The Kurlander Young Men’s Mutual Aid Society

The 1924 KYMMAS database · New York · Courland landsmanshaft

This database consists of 1,223 names of members of the Kurlander Young Men’s Mutual Aid Society, or KYMMAS, together with their families. It is compiled from the 35th Anniversary Booklet of the Society, published in New York in 1924, written by Isidor Berg and donated by Marion Plotkin. The Memorial book lists all members of the society from its inception in 1889 until publication.

Mrs. Plotkin realised, when she found the booklet among family papers, that the information it gave was not only of genealogical value but that the document was of substantial historical interest. The database also contains miscellaneous information from individually dated records relating to KYMMAS insurance provision, rescued from almost certain destruction by the quick thinking of Naomi Freistadt, who donated them to the Latvia SIG in 1996. Finally, Myra Miller found and donated material from a KYMMAS booklet from Quebec dating from about 1944. Together these documents demonstrate the importance of Landsmanshaft organisations to Courland families right up to and including the Second World War. We hope that now the ball is rolling that more and more of these historic documents will be located in family drawers and attics.

The “Gegenseitiger Unterstuetzung-Verein Kurlander Junger Männer” was founded on 1 January 1889 in New York. Until 1922, membership was restricted to those born in Courland or of direct descent through the paternal line from a father or grandfather born in Courland. In 1922, after apparently heated debate, the Society adopted what is described as a “most progressive and liberal law”, permitting the sons of mothers born in Courland to become full members even where the mother had married a non-Courlander.

Members initially paid dues of 10 cents per week, which during the first two years funded rudimentary unemployment benefits of $4.00 per week, half of which was to be repaid weekly once work was found. From 1891 sick benefits were added, followed by free burials for members and their families. Membership fees rose as further needs were identified, and the Society came to include a Widows and Orphan Fund and, later, a Loan and Relief Fund. In the early days a short-lived monthly newsletter was published. In 1909 it was decided to change the name of the society from the German to its American version: The Kurlander Young Men’s Mutual Aid Society, or KYMMAS for short.

As the First World War dragged on, it became apparent that the Jewish community in the towns and cities of Courland had suffered greatly, not only from the war itself but from the resulting social dislocation. The forced expulsion of many Jewish families from Courland in 1915 meant that everything built up over many years was lost at a stroke. KYMMAS raised substantial sums and sent them back to rebuild Jewish schools and to provide relief crucial to the efforts of families rebuilding their lives and communities. Much of this relief was channelled through Rabbi Dr. Nurock, a distinguished teacher and humanitarian. Below, the historic town name is given first, with the modern Latvian form in brackets.

Adolf Sundelson and Adolf Feitelberg are both listed as having personally returned to Kurland to distribute aid, and the antecedents of both Sundelson/Sondelson (3 records) and Feitelberg (63 records) can be found in the All Latvia Database. There is a Feitelberg among the recent members of the Latvia Research Division, and a Feitelberg searching family connections in the JewishGen Family Finder for various towns in the Courland area. The evidence of lasting loyalties and links to the past is as apparent here as it is in so many areas of work relating to Jewish family history.

The Historical Review written by Isidor Berg is in English, but he gives an interesting account of the German context of the Courland experience. For the first 25 years of the Society the minutes were written and read in German, while discussions gradually shifted from German to English as the new generations adapted to their new homeland.

“Two of our original constitutional laws read that the name of the Society shall be ‘Gegenseitiger Unterstuetzung-Verein Kurlander Junger Maenner’ and that the German language shall be used in all transactions. It was strictly provided for that those laws shall never be changed. However, the Americanisation of our very Charter members and their use of the English language in their homes and businesses caused them to forget their German Grammar and rather than be ridiculed for speaking poor German and in order to please members of American birth they spoke English during discussions. The minutes however were still written in German.”

The tradition of writing the minutes in German continued until 1917. Courlanders saw themselves as part of the mainstream of European culture and learning; proud to be Courlanders, they did not allow that to separate them entirely from the rest of the Jews who suffered in the First World War, and the Memorial Book makes clear that substantial sums were donated to the war effort outside Courland.

According to Isidor Berg, the author of the 1924 Memorial book, “a real Kurlander will rather die than beg” — and that was the whole purpose of the society: to prevent embarrassment in time of need, and to be there for their fellows should that unfortunate time come to pass. They were there to fill the needs of companionship and understanding, to support their brothers whenever needed, and to enjoy one another’s company when times were good. What comes across in all these documents relating to the early Jewish immigrant experience is how important the ties of kinship and friendship were, both with those left behind and with those in the new land.

This database can be searched via the JewishGen Latvia Database or the JewishGen Unified Search.