That's really fascinating, Hil.

That tartan, linen tartan, is way cool.

oddly, some of them are listed as Austrian and some are listed as German.

If it's WWII era, Austrians were frequently listed as German after the Anschluss.

If it's WWII era, Austrians were frequently listed as German after the Anschluss.

Yep, that's what I was assuming -- and there's also the matter of it being, well, Austria; after the breakup of the empire after WWI, they ended up with cousins in what became Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, "Jugo-Slavia" (as the document I just read charmingly spells it). Bourgeois urban family, traveled a lot, settled in different cities, and all of a sudden they're different countries...

and there's also the matter of it being, well, Austria; after the breakup of the empire after WWI, they ended up with cousins in what became Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, "Jugo-Slavia" (as the document I just read charmingly spells it). Bourgeois urban family, traveled a lot, settled in different cities, and all of a sudden they're different countries...

Yep, same here. I've got some relatives who sometimes listed their birthplace as Poland, sometimes as Hungary, and sometimes as Austria, and you can make a case for any one of those being accurate, all for the same city. (Well, Hungary less so, but it's not totally wrong.) My grandfather grew up in Vienna, but relatives were in Hungary, Poland, and I think Slovakia. And then there were a few who went to Belgium or France. (We can definitely trace which city they were living in when they first took the last name, and then branch out from there. That city's in Poland now, but it used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.)

That city's in Poland now, but it used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Ha! Vrotislav Breslau Wrocław* represent!

* For example purposes only. Your Lower Silesia May Vary.

Nope, Galicia. Nowy Sacz.

Heh, I wasn't guessing for real that it was the same place, but it's such a typical thing in that part of Europe. My great-grandmother was born in Breslau, and I've definitely had some weird conversations -- "But I thought your family was Austrian?"... "Well, she was originally German." "... but isn't that in Poland?" It gets to a point where it's a kind of Who's On First thing, but with empires.

It gets to a point where it's a kind of Who's On First thing, but with empires.

snerk

My grandmother's family is easier. They stayed in basically one place for a few hundred years, and the only possible nationalities for them would be Bavarian, Hessian, and German. Not so much changing boundaries as just places combining. My mom's family was from a part of Poland that was sometimes part of Russian, depending on who'd won the most recent battle. And in US immigration records, "nationality" is most frequently recorded as "Hebrew."

(I've noticed a bunch of records from about 1948-1950 or so with Israelis listed as "Israelian" or "Israelite." Guess it took a little while for people to learn the adjective form.)

From that cakewrecks blog: [link] I cannot stop giggling.