Kerry's grandfather left Judaism behind

[JoFerret]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/politics/campaign/16J...

May 18, 1905, Frederick A. Kerry, a 32-year-old Viennese, arrived in New York City by steamship, the Königin Luise, with his wife and 4-year-old son, hopeful that his new country would bring him the success and social acceptance that had eluded him in Europe.

Mr. Kerry probably could not have imagined that within a century a grandson, John Forbes Kerry, would find himself the Democratic candidate for president.


Frederick Kerry brought with him a secret: he was born a Jew, Fritz Kohn, in what is now the Czech Republic, but he and his wife, Ida, had converted to Roman Catholicism. Senator Kerry, a Catholic whose maternal side includes such blueblooded names as Winthrop and Forbes, said he did not know his paternal grandfather was Jewish until a reporter for The Boston Globe told him last year that it had been discovered by a genealogist in Vienna who scoured church records from the Austro-Hungarian empire.
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[lastknowngood]

1. Kerry needs to leave Catholicism behind or be prepared to have

the pope instruct every catholic in America to vote against him or face excommunication or at least not be allowed to take communion. That is part of the shrub's plan and the pope has approved of it. It will make it imposable for a "good Catholic" to ever become president. Damn I hate those assholes like the pope and the bishops as in Denver who mutilate religion to promote their hatred and bigotry. Sorry if your Catholic but thats the facts.

[struggle4progress]

9. Unlikely. Catholicism is more complicated than that.

I'd be surprised to find the Pope acting to augment *'s power.

It's true there are some real troglodytes in the Church, but the Church is rather large and has many tendencies; the Pope himself has a rather complicated collection of views.

I'm Lutheran with some real sympathy for (and real disagreement with) the Catholics.

[rooboy]

2. It's not like his grandfather was a nazi sympathizer... n/t

[Isere]

3. It doesn't matter one whit

if Kerry is Jewish or Catholic or Purplepeople-eater...whatever he does, he will be sliced and diced by the Right Wing Media Machine.

Kerry isn't an evangelical fundamentalist Protestant in the fashion of Bush and his acolytes so that makes him the enemy.

[Tellurian]

7. The Rethugs are just angling for another smoozefest...

are we having fun yet?

[sandnsea]

4. This is news why?

Sorry my ignorance, for those living in NY or somewhere else, explain the relevance. Because it seems like some sort of bizarre Jew-bashing/Kerry hates his Jewish roots combo. Something for everybody, what?


And there's an extra "n" at the end of your link.

[El Supremo]

5. Too bad that Fritz didn't become a Protestant.

Then this crap about Communion wouldn't have come up.

[mulethree]

6. So Kerry's father grew up without a dad from age 6 - or less?

Wonder if he had a stepfather after that?

Sounds like the real story must have been a super grandma and not so much the grand-dad at all.

[Tellurian]

8. John Kerry embodys the words of the American Dream: "Only in America"..

you can take that to the Bank!

Lovely ancestral story rich in Old World tapestrys. Certainly a background the United States can be proud of and more than a welcome relief from the sadistic, depraved yahoos we've had to put up with these last 4 yrs.

[nonbelief]

15. Bullshit

I'm sick of reading claims from otherwise logical Americans that "only in America" can such and such happen.

What are you suggesting about countries like Australia and Canada?

Do you seriously think descendants of immigrants there can't become leaders?

For example Australia has had two Jewish heads of state (Governors General).

How many has the USA had?

[Kelvin Mace]

10. Please drop these people a line:

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jennifer Itzenson in the New York newsroom at
4141 or at [e-mail] .

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Glenn Holdcraft at [e-mail] .



Here's my email to them:

Outside of a Klan rally or some white supremacist organization, could you expain why this is "news"?

Should Kerry be required to wear a yellow Star of David?

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org
http://www.blackboxvoting.com

[Tellurian]

12. No thanks, then she would think her article actually irritated me..

why would I give her that satisfaction?

I accept the article for what it is, and choose to look no further because it is not in my best interests. Therefore, the author's shadow play is not in my best interests.

[bleedingheart]

11. What is the big deal?

It was the bigotry against the Jews that caused many of them to leave their faith or convert to another....what we should be ashamed of is the fact that it still happens today.

[JI7]

13. yes, that is why Kerry's grandfather changed his name from kohn to kerry

and took up the catholic faith. because of the discrimination .

[UTUSN]

14. "Page Not Found" - but it was known, and what's the point???? n/t

[Chicago Democrat]

16. Common 80 years ago....

Marriage often require one changing religions...

He must have really loved her.

My Grandfather Adolph from Sweden gave up Lutheranism to marry my Catholic grandmother.