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I Frenz Josefekar 3 Austria- Please explain this 1920 Austrian Address/Location

A familly member immigrated to the US and provded this address to US Customs as their Austrian address.
The individual may have been living near or in Vienna at the time. What can you tell me about this address. What would have been at this address in 1920 - what is there today? Also, if traveling to Austria for the 1st time - what do you suggest as an itinerary visiting Vienna (and this location?).

A 2nd address given, in 1932, was Vien III Radetzkystr 23 . Can you tell me something about this?
Thank you.

Posted by
577 posts

I don't mean to be blunt, but as a basic step, have you tried Googling anything?

  • Googling "Frenz Josefkar 3" yields the result that this is a likely misspelling of "Franz Josefs Kai 3," which is an address in Vienna.
  • Googling "Radetzkystr 23" directly yields a result to Radetzkystraße 23, which is also a current address in Vienna.
  • I guessed that the "I" and "III" were Roman numerals for numbered city districts, and googled "Vienna districts," which was fruitful:
    • District 1 is Innere Stadt, and indeed Franz Josefs Kai 3 is within this district.
    • District 3 is Landstraße, and similarly Radetzkystraße 23 is within this district.
Posted by
4 posts

Thank you Andrew for your gracious and helpful repy. Not everybody uses Google as their search engine.
The errant spelling was in the original US documents.

Posted by
8684 posts

One of the things to understand with family history is how and why documents were compiled.
In this case US Immigration probably asked for the information verbally, then wrote down what they thought they had heard. In all likelihood the information on the ship's passenger list would have more authentic spelling, as it was compiled locally by a clerk more attuned to accents and local spelling.
Often also the passenger lists yield other information not recorded elsewhere.

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you for these thoughtful responses! The story is coming to life. The photographs are amazing -
One location looks well maintained, the other more industrial. Observations about information source is very astute. I had wondered about this. I have seen Customs and ship manifest information and wondered about their veracity. I am relying on English language sources.

Posted by
2340 posts

The photographs are amazing -
One location looks well maintained, the other more industrial.

The picture of Radetzkystraße 23 is from 2014, when the house was entered into the (publicly available) building database of the City of Vienna. A picture from 2022 can be found with Google Streetview. The house looks pretty neat now.
https://www.google.de/maps/@48.2116333,16.390654,3a,90y,279.25h,95.11t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1szp9ugCYojSahfZGcxJ5i3g!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-5.109999999999999%26panoid%3Dzp9ugCYojSahfZGcxJ5i3g%26yaw%3D279.25!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Posted by
2340 posts

I am relying on English language sources.

Online translation has reached a quality which allows to understand most texts pretty well.

Most browsers have a function to translate any displayed page to English.

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you - I"ll look for the translate function in Firefox. Also hadn't considered the global reach of Google Maps.