Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I’m trying to find any possible clues I can to try and build a family tree. Long story short, my grandma was a holocaust survivor and became a communist after ww2, stopped practicing religion and never taught her kids about Judaism and basically tried to separate herself from being Jewish.
For that reason, I don’t know much about the family history on that side of the family. My mom doesn’t know much either and there is no one else left to ask on that side of the family.
I have been wanting to reconnect with the Jewish part of my heritage, but also learn more about where my family came from. My grandma used to say that she was told that her ancestors came from what’s now the Czech republic.
So, that’s where the fish comes in. My grandma had this silver fish tucked away in the closet and after some googling I can say it was probably a spice box. It was a silver fish with red eyes and the body was made out of a few connected parts so it was movable. It was quite small, around the length of my hand. My mom still has it somewhere. (Very similar to this one but less detailed: https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/12700759-antique-silver-fish-besamim-judaica-19th-century)
Since she never liked talking much about anything that might have been Jewish, I also dont know much about that spice-box. When she was old she just told my mom to make sure to keep it in the family and not throw it out…so that made me think it was an heirloom.
If it really was an heirloom, it means it might have been passed down through generations. So what I want to know it why were some spice boxes shaped like a fish and was there a specific country where those types were produced or especially popular?
Im hoping that it might help clear up some things about family history.
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Source: Reditt
