Some Kadetsky family history from Poland

I checked out the Jewish Family Finder on JewishGen.com (a fascinating site which anyone interested in their Jewish family history should use) and found a researcher in Poland also looking into the KADETSKY surname. I contacted him (with the wonderful help of a fellow Genner who translated our correspondence) and got the following answer from him:

Dear Jenni,
Sorry for not replying earlier but I very often travel and I am very busy. Yesterday I came back from Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
If you are interested in your family history from today Poland and today Ukraine you should know not only the history of the Jewish people in Europe but also history of the Eastern Europe at least from XVI-XVII. Before you obtain such knowledge I would like to provide you with basic information. Having analyzed overnight all surnames and dates which you have mentioned in your letter I confirm that we are related to each other.
However we encounter one major problem. It would be a very time consuming task to establish when our family history converged.
It is undoubtedly a fascinating subject, but it requires historical knowledge about Polish, Austrian, Prussian and Russian states.
I don’t know if you realize since when the Jews from Biezun and neighboring villages were required to use the surnames and who named them?
Biezun was a Polish-Jewish town founded by the nobility family Dzialynski. I guess, in 1760, its ownership was transferred to the Zamojski family. In 1767, they brought the Jews. It was a very common practice among the Polish nobility and earlier among the Polish kings.
If Polish nobility wished to build and to develop cities and towns they had to bring the Jews as the law prevented nobility from performing any work or running any businesses. If a nobleman soiled his hands with work he was stripped of his title and became a peasant. Peasants were just slaves, they could not learn how to read, write or calculate. Only Catholic priests and some townspeople were literate.
Therefore the Polish nobility had to hire others to work.

In the 18th century due to political reasons Poland was partitioned by 3 countries: Prussia, Austria and Russia. At the beginning Biezun was included in Plock district in Prussia.

In accordance with the Prussia King’s edict dated 17.04.1797, every peasant and every Jew was given his own unique surname as so far they used only names and father’s names (patronymics), sometimes place of origin.

In Plock surnames were assigned by a famous composer Hoffman in 1802. Hoffman, as an officer and a military musician was penalized for drunkenness and transferred to provincial Plock. In that way in 1802, Hoffmann, who was always drunk, was ordered by the King to assign surnames to the Jews. It is quite interesting as the procedure was quite comical but sometimes offensive surnames were given.

It should be kept in mind, that your family who originated in Ukraine came also from Poland as this territory was a part of Poland until so called Chmielnicki uprising. Later on partitions of Poland often divided families.

However, the history of families from today Poland, especially from Biezun and neighboring shtetls can be traced by analyzing surnames from Prussian districts, especially from the years 1802 or 1803 onwards.

The following rule was applied: if one family who lived in a village or in a town was given a surname, then other not-related people were not given the same surname. New-born babies were given names after late grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, brothers etc.

The Jews started to settle down in this part of Poland in the 15th and the 16th century. Firstly they were brought to Gabin, then to Drobin, Dobrzyn nad Wisla, Dobrzyn nad Drweca, Lipna, Sierpca, Zuromin, Wroclawek, Kikol.

If my grandparents were born in Biezun, in 1880, were married and then moved to Golub, Dobrzyn, Zuronim, Lipno, Sierpiec, Lubicz, then they were related to each other “many times”.
Therefore surname Kadecki comes only from Biezun but it spread to the entire region and at the end of 19th century can be found in America. The same rule applies to the surnames like: Czarnobroda, Czrnoœliwka, Dobroszklanka, Pedziwiatr , Cipa czy te¿ Pêdzidupa.

The above rule did not apply to Jewish names of historical significance such as Rapaport.

Therefore if you wish to research your family history you should understand the Jewish history in this part of Europe before and after Holocaust.

Your point of view depends, of course, on your religious and political opinion. Historical knowledge of anti-Semitism and Holocaust is also essential.

Contrary to the popular belief, the latest research shows that approximately 50% of the Polish population has Jewish genotypes, although they are both Polish nationalists and Catholics.
They are also often Anti-Semitic.

I am positive, that many your ancestors live in today Poland and in former Soviet Union, but sometimes they do not know that. Often people of East Europe consider a word “Jewish” as offensive. Moreover it is sometimes destructive.

Often I have the exact knowledge about person’s background, but I believe that I do not have right to discuss the subject.
Of course your situation is very different.

By the way: 2 years ago my daughter met Gilbert Rapaport at Austin University in TX (USA). He is the Head of Slavic Department. He speaks Russian and Polish fluently.
My daughter told him, that her father has a friend named Rapaport from a town located between Plock and Torun. Professor replied, that it’s impossible as they were very small shetetls and nobody survived Holocaust.
His family emigrated before the I World War from Dobrzyn and Biezun and my friend, Rapaport, 82 years old, (his mother’s maiden name was Dobraszklanka) is his close uncle.
My daughter found such interesting family link, although she knows nothing about Jewish genealogy.
The Jewish family Kadetcki comes only from Biezun. Fischer and Kaufman lived in Dobrzyn nad Drweca. If you wish I can research the subject, which you are interested in and I will send you progressively available information .

Regards and invitation to Poland.

Wlodek Malinowski