{geni:about_me} Michael Kohn-Zerkowitz moved with his parents from Zverkovice to Mahr. Weisskirchen [now Hranice, Czech Republic] in the early 1760s. He was the only Zerkowitz son to remain in that area. Jewish record books forMahr. Weisskirchen show that he was known both as "Michael Zerkowitz" and as "Michael Kohn", but his name does not appear on Familiant lists. In 1787, "Michael Lobel Kohn, M. Weisskirchen" (aka Michael Zerkowitz) was a witness tothe marriage of his youngest brother, Markus, to Ester Lowy of Trebitsch.

Following the death of his mother in 1809, Michael and his wife moved to nearby Leipnik, Moravia [now Lipnik nad Becvou, Czech Republic] where his eldest son, Juda Lobl Zerkowitz, had already settled several years before. The Zerkowitz family was considered among the most prominent in Leipnik's Jewish community, and Michael and his wife occupied household #29 in Leipnik's Jewish quarter. Michael Zerkowitz died of inflammation of the lung membranes.

In Hugo Gold's "Jews and Jewish Communites, Past and Present in Moravia" (1929), the following statement is found: "Of the oldest families living in Leipnik for hundreds of years, the family Zerkowitz, No. 29... must be mentioned." For many years, the Zerkowitz plot in Leipnik's Jewish cemetery was marked with a distinguishing arch. Sadly, this no longer exists. Only two stones -- that of Fanni (Zerkowitz) Weiss (1824-1903) and Anna Zerkowitz (1850-1913) -- are still standing. All the rest had fallen victim to destruction by both the Nazis and then the Fascists behind them.