STEINSAPIR

Judit and Leopold Steinsaphir spent their lives in the village of Rajgrod and in Kristiania (now known as Oslo). Today, there are no longer many traces of them, neither in Poland nor Norway.

Leopold Steinsapir.
No known images of Judit exist.

BORDERLANDS

Leopold Steinsaphir was born in 1869, six years before Judit, the woman who was to become his wife. They both grew up in Rajgrod, an idyllic village by Lake Rajgrodzkie, which for centuries had been located in the borderlands between changing empires. From 1871, Rajgrod was located in Russia, with Germany across the nearby border.

Lake Rajgrodzkie.
Photo: MHB-F.011109, Karmsund folkemuseum.

THE SHTETL BY THE LAKE

When Leopold and Judit lived in Rajgrod, the town had about 4000 inhabitants, of which ca. 2800 were Jews. The village had two synagogues, a Catholic church, a post office, and a public administration office. Lake Rajgrodzkie was a rich source of fish and provided work for the majority of Rajgrod’s inhabitants.

In the 21st century, there is little in Rajgrod that reveals the multicultural past of the village.

a) One of Rajgrod’s two synagogues.

b) Rajgrod today.
Photo: Oslo Jewish Museum.

A FAREWELL TO RAJGROD

During their youth, Leopold and Judit would have seen a number of their fellow villagers leave Rajgrod to seek a new life further west. More than a thousand Jews emigrated from the village in the decades around the turn of the century. While most of them crossed the Atlantic, a few chose Scandinavia as their destination.

Leopold Steinsaphir, and two young men sharing his last name, presumably his brothers or cousins, were among the first emigrants from Rajgrod to set course for Norway.

Map of Europe, 1905. The borders of Poland changed several times during Leopold and Judit’s lifetime.

IN KRISTIANIA

Leopold came to Norway at the very end of the 19th century, while the country was still in union with Sweden. The capital Kristiania had almost a quarter of a million inhabitants, and economic life was largely based on industry. The small Jewish community consisted of about 350 people. The majority of the city’s Jews lived east of the city centre, near the river Akerselven.

Jernbanetorget, the square by the train station, Kristiania, 1898.
Photo: Oslo Jewish Museum.

LIFE IN NORWAY

The other Steinsaphirs who moved to Norway opened shops in Bergen and Kristiania, whereas Leopold worked as a rag seller. His children took on other occupations; Rubin Robert became a chauffeur, and Moritz and his wife Fanny worked in the tobacco industry, a common trade for Jews in Kristiania.

Calmeyer Street, where several Jewish immigrants lived and worked.
Photo: Jødisk Museum i Oslo.

DEPORTATION

Judit, Leopold and their descendants were murdered in the Holocaust. Along with their sons, Rubin Robert og Moritz, daughter-in-law Fanny, and five-year-old grandson Arne Willy, they were deported to Auschwitz. None of them returned.

REMEMBERING THE JEWS OF RAJGROD

In 2014, Avi Tzur from Israel had this sculpture set up in the outskirts of Rajgrod, where the Jewish cemetery used to be. Tzur is one of the many who have traced their roots back to Rajgrod’s Steinsaphir family. The shattered Star of David serves as a memorial to those who perished in the Holocaust, and as a reminder of the Jewish life that once was a part of Rajgrod.

Memorial in Rajgrod.
Photo: Jødisk Museum i Oslo.

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