Sen. Kerry Finds Grandfather Was Jewish

NY Times ^ | 2/3/03

[areafiftyone]

BOSTON (AP) -- A geneologist researched Sen. John Kerry's roots and found out information Kerry himself didn't know, including that his grandfather, who committed suicide in 1921, was born Jewish.

For years, the Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential hopeful sought the true story of his paternal grandfather, Frederick A. Kerry. He searched the Internet and asked cousins, but he was only able to learn fragments of the family's history.

Felix Gundacker, an Austrian genealogy specialist hired by The Boston Globe, located birth records located that show that Frederick A. Kerry was born Fritz Kohn, in 1873 in the town of Bennisch in what was then the Austrian empire, now part of the Czech Republic.

Gundacker said he is ``1,000 percent certain'' that Kerry was born to a Jewish family. The birth of a son to Benedikt Kohn, a ``master brewer,'' and his wife, Mathilde, was listed in church records on an addendum page listing Jewish families.

``This is incredible stuff,'' Kerry said in a story published in Sunday's Globe. ``I think it is more than interesting; it is a revelation.''

The record in Bennisch notes that Kohn changed his name to Frederick Kerry on March 17, 1902. The document does not mention a baptism, but the family says Frederick Kerry was a Roman Catholic, as is his grandson.

Frederick Kerry emigrated to the U.S. in 1905, eventually settling in Boston and becoming a shoe merchant. On Nov. 21, 1921, he walked into the Copley Plaza Hotel, went into a washroom and shot himself in the head.

``How many times have I walked into that hotel ...'' an emotional Kerry told the Globe, his voice trailing off. He had known his grandfather killed himself but not the details.

The suicide made front-page news in several Boston newspapers, which speculated it may have stemmed from health or financial difficulties.

``Oh, God, that's awful,'' Kerry said when shown a copy of a 1921 Globe article. He recalled that his own father, diplomat Richard Kerry, ``was sort of painfully remote and shut off and angry'' about the loss of his father.

Numerous publications have incorrectly stated that Kerry is Irish-American; there's a county in Ireland called Kerry. But Kerry said he has always been quick to correct any such misstatement.

On his mother's side, the senator is related to the Forbes and Winthrop families, two of New England's most prominent clans.

[Senator Pardek]

Does anyone have Kerry's e-mail addy?

[areafiftyone]

You mean a good ole war mongering viking? ;-)

[Miss Marple]

Well, I am Kate Jackson. Imagine that!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Surprised no one mentioned Hillary's ancestry surprise when she started stumping in New York . . .

[areafiftyone]

kerry@theclydesdalebarns.com ;-)

[bray]

I didn't know that Frankenstein was a Jew???

Pray for GW and the Troops

[Howlin]

I guess it's something Democrats require of their candidates?

[aShepard]

I'd be happy to arrange for Lorena to circumsize him

[aristeides]

Why would a Jew -- or anyone else, for that matter -- in Bohemia or Moravia in the 1870's change his name to Kerry?

[mountaineer]

``How many times have I walked into that hotel ...'' an emotional Kerry told the Globe, his voice trailing off.

Oh, how terribly, terribly sad! Heartbreaking, too, yes, that's what it is. Sad and heartbreaking. And tragic. It's no wonder he looks so, well, funereal.

Oy veh, you rang?

[aristeides]

Funny how Kerry has allowed the voters in Massachusetts believe that he is Irish Catholic up to now. But now that he's running for president...

[blam]

I thought Jewish was a religion, not a race? (Does anyone remember the DNA study done of people with the name Cohen, etc?)

[College Repub]

I believe that DID Prove it was a race.

[katnip]

I wonder if some dirt is going to come out about him. Like with Hillary calling people ##xz##@# Jews.

She covered it up quite nicely and got the Jewish vote with her long lost Jewish step grandfather.

[livius]

Wait till tomorrow when he announces tomorrow that his grandfather was a Jewish black lesbian.

[csvset]

Reminds me of Hillary's 'discovery' of a Jewish Step-Grandfather when she was NY candidate!

I was going to mention the H-Beast's "Roots" quest as well.

[TN4Liberty]

Why would a Jew -- or anyone else, for that matter -- in Bohemia or Moravia in the 1870's change his name to Kerry?

Perhaps he was afraid that he would be discriminated against in the US as a Jew, so he adopted a name from the much beloved Irish of that era.

[Little Bill]

Kerry gives the Jewish Community the full Monnica, all this time I thought he was a half Irish swamp Yankee like me.

[Cacophonous]

Careful now... I happen to like horses, and I wouldn't insult them in such a way.

[Just mythoughts]

What is the purpose of wasting so much ink about Kerry, being, but not knowing, he is Jewish.

Is this a slap at Lieberman? Or his campagin theme?

I thought that it should not matter what your race, religion, or gender was.

So does Kerry think Americans need to know that he is of the Jewish race, he is a Catholic, with some exceptions and above all he is a man?

This story apparently got no notice in Boston Globe and now they put it in the NYTimes, I can't help but wonder if this was his campagin's way of trying to getting face time on the tube.