Serbian chetniks (royal nationalists) arrest and harass a Jew, c.1941. The arrested man is said to be Rabbi Moshe Bulz, the rabbi of Belgrade, Yugoslavia [now Serbia], who married my distant relative, Berta Fingerhut. (source)
"I have no idea what six million dead really means, but I know what it means to grow up without relatives." — Martin Fletcher, Teachers: The Ones I Can't Forget
Just as September 11th casts an annual tragic shadow over the final days of summer heat, tender spring and its rebirth is haunted by a day of loss: Yom HaShoah, the Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I remember one spring as a Columbia student, passing by Jewish students in Low Plaza holding a 24-hour vigil for Yom HaShoah. They asked passersby to write on a large poster the names of their ancestors and family killed in the Holocaust, and they would read those names, as well as names previously collected in a book, through a PA system all through the day and into the night.
Seeing all those names of the deceased written in many hands, it struck me for the first time that some families knew precisely which relatives were killed by Nazis. With sadness, all I could write was: "The Fingerhut and Fischer relatives I never knew."
My Grandpa Alfred did not know the names of his grandparents. He had at least 19 aunts and uncles, but he only knew the name of one aunt, who had immigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1905. His parents followed a year later, trading in their native multicultural city of Lemberg for multicultural New York City. Later I learned that one cousin of my Grandpa also immigrated to Brooklyn. That's it — the handful of family members who escaped the bullets, gassings, and ovens of Europe.
The summer my Grandpa Alfred met my Grandma Frances at a dance in Brooklyn's Manhattan Beach, his first cousins whose names are still unknown endured Nazi pogroms, forced resettlement into a ghetto, malnutrition and disease, and agonizing death. The following year, as my Grandpa Alfred joined the NYPD and served as an air warden, Nazis murdered his cousins with carbon monoxide at Belzec extermination camp. Almost a half-million Jews were gassed at Belzec, their bodies were buried and then exhumed and burned, and then the site was abandoned and disguised as a farm. Unlike Auschwitz, no one kept lists of the dead at Belzec.
"We lost everyone." "They destroyed all the records." "One relative survived." I grew up hearing my Mom and grandparents tell these lines that blanketed an indescribable loss. I accepted that the names of my lost blood relatives were irretrievable. It took about 15 years before I realized that kind internet volunteers have helped collect Shoah victims' names. In the last several years, and especially in the last month, I've slowly rediscovered my murdered relatives.
JRI-Poland and JewishGen have done an astounding job of indexing millions of 19th-century and early 20th-century Polish Jewish vital records. As I pushed my Jewish family trees further back into the 1800s, I learned of many more extended branches. Once I added these remote ancestors and their kin to my genealogy blog, I had a couple distant relatives email me. I learned of a first cousin of my Grandpa Alfred who immigrated to Brooklyn, whose siblings were killed in Europe. My Grandma Frances said everyone in her family immigrated, but I learned she had a great-great-aunt who stayed in Poland, whose descendants went to Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, Ravensbrück, Siberia.
In the past month, I've been more methodical in trying to trace second, third, and fourth cousins of my grandparents who died in the Holocaust, but online indexes are limited. JRI-Poland has thankfully extended indexes of Lemberg vital records to 1910, but that means I only know of my Grandpa's relations aged 30 and above during World War II, from families that stayed in Lemberg. On my Grandma's side, I can search indexed registration cards issued to families in Lodz, Poland during and after World War I, but similarly that limits me to relations in their 20s or older during World War II, from families that stayed in Lodz. Whatever names I can recover represent a small percentage of my grandparents' extended family, but at least I can find someone.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has an extensive database that has digitized and indexed surviving records, including documents from the Arolsen Archives. Some burial lists for the Lemberg Ghetto from 1941-1942 remain.
1942 burial record of Malwina Kikenis of Lemberg, my Grandpa Alfred's first cousin. Her name is second from the bottom.
Lodz Ghetto authorities made lists of many residents based on their addresses, listing their families like a perverse census.
A page of Lodz Ghetto residents including the family of Szlama Kujawski, distant relatives of my Grandma Frances.
Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names is beyond belief. Ever since the 1950s, Yad Vashem has collected "Pages of Testimony" from Holocaust victims' family members and friends, and now they are all digitized, translated, and indexed. While these first-hand accounts may contain incorrect details, the mission is extremely touching: names of murdered loved ones are not forgotten. One distant relative's Page of Testimony also included a photograph! I can look at the face of Chana Raca Kujawska, who died in the Lodz Ghetto on January 22, 1943.
Page of Testimony for Chana Raca Kujawska (1922-1943), granddaughter of Szlama Kujawski (mentioned above) and third cousin of my Grandma Frances. This record was created and submitted to Yad Vashem by Chana's cousin, Khana Barber.
Photo of Chana Raca Kujawska (1922-1943), submitted to Yad Vashem by her cousin, Khana Barber.
The USHMM database also indexes the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive, containing over 55,000 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and eyewitnesses. Among them is Esther Spiegel (born Estera Hochszpigiel), fourth cousin of my Grandma Frances, who remembered her murdered firstborn, Leiser Szpiegel (November 3, 1940-1944). The Nazis took Leiser and intended to deport him from Lodz in 1942, but a Jewish policeman who was friends with Esther's husband recognized Leiser at the train station and risked his life to reunite the toddler with his parents.
Esther said, "During the night, [the policeman] told us where to stay. We stood over there and he came out with the child — was like a bundle, in a tablecloth. And the minute we touched him, he started screaming, 'Mommy! Daddy!' He recognized our touch. We had him two more years."
In 1944, the Lodz Ghetto was liquidated, and Esther Spiegel and her husband and son were packed into cattle cars headed to Auschwitz. Esther's husband saw they were separating men and women at the initial camp inspection, so he took Leiser in his arms. Esther said Dr. Mengele ordered Leiser to be taken from her husband, and the three-year-old was probably sent to the gas chamber. This young child started life in a ghetto and ended life in a crematorium.
Esther Spiegel and her husband managed to survive the war and reunited afterwards. Their second child, Dr. Allen Spiegel, became the dean emeritus of Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Who knows what little Leiser Szpiegel could have done with a full lifespan. The very least I can do is never forget Leiser's name and fate.
A PARTIAL LIST OF MY RELATIVES WHO DIED IN THE SHOAH
1. My Grandpa Alfred's immediate family
Monia and Klara Kikenis, unmarried sisters and my Grandpa Alfred's first cousins. Monia died in Lemberg Ghetto in March 1942. Klara died either in the ghetto or Belzec.
Ludwig Kikenis, Monia and Klara's brother, lived in Zagreb, Yugoslavia [now Croatia]. He had a gentile wife, and the family says she hid him. While Ludwig did survive World War II, and is probably the "one survivor" in my Grandpa Alfred's family, he died of tuberculosis soon afterwards.
Mendel Weinreb, who married my Grandpa Alfred's aunt Ruchel Fingerhut, died in the Lemberg Ghetto in August 1942.
Mayer Baruch Tafel, first cousin of my great-grandfather Bernard Fingerhut, died in Lemberg [Lvov] in April 1941, two months before the Nazis took the city from the Soviets.
Jozef Hecht, first cousin of my great-grandmother Adela Fingerhut, was a Lemberg Ghetto resident.
2. My Grandpa Alfred's distant relatives in Galicia [now Ukraine]
Benedikt Adam, my Grandpa Alfred's second cousin, was a Lemberg Ghetto resident.
Bogner family: Helena Bogner and her son, Artur Bogner, were Lemberg Ghetto residents.
Hahn family: Dr. Alfred Hahn, a lawyer, was shot and killed in Drohobycz, Poland. His wife Dora also was killed and his cousin, Adolf Hahn, died in the Lemberg Ghetto.
Holzer family: Ernestyna Holzer died in the Lemberg Ghetto in November 1941. Her son Maurycy and his wife and child were also murdered.
Rudolf Mises, second cousin of my great-grandfather Bernard Fingerhut, died in the Lemberg Ghetto.
Schreiber family: Aron Schreiber lived in Berlin, where he witnessed the rise of Nazism. He was deported to Poland in 1942 and died shortly afterwards. His cousin, Ernestyna Pineles, was a Lemberg Ghetto resident.
Spät family: Regina Spät died in the Lemberg Ghetto in January 1942. Her son Edmund Spät and his wife Berta, her other son named Lazar Spät and his wife Klara, Edmund's children Israel, Leah, and Minda Spät, and Lazar's daughter Mela Spät all lived in the Lemberg Ghetto and were murdered. Lazar's daughter Laura Kimmel and her husband, Dr. Alfred Kimmel, went into hiding and survived.
3. My Grandma Frances's distant relatives in Poland
Benkiel family: Wolf Benkiel and his wife Lea Benkiel lived in the Lodz Ghetto and died in Auschwitz. Wolf's son Hersz and daughter Estera died in concentration camps, while his daughter Chaja and son Geniek survived.
Frum family of Czestochowa, Poland: Rajzla Frum and her children Zalma, Estera, Sheindl, Riva, and Mirl Frum probably all died in Buchenwald. Rajzla's son Abraham Frum was killed in an anti-Semitic attack in Czestochowa before the war. Rajzla's daughter Dina Frum managed to escape from Buchenwald and fled to Lemberg (Lvov), where Soviets deported her and her husband, Jacob Key, to Siberia. Dina survived but her husband died in the Soviet internment camp. Zalma Frum's wife Rachel was murdered but his son, Michael Frum, survived.
Helman family: Alta Rajzla Helman and her daughters Sura, Chaja, and Rojzla Helman were all deported from the Lodz Ghetto to Chełmno extermination camp in 1942.
Hochszpigiel family: Nacha Hochszpigiel (sister of Wolf Benkiel) was killed by Nazis in the Lodz Ghetto streets in 1942. Her husband, Abram Moszek Hochszpigiel, died in Auschwitz in 1944. Their children Chaim, Hersz, Raphal, Pearl, and Hinda Hochszpigiel probably all died in Auschwitz. Their son Yankiel Hochszpigiel died in the Hannover-Ahlem concentration camp in January 1945. Their daughter Estera Szpiegel and her husband Juda Szpiegel survived the war, but their young son Leiser Szpiegel (1940-1944) was murdered in Auschwitz.
Kujawski family: Szlama Kujawski died in the Lodz Ghetto in April 1941. His wife Ester Kujawska, son Sana Kujawski, daughter-in-law Tauba, and grandchildren Sura, Chana, and Mindla Kujawska were also murdered. His granddaughters Rywka and Rachla Kujawska were deported to Chełmno extermination camp, where they were murdered.
Rajman family: Gitla Rajman died in the Lodz Ghetto in July 1940 and her son Mordka Rajman died in the ghetto in September 1941. Mordka's wife Doris and daughter Chana Rajman were deported and murdered in 1942. Mordka's sister Chaja Rajman remained in the Lodz Ghetto through 1944.
Reibenbach family: Abram Reibenbach died in Dachau on March 2, 1945, roughly eight weeks before the camp's liberation. His wife Czarna and daughter Alta Chaja Reibenbach were also murdered. Abram's sister Rajza Reibenbach died in the Lodz Ghetto in September 1941.
Sender family: Fałek Sender died in the Lodz Ghetto in March 1941. His half-niece Mindla Sender was murdered in Chełmno extermination camp in 1944 but his half-nephew Aron Sender survived.
Questions? Comments? Please email me at ruedafingerhut (at) gmail.com.
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