My grandfather from my dads side of the family came from a small town in southeast Poland named Ilja. He is one hundred and two years old, born in 1911. He was the youngest of 5 children in his family with two boys and three girls. His father owned a grocery store, which at the time was a typical occupation for Jewish men. He also did the ritual circumcisem for the town. Religion was very important to his family. Although he went to a Jewish elementary school and later a Yeshiva, his education stopped when he turned eighteen and was drafted into the Polish army. I have one picture of my grandpa in his Polish uniform that I always think of when he tells me he was in the army. It is the only one he has. When he was drafted was when Germany invaded Poland during World War two leading him to be captured as a prisoner of war. Eventually, he was released back to his family.
When Germany invaded my grandfathers town, the Jewish people were boarded onto trains that were heading for concentration camps, camps where Jewish people along with other minorities were forced to live, given roughly ninety calories a day, endless labor and constant fear. My grandfather found a way to escape the train platform. The rest of his family was sent off and did not survive the war. He met my grandmother when he was in a labor camp during the war. There, he met my grandmothers family. We call them the "munchkins" in the family because they were all short and petite. Throughout the time he lived in the labor camp, he managed to keep a religious garment called Teffilin which he even took to the united states and still has today. My uncle was born in a displaced persons camp after the war and my father was born when my grandpa came to america a few years after. From there the next generation began.... |
My grandmother on my mothers side of the family is eighty-seven years old and was born to two parents of hungarian decent. They lived in Astoria, Queens with many other hungarians. She lived in a very forign household, with both parents who attended night school to learn and improve thier english. My Grandma Rita went to an english school and spoke only english to her friends and teachers but when inside her own house she spoke hungarian. She went to sunday school to learn about her jewish heritage. Women during her time were very fixed on fashion and were raised to entertain well. For their own entertainment they listened to the radio, that told stories as if they were movies and the lsiteners would paint imagery in their heads as they listened. My grandma always speaks with a smile when she talks to me about the radio. Every summer, the entire family would go to Far Rockaway as a tradition. My grandma was one of few women who not only went but also graduated from college. She graduated Brooklyn college and became a first grade teacher for many years, she still corrects me and my cousins on our grammar mistakes daily.
My grandfather on my mothers side we call "Papa", because my oldest cousin was unable to pronounce grandpa when he was young. His mother was an American originally from Philidelphia and his father was born in Romania. They met and lived in Ridgewood, Queens. Later their family moved to the Bronx. My papa grew up during the time of the Great Depression. He worked from the age of ten years old. He would give his parents the money he earned and then they would give him some spending money. He grew up in a very Americanized society with relatives that attended the military academy. He served in the U.S army when he was eighteen years old and fought during World War One. When he returned from the army he attended ST.Johns university and only took classes at night because he worked all day. He got a CPA and became an accountant. He had one brother and their relationship was not always steady and close. He created his own accounting firm years after college and eloped with my grandma when they were in their 20'a.
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