Staff photo by Clay Schuldt Thursday afternoon, Vicki Pieser gave a presentation in the Historical Society Annex called “Jews in Germantown” which gave brief history of Jewish people in Brown County which included historical photos of Jewish families in the community.

NEW ULM — Vicki Pieser presented at the Brown County Historical Society’s Lunch and a Bite of History series on the history of Jewish people in Brown County.

Pieser had conducted years of research on Jewish families living in Brown County. Many of the Jewish people who came to Brown County were fleeing forms of persecution in Europe.

Simon and Selma Lowenthal were believed to be the first Jews to open a business in Brown County in 1877. The business was a discount store called Cheap Charley’s.

Newspapers articles of the time were supportive of Simon Lowenthal and his business, but Simon and Selma did not remain in Brown County for long. In 1881 a cyclone hit and Cheap Charley’s was significantly damaged. The couple moved to Chicago after the cyclone and had four children.

Pieser said she was uncertain if the Lowenthals were Jewish, but many people assumed they were because of their name.

This was a common issue in researching Jewish people in Brown County. How do you determine which people are Jewish? Last names are not a definitive clue since many German surnames are also common Jewish surnames.

Many of the Jewish people coming to Brown County were German. They immigrated to the United States mostly fleeing persecution. In 1825 there were approximately 5,000 German-Jews in the United States but by the start of the First World War there were 250,000 German-Jews.

Pieser said one of the early images of Jews in the mid to late 1800s was that of a peddler. Pieser’s research found this to be an accurate description in Brown County.

In Brown County, Pieser found documentation of at least seven Jewish scrap dealers. Pieser said scrap and junk dealing was a popular source of work for Jewish people since they were often unable to live inside a city and the investment to become a scrap dealer was low. The profession also allowed for flexible working hours, which allowed many Jews to observe the Sabbath on Saturday.

One of the early Jewish families in Brown County were the Isaacs of Sleepy Eye. The first historical reference to the Isaacs appeared in an 1882 article of the Sleepy Eye newspaper. In the article, a Mr. Isaac–who is identified as a Jew in the article–went out in a snow storm to find a doctor for his wife and sustained a severe frostbite to his feet.

The Isaac family had a junkyard in Sleepy Eye that is located near the present day Hardee’s. Pieser has heard several first-hand accounts from people who knew members of the Isaac family, but much of the information was not documented and hard to confirm.

There were articles in the New Ulm newspaper involving Solomon Isaac, who had a reputation for fighting.

Solomon had a profound but tragic impact on Sleepy Eye. He was killed in action while serving in WWI and the Isaac family joined the ranks of Gold Star families. He is buried in France under a Star of David grave marker.

The Isaac family faced anti-Semitism while living in Sleepy Eye. Pieser was able to contact one of Solomon’s sisters who remembers as kid being bullied for her religion. Often this involved boys pulling her hair and calling her a Christ-killer. This would usually anger Solomon who would track the bullies down and beat them up.

In terms of anti-Semitism, Sleep Eye was not any worse than other places. It was a universal experience for Jewish children. Pieser said her own mother experienced similar treatment while living in Prague.

The Salsberg brothers were another early Brown County Jewish family. The Salsberg brothers were from Russia, but after their parents were killed by military forces they fled Europe. They ultimately ended up in New Ulm in the early 20th century and started a scrap business.

Pieser was able to track down one of the Salsberg granddaughters, Molly Salsberg, in the ’80s. Molly was reluctant to be quoted in any research at that time, still fearing anti-Semitic retaliation after 60 years. When she was 10 years old, rocks were thrown through their windows and injured one relative.

Another Salsberg cousin was denied entry into the local Girl Scout Troop for being Jewish, even though the Girl Scouts had a nondiscrimination policy since 1915. Molly never understood the hostility and had no desire to return to New Ulm.

Molly did have some fond memories of the deer at Schell’s brewery because the Marti family were kind and invited the Salsbergs to their park.

Morrie Bieber is perhaps the best remembered Jewish person to live in New Ulm. He was heavily involved in the community. Bieber was part of the Chamber of Commerce, a Mason, Lions Club member and a Concord Singer.

In terms of veteran affairs, Jack Pink was one of Brown County’s best known Jews. He was a first-generation immigrant born in Romania. He served in the army during WWI and he was the commander of the Legion Post during WWII.

George Glotzbach said Pink actually attended the first organizational meeting of the American Legion when they met for the first time in 1919 Paris.

Pieser said she had enough information about Jewish families to go on for hours. In recent years, researching Jewish history has become easier thanks to Internet resources like Ancestry.com. These resources help people identify previously unknown family connections.

Pieser said it is not uncommon for Christian friends to approach her and say, “I think I have a Jewish grandparent.”

Pieser said if you think you had a Jewish grandparent, they probably were Jewish. Online ancestry resources have helped many people discover their Jewish heritage.

Historical Society Director Kathleen Backer said next week the society is holding its One-Room School House program at the fairgrounds. There are still spaces for students available in the Tuesday and Thursday program.