Kiss Family (eleméri and ittebei)
According to the authentic documents the family originates from Erzsébetváros in Transylvania (Torontál County), where it had a prestigious reputation in civil and commercial fields. The family are descendants of the Armenian Ákoncz family. Their surname was acquired precisely due to the short stature of its members (Kiss in Hungarian means small). Surviving documents indicate that, at the time, the family still spoke Armenian.
The Kiss family gained considerable merit through their military contributions during the Prussian campaigns, securing Hungarian nobility (Elemér and Ittebei) and a coat of arms from Queen Mária-Terezia (Sovereign of the Habsburg family, which ruled over Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania). This nobility was formally proclaimed in 1761 in Csanád County, where the family had already been leasing a large estate.
Izsák’s son Ágoston had three children – Gergely, Mária and Ernö. General eleméri and ittebei Ernö Kiss (Kishian in Armenian) was one of the Arad Martyrs of 1949. (See details of Ernö’s role in the revolution against the Austrian Empire on our page “Arad ‘). That branch of the family had no male descendants. Our branch of the Kiss family are from the descendants of Miklós.
The coat of arms is a shield divided vertically into two halves: on one half a black eagle is visible, while on the other side the blue courtyard is divided into two parts by a horizontal white line. In the upper section, three golden stars shine, in the lower part a golden lion is depicted in a leaping position. Above the shield, on the crown of the helmet, an arm wields a drawn sword.
Miklós Kiss de Elemér et Ittebei (1852-1909) was the brother of Elemér Kiss (father of our grandmother). He married Katharina Maria Schratt a famous Austrian actress. She became Franz Joseph’s companion and was known as “the uncrowned Empress of Austria“. It is said that Franz Joseph’s wife Empress Elisabeth actually encouraged the relationship between the actress and the Emperor. Schratt and her husband separated due to incompatibility. The Emperor, however gave Miklós the Hungarian title of Baron.
József Kiss de Elemér et Ittebei (1896-1918) was a World War I flying ace for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, credited with 19 aerial victories-making him the most successful Hungarian ace of the war. Kiss’s father was a gardener at the Pozsony military academy. He was reportedly related to Lieutenant-General Ernő Kiss, one of the 13 Martyrs of Arad who were executed in 1849. However, this relationship has not been proven, and some evidence suggests it is unlikely. His story is worth reading. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war against Serbia, Kiss promptly dropped out of school and enlisted in the 72nd Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian army, despite his truncated education preventing him from reaching officer ranks. On 26 October 1914, he engaged the the Russians in the Carpathian Mountains, where he was severely wounded and sent home to convalesce. During his recovery , he became interested in the Austro-Hungarian Air Service. He applied, was accepted, and trained at Wiener-Neustadt. His personal aircraft was painted black with a large white ‘K’ on either side of the fuselage, which he wielded with a courage bordering on recklessness. He was seriously wounded again in late January 1918, but returned to duty only two months later- despite having undergone surgery to remove part of his bowel. His last victory was on 28 January 1918. He flew without any further triumphs until he was killed in action on 24 May 1918 at the hands of Lieutenant Gerald Birks of No 66 Squadron. His final tally of 19 included at least seven enemy aircraft forced down and captured and 9 victories shared with other pilots.
