[cripplecreek]

I grew up believing my great grandfather was an Austrian immigrant but it turns out that he was a Polish Jew from Buchovina which I believe is in the Ukraine today.

[elcid1970]

A quick Wikipedia search shows Bukovina in the extreme eastern part of the old Austro-Hungarian empire. Many of its inhabitants were German-speaking.

I have family from what is now the Slovene Republic. They spoke both German and Slovenian which is close IIRC to Serbo-Croatian. There were surnames misspelled on Ellis Island, relatives who may or not have been Jewish, and my grandfather who if he hit his thumb instead of the nail was careful to swear in anything but English if there were kids nearby.

One thing’s for sure. They all spoke nothing but English as soon as they were able, served in the Army which they said made them 100% Americans, and blessed the new land that gave them a good life.

[Bobalu]

My great grandfather was from German Jewish stock.
Ashkenazim I suppose.

There were large boxes of old photos from Germany in my grandparents attic... many scenes of life during WW1.

[rmlew]

Bukovina is split between Ukraine and Romania and was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918.
My paternal grandfather was an Austrian Jew living in Austrian Galicia. In 1918 having returned from the Austro-Hungarian army, he found it part of Poland and fought to keep it out of Soviet hands in 1921. It was siezed by the Soviets in 1939 and is now part of Ukraine. From 1941-44 it was Nazi occupied, and temporarily given to a pro-Nazi puppet regime in Ukraine. Borders in Eastern Europe are fluid, but Jews are always seen as Jews.