We are family

When I woke up this morning, it was hard for me to remember if what happened yesterday was real or just a dream. I think I'll have the exact same feeling tomorrow morning.

Sima and Leah (Zayde's first cousins) live in a nursing home in Rishon L'Tzion, just outside of Tel Aviv. Renee (my mom's friend) happened to be going to Tel Aviv today, so it worked out that she could drive me there, and then Dov (Leah's son) would meet me and take me to meet his mom and aunt. On the way to Tel Aviv, I tried to think of all the questions I wanted to ask Sima and Leah, but I didn't know what to expect--if they would remember things about him and his family, if they knew what happened to him during the war--and besides that, I kept thinking about how crazy it was that one day I call someone and say we're probably related, and the very next day I'm going to meet him! When we arrived at our meeting spot in Tel Aviv, Dov was waiting outside his car to meet me, and the instant we met and began talking, it was like I was talking to someone I had known for years. On the way to the nursing home, he told me that his wife, Rachel, and older sister, Miriam, would be joining us there with Sima and Leah.

Shortly after Dov and I arrived at the nursing home and sat down at a table outside, Sima walked outside to join us--we hugged and she kissed me and we starting talking. Right away, she started saying how Zayde and her were like brother and sister, that before the war, she used to stay at his house in Szczebrzeszyn every summer, and after the war, they always kept in touch. She described Zayde's parents as very nice people, owners of a clothing store, who lived in a large house in Szczebrzeszyn. She said that the family used to make clothes for all the important people in the town. She remembered Zayde's 3 brothers by name (Rachmiel, Hirsch, and Yitzchak), and remembered that one of them was married with young children. After Zayde married Milka, he moved to Zamosc since her family lived there, and he had his own tailor shop. Sima said that by the time the war started, Zayde and Milka's son, Chaim, was already grown. She even remembered how Chaim was named: the same night that Zayde's maternal grandfather, Chaim, died, Zayde's son was born, so he was named Chaim after his great-grandfather.

At some point, Sima's sister, Leah, Leah's daughter, Miriam, and Dov's wife, Rachel, joined us, and they were all excited to meet me and hear what we were talking about. Leah, right when she saw me, commented on how I looked just liked Zayde (By the way, they all knew Zayde as Tewel). I told them that my dad and I had been to Zamosc and Szczebrzeszyn, and I showed Sima and Leah pictures from the center of the city. None of them had been back after the war, so they were very excited to see pictures of how the city looks today.

I asked Sima if she knew what happened to Zayde during the war. She said that when the war started, everyone knew that they had to run away somewhere, and most people went to Russia. Zayde's mother came to Sima's house and told her that the family was leaving and that she had to come with them. Sima's parents weren't home, and Sima didn't want to leave without them, so Zayde's mother went back home, her family never managed to escape, and they were all killed. Sima's family escaped to Russia, and that's how she was able to survive with her whole family. After the war, Sima's family was in Germany and heard that Zayde was still alive, so got in touch with him and then lived near each other in Germany--that's when Sima heard from Zayde what happened to everyone. Zayde stayed in Zamosc with his wife and Chaim, and at some point, Chaim was killed. Zayde's wife found out first, and she had to be the one to tell Zayde. Later, she was also killed. Then, everyone was sent to various camps, and since Zayde was a skilled worker, he worked in the camps, but only up until a certain point, when everyone was put on a train to what they understood was their deaths. Zayde jumped off the train, injured both of his legs, but managed to escape. At some point, he was caught and sent to Terezin, but he was liberated shortly thereafter.

When Sima's family and Zayde met again in post-war Germany, Sima said that Zayde had already been married to Grandma Esther and that they already had a son (Henry), and that the other was born later (Mickey). I asked Sima if she knew what happened to Grandma Esther during the war, and she said that the only thing that she knew was that she had been a Partisan (!), and that the war was an extremely difficult time for her. That's why, when she and Zayde met after the war, and they were each alone, they decided to marry and start new lives together. Sima's family moved to Israel in 1947 or 1948, and when it came time for Zayde and Grandma Esther to leave Germany, Zayde wrote to Sima asking if he should move to Israel. Sima wrote to him that she should go to America, because he would find more opportunities for work there. Ever since then, Sima and Zayde kept in touch, and when things were hard in Israel, Zayde would send a package--Miriam and Dov always remember that as children, a package from Tewel in America meant something special, and Miriam told me that she has framed pictures of herself wearing dresses that Zayde made and sent to her. When Zayde and Grandma Esther visited Israel, they spent their time with Sima's family, and when it came time for them to go back to New Jersey, Zayde would be so upset to be leaving Sima. She described him as smart, but also humble--he wouldn't try to tell you something or teach you something just to show you that he was smart.

I don't know how long we talked for, but it seemed like time just stopped and we were in a dream. I really can't describe it any other way. I brought pictures of Zayde and Grandma Esther with the American branches of the family, and they were all so interested in learning about everyone and hearing where everyone is. Dov and his wife will be in New York in September and they want to meet everyone! On one hand, it's crazy to think that from yesterday to today, it's like our family had doubled in size--but on the other hand, this whole branch of the family was always there, but somehow, our connection was broken. We all agreed that this time, the connection wouldn't be broken.

After I said goodbye (actually l'hitraot, Hebrew for "see you later") to Sima, Leah, Rachel, and Miriam, Dov and I met Dov's youngest son, Roy, for dinner. He's 23, so he's the closest in age to my brothers and me. Again, it was like talking to someone I've known for years. It's made me realize that even after years of a lost connection, years after not even knowing relatives existed, years of telling people I didn't have relatives in Israel--even after all of that, family is family.

Laughing with Sima

Leah's daughter, Miriam, and son, Dov

L-R: Miriam, Rachel, Leah, Dov, Sima

L-R: Miriam, Rachel, Leah, Me, Sima

Remember the day the sun came out in Szczebrzeszyn?

Let me quickly tell you what I did this morning since I'll want to go into detail about my extremely exciting afternoon. I went back to Yad Vashem to do some more research, and while I was largely unsuccessful in finding out more information about Grandma Esther (I only found one document related to her and it requires further analysis), I was able to visit the office of the Righteous Among the Nations. There I saw the original testimony and documentation related to Marisia's being honored at Yad Vashem, and I made some copies of letters I hadn't seen before.

Anyway, this afternoon my search for Zayde's cousin continued. The back-story: A woman named Sima Keniger (nee Roitman) had posted about the deaths of Zayde's brothers and mother on the Yad Vashem website in 1999, and listed herself as a niece of Zayde's mother (making her Zayde's first cousin). While there was a contact number on the posting, the same number today is that of a kitchen supply store. Yesterday, I tried searching on the Israeli white pages for the last name Keniger, but no Sima showed up. Today, I decided that I couldn't give up until I called each Keniger on the list and asked if they were related to Sima. I started going down the list, and after 3 unanswered calls and 1 woman who only spoke Yiddish, I decided to call a man named Joseph Keniger, since it would be more likely that a male Keniger would be related to Sima rather than a female. I asked Joseph Keniger if he was related to Sima, and he said that he was. I asked if she was his mother, and he said that she was something like a great aunt. He asked me my name, and I told him why I was calling, and then asked if Sima had children. He told me that she never had kids, but that her sister, Leah had two children. Then I asked him the question that I was dreading to hear the answer to: if Sima (or now also her sister) was still alive. He replied that he didn't know, since he stopped talking to that side of the family many years ago. But he did happen to have Leah's son's phone number, so he was next on the list to call.

When I called the number that Joseph gave me, Dov Shefer, Leah's son, picked up. I asked him if he was related to Sima Keniger, and he told me that she's his aunt--Leah's sister. He asked why I wanted to know, and I told him that I believed my grandpa and his mother and aunt were first cousins. He asked me what my grandpa's name was, and I told him Tobias Zylberman. "Tobias Zylberman...I've heard that name before," was his response. You can imagine how many emotions I was feeling just then! And then, the question I dreaded to ask Joseph Keniger, I could barely ask Dov--I was too nervous to hear the answer. He heard how I hesitated, and he understood what I wanted to ask. "They're still alive, in their 90's, and they live in a nursing home now. But they're sharp and clear." Well, it felt like my heart was about to pound right out of my chest. What a feeling it is to know that you've just made contact with family, and to know that a grandparent's family member is still alive! But then came the most surprising, most exciting, and the most mind-blowing. Dov said that a month ago, Sima was talking about her life and mentioned a Tewel (anther name for Tobias) Zylberman who used to send things when there were hard times in Israel and visited her when he came to Israel. Dov told me that Sima mentioned where he was from--"Sheshin maybe?" Szczebrzeszyn! Dov and his wife talked about trying to reconnect with Tewel's family, but they had no idea how to start looking for him in America.

When I told my dad that Dov said that all this happened a month ago, he realized...weren't we in Zamosc a month ago? I checked to see where we went exactly a month ago, and what do you know--that was the day we found Zayde's birth record and visited the synagogue and cemetery in Szczebrzeszyn. What are the chances of that!

Anyway, if that all isn't enough, I'm so excited to go visit Dov and his sister Miriam (my dad's and uncle's second cousins), Sima and Leah (Zayde's first cousins) and Dov's and Miriam's families (my third cousins) tomorrow! Yes, I'll be meeting everyone tomorrow afternoon. It's really unbelievable that I managed to find these cousins, and that Sima and Leah are still here. My family has never been this big--I can't wait to meet everyone tomorrow!

Act IV begins

It's been a crazy 24 hours! I won't bore you with the details of my trip from Prague to Israel, but basically, the flight left at 11:15pm and arrived in Israel at around 4 am with an hour ahead time different. You can guess how tired I was after little sleep on the plane! One quick note about the ride: when I sat down in my seat, I noticed a red Star of David on one of the overhead compartments--probably where a first-aid kit is kept. But my first reaction was, "Why is there a star there? Either it's vandalism or there's some Jewish significance." I guess that's what a long trip in Eastern Europe can do to you! Anyway, after a long wait in passport control, I finally was able to pick up my bag and leave the airport for Jerusalem, where I'm staying for the next week. I'm staying with my mom's friend--also named Renee--and I arrived here at about 6:30am. I decided it would be best for me to take a nap, so after a quick breakfast and shower, I ended up sleeping until 10:30.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, my time here in Israel is for further research but also relaxation, and so my first stop after lunch (and an unsuccessful attempt to contact Zayde's cousin here) was my friend Abby's apartment! That's when it hit me that it was only the second time in five and a half weeks that I talked to someone my age. I went back tonight--it was so nice to finally have some time to catch up with friends.

After Abby's I made my way over to Yad Vashem. I decided that I should make use of a couple free hours today to visit the library at Yad Vashem to assess what's there and how much time I'll need to spend there in the coming days. I think I mentioned at some point that at Yad Vashem, anyone can use the library facilities, including the International Tracing Service (ITS) database, and that's the main reason why I'm doing work there. The International Tracing Service is a database that contains wartime and post-war documents that were, for many years, held in Germany, but were recently released to Yad Vashem and the US Holocaust Museum in Washington. The museum in Washington accepts online requests to have the database searched for submitted names, last names, etc., but the results of these searches often take up to a year to be returned. At Yad Vashem though, I'm able to search the database myself...and I now know why these requests take so long to be returned. There's so much to look through! The database contains documents related to all kinds of different places, time periods, groups of people, and more, and I think if I didn't know what I wanted to find, it would be overwhelming to search. I think, though, that I'm only going to search for a limited set of things (mainly information about Grandma Esther and Zayde's first family), because otherwise, I could spend ages looking through all the documents.

Tomorrow is back to Yad Vashem to see what I can find, and more attempts to get in contact with Zayde's cousin. Wish me luck!

Act III close

I'm blogging a little earlier than usual today since I have a late flight to Israel (!) and I'm not sure what the airport internet situation will be.

This morning, I said goodbye to my mom, and then spent most of my last day in Europe visiting the former ghetto and concentration camp in Terezin. As I learned, Terezin was first built as a military fortress and garrison town in the 18th century by Maria Theresa's son, hence the name, Terezin. The town was built in two parts: a smaller fortress, which served as a prison of enemies of the Hapsburg empire, and a larger fortress, which was a town with barracks for soldiers. When the Nazis overtook the fortresses during the Second World War, they were completely intact, and they realized that they didn't have to move a brick in order to turn the smaller and larger fortresses into a concentration camp and a ghetto. So, in 1940, the Nazis began to use the smaller fortress as a prison for political prisoners, and the larger fortress starting in 1941 as a Jewish ghetto. Besides the historical value of visiting the site, one main reason why I visited Terezin is that Zayde was an inmate at the Terezin ghetto at the end of 1945, and he was liberated from there as well--but more on that soon.

For those of you who have visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, you might remember that the place is often crowded with huge tourist groups talking and taking pictures, and also that many buildings at the former camp were reconstructed after the war. For those reasons, it was hard for me to imagine during my visit how the camp would have been like when it was operating during the war. Terezin, however, has remained completely intact since the war, and from what I saw today, is less frequently visited, so all the barracks and prison cells at the smaller fortress were open for viewing. This made the site very real, and on one hand, it was not hard to picture the events that took place in such a dark, fortified prison. On the other hand, the town of Terezin is situated in what's the otherwise picturesque Czech Republic, and today being a beautiful sunny day, it was hard to block out the beauty of the surroundings when looking at things like barracks, tiny prison cells, and false washrooms that the Nazis built to show to visiting officials.

The larger fortress, which is the former ghetto, though now a regular town, still contains all the buildings of the ghetto. I visited the archives at the Ghetto Museum to see if they could help me find anything about Zayde's time in Terezin. The man at the archives looked up Zayde's name and quickly found that Zayde arrived in Terezin on April 19th, 1945, just a little under a month from when he would be liberated. Still, even though he was only in Terezin for a few weeks, as I learned, the time that he was there was a very difficult one. Beginning on April 20th, 1945, transports arrived from concentration camps all over in what were called "Evacuation Transports"--the Nazis attempt to move their prisoners further from the lines of the approaching Allies. In these few weeks, the Nazis scrambled to murder however many people they could, and these transports to Terezin were such an attempt. Zayde may have been in one of these such transports, although it's a mystery to me why he arrived a day before these transports officially began.

In the former ghetto, I was able to walk the streets and see the buildings that Zayde very likely saw when he was in Terezin. For example, the site of the end of the rail lines into Terezin--this was where he would have gotten off the train and arrived in Terezin, and the surrounding buildings are exactly as they were in 1945. I was also able to see a recently discovered "secret synagogue," a small prayer room in the back of a building that was used covertly during the war. The walls of the room are painted with quotes from the Torah and the prayer services, and it was amazing to think of the people that stood in the same room, just a few decades earlier. As many of you probably know, Terezin was the ghetto that was used as the "show" ghetto for the Nazis--the same ghetto that was beautified and displayed to Red Cross officials in person and in the propaganda film, "A Gift of a Town." If only these officials had opened their eyes a little wider, perhaps Terezin would not have gone down in history as a place with two faces: a beautified exterior and a dark, cold, destructive interior. One last note--as I mentioned before, Terezin is a walled town, and you might remember that Zamosc, Zayde's place of living before the war, was a fortified town as well. The fortifications and layouts of the towns are hauntingly similar, and I wonder if Zayde had thought of this at all when he was imprisoned at Terezin.

Anyway, this will be my final post from Europe and my final post about this leg of the trip. The next and final leg will be a week in Israel, where I'm not only going to relax and see friends, but I also plan on visiting the Yad Vashem museum and archives to take in everything I've experienced as well as explore paths to more discovery. I'm sad to be leaving Europe, but I know that I'll have such a warm feeling of relief the moment I touch down in Israel. I can't wait!

Synagogues and more synagogues (and a castle)

A famous Jewish joke goes something like this (Uncle N., correct me if I'm wrong): A Jewish man was shipwrecked alone on an island. Years later, when a rescue crew finally found him, the man gave them a tour of the island, making sure to point out the two synagogues he had built. They asked why there were two synagogues for one man, and, pointing to one of them, the man responded, "Oh, that's the one I don't go to." Visiting the former Jewish quarter of Prague reminded me of the punchline of this joke. There are seven surviving synagogues in Prague, six of which are basically right next to each other--the furthest ones apart are maybe only a block apart. We toured four of the six, and each has a distinct character and unique contemporary use. We started with the Spanish Synagogue, named for its Spanish-Moorish architecture, which features a sparkling gold interior and a Jewish historical museum. Next was the Pinkas Synagogue, whose walls are covered with painted names of Czech Jewish Holocaust victims. We saw the Old Jewish Cemetery, home to thousands of gravestones dating back to the 15th-18th centuries, the continued to the Klausen Synagogue, with a beautiful baroque interior that's now home to a museum of Jewish ritual, culture, and celebration. Last was the Maisel Synagogue, a neo-gothic building that houses a museum of Jewish life specifically in Prague. They were all beautifully restored, and it was nice to see that just like in Krakow, there were so many different kinds of people touring these places and interested in the history. Still, it was a little eerie. On one hand, it was hard for me to picture someone taking all the seats out of my own synagogue at home, replacing them with glass cases filled with old pictures and ritual objects, and charging tourists money to enter the building. I can only imagine what the community members of these synagogues would think if they knew what had become of their synagogues. On the other hand, with such a small Jewish community in the Czech Republic, this is probably the best way that these synagogues can be preserved--if not as prayer houses, than as museums.

We spent the second half of the day seeing some more of the city by car and then visiting Prague Castle and the Lobkowicz Palace. The castle is like a city unto itself, and the Lobkowicz Palace is part of that city. It's a building that now houses a collection of art that was regained by the Lobkowicz family in restitution--first from the Nazis after the second World War and then from the Communists after the fall of the Soviet Union. It was an impressive collection, and the audio guide was narrated by Mr. William Lobkowicz himself, so we got to hear from him how wealthy his family really was (and now again is).

Later, we returned to the Spanish Synagogue for a concert of all types of music, including the song that helped inspire the tune of Hatikvah, Israel's national anthem, "My Country--Vlatava" by Bedrich Smetana. Tomorrow, my mom departs Prague to return to Chicago, but I'll visit Theresienstadt, the camp from where Zayde was liberated in 1945, and then fly to Israel at night. I can't believe that tomorrow is my last day in Europe, but hopefully it will be an educational and meaningful one. More later!

Exterior of the Spanish Synagogue

Outside the Pinkas Synagogue

The Maisel Synagogue

The Altneuschul--the Synagogue we attended on Shabbat

Not a synagogue, but the cathedral of the Prague Castle

Back at the Spanish Synagogue for an evening concert

Old places, new faces

Even though we weren't planning on going to the Altneuschul (Old-New Synagogue) for services last night, we ended up going anyway. It was packed there! I'm sure I'll learn more tomorrow, as we're going on a tour of Jewish Prague in the morning, but from what I understand, the Altneuschul was built around 1270 and is the oldest active synagogue in Europe. Inside, there's a vaulted ceiling and two stone pillars supporting a central Bimah (Torah reading stand). The men sit around all the walls of the main room and around the Bimah, and the women sit in a separate room with windows facing into the main hall--in medieval times, when the synagogue was built, it was customary for women to sit in a separate room, as opposed to on a separate side or on a balcony, as is now customary in Orthodox synagogues. Anyway, the synagogue was filled with people visiting from all around the world, as well as people who live in the community. After synagogue we went to the Dinitz restaurant for dinner, and were joined by many others who also attended services...including a husband and wife whose last name was also Silberman! We compared notes about family origins and it turns out that we're not closely related (or related at all), but it was funny to meet another family with the same last name.

This morning we went back to the same synagogue for morning services, and between there and lunch at the same restaurant, met some more people who were visiting and who live in the community, including a professor from Georgetown and his wife, and the U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic. The ambassador is Jewish and religious, and it turns out that his parents were both Holocaust survivors from Prague! The ambassador's residence, where he lives, was originally built by a wealthy Jewish family, and then was used as the Nazi headquarters in Prague during the war, and then converted into the ambassador's residence, which now houses a Kosher kitchen for the ambassador and his family. It's amazing how his family story and the house's story have both come full-circle.

Later we had a walking tour of the Old Town district of Prague, and we were able to get an idea of where we're staying in relation to everything else. We walked along the river, the Charles Bridge, and through the main square and Old Town streets. The architecture here is of the most impressive I've seen on this trip, and it's amazing how so many buildings here date back to the middle ages! The guide that led us around today will be our guide for the next two days when we tour Jewish Prague and the castle and then when I tour Terezin on Monday. I'm excited--she's very funny! She gave us a good way to remember some of the characteristics of certain architectural styles: she described me as Gothic (tall and narrow) and herself as Baroque (more..."well-fed" I'll say) or nearing on late-Baroque or Rococo. Now that's one to remember!

So long (farewell) Salzburg!

Preface: For the first time on this trip, we're at a hotel that does not offer Wifi in the rooms! We'll only have internet for an hour at a time in certain parts of the hotel, so I can't promise a lot of blogging.

Anyway, this morning we said goodbye to Salzburg and hello to the Czech Republic. Our first stop was in Cesky Krumlov, a small historic town near the border with Austria. The town is situated on both sides of a river that loops in a half-circle through the town. The weather was beautiful, so we were able to walk around the town's narrow streets and climb the castle hill to see the view from the top. Up there is also the castle's Baroque Theater, one of only two such preserved theaters in the world! We were able to see the inside, and it's amazing how detailed the sets and scenery were, and how everything is rigged to come together during a performance through 18th-century sound effect machines, set engineering, and lighting.

We continued the drive to Prague, and arrived here about an hour ago! We're here until Monday. Tonight we have dinner at a Kosher restaurant around the corner from our hotel, tomorrow we'll go to services at the Altneuschul ("Old-New Synagogue," a 13th century synagogue and home of the Golem!) and then have lunch back at the restaurant, before a walking tour of the Jewish quarter. I'll try to update tomorrow night, but for now, some pictures, and Shabbat Shalom from Prague!

The castle in Cesky Krumlov

View of the town from the castle

Yes, we took this ourselves