Hullinger - Jewish?

Our paternal ancestor came from Boniswyl, Canton Aargau, Switzerland.  And as far as we know we were Protestant. Our name in Swiss was spelled Hollinger or Holinger or Holiger in Switzerland. Our oldest known ancestors were.

1425 1504 Henri Holiger Boniswyl, Aargu, SWZ

1446 Heini Holiger Boniswil (Holvil) Switzerland

There are now a number of reasons to think that our Hollinger ancestor may have been Jewish. Our name is from south Germany and is often Jewish.

Hollinger - Last name origins & meanings:

1. South German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from places called Holling or Hollingen.

genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/hollinger

Our DNA “Y” Haplogroup which is passed on from father to son is J2a4h2.  This is uncommon in Switzerland.  It originates in the middle east and is extensive in Jewish, Arabic, Turkish, and Greek populations.  hullingerdna.blogspot.com.

After we published our blog j2a4h2.blogspot.com we found numerous relatives who were from the middle east. Funny story here. I posted photos of our male cousins and uncles on the blog. An young Arabic man was angry - he asked "If we are related why do your people look European?"  I explained to him that we share our paternal "Y" Chromosome. But when our ancestory left the middle east for Europe he and his descendants would have married Europeans and their descendants would look European, where his ancestor stayed in the middle east and married other middle easterners. The"Y" chromosome is a very small part of DNA.

There were a number of Hollinger’s who were killed in the World War II Holocaust.  Most of them were from Romania or Hungary. Some of the names are shown below - you can see the full list by clicking the link below:

Name	Year of Birth	Place of Residence	Source	Fate based on this source
Holinger, Beinisch Binish	1861	Strozynetz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger,Haim			List of persecuted
Holinger, Sima	1906	Czernowitz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Josef Yosef	1891	Banila, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Reizl Reizel	1914	Czudyn, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Dvora	1935	Cernauti, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Iuda		Cernauti, Romania‎	List of persecuted
Olinger, Dvora	1862	Skala, Poland‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger,Ides	1878	Suceava, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Bluma	1902	Czudjn, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Vili		Romania‎	List of persecuted
Holinger, Leib		Suceava, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Sima	1897	Czernowitz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Meshulam Shalom		Chernowitz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Ancel		Vijnita, Romania‎	List of persecuted
Holinger, Berale Dov	1922	Strojinetz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Sima		Czernowitz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Nesi	1885	Stanesti, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Reizl Reisel	1882	Storojinet, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Mendel Mendl	1880	Strozynetz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Nesi	1885	Stanesti, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Willi		Romania‎	List of persecuted
Holinger, Shalom Slom	1901	Cernauti, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Meshulam	1892	Cernauti, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Mindl	1921	Czernowitz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Lifsha Lipsia	1882	Strozynetz, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Nekha Necha	1875	Sucava, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Hollinger, Marie			List of persecuted
Holinger, Abraham Avraham	1879	Storojinet, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Hilda		Romania‎	List of persecuted	Murdered
Holinger, Hilda	1908	Suceava, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Hershel		Czudjn, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger		Czudjn, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Genya	1913		Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Isidor		Romania‎	List of persecuted
Holinger, Iuda		Cernauti, Romania‎	List of persecuted
Hollinger, Hilda	1908	Suceava, Romania‎	List of murdered	Murdered
Hollinger, Jehudit Yehudit	1878	Suceava, Romania‎	List of murdered	Murdered
Hollinger, Hilda	1913	Suceava, Romania‎	List of murdered	Murdered
Hollinger, Nekha Nacha		Suceava, Romania‎	List of murdered	Murdered
Holinger, Debora	1888	Opole, Poland‎	List of persecuted
Holinger, Fruma Frumma	1864	Strozenice, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Baruch		Kamenets Podolsk, Ukraine (USSR)‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Olinger, David Khanokh	1898	Storojinet, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered
Holinger, Feiga			List of persecuted
Hollinger, Marie			List of persecuted
Vinski, Marija	1911	Poland‎	List of murdered	Murdered
Holinger, Mendel	1871	Storojinez, Romania‎	Page of Testimony	Murdered

db.yadvashem.org/names/nameResults.html?language=en&applid=SAPIR12&queryId=JAGUAR31-VM_2464_079796&page=2

There are also a number of Hollingers in Israel.  We have not yet found if they are related.  

The map and link below show two Villages of Hollinger, where our ancestor may have originated.  One is now in France, the other Bavaria.

google.com/maps/dir/Deggendorf,+Germany/Holling,+94547+Iggensbach,+Germany/Aargau,+Switzerland/Holling,+France/@48.2976799,7.4392363,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m26!4m25!1m5!1m1!1s0x47751111be822751:0x41d25a40937afa0!2m2!1d12.9574787!2d48.8408515!1m5!1m1!1s0x47750375c31a2153:0xa1d25a6760f4230!2m2!1d13.1289044!2d48.7379332!1m5!1m1!1s0x479017f3f5b27d2b:0xf81a0df80757ce7d!2m2!1d8.2554295!2d47.3876664!1m5!1m1!1s0x47950356f8323197:0x46f0d479e6710f68!2m2!1d6.494029!2d49.259765!3e0

I have been in contact with Alois Ohrhallinger from Austria, who believes our name originated in the district of Deggendorf Aholming near Plattling in Bavaria.   hallinger.blogspot.com

The map and link are shown below:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Holling,+Germany/Aholming,+Germany/Plattling,+Germany/Deggendorf,+Germany/@48.7815289,12.8510819,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m26!4m25!1m5!1m1!1s0x47750375c31a2153:0xa1d25a6760f4230!2m2!1d13.1289044!2d48.7379332!1m5!1m1!1s0x47750ea6ede51249:0x41d25a40937af50!2m2!1d12.9107841!2d48.7355743!1m5!1m1!1s0x47750dbb9cce56d9:0x3e8be490276de975!2m2!1d12.8690362!2d48.7806071!1m5!1m1!1s0x47751111be822751:0x41d25a40937afa0!2m2!1d12.9574787!2d48.8408515!3e0

There was a massacre of Jews in Deggendorf in 1337. Deggendorf is near Holling.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Deggendorf

It seems plausible that our ancestor was Jewish. They would have acquired their last name. Then our ancestor would have changed his religion to avoid the frequent pograms aimed at Jews.

We will likely eventually know for sure as more people are tested for DNA. If a number of Israeli persons with the name Hollinger share our Y chromosome then it is likely that our ancestor was Jewish.  At some time he would have decided to convert, perhaps under duress, and the connection forgotten about.