2 Elaine Gordon's Maternal Ancestors
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ELAINE GORDON’S MATERNAL ANCESTORS 2 MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS AS YOUNG ADULTS, END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY ETKA POSTAWELSKI (BEFORE MARRIAGE) ELIAS ABRAHAM GITTELSOHN SUVALKI, POLAND (AS YOUNG ADULT) GRANDFATHER ELIAS GITTELSOHN AND HIS YOUNG FAMILY ELIAS A. GITTELSOHN (OSNABRÜCK, GERMANY, 1920S) ETHEL AND ELIAS GITTELSOHN AND CHILDREN, (TOP LEFT) MY MOTHER, DORA (OSNABRÜCK, 1915) 4/24/2003 42 THE GITTELSOHN (STANDING, FAMILY LEFT TO RIGHT) GITTELSOHN CHILDREN: GRETEL (GRETE) BORN IN 1909; MIRIAM, 1913; OSCAR, 1903; RÖCHEN (ROSE), 1907; DORA, 1906 (DAUGHTER LORI, 1904, THE FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER MISSING FROM PHOTOGRAPH) MYRA POSTAWELSKI, ETHEL (SEATED) MY GRANDPARENTS, ELIAS ABRAHAM AND ETHEL GITTELSOHN GITTELSOHN’S (NÉE POSTAWELSKI); (CENTER FRONT) ELIAS’S BROTHER-IN-LAW, HILLEL MOTHER, MY LEVINE, TRAVELING FROM SUVALKI TO PARIS FOR RADIATION TREATMENT GREAT- OF HIS BLADDER TUMOR GRANDMOTHER (OSNABRÜCK, GERMANY, 1930) (SUVALKI, POLAND, ABOUT 1900) NEGATIVE OF MYRA POSTAWELSK (LEFT) ETHEL GITTELSOHN (SHANGHAI, 1940) I IN ABOVE (RIGHT) ELIAS ABRAHAM GITTELSOHN (OSNABRÜCK, ABOUT 1930) PHOTOGRAPH (SUVALKI) 43 4/24/2003 PAINTING OF ELIAS GITTELSOHN (LEFT) IN OSNABRÜCK SYNAGOGUE. ARTIST FELIX NUSSBAUM PAINTED MY GRANDFATHER ELIAS IN 1926. HE WEARS THE TRADITIONAL WHITE PRAYER SHAWL WITH BLUE STRIPES AND IT SWAYS AND BENDS AS HE PRAYS AND 1 LOWERS HIS HEAD IN INTENSE SUPPLICATION. The observance of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, is portrayed. The figures of my grandfather and of the younger man at right represent a conflict between the generations. The old man looks inward contemplating tradition. The smooth-shaven young man looks outward to world culture. Elias’s image also appears among the minute figures standing before the ark containing the Torah. A parchment scroll of the Pentateuch in Hebrew is mounted on wooden rollers. From the ceiling hangs a large, crown-shaped candelabra. A colorful aura exudes around the Star of David symbolizing the everlasting light. On the pulpit are two seven-armed candelabra. Above the arch holding the Torah is the Hebrew inscription, “From the rising of the sun until the setting the name of the Lord shall be praised.” The Torah consists of the five books of Moses, the law of God, and rules for the Jewish faith. Torah scrolls are written on lamb skins and the ink is a type of vegetable oil. The reader uses a pointer called a “yad,” meaning “hand.” It is usually a metal or wood “stick” with a hand and a pointing finger on the end to avoid smearing the ink. The variety of head coverings worn by the men in the pews mirrors the community. The men cover themselves with shawls, called tallit. The women sit on the side balconies. 4/24/2003 44 FOREWORD The Gittelsohn family history in the context of the twentieth century begins with my mother’s parents, my maternal grandparents. They were born in Poland, a part of the Russian Empire, and then migrated to Germany. What was life like for these grandparents from Poland who lived in Germany during both the Weimar and Nazi periods? This can best be understood in retrospect by using documents that have survived them. ELIAS My maternal grandfather, Elias Meierovich Abraham Gittelsohn, was born on GITTELSOHN’S A BIRTH, February 22, 1872, in Bakalarzewo, 114 kilometers north by northwest of Bialystok in 1872 the Russian Empire.2 That date is in the old-style Julian calendar and March 5 on the modern Gregorian calendar.3 My grandfather’s birthplace today is in Poland.4 In Russian, Elias’s middle name meant “son of Meier.” Elias’s birth certificate noted that his father was Meier Gittelsohn, thirty-two, a homeowner in Bakalarzewo, and his mother was Inda Yankelevna Shilobolsky, twenty-eight. Her middle name meant “daughter of Yankel.” Elias’s birth certificate was signed in the presence of Shmuila Borowsky, forty-five, and Mordechaie Martinshe Kronberg, forty-six, both homeowners in the town. Their relationship to the Gittelsohns has not been determined. Jews were buried in the cemetery at the south edge of the Bakalarzewo village, near 5 Lake Sumowo. ELIAS’S EARLY LIFE Little is known about Elias Gittelsohn’s early life. It is known that fathers who wanted AND MILITARY SERVICE, their teenage sons to learn a skilled trade often contracted with a master craftsman to 1893–1897 train the boy. In exchange the boy would serve the instructor without wages for a number of years while learning the trade. Sometimes the family even paid the craftsman for the training. Elias apprenticed as a bookbinder. Russia maintained soldiers in the area near the Polish Border where Elias lived, and 45 4/24/2003 disturbances frequently occurred. Historically, the borders moved, depending on which country controlled the area. On November 4, 1893, Elias was twenty-one, draft age. He was recruited into the Tsar’s Russian Army to serve as a private first class and was assigned to serve in Wilmanstrandski’s Eighty-sixth Old Russian infantry. The regiment was stationed in Staraya, western Russia, near Lake Ilmen. Elias’s military service began on January 1, 1894,A2 and he was transferred to the first squadron as a musician and 3 junior officer nine months later.6 A Elias’s military book stated that he had “general rights” and “originated from the class of common dwellers.”A4 The village of Bakalarzewo was in the province of Volchansky; religion was Jewish, marital status single, and occupation was bookbinder.B Soldiers were required to keep a record of their personal data, service history, and military training. This record showed how much they were paid and was presented to the division commander. Elias’s military record was signed by the official called the Voyt. In addition to Elias’s salary as a soldier he was also paid as a musician each time he performed. Soldiers were paid 80 kopecks for two-months of service. In 1897, Elias earned a ruble and half a kopeck each time he played music.B1 The amount varied monthly. In 1896, he earned 12 rubles and 89 kopecks as a musician.B2 We do not know what instrument or what music he played. In January 1896, Elias was promoted to the rank of “junior officer.” As customary when soldiers completed four years of service, Elias was awarded a certificate in the name of Emperor and Tsar Nicholas II, commemorating the crowning of his imperial majesty. The document stated Elias performed his military duties honorably and in an exceptional manner.B3 He received a Silver Medal attached to a ribbon to be worn on 4/24/2003 46 his military jacket. On August 31, 1897, Elias was discharged from the military in Staraya.C A double-headed eagle and arrow stamp, the official seal of the division, was applied to Elias’s certificate.7 The stamp symbolized the Russian Empire and Tsarist order.C1 Russia was not involved in military conflict on land when Elias served. However, the war with Japan was ongoing until in 1905 when the Japanese and Russian fleets fought a one-day naval battle. Elias did not participate in any battles but performed “nursing skills” in the army. MILITARY Elias Gittelsohn served his military term satisfactorily, and after he completed his RESERVES active duty in the Tsar’s army at age twenty-five, he was assigned to the reserves.8 C2 Persons lower than officer rank and those who were discharged dishonorably were not admitted to the reserves.9 Young Jewish men often pursued intellectual activities and were rarely deemed sufficiently strong to train as commanding officers.10 Elias’s discharge card, signed by the commanding officer, stated that his assignment to the reserves meant he did not have permission to settle anywhere other than at his residence.C3 Elias was instructed to report to the local military authority when he returned home in 1897. If he were drafted again as a reserve officer, he was required to appear in the town of Suvalki within twenty-four hours, and bring, ready-to-use, high boots, no lower than a specified length, two shirts, and two pairs of long underwear C4 These items if used by the soldier were not a donation to the military, but would be reimbursed at January 1889 prices, no more than specified in the military regulation book: boots were valued at 5 rubles, two shirts at 50 kopecks each, and long underwear at 35 kopecks each. If the man was drafted between the winter months of September through February, he was required to bring a short fur coat for which he would be reimbursed 4 rubles.C5 Elias was drafted again into active duty in 1901, the year he married.C6 His total 47 4/24/2003 tenure in the military would have been seventeen years, including the time assigned to the reserves from August 1897 to December 31, 1911.C6 However in 1904, before completing his reserve military tenure, he left Russia. With the Russo-Japanese War in progress, the Japanese won the naval conflict the following year, and Russia tallied heavy losses. ETKA My maternal grandmother was named Etka (in Russian) Postawelski. She was the POSTAWELSKI’S BIRTH, daughter of a landowner, according to family hearsay.11 This was unusual since Jews 1881 predominately leased or managed land for Gentiles.12 Etka was born on January 6, 1881, in Kaletnik.D It was a Polish village twenty-six kilometers east of Lodz in the Suvalki province near the East Prussian border and the city of Königsberg, a town now called Kaliningrad.13 The birth was recorded in 1884 when her mother, Mina, was twenty-four. In the year of Etka’s birth, a series of pogroms, violent assaults on Jews, occurred throughout the Russian Empire.14 The pogroms were a turning point for many Jews in the empire, causing them to consider a strategy for reform and become politically active.