Information on Michael GOY, and Katarzyna Zylinske, who possibly lived in Prussia in the late 19th century (Plain text version)

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Dear fellow List members

I am searching for information on my maternal great grandparents MICHAEL GOY
and KATARZYNA ZYLINSKE. What I know is:

* my mother JANET ZAKRZEWSKI, was born 12 July 1908 at Peterswalde, Sturm,
Germany and died on 20 April, 1990, Sydney, Australia

* my maternal grandmother, MARIA MAGDALENA GOY, was born 20th August 1884,
at Peterswalde, Sturm and died on 30th January 1952 in Graudenz, Germany

But I have no information on Maria Magdalena Goy's parents, MICHAEL GOY and
KATARZYNA ZYLINSKE beyond their names. I would appreciate any assistance
anyone can offer me on:

* their dates and places of birth and death.

* any information on their parents

* whether they had any other children other than MARIA MAGDALENA

I am particularly intrigued by the origin of the name GOY. Who were the
GOY's? What is the historic derivation of this name, which in Hebrew means
non-Jewish peoples, or nation.

When I went to Israel in 1986 or 1987, I visited the Museum of the Diaspora
in Tel Aviv, and was told by one of their historians that he thought that
there could have been a pogram in the Petersvalde, Stuhm area of Germany
(now Gdansk and Gydnia of Poland), and Michael Goy's father's family may
have had their identification papers stamped GOY, as they may have told
officials there at the time that they were not Jews, in order to survive.

Much appreciation and best wishes

Therese Kutis

Sydney, Australia

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Dear Mrs. Kutis,

I doubt the information you have received in Israel concerning the name
"Goy". During the Shoa, a "J" for "Jude" was stamped into the identity
papers of Jewish fellow-citizens, and an "Israel" or "Sara" was added to
the first name.
This was, I think, easier to do with the smaller number of Jewish people
than to identify the majority as non-Jews. as "Goi". especially since this
term, which comes from "Yiddish", is unknown in the German language and was
only used by native Yiddish-speaking people.

In a German encyclopaedia of names (
*https://www.deutsche-nachnamen.de/index.php/herkunft-a-z9
<https://www.deutsche-nachnamen.de/index.php/herkunft-a-z9&gt;\* ) I found the
following origin of the surname of your ancestors
*"Goy*...
Name of origin to the place name Goy (Silesia); in the west also name of
origin to the Dutch landscape Gooi (Gooiland); also name of residence or
name of origin to Middle High German göu, gou, geu, to Middle Low German gõ
(region, landscape, Gau; also: "country" in contrast to city)."

This makes sense in so far as West and East Prussia was depopulated after
various wars and epidemics, and settlers were attracted by the authorities.

Unfortunately, I do not have any information that directly concerns the
persons you are looking for, but I do have some suggestions on how you can
continue your research.:

At *www.westpreussen.de <http://www.westpreussen.de>* I found a list of
where documents about Peterswalde were kept and where the (remaining)
records are archived:
*Familienforschung in Westpreußen - Details
<Familienforschung in Westpreußen - Details*
.
Just Just click on "Details" and follow the instructions.

Just click on "Details" and follow the instructions.
The Lutheran church records for the Stuhm parish are available in EZA -
Evangelisches Zentralarchiv in Berlin *archiv@ezab.de <archiv@ezab.de>*
(Protestant Central Archive in Berlin) and can be viewed online at*
www.archion.de <http://www.archion.de>* for a fee .
Perhaps there is someone on the list who has access to "Archion" and can
help you.

My best greetings to Australia
Dietmar Blum