Eastern Euroopean roots or no??

Question

Okay, I'm Jewish my great grandparents/great great grandparents immigrated from Russia and Poland. But what confused me is that their names aren't Polish or Russian sounding. My polish ancestor's last name is Edelman while my Russian ancestor's name is Gershtel. Even though it doesn't sound Eastern-European, they came from E.E. and I look very slavic as well, as a result of them looking Slavic. Why did they choose these names for themselves, did they migrate from Central Europe..or did they pick them because they used the Yiddish that was spread to Eastern European countries?

Answer 1

Check out http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/r...

Maybe you can find an answer there.

I found 1 Gershtel born in NY  and a boatload of Edelmans from Germany and Russia.

Keep in mind that borders were somewhat fluid in EE back when your ancestors lived there.

How far back have you traced your ancestors?  Maybe there is a clue there.

Good luck on your search.

Answer 2

Just to be clear, Poland is not Eastern Europe. It is actually part of Central Europe and most of it belonged to Germany and Austria for years. Eastern Europe was defined by the lands that went Orthodox after the Great Schism. Central Europe stayed loyal to the Pope in Rome. They later clarified the lines after various treaties redrew borders.

Your ancestors were very probably Jews who got pushed around and moved to Shtetls, which were basically self-contained Jewish communities that gave them a sense of safety from the pogroms. In the end, that was the downfall of the Jews when Hitler went looking for them...they were all living together and were easily identified because of it.

Being Jews and looking Slavic is pretty common.