Notes

Matches 1 to 25 of 25

#	Notes	Linked to
1	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.	MARCH, Jared (I594)
2	Aunt Sara was cared for by the Prupis family at the end of her life.	MARKOWITZ, Sara aka (I558)
3	Cemetery Iselin, New Jersey	MARKOWITZ, Gloria aka Chayah Bailah (I478)
4	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.	CARCIA, Thomas (I440)
5	email from Phyliss Kramer of Stryszow Yizkor book translation identifies 3 son-in-laws of Hersh Ressler, Ziber is therefore married either to Rifka or Raizel...don't know which one	Zilber, Moshe Aaron (I124)
6	Entrepeneur: Deli City, NYC, NY	MARCH, Fyszel MARCHEWKA aka Floyd (I480)
7	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.	MARCH, Hilary (I593)
8	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.	SCHAUBACH, Michael John (I446)
9	From Bella: Dad was born in city Pultosk, his name was Shmuel Pessach Najman, he was 3 years older than mom 1897 or 1899 when he came to Auschwitz he was in camp for 3month together with a brother and rest is history.	Najman, Shmuel Pesach (I114)
10	Grandpa Anczel is the beginning of our family’s story. He left Nowe Miasto Poland in 1921 and immediately filed his intention to become a citizen on Aug 19, 1922. He was a painter. He stayed in the US earned a living and in1926 he filed for Naturalization. He then sent for his family in Poland in 1927. Everyone immigrated, except my father, Floyd, who the family was forced to leave because of a misunderstanding between my grandmother and the ship’s captain. Floyd, at about the age of 10, was left with Anczel’s sister in law, Frajda Pianka, in Poland. Floyd finally was able to immigrate on June 13, 1934. Many of the relatives who remained in Poland were deported to Auschwitz and Birkenau and eventually died; survivors were Hershel Pianka, Selma and Bella Najman	MARKOWITZ, Anczel Marchewka aka Arnold (I431)
11	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/232845957/ruth-sien Ruth was born in the village of Frystak which is outside of the city of Rzeszów, in the County of Rzeszów (Maisto Rzeszów) in the Subcarpathian section (Podkarpackie) of Poland, and was a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews. Ruth was able to "hide in plain sight" during the war, working as a maid and farm worker for a Polish widow with the help of forged papers her father obtained for her. She and her father were the only members of their family to survive the Holocaust of Jews by the Nazis during World War II. Her mother died of pneumonia at the family home, in 1939, when Ruth was 14 years old, because Jews were prohibited from obtaining medicine. Her brother Neftali was shot to death by an SS officer in Poland during the war. After the end of World War II, Ruth married Isaac Ressler in Bytom, Silisia, Poland. In Bamburg, Germany, she gave birth to her oldest daughter, Phyllis, in late May of 1946. The family immigrated to the United States in 1947. They departed from Bremerhaven, Germany, on April 25, 1947 on the SS Marine Marlin and arrived in New York on May 7, 1947. They initially lived in Newark, New Jersey and moved to a chicken egg farm in Vineland, New Jersey. Isaac died of a heart attack in 1959, leaving Ruth to raise their 2 daughters. In addition to the income from the sale of the eggs, Ruth worked as a seamstress, sewing draperies and slipcovers. In June 1963, she married Michael Sien, a widower dry cleaner living in Irvington, New Jersey with his young daughter. Ruth and her daughters moved to Irvington where they lived for 2 years, after which time the entire family moved to Colonia, New Jersey. Michael purchased his own dry cleaning store and Ruth worked there doing all of the tailoring and alterations that their customers requested. They sold their CPA firm (Cleaning, Pressing, and Alterations) in 1980 and decided to purchase a retirement home in central New Jersey in 1982 where they were active in the planned "active adult" community as well as in the formation of the conservative synagogue. She sewed, knit, crotched, did needlepoint, and was a great baker. Ruth died of colon cancer on October 15, 1999 after a valiant two-year battle against the disease.	Faust, Ruth (I63)
12	Internment, Mt Lebanon, Gill Lane, Iselin NJ	PRUPIS, Robert (I488)
13	Link to Righteous Among the Nations ..Swieton's https://righteous.yadvashem.org/?searchType=righteous_only&language=en&itemId=5890977&ind=0	Ressler, Chiam (I11)
14	Lung Cancer	MARCH, Fyszel MARCHEWKA aka Floyd (I480)
15	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.	CRANE, Martin (I560)
16	Our Aunt Ruth, Ronnie’s mom, was never clear about her actual date of birth. There seems to be a familyhistory associated with this. When Ronnie (Kurzeja) sent me Grandpa Arnold’s naturalization papers, they showed that the family birth records were not accurate. When I asked Ronnie about the dates he wrote: “Berel (Benjamin) was born in 1909 not in 1910, Feiga (Edith) was born in 1911, not in 1912. Rifka (Ruth) was born (claimed 1916) and Fishel (Floyd) was born in 1916, not 1917. ………Edith told everyone she was born in 1916. Based upon the hearing before the Social Security Administration to establish Ruth’s correct date of birth, they relied on the earliest available record then known which was Arnold’s Certificate of Naturalization to establish her birth year as 1916. One could then infer from the illogical logic that Floyd, Edith and Ruth were triplets having all been born in late 1916. You asked what to write for Ruth’s date of birth? Since birth records have little or no value to the Marchewka clan, please enter Ruth’s birthday as Jan 1, 1904. This way we can say that she lived to age 100.”	MARKOWITZ, Rywka MARCHEWKA aka Ruth (I475)
17	Our grandmother Hinda (Hilda) was one of four children born to Ruchla Laja Grinblat and Mordka Ostrowicz. Two brothers survived to adulthood. One brother immigrated to the US, married and lived in the Bronx. The other brother who survived also married. He, his wife and child died in the holocaust. If Hilda and Arnold hadn’t immigrated they would have suffered the same fate.	OSTROWICZ, Hinda Liba (I482)
18	Printer	MAZZE, Gershon aka Harry (I425)
19	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.	MAZZE, Roger Steven (I181)
20	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.	MAZZE, Roger Steven (I181)
21	Ran a family bar in (sounds like tucovicha). They used to call him Hershal Ruszanka and Chiam Ruszanka (first name then town from).	Ressler, Hersh (I23)
22	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.	MARCH, Rochelle (I188)
23	This is Bella's grandmother who she tells stories about having a store. A butcher shop	Ostrowicz, Frida (I140)
24	United Hebrew Cemetary, Staten Island, NY	OSTROWICZ, Hinda Liba (I482)
25	Written in July 2015, edit 2021 Dear children, grandchildren, brothers, many in-laws, nieces, nephews and friends! July 2015, last edit 2021 During the summer (2015) I went to Florida to connect with some of our ancient relatives. Of Esther’s immediate family, only sibling Diane is left [Diana Vardian passed away in 2019]. On Floyd’s side, only Uncle Bob remains, as Floyd’s sister Gloria (his wife) died July (2014) of a stroke at 84. I was also lucky enough to enjoy Sylvia Stiftel’s company (Esther’s old friend and Rhona’s mother—passed in April of 2018) —at this writing, she couldn’t tell me any more stories about my parents (she was 93--95 when she died) but she did have some pictures of my Mom and Dad from the 1950’s! Sadly, our Uncle Bob Prupis is the last of my father’s generation to recount his stories. I know some of these stories reside with cousin Ronnie, Aunt Ruth’s son and JoAnn’s twin. As you may remember, he is one of the lawyers who started the process proving that our family (Markowitz descendants) were the only first cousin survivors of a relative Benjamin Markowitz (the Beadle) from the holocaust. But, that’s another story! This is the story of Floyd and Esther’s trip to Poland and the town of Floyd’s birth, Nowe Miasto, in 1989. But it’s also some more history of Floyd and his early life in Poland and in the U. S. The record of the trip is in videotape made by Uncle Bob, that I have. Hopefully, I’ll be making it into a DVD this year! (Aaron did it and I have it if anyone wants to see it). First, a little background. Uncle Bob was an executive with the International Division of Hasbro Toys. (Bob’s claim to fame was his contribution to the successful re-launch of action toy GI Joe). In the late 1980’s he (with Aunt Gloria) was assigned to the company’s London office for a few years. Much earlier, in 1980, the year Rebekkah was born, my Dad and I had a conversation that started with me asking “tell me about your early life in Poland.” He replied, “there is nothing much to tell” and “Poland is dead to me!” Therefore, it was with great surprise that I learned that he and Esther were joining Bob and Gloria, in the Fall of 1989, for a trip to Poland. What had changed? Was it that the Berlin Wall had come down and travel to Eastern Europe was easier? Was it that of all Dad’s relatives, Esther had a special place in her heart for Gloria? Was it that my Dad had come to the point of forgiveness? Was it that Gloria and Bob were familiar with Europe, having spent a few years living in London, and were comfortable traveling to Poland? Or was it simply that Gloria asked Floyd to do it and he agreed! I subsequently found out that the last was the truth. Uncle Bob told me Floyd recalled stories about his growing up when they began their travels in Europe. Just the act of returning to the place of his birth stimulated many of his memories. Grandpa Arnold (Asher), Floyd’s Dad, had come first to the States in 1921. He earned some money working here and then, after starting the process of naturalization, sent for his family in late 1920’s (1927 to be exact). I have understood that either because of the bone tuberculosis (which was a family legend—the tuberculosis could not be diagnosed until after he had his surgery in the US!) or the fact that Floyd was crippled, the family thought he couldn’t immigrate. When they were boarding the ship, the captain said to my Grandmother, “can you care for this [crippled] child?” My Grandmother answered, “no.” She had no idea what was being asked, she didn’t speak English. Then she was asked if there was anyone else who could care for him. The story I was told was that Grandpa had indicated to Hinda, his wife, that if Floyd couldn’t immigrate she should “leave him.” Very reluctantly, Grandma left Floyd in the care of her half-sister’s family, crying for years for her little Fischel (Fyszel). From what I know, Floyd’s sisters petitioned a state senator and Floyd was given permission to immigrate provided that the family was willing to care for him (apparently, that was all that was needed –when the family boarded the ship to immigrate, Grandma should have said “yes!”) Due to mis-understanding from English to Polish, years were lost before Floyd could come here. Aaron researched documents providing the dates of immigration and the dates match—the family name was Marchewka! After Floyd arrived through Ellis Island at about 18 years old (1934, speaking only Yiddish and Polish with his race listed as Hebrew), he had surgery to remove the diseased bone from the femur, which shortened his leg by 6 inches. This was when the “tuberculosis” was first discovered. A “bone splint” was made from his own bone and to stabilize the surgery, his hip and leg were joined together. There was no bending at the hip. He walked by “throwing” the short leg forward, followed by weight on the strong leg. A special lift was put into his shoe to even his gait. Floyd was no more than 5’ 2” yet everyone thought of him as “big” and definitely not disabled. He literally filled a room with his presence, his booming voice, his encyclopedic memory and his charismatic personality. From being abandoned as a child to becoming a successful entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, he spent a life-time proving that he had a right to survive, when the “other” family in Poland didn’t. His choices were remarkable; he was always taking risks: first, as a teenager leaving Poland for a family he didn’t know in the States and boarding a steamship on his own; later, becoming a businessman, parlaying one “store” into another, starting with concessions in upstate New York, a bakery route, small luncheonettes, and finally to becoming the Deli-City king of New York City. This was not a straight upward route, there were many mis-steps along the way. He lost money, made money and then lost it again, always trying to learn from his mistakes! He achieved lasting financial success at age 60! Because of his surgery, Floyd spent almost a year in the hospital learning to walk again. During this time, Floyd devoured the Encyclopedia as a way to understand English. However, though he knew there were many opportunities and a new life for him in this country, he was keenly aware of the relatives trapped in Poland. Personally, he had been victimized by anti-Semitism and the rise of Nazism that was spreading through Europe. In NYC, he soon became a follower of the Russian philosopher and activist Vladimir Jabotinsky, and part of the Zionist movement that was starting in the 30’s and 40’s. Jabotinsky warned the U.S. and Great Britain that the Jews of Eastern Europe faced imminent destruction, saying that “they were living at the edge of a volcano.” He had a plan to move all the Jews out of Europe and bring them to Palestine. No one believed him—the British continued restricting movement of Jews into Palestine, then a British Protectorate. Jabotinsky died in 1940, not knowing that he accurately predicted the slaughter of over 6 million Jews throughout Europe. (At the end of the war, our grandparents sent money to any of the survivors, friends, cousins, from his hometown to come to the States. [This was how the Pianko family, Bella [Ressler] and Selma [Schwartzman] and the Greenblatt family (Helen) came here—the Frielich’s (Isadore and daughter Hedva) went to Israel]. Floyd told Uncle Bob that when Bella and Selma Najman (pronounced Ni man) were released from Auschwitz, they returned to their home in Nowe Miasto, and found that Polish neighbors had taken over their house. They were cursed and spit at by these former neighbors and told “why didn’t they die--they didn’t belong in the town.” [Actually, they all united with Hershel Pianko and made their way back to the American sector of Germany. From there, they were all able to connect with the Markowitz family in New Jersey and come to the US]. The rampant anti-Semitism in Europe didn’t end with the war—it didn’t turn off like a light bulb! When Floyd finally achieved some financial stability, he contributed large sums of money to an orphanage in Israel, helped build a synagogue in Florida, and gave freely to the JDF—it’s possible that his early activism with the Jabotinsky movement was the initial fuel that drove his later philanthropy! When Floyd, Esther, Gloria and Bob arrived in Warsaw in 1989, they really didn’t know what to expect. Was the town still there, was the family home and business still intact? The first “miracle” my father observed was that the taxi ride from Warsaw to Nowe Miasto (New Town) was only fifteen minutes. Floyd remembered it took over 45 minutes, but that was on horseback. I never knew Floyd was experienced riding horses! He told Uncle Bob that Grandpa Arnold was also an expert horseman. Because of his skill, young Arnold was recruited as a Cossack in the Russian army! [I have since learned that the part of Poland where they lived was at one time under Russian dominion] Conscription would have lasted 20 years, not the life Arnold wanted. He took a sharp pin and pierced his eardrum. The resulting blood and wound (his eardrum was punctured) resulted in his dismissal from the army and the subsequent marriage and children that followed a few years later. How do we view this act? Was it heroic or cowardly? What would have happened to him if he had stayed in the Russian army? Once in the town, Floyd and his party providentially found the Mayor, another “miracle”! It seemed he was “a righteous Christian” a former member of the Polish underground and resistance movement which fought the Nazi’s during the war. He also remembered Floyd’s cousins (Piankos) who were in the underground with him. First, the group went to the Town Hall to find birth records. Remarkably, both Floyd’s and his brother Ben’s birth certificates were located and brought back. (I have the original!) There were no female birth certificates recorded as the emphasis was on documenting male births. Birthday, for many, were observed with connection to the nearest Jewish holiday at the time of birth. Soon the police joined the Mayor in helping Floyd locate the places where he grew up. It must have been quite the procession. Floyd was able to visit his old Hebrew school, his former homestead where he lived with aunt, uncle, cousins, and the shop (still standing) where his mother was the butcher, (she was a “shoket”-ritual slaughterer). But, he became confused and said that nothing was the same, it seemed everything was in a different place. In reality, things had been moved as the rambling river along which the town was built actually had been straightened out. Floyd’s photographic memory was so sharp he recognized that the river changed! Some of the town had been relocated with the widening and straightening of the river. Floyd remembered the river as a place where the family went to wash clothes, a peaceful memory! It seems remarkable that he remembered anything after over 50 years. After visiting the school, they went to find the cemetery where many relatives were buried. The Jewish section of the cemetery had been destroyed: grave markers shattered and headstones defaced. There was a bit of a wooden sign that they found among the ruins which proclaimed “Jewish Cemetery.” There was nothing else left. Even though they knew this was what they would find, the reality of it was overwhelming. Weeping, Floyd, joined by Bob, Gloria and Esther, said Kaddish for their family and all the Jews in the town. Floyd later explained that the Nowe Miasto where he grew up was a divided town. Half the town was Polish and the other half the sheitel (ghetto) where the Jews lived. Movement in and out of the sheitel became more and more restricted as anti-Semitism increased. Typically, first cousins married, as was the case with the Markowitz and Ostrowitz families—Floyd’s father and mother were first cousins. The shuttered community did not provide much choice in marriage partners! The family Floyd grew up with was the Najman family, the mother Esther, was a half-sister of Hinda’s. I remember my Dad told me that the family was good to him but he felt like an outsider with them, a fact he repeated to Uncle Bob. What I remember was the story he told me of his Bar Mitzvah. His mother sent money to his aunt for the small gifts of candy that were thrown at him at the conclusion of the service: for “sweetness” in learning, after he chanted his prayers. But, in his household, the other boys had little parties for their special day; he didn’t. I think that was why he wanted to have “big celebrations” for his children—Bar Mitzvahs, Weddings, Brit milahs, providing for us over the top elaborate events compensating for the parties he never had. The other story my Dad told often was the “apple” story. Apples from a neighbor’s home had fallen in the road. Twelve year old Floyd picked up an apple. Immediately, the neighbor shouted out, calling him a thief for stealing apples. Still yelling, the neighbor ordered his huge, growling dogs to “get” the thief! Floyd started to run, but unable to outrun the dogs, the only choice was to climb a large nearby tree. One dog initially grabbed his leg, scratching and biting, but he was able to shake him off as he climbed higher. At this point in the story, my dad would roll up his pants to show us the dog’s bite marks. The remainder of the trip in Poland was spent visiting Concentration Camps. The video shows Floyd praying at Auschwitz and Birkenau. They returned to London and with Uncle Bob and Aunt Gloria acting as guides, they toured the city, a relaxing conclusion to an emotionally tumultuous trip. Uncle Bob said the trip was cathartic for both Dad and Gloria. My Dad never spoke about it—Uncle Bob gave me the video, and now more than 25 years later, I finally asked the questions I didn’t ask my Dad. Although Dad was strong on that trip, a few months later, we learned he had lung cancer and all of us were consumed with taking care of him and seeking a miracle. Lung cancer is particularly insidious and by 1991 Floyd was gone. Thinking of my Dad’s life, in totality, his living was a miracle: he was able to leave Poland and certain death—he was crippled and the Nazi’s would have killed him immediately; he became wealthier than any member of his family even though he had only a grade school education; he lived fifteen years past the time of his major heart attack, though right after it, he was told to “get his affairs in order.” (He always seemed to benefit from the next technological advance in cardiac care.) He educated his children through college, was financially successful and philanthropic, well-respected and loved by many. He lived on his own terms and did what he wanted, never afraid of anything! In the last week of his life he told me that “everyday I’m alive and see the sun, it’s a gift.” The miracle is that we’re all here because of his and his father’s immigration to the United States.	MARCH, Fyszel MARCHEWKA aka Floyd (I480)

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