Read Online Out of the Shoebox by Yaron Reshef - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Yaron Reshef
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great opportunity
to find out so much more about my family and life in Chortkow as Zelda passed
away in 1998 when she was only 80 years old.
One
evening I sat down and summarized all the things I didn't know. This might seem
odd as people usually sum up what they do know. But in this case I knew there
was no one left who could provide answers and fill the gaps: Was my father's
"capitalist" family forced out of their home after the Soviets
occupation in 1939? They were, after all, lumber merchants and made their
living from commerce. My mother never told me that her family was forced out of
their beautiful house when the Soviets occupied the region. I only learned that
from the address on the postcards that were sent from Chortkow to my parents in
Palestine. The sender's address was now 10 Szkolna St. At first I didn’t
understand the reason for the change of address. Only recently, as I looked deeper
into the facts, I re-read my mother's memoirs and put two and two together. The
sad story became clear, starting with the expropriation of their property and
eviction from their grand house to the town's outskirts. On June 6th 1941 the
German army entered Chortkow. Szkolna Street was within the boundaries of the
Jewish ghetto that was created after the Germans arrived, so I suppose the
family was not removed from their home again. I am certain that my parents knew
what their family in Chortkow was suffering in these difficult years, at least
until the German occupation.
Despite
my many conversations with my Aunt Zelda I never asked her when the Finkelmans
were murdered. I gathered they were forced out of their home and into the
ghetto with the rest of the Jews on Szpitalna Street. Thanks to my aunt, the
doctor, the family probably survived until late August 1942, when everyone was
sent on trains to the Belzec death camp. I found that fact in the testimony of
Dr. Israel Shor who survived. He was a friend of my aunt's. I found his account
regarding her fate in the testimonial pages he submitted to Yad Vashem.
My
mother's parents were, in fact, a generation younger than my father's parents,
which makes his parents’ open-mindedness and support in providing their
children with a higher education that much more remarkable. Even more so
considering that they allowed their two daughters to study away from home. Sima
(Simka) studied medicine, and her sister Zelda (named for her great grandmother
Zelda, as was Aunt Zelda from the States) studied philosophy. Of the two girls,
Sima was unusual for her time: an educated woman, with a profession, active in
Zionist organizations, who remained unmarried until her death at the age of 41.
Perhaps I am doing the eldest daughter, Ethel, a disservice, but as far as I
know she left home at a young age and moved to the US I don't think anyone
knows any more about her, other than she entered the US in 1927 and died in
1958 – information I found in US government records.
Not
one of the Kramers in Chortkow survived the Holocaust. Of the Finkelmans, a few
survived: Zelda Finkelman-Halstuch, my father's sister, her son Sigmund
(Zigush). Zelda Finkelman-Liebling my second cousin and her husband Joel who
survived together, and Eliyahu Loushu Finkelman, another second cousin. Our
grandfathers were brothers. Each of them has a fascinating story to tell.
The
first of our family to perish was Dr. Karl Halstuch, Aunt Zelda's husband who
was a lawyer by trade. There are several accounts of his death. He was caught
in the first Aktion in Chortkow, known as the Savage Aktion on August 25th,
1941. A company of the Gestapo's Flying Brigade, which just arrived in Chortkow
with the Ukrainian Militia abducted a hundred Jews, some from their homes based
on prepared lists, and some straight from the streets. These Jews were led to
the local jail where the Germans let the doctors and pharmacists go. The rest
were loaded onto trucks the next day and murdered in ditches that had been dug
in advance in the Black
to find out so much more about my family and life in Chortkow as Zelda passed
away in 1998 when she was only 80 years old.
One
evening I sat down and summarized all the things I didn't know. This might seem
odd as people usually sum up what they do know. But in this case I knew there
was no one left who could provide answers and fill the gaps: Was my father's
"capitalist" family forced out of their home after the Soviets
occupation in 1939? They were, after all, lumber merchants and made their
living from commerce. My mother never told me that her family was forced out of
their beautiful house when the Soviets occupied the region. I only learned that
from the address on the postcards that were sent from Chortkow to my parents in
Palestine. The sender's address was now 10 Szkolna St. At first I didn’t
understand the reason for the change of address. Only recently, as I looked deeper
into the facts, I re-read my mother's memoirs and put two and two together. The
sad story became clear, starting with the expropriation of their property and
eviction from their grand house to the town's outskirts. On June 6th 1941 the
German army entered Chortkow. Szkolna Street was within the boundaries of the
Jewish ghetto that was created after the Germans arrived, so I suppose the
family was not removed from their home again. I am certain that my parents knew
what their family in Chortkow was suffering in these difficult years, at least
until the German occupation.
Despite
my many conversations with my Aunt Zelda I never asked her when the Finkelmans
were murdered. I gathered they were forced out of their home and into the
ghetto with the rest of the Jews on Szpitalna Street. Thanks to my aunt, the
doctor, the family probably survived until late August 1942, when everyone was
sent on trains to the Belzec death camp. I found that fact in the testimony of
Dr. Israel Shor who survived. He was a friend of my aunt's. I found his account
regarding her fate in the testimonial pages he submitted to Yad Vashem.
My
mother's parents were, in fact, a generation younger than my father's parents,
which makes his parents’ open-mindedness and support in providing their
children with a higher education that much more remarkable. Even more so
considering that they allowed their two daughters to study away from home. Sima
(Simka) studied medicine, and her sister Zelda (named for her great grandmother
Zelda, as was Aunt Zelda from the States) studied philosophy. Of the two girls,
Sima was unusual for her time: an educated woman, with a profession, active in
Zionist organizations, who remained unmarried until her death at the age of 41.
Perhaps I am doing the eldest daughter, Ethel, a disservice, but as far as I
know she left home at a young age and moved to the US I don't think anyone
knows any more about her, other than she entered the US in 1927 and died in
1958 – information I found in US government records.
Not
one of the Kramers in Chortkow survived the Holocaust. Of the Finkelmans, a few
survived: Zelda Finkelman-Halstuch, my father's sister, her son Sigmund
(Zigush). Zelda Finkelman-Liebling my second cousin and her husband Joel who
survived together, and Eliyahu Loushu Finkelman, another second cousin. Our
grandfathers were brothers. Each of them has a fascinating story to tell.
The
first of our family to perish was Dr. Karl Halstuch, Aunt Zelda's husband who
was a lawyer by trade. There are several accounts of his death. He was caught
in the first Aktion in Chortkow, known as the Savage Aktion on August 25th,
1941. A company of the Gestapo's Flying Brigade, which just arrived in Chortkow
with the Ukrainian Militia abducted a hundred Jews, some from their homes based
on prepared lists, and some straight from the streets. These Jews were led to
the local jail where the Germans let the doctors and pharmacists go. The rest
were loaded onto trucks the next day and murdered in ditches that had been dug
in advance in the Black
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