Colm, Dawid (Ernest)

  General Notes:

His birth record contains only the name Dawid, but he used the kinnui name Ernest (Ernst). He was also known familiarly by the Polish nickname "Antek" which is actually short for Anoni. In 1902 he changed his surname from Cohn to Colm while he w as a law student at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. After studying economics in Vienna he had an advertising business in Lemberg, which enabled Viennese companies advertise in Lemberg. After World War One he lived briefly in Budapest, sin ce his sister Jozia was there, but he left because of the communist revolution which broke out in 1919. Isidore Colm's father said Ernest paid some professional smugglers to have himself smuggled out across the border. He then settled in Vienn a where he had a coal importing business. As a result of the stock market crash in 1929 he lost a lot of money. He then had to close his business and work for another coal importing firm.

Dawid married Juliana (Lia Lea) Grassler, daughter of Josef Grassler and Margaretha Pilz, on Sep 14, 1922 in Vienna, Austria. (Juliana (Lia Lea) Grassler was born on May 22, 1895 in Wolfsberg, Carinthia, Austria and died on Feb 17, 1968 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.)