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A cseh, moráviai és bajorországi Zerkowitz családok Leipnikbõl és Weisskirchenbõl az 1800-as évek elejétõl települtek át Bécsbe, Gráczba, Budapestre vagy a felvidékre. Több Zerkowitz családra volt jellemzõ, hogy elõbb Bécsben majd Budapesten, illetve elõbb Budapesten majd Bécsben telepedett le.

Long before America discovered the secret of a fresh cup of coffee, Oscar Ulysses Zerk invented a personal coffee bean grinder for his kitchen.

It was just one of his countless inventions, but the brilliant Keno-shan thought it so unimportant that he never bothered to apply for a patent. He did, however, patent some 300 other inventions during his 90-year life, a remarkable record. His creativeness asserted itself in a multitude of fields: leg-slimming hosiery, quick-freezing ice cube trays, spatterproof nail brushes, fail-safe brakes for trolley cars, vibration-free camera tripods, oil well recovery systems and refrigerators for cars and wall-mounting. Zerk's most important invention -- one that made him the most money and benefited Kenoshans most -- was a tiny grease fitting, a lubrication system which became the basis for those used on nearly every car, truck, plane and other mechanized vehicle. At the time of his death in 1968, it was estimated that 20 billion of the fittings had been manufactured, many millions, no doubt, installed in Kenosha-built automobiles over the decades. He also is credited with designing and patenting stamped metal wheels and wheel covers for autos, which, in the 1920s, replaced wire wheels. And he devised a type of non-skid brakes for cars. Zerk was born May 16, 1878, in Vienna, the son of Flora and Bernard Zerk, a prominent textile manufacturer in the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. A forefather, it was said, had been knighted in 1555 by Emperor Charles V of Germany. An intelligent, precocious youngster, Zerk attended a private school in Germany. Still in his teens, he devised an electrically operated textile machine, controlled by a then-unheard-of punch card system, that could weave complex brocades, doing the work of 12 people. Returning to Austria to continue his schooling, he applied to the engineering and textile college at Bruenn. When he was turned down, and subsequent pleas to the ministry of education were rebuffed, he boldly appealed directly to Austrian Emperor Franz Josef. Surprisingly, he was granted a private audience at Schoenbrunn Palace, where the emperor was so impressed with Zerk's grasp of technology that he immediately decreed the youth be admitted to the college. After graduating, the 23-year-old Zerk went abroad. He spent four years in Bradford, England, a British textile center, where he developed and improved his weaving machine. Zerk returned to Austria for several years, where he turned his attention to the then-new automobile. He designed the first six-cylinder motor car and, later, a forerunner of the automatic transmission. Intent upon studying an American-made car, the White Steamer, he came to the United States in 1907. But aboard the Lusitania in mid-ocean, he got an idea for a new and vastly improved system of auto lubrication. He then formed his own company in Cleveland to manufacture the first Zerk grease fittings. Although he employed as many as 500 workers and had contracts with virtually every automaker, in 1913, he lost control of his own company and sold out. Never one to make the same mistake twice, Zerk soon became a shrewd businessman as well as a brilliant inventor. Zerk was visiting Austria when World War I broke out and he was called up for military service by his native land. He served four years as an army captain, winning several decorations. When the war ended, he married an Austrian girl and returned with her to America. This marriage ended in divorce in 1934. Undaunted by his earlier loss, Zerk designed an even better lubrication system. Eventually he sold the rights to a major automotive parts maker and stayed on as a consulting engineer. When he discovered serious management irregularities, he led a much-publicized stockholders' revolt against the board of directors. When he won, Time magazine noted, with admiration, that "Zerk is a man to be watched." At 60, tired of working in downtown Chicago, Zerk sought a more rural setting, a place where he could live comfortably, indulging his longtime passion for flowers and gardening. Also, during his years of traveling he had collected artworks in Europe, mineral and natural science specimens throughout America, and curios from around the world. He wanted a home to house those treasures. Eventually, in 1939, Zerk chose a three-story mansion, Dunmovin, which had been built years earlier by Kenosha industrialist Henry Cooper. Here, at his Cooper Road estate, he would live the rest of his life. Zerk virtually gutted the building, remodeling it to his exacting specifications. Special care was given to exquisite decorating touches, like quilted-satin wall coverings. Hidden fixtures, including emerald-hued spotlights, illuminated his eclectic collection which ranged from Hans Holbein etchings to dinosaur eggs and an elephant foot cuspidor. The garden, too, received Zerk's special attention. Nighttime lighting effects gave the plants and flowers a dramatic backdrop. During World War II, he hosted formal garden parties, not only for a fascinated Kenosha society, but for military personnel stationed at nearby bases. During the war, Zerk also went to Washington, asked by the government to redesign his earlier gyroscopic movie tripod for use in aerial combat motion picture photography. It was also during the 1940s that Zerk remarried -- twice. Both marriages, to much younger women, were brief. The first ended tragically in the death of his 24-year-old wife in childbirth. The second, to a 19-year-old Chicago secretary, was annulled in a messy case that went all the way to the state Supreme Court. Eventually Zerk married a fourth time, and happily, to Dorothy Rynders, who survives him today. Zerk was brilliant and, many said, eccentric. He loved art and music, science and natural history. He was a social and sociable man, but could be impatient and irascible. Although Zerk was known worldwide for his inventions, particularly in the automotive industry, he made important cultural contributions to his new community as an early supporter of the Kenosha Symphony Association. "It was just starting then," his widow recalls, "and he gave a lot of parties to support this association." He was known to friends as a musician of near concert-level ability, playing a piano which had been personally selected for him in 1912 by the great pianist Paderewski. He loved classical music, but also the glitzy Hollywood musical films. No recluse, he often was seen during his bachelor days attending movies alone in local theaters. Zerk's interests in natural history took him to the field, and he once accompanied Dr. Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History on an archaeological dig in Wyoming. They uncovered the fossil record of an Iguanadon there. Zerk also maintained correspondence with some of the most important national and world figures of his time, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. A perfectionist by nature, he insisted on exactness in everything from his inventions to the punctuality of dinner guests invited to his estate. One report has it that guests who showed up 15 minutes late to Dunmovin were met at the door by Zerk wearing a dressing gown. He informed them of their tardiness, told them he was about to retire, closed the door, and returned upstairs. One night in February 1954, Zerk had retired to his bedroom when three armed men broke into his home. The gangsters, part of the organized crime syndicate in Chicago, tied the 75-year-old inventor to a chair, struck him in the nose and threatened his life. Then they stole some $150,000 worth of artwork and antiques. This brazen robbery attracted nationwide attention. But the case was quickly solved by the FBI, which arrested the holdup men. They were imprisoned and most of the loot, which Zerk later donated to the University of Wisconsin, was recovered. Zerk always had a strong sense of purpose. "Inventors have a high responsibility to serve mankind by using their gifts," he said in an interview marking his 85th birthday." Zerk died five years later, Dec. 8, 1968, but he kept right on inventing until shortly before his death, his wife recalls. "He led a fabulous life."

Adolf Zerkowitz kam 1884 in Wien zur Welt. Nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg verschlug es ihn nach Barcelona, wo er bis zu seinem Tod 1972 lebte und zu einem der profiliertesten Fotografen der Stadt wurde. Seine im eigenen Verlag herausgebrachten Postkarten erreichten hohe Auflagen - nicht zuletzt jene mit dem entstehenden Wahrzeichen der Stadt: Die "Sagrada Familia" wurde von Zerkowitz systematisch auf dem aktuellen Bauniveau dokumentiert.

Sidonie Grünwald-Zerkowitz (1852-1907)

Sidonie was born in Tobitschau, Moravia and studied language and literature. She spent two years in Budapest and became a professor of History and Languages in Hungary. While in Budapest, she married the Greek prince, Count Kolokotronis, and moved with him to Athens. She soon divorced him, however, and then married the Viennese manufacturer, Leopold Grünwald, in Vienna in 1877. Following his death, she ran a school for languages in Vienna.

She caused a major stir as a writer with her naturalistic and erotic works and poetry. Two of her best known writings were entitled "Gretchen Today" and "Songs of a Mormon Woman." Both were subsequently banned in Austria. She was well known for decrying a "double standard of sexual morality" of men who marry women for gain, and then the lot of the wife who finds herself in such a marriage.

She not only published lyric poetry, but also wrote paedegogic articles, translated Hungarian writings, wrote a textbook of the history of Hungarian literature, and published a fashion magazine.

Sidonie spent nearly all of her adult life in Vienna. She died at age 55 in Karlsbad, Bohemia, and she is buried in Vienna. Sidonie had no children. Her brother, Julius Zerkowitz of Vienna, married Emma Schick in 1881 and one of their daughters - Marie (Zerkowitz) Lazarowicz (b. 1890) - perished in the Nazi death camps.

( 1858-ban született Tobistschanban (Moravia) ahol apja orvos volt. Elõször nyelvtanítónõnek készült és megtanulta a francia nyelvet, majd Budapestre jött, itt megtanulta a magyar nyelvet és az irodalmat tanulmányozta. Képesítõ vizsgát tett a nyelvekbõl. Cikkeket irt az irodalomtanításról és a magyar irodalomról a budapesti lapokban, amellyel felkeltette magára az akkori oktatási miniszter Trefort Albert figyelmét. Trefor kinevezte egy állami polgári iskolába tanárnõnek. (Lányiskola). Miután két évet Budapesten töltött, állampolgárságot kapott és kinevezték a (History és Languages) Történelem és Nyelvi tudományok professzorának. Több magyar költõ mûvét fordította németre, közülük Tóth Kálmánt érdemes megemlíteni, aki megkérte a kezét, de házasságukat a költõ rokonsága megakadályozta. Ezek után úgy döntött, hogy megpróbálkozik a színésznõi pályával, ezért Münhenbe ment, ahol Lajos király sponzorálta tanulmányait. Münchenben, 1875-ben megismerkedett (a Görög) Theodorosz Kolokotronis- al. A fiatal görög, aki magát vagyonos embernek tüntette fel, megkérte a kezét, õ hozzá ment feleségül és elment vele elõbb Velencébe nászútra, majd Athénbe. Athénben rövid idõn belül kiderült, hogy a férje által hivatkozott vagyon nem létezik. Elvált tõle, visszatért a szüleihez Bécsbe, ahol házasságot kötött 1877-ben egy megözvegyült osztrák iparossal, Leopold Gruenwald-al. Ezt követõen Voeslau-ban Bécs mellett (AUT) éltek. Lázasan dolgozott az általa kreált nõi reformruha elterjesztésében és kiadta a La Mode német-francia nyelvû divatlapot. Nyilvános helyeken-rendezvényeken feltûnõen reklámozta reform ruháit. Férje halála után ismét visszatért a tanári pályára és nyelvi iskolát mûködtetett Bécsben (AUT). Gruenwald-Zerkowitz nem csak lírikus pedagógiai munkájáról, de mint újságíró és költõ is ismert volt. Rendszeresen írt cikkeket az osztrák lapokban és a pesti Pester Lloyd-ba. Feltûnést keltett naturalisztikus és erotikus írói (költõi) munkásságával: "Gretchen mára" (természetesen a Goethe Faust/Gretchen-re vonatkoztatva) és "Egy Mormon asszony dalai" - írása Ausztriában jelentek meg. Írásában a szexuális erkölcs két oldalát "double stésard of sexual morality" boncolgatta. 1907-ben halt meg Karlsbad-ban, de Bécsben van eltemetve.)

Ez a verses regény jelzi Vajda János írói magáratalálásának kezdetét. 1873-ban kezdte írni Vajda János Találkozások címu budapesti életképét, versekben, „ahogy ezt a címlapon is olvashatjuk. A mu Puskin hatását mutatja már annyiban is, hogy a hos itt is cserbenhagy ez hu szívet, aki szeret s ezzel tönkreteszi saját életét” – állapítja meg Komlós Aladár. A verses regény azt a világot ábrázolja, de az újszeru környezet élesebb színeivel, tudatosabb kiemelésével – amelyet novelláiban is ábrázolt. A mu alapeszméje: az érzékiség uralma az ember nemesebb érzései felett. Komlós Aladár idézett monográfiájában kimutatta, hogy a történet a valóságban is megesett. Hose Zerkovitz Szidónia, pesti tanítóno volt /1858-1907/. A szép és érdekes lány, aki irodalommal is foglalkozott 1874-ban Münchenbe ment, hogy színészno legyen. Ott ismerkedett meg egy fiatal göröggel, aki hercegként szerepelt, s aki Szidóniát feleségül vette. Csakhamar kiderült azonban, hogy a görög „herceg” szélhámos és nemcsak hercegsége, de vagyona is hazugság. Ekkor Szidónia elvált szélhámos férjétol és visszaköltözött Budapestre. Ezt a történetet írta meg Vajda a Találkozásokban, költoi formában. Komlós Aladár azt írja a Találkozásokról, hogy „Ez Vajda legépebb, legtöbb muvészi gonddal kidolgozott epikai alkotása”. Vajda írói magatartásának útját még egy másik mu is jelzi: „Alfréd regénye” Egyébként Vajda a 70-es években igen sokat dolgozott. Lefordította Misard: Tanulmányok a renaissance és reformáció korából címu kétkötetes muvét is.