Braun & Kaufman

Kisvárda · Varannó (Vranov) · Csaholc · Szatmárnémeti · on the map

Braun and Kaufman of Kisvárda

Babi’s mother Chana and her family — Kisvárda, Csaholc and Szatmárnémeti

Babi’s mother, Chana — Janka, Hani — was born in Kisvárda, in north-eastern Hungary, on 19 May 1899, in the family’s home on Csillag utca. Her civil birth entry names her father, Nachman Braun, a master tailor of 25 born in Kisvárda, and her mother, Fáni Kaufman, 27, of Varannó (Vranov nad Topľou). Her brothers and sisters followed: József (1897), Ilona Helena (1901), Géza (1902), Bella Rivka — “Aurelia” in the register — (1905), Eszter (1910), Jolán (1911) and Sándor (1917). By the 1920s the Brauns lived at Csaholc, in Szatmár county; Chana married Sender Freund and moved to Satu Mare.

Nachman Braun, born in Kisvárda on 2 July 1873, was the son of József Braun, also a master tailor (c.1819–1897), and Hani née Egi (c.1836–1899), whose father Sámuel Egi taught religion in Kisvárda; it was Nachman who reported his mother’s death in June 1899, two weeks after Chana’s birth. József’s father was Márkus Braun of Kisvárda. In 1919 the Kisvárda weekly lists “Mrs Nachman Braun” first among the donors to the Jewish women’s soup kitchen (Likely).

Nachman Braun died on 21 October 1921 (19 Tishrei 5682) and is buried at Kisvárda; Feige died in April 1925. In 1944 his children died: Bella Rivka Kohn with her husband Lajos and their children Reizel and Yosef (Nándor and Feigl Eva perished in 1945), Eszter Fischer and her children Feiga and Tzvi, Jolán Brach with her husband David and their children, and Sándor — and, at Auschwitz on 27 May 1944, Chana herself. Géza perished at Mauthausen on 18 January 1945. Bella’s son Martin survived, and so, according to the family, did Ilona and her husband Hermann Herbst of Hajdúnánás.

Chana’s eldest brother, József, survived. He was living in Budapest in 1944, and Babi stayed with him there that year. He reached New York in 1948, was naturalized at Brooklyn with his wife Aranka (born at Napkor in 1899), was living in Brooklyn with his wife and son at the 1950 census, met Babi when her ship came in in September 1950, and died in Brooklyn in September 1986 — Confirmed by the American records and by Babi’s own account.

The Braun family

• Márkus Braun — Kisvárda
• József Braun, c.1819–1897 × Hani Egi (daughter of Sámuel Egi)
• Sámuel (1856), Lina (1858), Schasi (1865), Aba (1868)
• Nachman Braun, 1873–1944 × Fáni Kaufman
• József (1897–1986, Brooklyn) × Aranka, Chana (Janka) 1899–1944 × Sender Freund, Ilona (1901), Géza (1902), Bella Rivka (1905), Eszter (1910), Jolán (1911), Sándor (1917)

The line in one chart

Direct ancestors of Chana Freund née Braun, each box coloured by its grade (green Confirmed, amber Likely, dashed Possible). Tap a name for the card. All tree views.

Latest finds in this line

• An unnamed infant daughter of Ignácz Kaufman and Hani Szakmári (d. Varannó, 11 Oct 1887); Ignácz listed as an innkeeper of Varannó in 1892; József Braun’s 1922 engagement gives Aranka’s maiden name, Karfunkel (Likely).
• Three children of Sámuel Braun and Hani Heimlich — Regina (20 Oct 1884), Shimon (11 Mar 1886) and Matild (8 Dec 1887) — read in the original Kisvárda Jewish birth register; each names the parents. Raised from Likely to Confirmed. Moses Kaufman (20 Jun 1877), Fáni’s brother, read in the original Homonna-district register (father Ignatz Kaufman, mother Hani Szakmary): Confirmed.
• Six people whose link was only Possible — Rachel, Leni, Shimon, Izrael (Sruly) and Juli Kaufman (1869 census household, no relationships given) and Rosie Braun (1851 marriage) — were moved off the tree to the open leads, because a person goes on the tree only when records prove every link.
• Adolf Kaufman, who married in New York in 1885, was a son of Ignácz Kaufman and Hani Szakmári (his marriage record names his mother “Szakmary”); he is Likely the Salamon Abraham of the 1869 census.
• Round 2 (Braun line): Géza Braun’s own Mauthausen prisoner file. He was prisoner no. 73364, admitted to Mauthausen on 13 Jun 1944; the camp’s death notice gives 18 Jan 1945 at the Melk subcamp (“Quarz”). Aunt Ilona’s household in Hajdúnánás, 1944: her husband Hermann Herbst (b. 1901, son of Malvina née Grosz) and their daughter Anna, Babi’s first cousin. Hermann survived: his 1945 registration card from Budapest is in the gallery. The 1948 death-declaration cards of Géza, Sándor and Jolán give the family’s last home as Csaholc.
• Correction: Chana’s eldest brother József Braun (b. 20 Nov 1897, Kisvárda) survived. He lived in Budapest in 1944, reached New York in 1948, was naturalized at Brooklyn with his wife Aranka (b. 1899, Napkor), appears in the 1950 census in Brooklyn with his son David, and died in Brooklyn in September 1986. Babi’s oral history says the same. An earlier victims-list match was another man of the same name.
• Round 7: Sámuel Egi’s household read in the original 1848 census of Kisvárda — 44, a teacher born in Poland, in Hungary since about 1817 and in Kisvárda since about 1829, with his children Antal (14), Háni (12) and Franciska (1). Antal and Franciska are now Confirmed. Márkus Braun and Liebe are not on any of Kisvárda’s 23 census pages that year.
• Round 5: Hani Kaufman, Ignácz’s sister, married Leopold Spitzer at Tótkajna in 1859 — the entry names her parents “Manes und Zipra Kaufman” (Confirmed). Czipora née Grünwald died at Tótkajna on 13 Nov 1876, aged 55, and Thóbe in July 1864, aged 21 (both Likely, originals read). Márkus Kaufman of Tótkajna is now on the tree as Manesz’s father (Likely; 25 Oct 2026).
• Fáni (Feige) Braun née Kaufman died in Iyar 5685 (late April 1925) and is buried in the Kisvárda Jewish cemetery, named “Feige daughter of R’ Yitzchak” — Likely. Hani Egi’s Hebrew name was Chaya Sara (Likely). Aba Braun’s 1868 original names his mother “Egi Hany”; Rosie Braun (1851 marriage, daughter of Marcus and Liebe) is Possibly József’s sister.
• Moses Braun, born 8 Sep 1866 at Kisvárda to Josef Braun and Hany — Likely Nachman’s brother (original register entry). Lea Kaufman’s 1869 birth entry read in the original: parents Ignatz Kaufman and Hani Szatmári.
• Fáni Kaufman’s parents: Ignácz Kaufman and Hani Szakmári (Varannó civil marriage, 10 Nov 1896); Fáni born 3 Oct 1876 at Porubka.
• Fáni’s brothers and sister Lea, Simson, Moses and Márkus; Sámuel Egi’s children Antal and Franciska (1848 census).

The people of this chapter

Aba Braun 1868– Adolf Schwartz Adél Kaufman née Künstädter 1874– Anna Herbst Antal Egi c. 1834– Aranka Braun 1899– Bella Rivka Kohn née Braun 1905–1944 Chana Freund née Braun 1899–1944 Czipora Kaufman née Grünwald c. 1821–1876 David (Dudu) Braun David Brach 1916–1944 Eszter Fischer née Braun 1910–1944 Etti Kaufman 1848– Feigl Eva Kohn 1931–1945 Franciska (Fáni) Kaufman née Weisz 1858– Franciska Egi c. 1847– Fáni (Feige) Braun née Kaufman 1876–1925 Géza (Gershon Manes) Braun 1902–1945 Hani (Anna) Kaufman née Szakmári c. 1844–1897 Hani (Chaje) Braun née Egi c. 1836–1899 Hani Braun née Heimlich Hani Spitzer née Kaufman c. 1839– Hermann Herbst 1901– Ignácz (Ignatz) Kaufman 1846– Ilona Helena Braun 1901– Jolán (Iutel) Brach née Braun 1911–1944 Juli Kaufman c. 1867– József Braun c. 1819–1897 József Braun 1897–1986 Lajos (Lipa Yom Tov Chananya) Kohn –1944 Lea Kaufman 1869– Lina (Liebe) Braun 1858– Léni Kaufman c. 1855– Manesz (Manasse) Kaufman c. 1811–1901 Martin Kohn Matild Braun 1887– Moses (Mór) Kaufman 1877– Moses Braun 1866– Márkus Braun c. 1786–1855 Márkus Kaufman c. 1886–1886 Márkus Kaufman of Tótkajna –1850 Nachman Braun 1873–1921 Nándor (Nachman) Kohn 1927–1945 Rachel Kaufman c. 1850– Regina Braun 1884– Reizel Kohn –1944 Resi Visner née Kaufman c. 1852– Salamon Abraham (Adolf) Kaufman c. 1862– Samuel (David) Weinberger Schasi Braun 1865– Shimon (Simeon) Kaufman c. 1856– Shimon Braun 1886– Simson Kaufman 1875– Sruly (Izrael) Kaufman c. 1860– Sámuel Braun c. 1855– Sámuel Egi c. 1804–1855 Sándor (Shalom) Braun 1917–1944 Thóbe Kaufman 1843–1864 Unnamed infant daughter of Ignácz Kaufman c. 1887–1887 Yosef Kohn –1944

The research page for this line (updates, open leads)