Looking for help with surname "Kuchel"
Hello, I am trying to trace my family from Slovakia but have had difficulty with records as my family is Jewish. My grandfather, Otto Kuchel, was born in Spisska Stara Ves, but I have found that my great-grandfather, Adolf Kuchel, is from Bukowina, Zilinsky, Slovakia. I have found very limited records past Adolf, and found some family that was baptised in Gelnica, Slovakia. I am trying to understand if they may have converted to Judaism, but haven't been able to find any more information. Any help or advice is appreciated!
Thanks!
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First step (for me): translate those anachronistic placenames to the ones that actually applied at the time.
Spišská Stará Ves: Szepesófalu, Szepes, Hungary. (The name means "Spis [region] old village".) Jewish congregation locally; FS has some of its records from 1850 to the 1940s on film 1739847 items 3 and 4 (not online, but at least partially indexed).
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/628205"Bukowina, Zilinsky, Slovakia": I'm not coming up with anything. The closest I can get is Bukovina, Árva county, which had its Jewish residents recorded in Námesztó. FS actually has films from that congregation from 1771 to 1921, in two pieces (film 2062256 items 7 and 8 and film 2004578 items 2 to 7), but neither one is online or indexed.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/652193
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/765103Gelnica, Slovakia: Gölniczbánya, Szepes, Hungary. (Bánya means "mine" [as in mining, in this case mostly iron and copper], and Gölnicz is one form of the name of the local river.) Dvorzsák says the few Jewish residents (48 out of 4351) were recorded in Szepes-Váralja; FS has birth records from that congregation from 1874 to 1925 (film 1739898 items 4 and 5).
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/628441Without at least a century to start with, I'm afraid that's the best I can do, besides noting that I believe that a conversion to Judaism is exceedingly and incredibly unlikely.
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