ABBREVIATIONS
DUPIY1919: Di Ukrainer Pogromen in Yor 1919
MH: Megilat Ha-tevah
NYT: New York Times
PYB: Pochayev Yizkor Book/Pitchayever Yizkor Bukh
SYB: Stavishche Yizkor Book
NOTES
Please note that in many instances, the dates and exact details of events differ slightly in certain sources. Family histories, compositions, stories, reports given to committees and archives, reports used in previously published materials, and those being interviewed are often recalling events that happened months, years, and, in many instances, decades earlier. Therefore, the exact details are dependent upon the accuracy of the memories of those reporting the events. In addition, the Jewish and Gregorian calendars can often become confusing; events are sometimes referred to as having happened “around” the time of a certain Jewish holiday, the dates of which may differ from year to year. After carefully reviewing all the sources, the author has tried to the best of her ability to acknowledge these possible differences in her notes and to make the best determination of the details and time of events portrayed in the book.
Please also note that the general overall story is based on the oral interviews, recordings, and letters of the author’s grandmother Channa Caprove, so it is impossible to include her name everywhere in the notes. However, at times she is mentioned when it’s in combination with others who are also being credited.
Much of the dialogue in the book is re-created from interviews that the author conducted as well as from other family history stories.
Please note that at the time of the birth of the author’s grandmother Channa, the town of Stavishche was located in Russia. During her lifetime the borders changed: today Stavishche is located in Ukraine. However, many who were interviewed who lived in the region at the time often interchanged the names of the countries, as the borders changed often. The author also refers to the capital city of Ukraine by its old spelling, Kiev. Today, the city is referred to as Kyiv.
PREFACE
1. Cabinet Portrait: Many old Russian photos (such as this one, taken before the Revolution) were mounted on thick backboards and displayed in cabinets. According to historian Deborah G. Glassman’s article “Learning Your Lyakhovichi History from Family Pictures,” which first appeared on Jewishgen’s website in 2005, English paper suppliers were the backbone of Russia’s photography supply market. At the bottom of these card stocks, underneath the photos, the words “Cabinet Portrait” often appeared in English, sometimes accompanied by scrollwork. This explains the unexpected appearance of English words on many old Russian photographs.
CHAPTER ONE: FAMILY FOLKLORE
1. According to Jewish law, there was a “special rule regarding the get”: Freeze, Jewish Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, page 144.
2. Since the marriage could only be dissolved: According to Freeze, Jewish Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, page 144.
3. “Behold, this is your get… permitted to marry any man”: Freeze, Jewish Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, page 144.
4. Less than five hundred divorces were reported: Freeze actually states 461 in Jewish Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, page 302.
5. obligation known as kest: Zunser, Yesterday, page 272.
6. Estimates ranging from over one hundred thousand: Researchers disagree on the numbers, so a range was placed here. Gannes, Childhood in a Shtetl, page 121, places the numbers in the higher end of the range given.
7. “Kill the Jews and Save Russia!” During various interviews, this slogan was mentioned by a few of those, including Channa, who lived in the town. Gannes, Childhood in a Shtetl, page 119, confirms the slogan in this way: “Kill the Jews, Save Russia.” Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 275, used the variation: “Kill the Jews” and “Save Russia.”
8. During warm summer evenings: Barbara Stumacher, in a composition written about her grandmother Molly Cutler, read by her father, Abe, on audiotape.
9. khapn a keek”: Rita L. Antanir Posin, in an interview with the author.
10. “You SHOULD marry her!”: Rita L. Antanir Posin, in an interview with the author.
11. called the river “Lazy Tikatch”: Kushnir, The Village Builder, page 19.
CHAPTER ONE FOOTNOTES
1. The general Jewish population: Freeze, Jewish Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, page 302.
2. The term feldsher: Rousselot et al., “The Evolution of the Physician’s Assistant,” page 1479.
3. Peter the Great of Russia: Rousselot et al, “The Evolution of the Physician’s Assistant,” page 1479.
CHAPTER TWO: A TOTAL ECLIPSE
1. He slept in a bunk by an ongoing fire: Bobby Usatch Katz, in an interview with the author.
2. “looking through a piece of smoked glass” and “an evil event”: Lessure Mayers, “My Family History,” page 1.
3. benches that were shaded by very old pine: Moshe Galant in SYB, pages 77–84.
4. a stunning view of a huge pond: Aftanazy, Dzieje Rezydencji Na Dawnych Kresach Rzeczypospolitej, page 328.
5. windmill… Micinski, who set his novel Wita: Iwaszkiewicz, Ksiazka Moich Wspomnien, pages 134–35.
6. “Oyfn Pripetshik”: Mark Warshawsky (1848–1907); this is a well-known Yiddish lullaby.
7. After peasant boys threw pebbles: Dr. Murry Rich, in a letter to the author.
CHAPTER FOUR: DAYS OF INNOCENCE
1. By 1763, the Jewish population: Rulikowski, Slownik Geograficzny: Stawiszcze, page 299.
2. half of the 8,500 residents: Yaroshevich, ed., All South-Western Region Information and Address Book of Kiev, Podolia and Volyn Districts, pages 601–02, gives a total over slightly over 8,500 residents of Stavishche. This was a 1913 figure. Channa and many others interviewed, as well as many sources, place the Jewish population at about half that number.
3. Leaper managed to avoid the mud: Sol Moser, in an interview with the author.
4. “Haika de Zhitomir”: Sol Moser, in an interview with the author.
5. “Lepe the egg merchant”: Kaminsky, “The Stepansky Family Story,” page 1.
6. “There was a pogrom”: Sol Moser, in an interview with the author.
7. Jewish babies were murdered: Vivian Moser Flamm, in an interview with the author.
8. Chiah Sura Spivack… “cupping”: Emily Bayard, in a letter to the author.
9. “escaped exile in near Yakutsk”: The place of exile was also confirmed in Vladimirsky, “Jewish Settlement in Siberia,” page 6.
10. “He now calls himself”: Daniel Cutler, in an interview with the author.
11. Pitsie Sheynes, the husband of Shika de Potch’s sister Pearl: Dr. Murry Rich, in an interview with the author.
12. “Pitsie Postrel, the overseer of the forest”: Sanders, “A Brief Memoir,” page 1. The different Pitsies in town were recounted by several children who lived in Stavishche, in interviews by the author. Sanders’s brief memoir confirmed the occupations of his Pitsie, or Pitzie.
13. “Zionist from Zhashkov”: Discussed by Daniel Cutler, in an interview with the author, with the dialogue re-created from that interview. However, it was Pitsie Avram’s grandson, Max Zaslawsky, who confirmed a cousin relationship with the Dayan family, in an interview with the author.
14. The names of Eliyahu and Shmuel Dayan are confirmed by the Rabbi M. Halevi in SYB, pages 41–45.
15. Shika never charged a sick person: Dr. Murry Rich, in an interview with the author.
16. Christian peasants walked out on the frozen river.… During the ceremony: Bayard, “Yasha Kainer’s Stories About Russia,” page 4. This was recounted to Ms. Bayard by another child witness, Yasha Kainer. Yasha described in beautiful detail but did not name the event that the author believes was Epiphany, or Kreshchenie.
17. “When the fair came, everyone was busy”: Yosl Golub in SYB, pages 95–118.
18. Sholem Alecheim: Draznin, It Began with Zade Usher, pages 122–23. Aleichem’s marriage and his connection to the Loyev and Mazur families are mentioned in Draznin’s book, as well as that Olga was born in nearby Shubovka (see footnote).
CHAPTER FOUR FOOTNOTE
1. Eliyahu and Shmuel Dayan: The brothers were mentioned by Halevi and others in the SYB; Eliyahu, their father, and their famous ancestor the Shpole Zeide were mentioned by Y. Dayan, “Bayit Be-Yisreal:Eliyahu ve-Batya Dayan,” chapter 1.
CHAPTER FIVE: AVRUM CUTLER’S BRIEF BETROTHALS
1. His nieces… could not help but laugh: Rita L. Antanir Posin, in an interview with the author.
2. Myer Ova Denka: Early US records list his name as Averdenko and then Over; the transliteration of Russian records has the name listed as Ovadenko and Ovadenka. Channa stated it was Ova Denka.
3. once made a pair of leather boots: Anne Caprove Kravitz, in oral stories, tapes, and in a 1990 letter to the author, page 5.
CHAPTER FIVE FOOTNOTE
1. Channa’s aunts used a similar Yiddish saying regarding zaftig women as did Zunser, Yesterday, page 208.
CHAPTER SIX: COUNT WLADYSLAW BRANICKI AND THE NOBLE FAMILY OF STAVISHCHE
1. It was on a market day: Some former residents of Stavishche, who were children during this time period, believed the violence at the count’s estate was on a market day and took place at the beginning on the Revolution, possibly the fall of 1917. One Polish source had the estate destroyed by 1918.
2. dragging a very large mirror: Lessure Mayers, “My Family History,” page 1.
3. castle that was inherited by: O. Polozova, in a letter to the author regarding the Kiev Guberniya Notebook.
4. “with a shattered mirror and a bleeding cow!” Lessure Mayers, “My Family History,” page 1.
5. commissioned back in 1857: Rulikowski, Slownik Geograficzny: Stawiszcze, page 299.
6. peculiar-looking water pump: Aftanazy, Dzieje Rezydencji Na Dawnych Kresach Rzeczypospolitej, page 328.
7. described as shy and unassuming: Tarnowski, “Stawiszcze and the Branicki Family,” page 2.
8. concerned about the welfare of widows and orphans: M. Mazaraki (see Appendix B).
9. including the Jews of his village: Kushnir, The Village Builder, page 34.
10. in the court of the tsar: Kushnir, The Village Builder, page 34.
11. In the winter of 1887, a Hebrew language newspaper Hazefirah and “May he be rewarded in full.”: “Hachovesh” (believed to be a pseudonym of an unknown writer). Hazefirah (Newspaper). Warsaw, Russian Poland. February 9, 1887, page 2.
12. wrote that like Casimir the Great: Iwaszkiewicz, Ksiazka Moich Wspomnien, pages 134–35.
13. he purchased a drilling machine: Kushnir, The Village Builder, page 34. Note: Kushnir’s translation uses the name Count Berntizky, but the proper spelling is Branicki.
14. Count Branicki’s dense pine forest: The location of Count Branicki’s forest was mentioned by Meyer Spector in SYB, pages 85–94, but was also recounted by Channa and many other villagers interviewed by the author.
15. Stavishche, though, was famous for its horses: Rulikowski, Slownik Geograficzny: Stawiszcze, page 299.
16. who set up stables: Aftanazy, Dzieje Rezydencji Na Dawnych Kresach Rzeczypospolitej, page 328.
17. morning horseback rides: Iwaszkiewicz, Ksiazka Moich Wspomnien, pages 134–35.
18. the noble’s much-talked-about purchase: A. Ben-Hayim in SYB, pages 179–82. This story was also recounted by others, such as Channa’s mother, Rebecca, who told her a story that the Arabian was purchased in Cairo, while her father, Isaac, disagreed with his wife and told a story that that the horse that collapsed was purchased in Damascus.
19. took out their brooms and swept the streets: Elise Moser, in a letter to the author, where she recounts a story told to her by her grandfather Sol Moser.
20. the noble’s priceless Arabian, with Count Branicki proudly saddled: A. Ben-Hayim in SYB, pages 179–82. Again, Isaac also told this story to Channa.
21. “Look at that—no horses, nothing!”: Dr. Murry Rich, from his interview with family members.
22. the nobleman owned: Mrs. O. Polozova, in a letter to the author regarding the Kiev Guberniya Notebook. In 2004, she wrote from the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Kiev that Count Branicki’s name was found listed in a chapter called “List of Landowners of Tarashcha district that owned above 1,000 desyatins of land.” She also wrote that Branicki was the owner of 1,835 desyatins of the land in the town of Stavishche from 1910 to 1913, and by 1914 he was the owner of 2,623 desyatins (about 7,087 acres). From this letter, the author interpreted it to mean that the desyatins were all in Stavishche, but without further investigation, the author couldn’t confirm that this didn’t include acreage of any surrounding lands within the district.
23. Many of his grandchildren later told their children: Count Paul Potocki, in a letter to the author.
CHAPTER SIX FOOTNOTES
1. During a tour of the estate: Aftanazy, Dzieje Rezydencji Na Dawnych Kresach Rzeczypospolitej, page 325. Aftanazy mentions Chlopicki’s 1881 description of the interior of the estate.
2. Julia… inherited the estate: Mrs. O. Polozova from the Ukraine Government Archives (Kiev) wrote the author a letter about an entry in the Kiev Guberniya Notebook, in a chapter titled “List of Landowners of Tarashcha district that owned more than 1000 desyatins” of land. It stated that, by 1914, Wladyslaw owned 2,623 desyatins of land in Stavishche. From the succession of the deed and knowing the date of the Count’s death, the author deduced that Julia inherited the land. Also, Count Ladislas Tarnowski wrote in his family history that Julia inherited Stavishche, owning it until the Treaty of Riga.
3. managed by the great botanic scholar: Aftanazy, Dzieje Rezydencji Na Dawnych Kresach Rzeczypospolitej, page 328, and Rulikowski, Slownik Geograficzny: Stawiszcze, page 299.
4. Andrzejowski also wrote: Aftanazy, Dzieje Rezydencji Na Dawnych Kresach Rzeczypospolitej, page 328.
CHAPTER SEVEN: STAVISHCHE UNDER SIEGE
1. an urgent telegram: Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 7.
2. In August 1918: Klavana Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34.
3. “To His Honor, the Honored and Learned Rabbi”: Rabbi Yitzhak Avraham Gaisinsky et al in SYB, translated by Dr. Ida Selavan Schwarcz, pages 235–238.
CHAPTER SEVEN FOOTNOTE
1. included a bloody riot: Committee of Jewish Delegations “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 7.
CHAPTER EIGHT: GRIGORIEV’S BANDITS
1. The backdrop of this story was provided by Channa Caprove, with facts of the attacks (and sometimes names) confirmed by various sources.
2. the second day of Shavuot: K. Kohen in (SYB Document) pages 221–34. Several sources cite Grigoriev as the ataman, while others indicate that his underlings Zhelezniak, Yatsenko, and Voytsekhovsky were doing his local bidding. Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34, places Zhelezniak and Yatsenko as the leaders and states that they are from Grigoriev’s unit; Rosenthal in MH (unpublished manuscript), pages 1, 34–35, places Zhelezniak at the scene. On page 1, he pairs Zhelezniak with the infamous bandit Tutilnik (Tutunik). Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, pages 287–88, mentions Grigoriev’s band. On page 179, Heifetz places Yatzenko and Golub together. Yosl Golub (no relation to the former Golub) in SYB, pages 95–118, and his brother Isaac Golub in SYB, pages 119-29, both place Zhelezniak and Voytsekhovsky together. Israel Senderowitz in SYB, pages 155–57, mentions Zhelezniak in the Shavuot attack. On page 266 of “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” the Committee of Jewish Delegations places Grigoriev’s band in Stavishche on June 15, 1919.
3. “White Guards”: Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 287.
4. sikrikim or sikriks: Zhelezniak, Yatsenko, and Voytsekovsky: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35, also confirms the usage of the words sikriks and Sicarii under the section on Stavishche and sikrkim under the section of Tetiev.
5. group of peasants from the nearby village of Pshienka: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35.
6. collect a contribution of 400,000 rubles: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35, and Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 287.
7. along with eight hundred measures of cloth and six hundred sets of underwear: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35.
8. He, along with other witnesses, recognized among the bandits: Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 287.
9. take it upon himself the “good deed” of revenge on the Jews: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, page 35.
10. With the assistance of several well-respected men from Stavishche: Isaac Golub in SYB, pages 119–29.
11. 357,000 rubles and “showed mercy and handed back seven-thousand”: Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 287.
12. Phillip “Yitzhak” Kohen, had been killed: Israel Senderowitz in SYB, pages 155–57. Phillip’s name, which appears as Yitzhak Kagan, is on the Forvets’ tombstone list in Appendix E.
13. several thousand rubles to be given to Israel’s newly widowed sister: Israel Senderowitz in SYB, pages 155–57.
14. sister, Chaika, and baby daughter, Bella: Harry Senders, in a correspondence with the author.
15. They tortured and raped many women: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35, and Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–234.
16. loaded 180 wagons with all kinds of goods: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35.
17. two and a half dozen heads of cattle: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34.
18. Three old women told of the unthinkable torture: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 1, 34–35. Wilfond’s murder is described in MH. Channa remembered hearing her mother in conversation with neighbors describing what they had heard was the rape of a young girl; this description was compatible to the entry on Stavishche in MH naming Wilfond as the victim.
19. Bandits burst into Hirsh Zagatovtchik’s home: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35. Hirsh’s murder is detailed in MH. Zagatovtchik’s name appears on the tombstone lists in Appendices D, E, and F. The death list in Appendix F also states that Hirsh’s forty-year-old wife was a murder victim. An early story of Channa’s places her father conversing with the rabbi about the murders in town of two men, thus making the author conclude, from the description, that Isaac was told about Hirsh’s murder.
20. a Christian neighbor of Motel’s: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35. Motel’s murder is described in MH. See above explanation of how the author concluded that Isaac heard about this murder as well.
21. bandits printed large anti-Semitic posters: E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35. Rosenthal does not name Zaslawsky as the owner of the shop, but the author knew from his grandson that he was.
22. Their most lethal raid of June 15–16 is recorded in Khlavna Kohen’s SYB document, pages 221–34, and Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 287. Heifetz, page 287, placed the death toll at twenty-two on the night of the June 15–16 raid, with a total of forty for the week; Channa stated about thirty in all.
23. Outside on the street, in front of his shoe factory: This scene and its dialogue were re-created from interviews and stories, both oral and written, not only from Channa but also from others who lived in the town.
24. “Itsie Shadken was shot”: Yosl Golub in SYB, pages 95–118, confirms this fact that was re-created in dialogue.
25. He bled to death before reaching the hospital: Berl Rubin in SYB, pages 159–161, confirms this fact that was used in dialogue. Golub and Rubin both confirm Channa’s account of others talking about his death. Itsie was also remembered on the Tcherikover, Megilat Ha-tevah, Forverts’ death lists as well as the Death List that appears in Appendix F.
26. Mordechai Gutharts’s death is recorded in Khlavna Kohen’s document in SYB, pages 221–34. Kohen confirms Channa’s account that the young man was killed sometime during Zhelezniak’s weeklong raid. Channa believed it was on the night of June 15–16. Gutharts’s name appears on the Tcherikover and the Forverts’ death lists.
27. “They killed Chaim Mayer’s stepson, Asher!”: Channa places Asher’s murder during Zhelezniak’s June 15–16 raid; Isaac Golub in SYB, pages 119–29, confirms that it happened sometime during the week of Zhelezniak’s raid. Asher’s name appears on the Forverts’ death lists.
28. Nearly eight hundred Jews: Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 288, in a reference to the mass evacuation to Belaya Tserkov.
29. northwest toward Volodarka: Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 288; Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34; Isaac Golub in SYB, pages 119–29; and E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35.
30. set fire to the old, wooden bridge: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34 (he named it the Rasi River) and E. D. Rosenthal in MH, pages 34–35.
31. “Bring out boards for a makeshift bridge!”: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34, and E. D. Rosenthal in MH pages 34–35, confirmed this, as well as Havah (Eva) Goldman in SYB, pages 55–59. (Note: Havah, when recalling the exodus that her own grandfather Pitsie Avram led to Volodarka, most likely confused the names of the bandits Zhelezniak and Zeleny in her story, which was written forty years after the events unfolded. Several other written sources confirm that it was Zhelezniak’s attack that she was describing.)
32. to give the small group of frazzled Jews bread: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34. In a small footnote by the editor of Reshumot, volume 3, 1923, pages 380–82, under Vinograd, there is a mention, but not a confirmation, that Zhelezniak gave the Jews of Stavishche a loaf of bread as he ordered them home from Volodarka. Others confirmed that it was the rabbi who persuaded the hetman to do so.
33. selected a day to fast as a remembrance: Rabbi Laizer Spector, “The Adventures of My Life,” page 1. Note: Laizer specifically names Zhelezniak, but the date he reported was contrary to some other reports. He was a child of only seven years old during the incident.
CHAPTER EIGHT FOOTNOTE
1. Jewish folklore quietly refers to Belaya Tserkov as “Shvartse Tume.” This nickname, along with the meaning of “Black Abomination,” is confirmed in an Encyclopedia Judaica entry of Belaya Tserkov, volume 4, pages 278–79.
CHAPTER NINE: FROM VILLAGE TO VILLAGE
1. Myer’s daughter, Slova, Avrum’s feisty wife, looked through a window: Charles “Chuck” Cutler, in an interview with the author.
2. A Jewish committee of aid set up in Belaya Tserkov to assist the refugees: Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 288.
3. At ten o’clock: Rochela Feinzilberg (Ruth Feinsilver), “An Adventure,” page 1.
4. Rochela couldn’t imagine her life ending that evening: Rochela Feinzilberg (Ruth Feinsilver), “An Adventure,” pages 1–2. Channa also told a similar story when she hid in the bet hamidrash.
5. God finally heard their prayers: Rochela Feinzilberg (Ruth Feinsilver), “An Adventure,” page 2.
6. Jewish children grew up fearing the Church: Gannes, Childhood in a Shtetl, page 151, see footnote quote for details.
7. Published testimony suggests that even some of the priests: Heifetz, The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, page 287.
8. The son of a poor peasant: DUPIY1919, chapter 11.
9. “the prototypical representative of the rebel movement”: DUPIY1919, chapter 11.
CHAPTER NINE FOOTNOTES
1. whenever the tsar’s mother: Rita L. Antanir Posin, in an interview with the author.
2. Gittel died of an infection: Ruby Stumacher, in an interview with Abe Stumacher.
3. “In Jewish history, generally, the Church was the millennial symbol”: Gannes, Childhood in a Shtetl, page 151.
4. like the one in nearby Winograd, who risked his life: Gannes, Childhood in a Shtetl, page 153.
5. Then there was the Peshinke priest, Leyavitch: Isaac Golub in SYB, pages 119–29.
CHAPTER TEN: ATAMAN ZELENY MEETS RABBI PITSIE AVRAM
1. “Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze ba Ze”: Talmud (Shavuot 39a).
2. “Take me to your ataman!”: In a story recounted by the rabbi’s granddaughter, Havah (Eva) Goldman in SYB, pages 55–59.
3. “provide you with boots, sugar, salt, and money”: Havah (Eva) Goldman in SYB, pages 55–59.
4. agreed to send two of his soldiers to accompany: Havah (Eva) Goldman in SYB, pages 55–59.
5. Six hundred thousand rubles were collected: Tcherikower Archive, files 21641–21643, page 2.
6. a group of nearly thirty men: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34.
7. Only two or three murders: Tcherikower Archive, files 21641–21643, page 2.
8. prevented his henchmen from committing: Tcherikower Archive, files 21641–21643.
9. “I am neither a Jew-lover, nor a Jew hater”: DUPIY1919, chapter 11.
10. Pitsie Abram’s birth date of June 5, 1857, is found in the New York City death record of the rabbi.
11. He was ordained by Rabbi Michel: Gottlieb, ed., Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, pages 361–62.
12. in 1883, Pitsie Avram succeeded: Gottlieb, ed., Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, pages 361–62.
13. “honored merchant in the town”: Gottlieb, ed., Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, pages 361–62.
14. married Rabbi Zelig Tanicki: Gottlieb, ed., Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, pages 361–62.
15. one of the founders of radiochemistry: Rossiyskaya Evreiskaya Entsiclopediya, entry 1354.
16. all important life-altering discussions: Havah (Eva) Goldman in SYB, pages 55–59.
17. he had made his decision: Havah (Eva) Goldman in SYB, pages 55–59.
18. “Besides being a pious scholar”: Havah (Eva) Zaslawsky in SYB, pages 189–94.
19. Jewish eyewitnesses described seeing: DUPIY1919, chapter 11.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE MURDER OF BESSIE CUTLER’S HUSBAND
1. two or three miles north: Gillman, The B’Nai Khaim in America, page 3.
2. Alexander Kraidin: Sheila Lidz, in an interview with the author.
3. August 2, 1919: Miller and Miller, eds., Sokolievka/Justingrad, page 54; DUPIY1919, chapter 11. Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 111: The date August 2, 1919, of the pogrom committed by Zeleny is confirmed on that page, along with 146 as the number murdered.
4. “as long as I live, no blood will be spilled in my town”: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, in an interview with the author in the late 1970s. Channa remembered the story of the famous words of her aunt’s rabbi and his tragic fate. This clue, coupled with Channa’s mention on page 17 in her letter to the author where she states that Bessie was living in Konela, (a dorf of Sokolovka Justingrad), and her husband being the victim of a winter pogrom where two hundred men were murdered, is what led the author on a quest to research Sokolovka Justingrad. The famous words of the rabbi were later recorded by Rosenthal in MH, according to Sima Lisnovsky, pages 8–11, and Miller and Miller, eds., Sokolievka/Justingrad, page 54. Children of Kibbutz Mashabei-Sadeh, “Ustingrad-Sokoliveka: A Town That Was Destroyed,” rough draft, page 29.
5. began to believe the rabbi’s promise: Miller and Miller, eds., Sokolievka/Justingrad, page 54. Children of Kibbutz Mashabei-Sadeh, “Ustingrad-Sokoliveka: A Town That Was Destroyed,” rough draft, page 29.
6. “light in his eyes”: Rosenthal in MH, according to Sima Lisnovsky, pages 8–11. Sima used the phrase “light in his eyes” to mean that as long as the rabbi lived, he wouldn’t allow Jewish blood to be spilled.
7. made their way to the house of the beloved Reb Pinchas’l: Miller and Miller, eds., Sokolievka/Justingrad, page 54.
8. the rabbi’s large courtyard, brandishing a gun: Children of Kibbutz Mashabei-Sadeh, “Ustingrad-Sokoliveka: A Town That Was Destroyed,” rough draft, page 29.
9. seventy-six-year-old Torah-chanting rabbi: Children of Kibbutz Mashabei-Sadeh, “Ustingrad-Sokoliveka: A Town That Was Destroyed,” rough draft, page 29. (Note: Gillman, The B’Nai Khaim in America, page 33, states that the esteemed rabbi was eighty-eight years old at the time of his death.)
10. approximately 150 were shot by a hidden machine gun: Rosenthal in MH, who wrote the testimony of Yosef Zilberg, pages 8–11. (As per the translation, Zilberg indicates that the date of the attack was July 9, 1919.) DUPIY1919, chapter 11, indicates the number of victims to be approximately 152, and the date as a few days before Tisha B’av 1919, the holiday that fell on August 5. This would support Miller’s date of August 2, 1919, and follows Zeleny’s trail as attacking the town right after Stavishche. Miller and Miller, eds., Sokolievka/Justingrad, pages 55–56, mention 150 murdered after the initial rounds of ten and ten. Gillman, The B’Nai Khaim in America, page 33, mentions approximately 138 victims, but lists the date as August 1918. However, all other sources that the author found confirm that the year was 1919. The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 111, confirms the date of August 2, 1919, with 146 killed. Four eyewitnesses from Sokolovka Justingrad reported this to the Committee.
11. Kebe was born and raised in the nearby village: Rosenthal in MH, according to testimony of Hayke Levik, pages 38–39.
12. second killing spree, which took place right after Zeleny’s summer massacre: Rosenthal in MH, according to Sima Lisnovsky, pages 8–11.
13. murdered thirty-six of his prey: Rosenthal in MH, according to testimony of Hayke Levik, pages 38–39.
14. Denikin’s army, retreating from a loss in Belaya Tserkov: Rosenthal in MH, according to Yosef Zilberg, pages 8–11, and Miller and Miller, eds., Sokolievka/Justingrad, page 57.
15. Two hundred bloodied bodies: Rosenthal in MH, according to Yosef Zilberg, pages 8–11; Miller and Miller, eds., Sokolievka/Justingrad, page 57; and Children of Kibbutz Mashabei-Sadeh, “Ustingrad-Sokoliveka: A Town That Was Destroyed,” rough draft, page 32.
16. The men had been stripped naked: Rosenthal in MH, according to Yosef Zilberg, pages 8–11, Miller and Miller, eds., Sokolievka/Justingrad, page 57.
17. who then tied the hands of their victims and bound them together: Rosenthal in MH, according to Yosef Zilberg, pages 8–11.
CHAPTER ELEVEN FOOTNOTES
1. local Christians rescued their Jewish neighbors: Children of Kibbutz Mashabei-Sadeh, “Ustingrad-Sokoliveka: A Town That Was Destroyed,” rough draft, page 28.
2. The rabbi may have been survived by a son-in-law: Children of Kibbutz Mashabei-Sadeh, “Ustingrad-Sokoliveka: A Town That Was Destroyed,” rough draft, page 29.
3. The rabbi’s twenty-two-year-old grandson, Gedalya Mandel: This information appears on Sokolovka Justingrad’s memorial lists, found in the Millers’s book and in the composition by Children of Kibbutz Mashabei-Sadeh. His name also appears on the memorial tablet.
4. Popivka was a village two miles southwest: Gillman, The B’Nai Khaim in America, page 3.
CHAPTER TWELVE: GENERAL DENIKIN’S MILITIA
1. The use of the words “feeling revived” were used by both Anne Caprove Kravitz, in an interview with the author, as well as Yosl Golub in SYB, pages 95–118. It is unclear if groups of boys and girls were separated in the shul during this celebration.
2. carrying little blue-and-white flags: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, in an interview with the author. Yosl Golub, Channa’s childhood friend, also remembered the holiday, in SYB, pages 95–118.
3. Yunkel Cutler, experienced firsthand: One of the sources of this story was Daniel Cutler, who confirmed this in an interview with the author.
4. Without their parents’ knowledge: Both Sol Moser and Daniel Cutler confirmed this story in an interview with the author.
5. As if the young widow hadn’t already suffered enough: Elba Muler de Fidel, in a letter to the author.
6. As he walked over to a gate: One of the sources of this story was Daniel Cutler, in an interview with the author.
7. Chaos continued: One of the sources of this story was Sol Moser, in an interview with the author.
8. registered as high as 107.6: Betty Einbinder, “The Sudden Call,” who actually states her mother had a high fever of 41 degrees C, which translates to 107.6 degrees F. Her statement of a deadly high fever confirms Channa’s story of a high fever in town during the Denikin raids.
9. in the tsar’s 31st Aleksopol Infantry: Identified by Mark Conrad, a Russian uniform military expert, in an email to the author, who studied a few photos of Moishe in his military uniform.
10. they forced everyone to strip off their clothing: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34. Z. Greenberg, Tcherikower Archive, files 21641–21643, page 3. Greenberg mentions the same details with a slightly earlier approximate date, but Khlavna Kohen gives similiar details associated with Denikin’s raid.
11. became so afraid during the hostage crisis: Sanders, “A Brief Memoir,” page 4. Sanders does not specify a date, but the general time period he mentions, (sometime after the Jewish holidays, in the fall/winter 1919) along with details of a roundup and hostage crisis in the synagogue, led the author to the reasonable conclusion that she died during Denikin’s raid on Stavishche.
12. he distracted the bandits by conversing with them: Havah (Eva) Zaslawsky in SYB, pages 189–94.
13. the rabbi instructed: Havah (Eva) Zaslawsky in SYB, pages 189–94. Havah does not give a date, but Khlavna Kohen’s document confirms it was during the Denikin raids.
14. they threatened to cut off the rabbi’s right hand: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34.
15. He stopped the execution: Havah (Eva) Zaslawsky in SYB, pages 189–94.
16. feasted on food and liquor that they had ordered be brought: Khlavna Kohen (Cohen) in SYB document, pages 221–34.
17. Christians should live a long life: Khlavna Kohen (Cohen) in SYB document, pages 189–94.
CHAPTER TWELVE FOOTNOTES
1. whose own brother, Lepe, the egg merchant: “The Stepansky Family Story,” page 3.
2. arranged for Sheindel and her two remaining children: Elba Muler de Fidel, in a letter to the author.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: REFUGE IN BELAYA TSERKOV
1. Found nine-year-old Sol on her doorstep: Sol Moser, in an interview with the author. Sol told the author that he thought that the white things creeping up his pant legs were lice that arose from the horse manure he slept on the night before to keep warm.
2. “staved off the worst hunger”: Elise Moser, in a letter to the author.
3. When he collected enough: Sol Moser, in an interview with the author. His granddaughter Elise Moser also mentions this in a letter to the author.
4. first of Elul.… Three hundred and fifty Jews lost their lives: Rosenthal in MH, according to Avraham Dolgenes (translated by Tzippi Zach and Henry Tobias), pages 5–7, 9–12, reported that the number of deaths (350) from Denikin’s raid in Belaya Tserkov is confirmed in the Kehillah’s records (the records of the Jewish community of the town).
5. families managed to enjoy some happy days: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, in an interview with the author, and Ruby Stumacher and Daniel Cutler, in an interview with the Abe Stumacher.
6. a carpenter’s tool with a blade, called a plane: Bayard, “Yasha Kainer’s Stories About Russia,” page 10. Ruby Stumacher, in an interview with Abe Stumacher, also described making homemade matches that he sold to the soldiers in Belaya Tserkov.
7. Jews were burned alive in the synagogue in the nearby city of Tetiev: Rosenthal in MH, pages 78–79, states the number as about 1,500; in Tetiever Khurbn, Part I #16, Rosenthal again states the number as about 1,500. On page 240 of Annex 49, the Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” states the number of victims in the synagogue as 2,000. In the actual text on page 112, it states “over 1,000 Jews” (were inside the synagogue). On page 11, Saul S. Friedman also states the number of synagogue victims as 2,000.
Please note: Various sources seem to interchange the bet hamidrash and the synagogue in Tetiev, as if they were one and the same. The author presumed they were one building.
8. Ataman A. Kurovsky: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 111, gives the initial A for the first name of Ataman Kurovsky.
9. were the sick, disabled, and elderly: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34.
10. At the Jewish Bikur Holim: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34. H. Hoffman, who also reported this incident found on a memorial list in the Tcherikower Archive, file 21642, reported eight Jews (whose sexes were not identified) murdered at the Bikur Holim.
11. In the home of Shlomo Zalman Frankel: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221–34.
12. tore the screaming, bedridden, and elderly from their beds: Stavishcha Relief Organization in Kishinev, “The Destroyed City of Stavishcha.”
13. the old chazzan’s heart gave out: Rita L. Antanir Posin, in an interview with the author.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN FOOTNOTES
1. forty thousand Jews: Rosenthal in MH, pages 5–7.
2. General Anton Denikin: New York Passenger Records, 1820–1957, Ellis Island Website.
3. A smaller pogrom: Rosenthal in MH, pages 9–12.
4. Frankel’s murder: Khlavna Kohen in SYB document, pages 221-34.
5. were arrested some time later for the murders: Stavishcha Relief Organization in Kishinev, “The Destroyed City of Stavishcha.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THERE WAS A PLACE NEARBY, WHERE THEY MADE THE LITTLE COFFINS
1. heard a rumor that young children were being kidnapped and murdered: According to Yasha Kainer, reported in a story by Bayard, “Yasha Kainer’s Stories About Russia,” page 10.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE UNLIKELY ARRIVAL OF BARNEY STUMACHER, AN AMERICAN HERO
1. Most of the quotes in this chapter and much of the storyline about Barney’s miraculous trip and entrance into Ukraine are attributed to Barney Stumacher, who spoke about his adventures on a 1963 audio tape recorded by his son-in-law, Phil Silverman. Special thanks to and courtesy of Phillip Silverman and Norman Stumacher.
2. cloaks salesman: 1920 US census.
3. the SS Franconia: Ellis Island passenger records.
4. All three of the letters in this chapter, including a copy of the letter that Barney received from his father in Belaya Tserkov, are an official part of his passport application originally dated July 24, 1920 (Source: General records of the Department of State/US Government Record Group 59), and is on record at the National Archives, NARA microfilm publication M1490. It appears under US Passport Applications from 1/2/06–3/31/25. It is certificate number 78037 issued on August 4, 1920.
5. The Caprove family ran outside: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, in an interview with the author. Ruby Stumacher, in an interview with Abe Stumacher, also spoke about witnessing Barney’s arrival.
6. business had been torched: Letter from Nechame Stumacher to Barney Stumacher, explaining the fate of Nissel’s dry goods store.
7. was no longer permitted to go to school, Nissel decided it was time to leave: Holtzman, Who Said It Would Be Easy?, page 5.
8. Itzie Stumacher added an additional twenty people: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, who was a part of that number, in an interview with the author.
9. to the shop of the tombstone-maker: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, in an interview with the author.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE GREAT ESCAPE: THE WAGON TRAINS
1. Seeing his little brother standing before him in his pitiful stocking feet: Viviam Flamm, in an interview with the author.
2. She was harboring a well-guarded secret: Rita L. Antanir Posin, in an interview with the author.
3. Blind in both eyes: Barney Stumacher, on an audio tape.
4. During the course of their journey, the wagon group stopped in Tetiev: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, in an oral story that she told the author, described a town, whose name she did not recall, that the group passed through while traveling from Belaya Tserkov to Romania. She said the group was searching for a synagogue to spend the night. In this town, the group learned of a massive pogrom that months earlier had massacred the Jewish population. The synagogue was deliberately burned, killing many Jews who were hiding and trapped inside. The author, using that information as a lead, thoroughly researched the region. She concluded that the massacred town her grandmother described passing through as a child must have been Tetiev; she then set out to share what she researched to be the absolutely devastating fate of the Jews of Tetiev.
5. where the old, somewhat oriental-looking wooden synagogue: Friedman, Pogromchik, page 11.
6. where between 1,500 to 2,000 Jews had sought safety: Rosenthal in MH, pages 78–79, mentions the number 1,500. Rosenthal in Tetiever Khurbn, Part I, #16, also states 1,500. On page 240 of Annex 49, in “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920” by the Committee of Jewish Delegations, the number of victims in the synagogue as 2,000. The text on page 112 states that “over 1,000 Jews” were inside the synagogue. On page 11 of Pogromchik, Friedman states that the number of victims at the synagogue was 2,000.
7. Ataman Kurovsky: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 111.
8. Ostrovsky as he incited hate in a speech: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920”, page 112.
9. men, women, and children: Rosenthal in MH, pages 78–79.
10. Young children were snatched from their parents and thrown violently: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under The Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 112.
11. A woman in labor: Spevack, in his family story, “Recalling My Youth [in Tetiev].”
12. Bandits… brought logs: Rosenthal in MH, pages 78–79.
13. Colonel Kurovsky and others were named by Friedman, Pogromchik, page 11.
14. three-man delegation: Rosenthal in MH, pages 78–79.
15. The forty-three-year-old spiritual leader: The rabbi’s birth year, and therefore his age at the time of his murder, was determined after the author saw the entry by Gottlieb, ed., Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, page 84.
16. stood near his wooden desk: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 241.
17. Velvel, a fourteen-year-old boy: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 249, Annex No. 49.
18. along with the rabbi’s seven-year-old daughter, Lena: Jerry Cutler, in a correspondence with the author.
19. Some of the peasants arguing the fate of the rabbi can be found in “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 241, Annex 49.
20. Velvel escaped: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” Annex No 49.
21. Young Lena feigned death: Jerry Cutler, the great rabbi’s grandson and Lena’s son, in a correspondence with the author.
22. Author’s note: Two of the rabbi’s daughters, Lena and Minnie, were initially thought to be the only survivors of his immediate family. After the massacre, they ended up in an orphanage in Kiev. Years later, the sisters eventually immigrated to Toronto, Canada. In a Yiddish newspaper report discovered years later by the author, it appears that one or two other children from the rabbi’s large brood may have also survived, probably unbeknownst to Lena and her sister.
23. The majority who escaped the brutal heat of the flames: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 242, Annex 50.
24. knew of the great rabbi who had served Tetiev since his youth in 1895: Gottlieb, ed., Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, page 84, gives the genealogy of the Tetiev rabbi.
25. Out of six thousand Jews living in Tetiev, only two thousand survived: The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920,” page 242, Annex 50. Please note there are slightly different numbers of residents and victims listed in different sources; these are guesstimates. Friedman, Pogromchik, page 12, footnotes the Committee of Jewish Delegations’ numbers.
26. The morning after the massacre, Thursday: Rosenthal, Tetiever Khurbn, Part I, #16.
27. fires spread near Tziprivka Street: Rosenthal in MH, pages 78–79.
28. When news of the massacre reached Kiev: Jerry Cutler, in a letter to the author. Jerry learned of this from Ruschel, a then ninety-year-old survivor from Tetiev whom he spoke with many years ago.
29. They sought refuge at a synagogue south of Tetiev: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, in an interview with the author.
30. commissar sitting shiva: Barney Stumacher, on an audio tape.
31. “forged across icy rivers and ponds.”: Barbara Stumacher, in “Little Me.”
32. when she stepped off a wagon and fell through a thin patch of ice: Barbara Stumacher, in “Little Me.”
33. “Spare that man!”: Barbara Stumacher, in “Little Me.”
34. “Confiscate Court”: Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz, in an interview with the author.
35. When the group rode through a small town in Podolia Guberniya: Ruby Stumacher and Daniel Cutler, in an interview with Abe Stumacher.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN FOOTNOTES
1. Rabbi Gedalia’s book: This is mentioned by title in an entry (under Rabbi Rabinovitch, a descendant of Rabbi Gedalia) in Gottlieb, ed., Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, page 84. Joanna Yael Zimmerman assisted with the interpretation of the title.
2. The number of four hundred murdered in Pogrebishche, half of them women, is confirmed on page 111 by the Committee of Jewish Delegations in “The Pogroms in the Ukraine Under the Ukrainian Governments 1917–1920.” A deposition by Lifschitz, in the same source, pages 91–93, also confirms these numbers.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE PERILOUS CROSSING OF THE DNIESTER RIVER
1. From 1918 to 1940: Encyclopaedia Britannica, page 526.
2. in the Carpathian Mountains and flowed in a southeasterly: Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
3. meanders for about 840 miles: Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
4. south of Mogilev-Podolski measures anywhere from five to ten miles: Encyclopedia Britannica, page 525.
5. November to January: Encyclopedia Britannica, page 525.
6. Barney reluctantly agreed to their outrageous demands: Barney Stumacher, on an audiotape.
7. “Then [we] began the climb up the other side”: Lessure Mayers, “My Family History,” page 3.
8. “Our pace [across the mountains] was too slow”: Lessure Mayers, “My Family History,” page 4.
9. Rochela Faynzilberg and her family also faced the unmerciful climb: Rochela Faynzilberg (Ruth Feinsilver), “A Mountain Climb,” page 2.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN FOOTNOTES
1. After he arrived in Bucharest: Barney Stumacher, on an audiotape.
2. a hill approximately two miles steep: Bernard Sanders, “A Brief Memoir,” page 6.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: ADVENTURES IN ROMANIA
1. “Can you believe that there was once a city where no Jew went hungry”: Malkin, The Journeys of David Toback, page 71.
2. This area is physically bordered: Theodore Shabad, Encyclopedia Americana, page 623.
3. national council… appealed to Romania: Wayne S. Vucinich, Collier’s Encyclopedia, page 103.
4. the Treaty of Paris: Wayne S. Vucinich, Collier’s Encyclopedia, page 103.
5. He had “come into possession”: Norman Stumacher, in an interview with the author.
6. and announced grandly that he had just bought the café: Norman Stumacher, in an interview with the author.
7. to see his twenty-year-old sister, Bossie: Allan Avery, in a 2004 letter to the author, confirmed that when he asked his cousin Filia Holtzman, she identified Bossie as the sister of Barney (her aunt) who was arrested with him on the train in Bucharest. Barney himself only alluded that it was one of his three sisters who still lived in Europe, but did not identify which one. Other family members also identified the sister as being Bossie.
8. a glamorous singer with the Kiev Opera Company: Blossom Linder, in an interview with the author.
9. Her husband, Boris Weinschel: Blossom Linder, in an interview with the author.
10. took the twenty passports and hid them: Much of the information and dialogue about Bossie and Barney’s meeting and subsequent arrest, jailing, and court hearing was based on Barney Stumacher’s story. The quotes in this section are attributed to Barney Stumacher, on an audiotape.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN FOOTNOTES
1. Barney’s parents met privately with the vice counselor: Barney Stumacher, on an audiotape.
2. Frieda’s sons soon rushed her to a New York City ophthalmologist: Barney Stumacher, on an audiotape. Other relatives also confirmed that Freida had a cataract operation, and her vision was partially restored; she is even seen wearing eyeglasses in photos of her taken in America.
CHAPTER NINETEEN: LIFE IN KISHINEV
1. from any given country to only 3 percent of the people: Tifft, Ellis Island, page 116.
2. The total number of immigrants that the United States was allowing into the country in 1922: Tifft, Ellis Island, page 117.
3. The limits for Russia and Romania can be found in Tifft, Ellis Island, 117. (Note: Tifft’s book was published in 1990, before Ukraine’s independence in 1991. There are no figures given separately for Ukraine in the table found on page 117.)
4. was found murdered by the Dniester River, false rumors: Judge, Easter in Kishinev, page 40.
5. encouraged by rumors published in Bessarabets: Judge, Easter in Kishinev, pages 43–45.
6. attacks left forty-nine Jews dead: Jewish Virtual Library (see URL in Bibliography).
7. She was a Romanian general’s daughter: Bercovici, That Royal Lover, page 99.
8. and an indirect descendant of: Bercovici, That Royal Lover, pages 70–71.
9. Queen Marie forced her son to annul the marriage: Bercovici, That Royal Lover, page 95.
10. Prince Carol married Princess Helen of Greece: Bercovici, That Royal Lover, page 98, and NYT, March 11, 1921, page 20.
11. Queen Marie then handpicked a “suitable” bride: Bercovici, That Royal Lover, pages 76 and 95.
12. It was the second union between members of these royal families: NYT, March 11, 1921, page 20.
13. The couple was married in a civil ceremony held in the Grecian palace: NYT, March 11, 1921, page 20.
14. Princess Helen was wearing a white satin gown trimmed in gold: NYT, March 11, 1921, page 20.
15. Until 1856, most Gypsies in Romania were slaves: Fraser, The Gypsies, page 59.
16. A huge send-off is the rule rather than the exception: The Patrin Web Journal, Romani Customs and Traditions: Death Rituals and Customs, page 3.
17. It was an emotional display: The Patrin Web Journal, Romani Customs and Traditions: Death Rituals and Customs, page 2, confirms Channa’s account of the increasing volume and emotional display of Romani mourners.
18. when just seven months after the wedding of Crown Prince Carol and his bride Princess Helen: Bercovici, That Royal Lover, page 77.
19. Or chadash al tzion ta’ ir: This is a Hebrew phrase taken from the morning prayers.
20. a branch in Israel would end: Zunser, Yesterday, page 2.
21. he would be forced to mark a “CT”: International Channel Networks (see URL in Bibliography).
22. Constanta was the sight of the ancient city of Tomas: Friends and Partners Romania (see URL in Bibliography).
CHAPTER NINETEEN FOOTNOTES
1. In 1897, a census indicated that there were 8,636 Gypsy Rom: Crowe, A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, page 170.
2. Elemer Illyes estimated that there were 133,000 gypsies in all of Romania: Crowe, A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, page 127.
CHAPTER TWENTY: JOURNEY ON THE SS BRAGA
1. “Prayer During a Storm at Sea”: Mayer (trans.), Hours of Devotion, page 93.
2. capable of holding 1,480 passengers: Ellis Island Ship Image for the SS Braga, which can be found on the Ellis Island website.
3. but it was to remain demilitarized: Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Dardanelles, online.
4. In times of peace, the Straits were to remain open to all ships… and could not hinder the passage of neutral ships: Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Dardanelles, online.
5. claimed the lives of between two and three million: Patterson, “Typhus and its Control in Russia, 1870–1940,” pages 361–62.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOOTNOTES
1. Since the Renaissance, Europeans have called the strait: Walsh, Encyclopedia Americana, “Dardanelles,” page 497.
2. The world formally recognized the country that the Turkish Nationalists: Pope and Pope, Turkey Unveiled, page 58.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: AMERICA: THE FIRST YEARS
1. “Aliens on Four Ships Too Soon to Enter” and “Most of the 1,896 Who Arrived”: NYT, September 2, 1923, page 1.
2. An official observer looking through a pair of binoculars: NYT, September 2, 1923, page 16.
3. “The four steamships which the official observer says”: NYT, September 2, 1923, page 1.
4. during a meeting on September 1 with Commissioner of Immigration: NYT, September 2, 1923, page 16.
5. insisted that he called out each half minute: NYT, September 2, 1923, page 16.
6. whom the media referred to as picture brides: NYT, September 2, 1923, page 16.
7. He agreed, in conjunction with the decision handed down by the Department of Labor, to allow the passengers to enter America: NYT, September 6, 1923, page 1.
8. A tremendous fine was imposed on the four steamship companies: NYT, September 6, 1923, page 1.
9. important passengers aboard, including Colonel George Harvey: NYT, September 8, 1923, page 17.
10. who had suffered a partial hearing loss after the great fire: Jerold Wise, in an interview with the author.
11. for their charitable contributions: Boston Jewish Advocate, February 8, 1949, page 2.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE FOOTNOTE
1. The vigilante murders of approximately six thousand: The People’s Korea (see URL in Bibliography).
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: STRUGGLING IN THE GOLDEN LAND
1. she walked by rows of wooden cages crammed with live chickens: Marcy Kravitz Brahin, in an interview with the author.
2. he playfully coupled any English words: Bobby Usatch Katz, in an interview with the author.
3. she would surprise him with a small slice of kapchonka: Bobby Usatch Katz, in an interview with the author.
4. Sunny was hungry and had helped herself to the luscious fruit: Bobby Usatch Katz, in an interview with the author.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE STORY OF ANNE AND BEN
1. Much of this chapter was recalled by Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz and Ben Kravitz in an interview with the author.
2. Hersh devoted himself to the people of the shtetl: Saltz in PYB, pages 244–47.
3. He smuggled goods: Saltz in PYB, pages 241–43.
4. “I decided to write her a letter and give her an ultimatum”: Ben Kravitz, in an interview with the author, recalling his father’s ultimatum to his mother.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE FOOTNOTES
1. Ed had married and became a Trenton police officer: This information was confirmed by Sharon Silverglade, in a letter to the author. Rebecca had heard that he married and became a police officer; the remaining information about Ed’s life was confirmed by S. Silverglade.
2. Hersh was a member of Pochayev’s Chevra Kadisha: Saltz in PYB, pages 244–47.
3. who was stationed in Pochayev: Saltz in PYB, pages 271–72.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: WHEN SUNNY MET HARRY
1. Notation: The quotes credited to Sunny regarding her initial impressions of Harry are remembered by her daughter, Bobby, who read her mother’s (now lost) diary many decades ago.
2. Much of the information about Sunny, Harry, Anna, and David in this chapter is from an interview with their daughter and granddaughter, Bobby Usatch Katz.
3. “Stop calling her,” he advised: A story told to the author by Ben Kravitz.
4. signed the government document as a single man with no dependents: WWI draft registration card of David Usatch, signed by him in Philadelphia on June 5, 1917 (roll 1907610, draft board 8).
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: BERYL
1. Some of the information from this chapter is from an interview with Bobby Usatch Katz.
2. Some of the information from this chapter is from an interview with Channa “Anne” Caprove Kravitz and Ben Kravitz.
3. Anne read his death certificate: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Certificate of Death of Benjamin Caprove, filed January 24, 1940, File 306, Registered No 1925, signed by Dr. Garfield G. Duncan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE FOOTNOTES
1. losing fifteen thousand games to the Harlem Globetrotters: Lidz, “The Biggest Loser.”
2. Even many of the physicians and nurses: University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Wartime Service Archives, Image Gallery.
3. The young doctor who signed Beryl’s death certificate: 24th Infantry Division Corps, online story (see URL in Bibliography. It is from a caption under a photo.)
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: RABBI PITSIE AVRAM IN THE BRONX
1. “While a child is still in the womb”: Babylonian Talmud, Niddah 30B.
2. but his late father was Rabbi Aryeh Judah Spector: Gottlieb, Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, pages 361–62.
3. Laizer wrote a story in a careful Hebrew script: Rabbi Laizer Spector, “A Composition in Hebrew.”
4. she and her daughter (Laizer’s sister) Nina traveled: according to Libby’s Russian passport, which was shared with the author by her granddaughter Patricia Ricardo Bezalel.
5. “the family had lost contact for many years and according to Laizer”: Shirley Landau, in a letter to the author.
6. Rabbi Pitsie Avram and Sara made the long pilgrimage: Ellis Island passenger records.
7. favored his grandson: Max Zaslawsky, in an interview with the author.
8. The story of “Little Moshe” mimicking his grandfather, the rabbi, at prayer: Max Zaslawsky, in an interview with the author.
9. The day that he died, his daughter, Havah, went into hysterics: Max Zaslawsky, in an interview with the author.
10. director of France’s National Center of Scientific Research: Rossiyskaya Evreiskaya Entsiclopediya, entry 1354.
11. wanted to bring his young cousin: Max Zaslawsky, in an interview with the author.
12. He worked at Livermore, Los Alamos: Max Zaslawsky, in a letter to the author.
13. gathered his shaken community that was seeking refuge: Reshumot, volume 3, pages 380–82 on Vinograd.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX FOOTNOTES
1. Pitsie Avram’s only son: Gottlieb, Ohole-Schem, Biografien und Adressen d. Rabbiners, pages 361–62.
2. Earned a PhD in chemistry: Rossiyskaya Evreiskaya Entsiclopediya, entry 1354.
3. This was an early pogrom in Stavishche: Reshumot, volume 3, 1923, pages 380–82 on Vinograd.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: THE EVENTS THAT DEFINED THEIR LIVES IN THE NEW WORLD
1. Letter dated January 31, 1948, was written in Russian by Sophia, Pollya’s daughter, to Rebecca and Isaac Caprove and family, and translated by David Goldman, MA.
2. Anne’s eleven-year-old daughter, Marcy, hesitated: Marcy Kravitz Brahin, in an interview with the author.
3. Sunny rushed over in a taxicab: Bobby Usatch Katz, in an interview with the author.
4. “Kaddish to be repeated by the sons during”: The Form of Daily Prayers, page 647.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: RAINBOWS
1. he’d jumped to his death: This was sadly confirmed by family stories and by the 1944 New York City (Brooklyn) death certificate of Jacob Cutler #24428.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT FOOTNOTE
1. Jonathan Cutler shared with the author: Jonathan Cutler, in a letter to the author.
APPENDIX A: THE COLORFUL HISTORY OF BRANICKI PALACE AND THE SECRET IDENTITY OF ITS FIRST COUNTESS
1. four centuries to 1622: Rulikowski, Slownik Geograficzny: Stawiszcze, page 297.
2. “The settlement of Lubomir and Pasieczna”: Rulikowski, Slownik Geograficzny: Stawiszcze, page 297.
3. In 1774, Poland’s last king: Rulikowski, Slownik Geograficzny: Stawiszcze, page 299.
4. was rumored to have been the biological daughter of the world’s most famous empress: Miller, Arystokracja, page 221, and Moscicki, Polski Slownik Biograficzny, page 393. In addition, Count Ladislas Tarnowski writes in his family history that Alexandra was the natural born daughter of Empress Catherine II. “Stawiszcze and the Branicki Family,” page 1.
5. Rumors, passed down: Anna Wolska discusses this in Miller, Arystokracja, pages 11–12; Count Ladislas Tarnowski openly writes that Aleksandra was Catherine’s natural-born daughter in his family history, “Stawiszcze and the Branicki Family,” page 1.
6. the first biological child of Grand Duchess Catherine: Moscicki, Polski Slownik Biograficzny, pages 393–95.
7. completely enamored with Grigory Potemkin: Moscicki, Polski Slownik Biograficzny, pages 393–95.
8. Gavrila Romanovitch Derzhavin: Moscicki, Polski Slownik Biograficzny, pages 393–95.
9. interviewed Anna Wolska: Miller, Arystokracja, pages 11–12 (in Polish). For more on this story, see Miller’s book.
APPENDIX B: FUNERAL SPEECH FOR COUNT WLADYSLAW BRANICKI, LAST NOBLEMAN OF STAVISHCHE
1. whose own mother was baptized in the church: Iwaszkiewicz, Ksiazka Moich Wspomnien, pages 134–35.
2. that he was the subject of many legends: Iwaszkiewicz, Ksiazka Moich Wspomnien, pages 134–35.
3. In 1922, the remains of Count Wladyslaw Branicki and his wife, Countess Julia (née Potocka), were brought back to Poland: Count Paul Potocki, in a letter to the author.
4. Sucha… originally purchased in 1846: Tarnowski, “Stawiszcze and the Branicki Family,” page 2.
5. gifted the estate to his daughter, Countess Anna Tarnowska: Tarnowski, “Stawiszcze and the Branicki Family,” page 2, and Count Paul Potocki, in a letter to the author.
6. Funeral Speech of Wladyslaw Branicki (“Adzio”) written and eulogized by M. Mazaraki in Polish on September 21, 1922, in Sucha, Poland. Translation by Monika Hendry. Courtesy of and special thanks to Countess Rey of Montresor. Special thanks to Count Paul Potocki for his assistance.
APPENDIX B FOOTNOTE
1. willed his vast and beloved estate in Stavishche to his third-born daughter, Countess Julia Potocka: Tarnowski, “Stawiszcze and the Branicki Family,” page 2, and in Kiev Guberniya Notebook (1915), mentioned in a letter from Mrs. O. Polozova, states that Wladyslaw Branicki’s daughter Julia was the new landowner of Stavishche.
APPENDIX C: THE STAVISHCHE POGROM TOMBSTONE LIST (PARTIAL), 1918–1920
1. Source: Tcherikower Archive, File 21642, second page, part IV. Date appears to be April 6, 1921.
APPENDIX D: PARTIAL LIST OF STAVISHCHE RESIDENTS MURDERED BY GRIGORIEV’S BAND, HEADED BY ZHELEZNIAK, JUNE 1919
1. Source: Rosenthal in MH, page 2.
APPENDIX E: A PARTIAL POGROM MEMORIAL LIST, 1920
1. Original Source: The Forverts (The Forward); Credit: The Forward Association, December 30, 1920, page 1. This list also later appeared in SYB, pages 239–44.
APPENDIX F: DEATH LIST(PARTIAL): STAVISHCHE
1. Handwritten list of those killed in Stavishcha (Yiddish name for Stavishche) in Tarashcha Uyezd. Source: From the State Archive of Kyiv Oblast, Fond P-3050 inventory 1 Case 43. Language: Yiddish. This appears in a book by the Kiev Regional Commission of the Jewish Public Committee for Assistance to Victims of Pogroms, Information Department, with the lists of victims of pogroms, refugees, and children of murdered parents in Tarashcha Uyezd, Kiev Guberniya, written between 1920 and 1921. 199 sheets; this is one page, with a handwritten page number at top as 196; it appears digitalized as page 213.
APPENDIX G: THE POGROM SURVIVORS: STAVISHCHE, 1923
1. “The 1917–1921 pogroms were the worst and most violent acts against the Jews…”: Chapin and Weinstock, The Road From Letichev, volume 2, page 499.
2. The June 1923 Report on Stavishche, Kiev Guberniya and the Letter of Thanks for Help Rendered: JDC Division, June 1923: Source: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives, collection #21/32, file #504.
APPENDIX H: FATES OF THE VILLAGERS
1. Philip (Phillip) Postrel’s letter: This was included as a part of the passport application of Philip Postrel, dated February 10, 1921, and issued on February 15, 1921, National Archives Microfilm Publication, M1490, Certificate Number 141819.
2. Shika de Potch: Dr. Murry Rich, in letters to the author.
3. Sol Moser: Vivian Flamm, in letters to and in an interview with the author.
4. Chiah Sura Spivack: Emily Bayard, in letters to the author.
5. Sarah Cutler: Rita L. Antanir Posin, in an interview with the author.
APPENDIX H FOOTNOTE
1. Some important early visitors: Rulikowski, Slownik Geograficzny: Stawiszcze pages 297–99.
APPENDIX I: FAMINE, FASCISTS, AND THE HOLOCAUST: STAVISHCHE
1. “At the time, I lived close to the [Stavishche] hospital”: Webber, US Commission on the Ukraine Famine, Report to Congress, pages 385–93.
2. “… Enormous open pits were dug…”: Webber, US Commission on the Ukraine Famine, Report to Congress, pages 385–93.
3. The story of Raisa Bershadskaya’s eyewitness account of the Holocaust in Stavishche: Faina Avratiner, in an interview with the author.
4. “… Then the Gestapo came to the village…”: Yad Vashem the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Remembrance Authority, Signature member in the Yad Vashem Archives is YVA M.52/235, frame 2045–51.
5. “Three hundred forty-four people…”: Yad Vashem the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Remembrance Authority, Signature member in the Yad Vashem Archives is YVA M.52/235, frame 2045–51.
6. “Every week many people were caught and sent to hard labor”: Yad Vashem the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Remembrance Authority, Signature member in the Yad Vashem Archives is YVA M.52/235, frame 2045–51.
7. After the war ended in 1945, ten Jewish families: Faina Avratiner, in an interview with the author.
8. To the group’s surprise, their loved ones’ bodies: Faina Avratiner, in an interview with the author.
9. exhuming the bodies: F. Avratiner, in an interview with the author, and Wolf, “Russian Odyssey-Richs’ Visit Shtetl Roots,” page 9.
10. Michael Mailin: F. Avratiner, in an interview with the author.
11. reveals that in 1939: Spector, ed., The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, volume III, page 1240.
APPENDIX I FOOTNOTE
1. grass covered the raised mounds: Wolf, “Russian Odyssey-Richs’ Visit Shtetl Roots,” page 9.
APPENDIX J: SEARCHING FOR A HISTORICAL TREASURE: THE MEGILAT HA-TEVAH
1. felt compelled to leave a written testimony: From the publishers of the first volume of E. D. Rosenthal’s (editor) Megilat Ha-tevah, in an introduction, probably written by Bialik.
2. who was seriously ill while struggling to complete his work: From the publishers of the first volume of E. D. Rosenthal’s (editor) Megilat Ha-tevah, in an introduction, probably written by Bialik.
3. Emma Goldman: Goldman writes of a chance encounter in Odessa with Bialik and a “literary investigator” on the pogroms in her own book, My Further Disillusionment in Russia, page 10.
APPENDIX K: THE STUNNING DISCOVERY OF THE STAVISHCHE TORAH CROWN
1. Ida Selavan Schwarcz is credited with translating the names on the bells hanging from the Torah crown. The NJJN article by the author was included here with permission.