 2003, 16:06

1. The city of Lodz was renamed Litzmannstadt on April 11, 1940.
2. It was in honor of World War I German General Karl Litzmann.
3. Click on General Litzmann's picture for more informaiton.

Image


g.l.s.h
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Re: Litzmannstadt

#3

Post by g.l.s.h » 04 Sep 2003, 16:51

[, 'Litzmann' sounds quite Jewish....

Here are some more "Jewish" names in the Third reich:

Beck, Rozenberg, and those are only the few famous ones i can recall in a second.

The reason is that those "Jewish" names were given to Jews that were living in Germany, or German oriented teritories, when they got their names...

Many were called after the place they lived so you may find many: Berliner, Breslauer' Frrankfurter, Hamburger' and also: Wasrshavsky, Krakovsky and Danzinger.

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Jeremy Chan
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#4

Post by Jeremy Chan » 06 Sep 2003, 12:06

German-Jewish names usually have the suffixes of "-thal" (Roesenthal, Blumenthal, Metzenthal, etc); "-berg" (Goldberg, Landsberg, Brantberg, etc); "-stein" (Blumenstein, Goldstein, Finkelstein, Kronstein). These are at least the ones I remember. German Jewish surnames were in fact a mile between "pure-German" surnames and traditional Hebrew names (Cohen, Sharon, Levy). Russian and Polish Jews (or rather North Eastern European Jews in general) tend to share the same style of surnames as those of their adopted country. I also thought there were some deviations in German Jewish surnames even (eg: Lieberman; Liebermann, Aaronson, Aaronsen). But I can understand why the Germans would want to change Jewish-sounding names in occupied countries, as I'm sure happened in Germany before. It's like during the start of WW1 here in Australia, as part of anti-German sentiment, German place-names were changed, eg German Creek became Empire Bay, and Mueller Park became Kitchener Park.

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USAF1986
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#5

Post by USAF1986 » 06 Sep 2003, 12:33

Speaking of dropping unpopular German names, in 1917, King George V formally changed his family's house name to Windsor. It had been the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Regards,
Shawn

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Windward
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#6

Post by Windward » 06 Sep 2003, 15:14

USAF1986 wrote:Speaking of dropping unpopular German names, in 1917, King George V formally changed his family's house name to Windsor. It had been the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
and battenberg became mountbatten. :D

i'm not anti-semitic, but i think many people(include me) follow their nose to judge "jewish names". if i seen a bauman, epstein, mayer, rosenbaum, davidson, stein, frank, goldman, hirsch, eisenberg, i would think he/she is a jewish people at first. but some names are not so easy to judge, as bird, gates, miller, phillips.

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Zapfenstreich
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#7

Post by Zapfenstreich » 08 Sep 2003, 04:45

Windward wrote:
i'm not anti-semitic, but i think many people(include me) follow their nose to judge "jewish names". if i seen a bauman, epstein, mayer, rosenbaum, davidson, stein, frank, goldman, hirsch, eisenberg, i would think he/she is a jewish people at first. but some names are not so easy to judge, as bird, gates, miller, phillips.
You have included my surname in the above list and, believe me, my family and I are not Jews. However you are not the first person to assume I am Jewish because of my name. Personally I consider it an honor.

Z 8)

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#8

Post by g.l.s.h » 08 Sep 2003, 14:10

However you are not the first person to assume I am Jewish because of my name. Personally I consider it an honor.

Z 8)[/quote]

Well these people are quite wrong. Your name will not sound "jewish" to people who are familiar with "jewish" names - it would be said about a Jew carring that name, that he has a "German" name.

I guess that in certain areas of the "new" world (usa, Australia ex.) there were far more Jewish immigrants than German ones - thats why such names were considered first "Jewish".

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Windward
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#9

Post by Windward » 08 Sep 2003, 16:58

Zapfenstreich wrote: You have included my surname in the above list and, believe me, my family and I are not Jews. However you are not the first person to assume I am Jewish because of my name. Personally I consider it an honor.
Z 8)
Oh trust me I'm not baleful. :) And forgive me for asking your family name, just for curious. Hirsch? Davidson? Frank?

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Zapfenstreich
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#10

Post by Zapfenstreich » 08 Sep 2003, 21:18

Windward wrote:
Zapfenstreich wrote: You have included my surname in the above list and, believe me, my family and I are not Jews. However you are not the first person to assume I am Jewish because of my name. Personally I consider it an honor.
Z 8)
Oh trust me I'm not baleful. :) And forgive me for asking your family name, just for curious. Hirsch? Davidson? Frank?
My surname is Bauman, originally Baumann. It is a German occupational name meaning "a builder" or "a man who builds". Literally "building man".
My ancestors up to my great grandfather were Master Stone Masons; all good German Lutherans.

Z

Ryan81
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#11

Post by Ryan81 » 05 Oct 2007, 19:35

One of the businessmen of DEGESCH was named Theo Goldschmidt and was put on trial after the war. His surname certainly does sound Jewish due to the "Gold" in front of Schmidt. It just goes to show that it doesn't necessarily follow. In the same way, the surname 'Frank' can be either Jewish or Christian. Same with Rosenberg, yet I doubt Alfred Rosenberg was Jewish.

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sylvieK4
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#12

Post by sylvieK4 » 29 Oct 2007, 14:31

Not Jewish. More photos of Karl Litzmann:

Shaking hands with Hitler:
Image

Walking with Hitler before LAH Honor Guard:
Image

To the left of v. Mackensen in the photo (with cane), marching
before an SA assembly:
Image

(all three photos from: Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz)

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panzertruppe2001
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#13

Post by panzertruppe2001 » 06 Dec 2007, 23:37

Something very curious about nazi hierarchy. When I began study the Third Reich i get surprised that one of the most antisemistic men was Rosenberg. In Argentina Rosenberg is undoubtfully a jewish surname.

Panzertruppe2001

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Mathias Bielenberg
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#14

Post by Mathias Bielenberg » 07 Dec 2007, 00:58

Bielenberg is not jewish at all...and it has the suffix "berg"...in fact many members of my family are former Heer officers...

1848
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#15

Post by 1848 » 16 Dec 2007, 01:02

weren't there a couple of gauleiters called Frank, while at the same time a German Jewish family of the same name tried to escape persecution, hiding in an attic in Amsterdam?

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