Moses Krebs is listed in Schindler's List, but there was also a Hans Krebs, a famous Nazi general. Can anyone explain that, or put it into context for a non German?

by Mongo1021

Here's a link to the list of all names from Schindler's List -- http://auschwitz.dk/schindlerslist.htm

Looking through this list, the name Krebs jumped out, and I'm curious about that one.

Also, in the larger sense, so many of the names on this list are not what many people would consider "Jewish" last names. Can anyone explain this?

I'm not German, but both sets of my grandparents emigrated to the U.S. from Germany, so I'm curious.

commiespaceinvader

I am not an expert on etymology but a lot of Jewish surnames in the area of middle and eastern Europe have their origin in Jiddish, a language heavily influenced by some German dialects and thus very similar to where a lot of German surnames originate. Krebs as well as the in German rather ubiquitous Maier or Majer are perfect examples as are Schwartz and Schvartz and so on.

Also don't forget that there was a heavy presence of German languages in areas that made up Poland at the time because of the several divisions of Poland at the time.

Source:

  • Eva Horowitz and Heinrich Guggenheimer: Jewish Family Names and their Origins: an etymological dictionary. KTAV 1992.