Genealogy

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I first heard the Swedish language relationship between svärd-löv and Sverdlov from my late father's business partner, Carl Johnson, who was born and raised in Sweden. Until I read about Sverdly the village in Alexander Beider's book, see below, it sounded possible. Now I doubt it. On the other hand, the red-haired, artistic relatives like my Los Angeles area sister, Zolita Sverdlove, at love-art , as well as Stewart Swerdlow , a clairvoyant and linguist, prefer the Viking connection. Excerpts from Michele Renee Bonder e-mail 2-Dec-2004 to Andrew I. Sverdlove daughter of Sophie (Joyce) SWERDLOW, grand-daughter of Benjamin Sverdlov, the brother of Yakov Sverdlov, first Premier of Soviet Union. Since you compiled a comprehensive webpage, some of my family's research may interest you. For instance, although you used a great source for Russian Jewish surnames, I have a different belief in the origin of our family surname of Sverdlov, which is related to Nizhny Novgorod region, and it's unique history. I was told a few years ago, by another cousin, [Stewart A. Swerdlow, grandson of Movshe], who wrote to me "In my research I have travelled to Sweden and Norway and Denmark where I was told that the name Swerdlow was definitely of Viking origin and particularly Swedish." The origin of the family name is not Russian, but, Viking... I thought this was unlikely, but, after researching it, I believe this is true. Sverdlov is Swedish. The name for sword in Swedish is "sverd". "lov" means "leaf". [Ed. Note: http://lexikon.nada.kth.se/cgi-bin/swe-eng Swedish entry word svärd [svä:r_d] svärdet svärd svärden noun långsmalt vapen med spets att hugga eller sticka med English translation sword Swedish entry word löv [lö:v] lövet löv löven noun blad på träd och bus English translation leaf (plur. leaves) Compounds lövskog -en---deciduous forest ] Sword-leaf describes a signature Viking sword. The Vikings settled in Novgorod, and there was a massive conversion in the middle ages to Judaism. (Not related to the Khazars.) A basic historical reference to this: FROM "Vikings In Russia" - http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dml0www/variagi.html Judaizing in Novgorod- http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=668&letter=J [Ed. note: my research indicated "In the year 1000, the Viking age parliament of Iceland decided that the entire country should convert to Christianity, and that sacrifice to the old gods, while still allowed, should no longer be made in the open." http://www.answers.com/topic/religious-conversion] The fact that the Sverdlovs were allowed to live in Novgorod, after the Tsarist Laws of 1865, for Pale resettlement, implies that they had long lineage in that town, so, they were allowed to remain, since they were also first gild craftsman. I know that Mikhail Sverdlov, my great-grandfather, was an engraver. If they were not natives of Novgorod, (where the Vikings originally settled), they would probably not have been allowed to flourish the way they did, even through the hardest times for other Jews. They were considered very affluent, which was something that was unique for Jews, and they lived in Nizhny, which was a "sacred" city.

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