About Genealogy of Leiteses from Mstislavl

33 From the coming book of the Leiteses genealogy II. Data collecting and analysis 6E. The history and methods of the search

I began to study my family tree unexpectedly for myself. My respected boss, Doctor of science, Emmanuil (Mendel’) Abramovich Man’kin died April 20, 1968. On April 22 in his apartment I met Samuil Moiseevich Leites, father of Man’kin’s son-in- law. Samuil knew names of my uncle and aunt as his far relatives. He wished to trace our relationship and mentioned that his father left him a chart of the family tree (males only) written in Russian and partly in Hebrew. Next day he brought this chart and I copied it by hand for myself. Conversation with Samuil and his son Iosif (Joseph) showed me clearly that they would not work with the chart and the chart will be lost. After Samuil death, the chart was lost in fact, and only in 1998 in the USA Iosif found it among his papers. So I felt obligated to work with this chart.

This chart is shown in Fig.1 (pages 45-46). According to this family tree the forefather (patriarch) was Monos Leites, born around 1720 (we assumed about 30 years between generations), a notary of the town Mstislavl. Monos had 2 sons – Sholom and Nosn. Sholom had one son Movsha. Movsha had 2 sons – Lejba (born 1810) and Smugil (born 1816). The years of birth of Smugil’s descendants were not shown, but in Lejba’s line all years of birth were shown. Samuil Moiseevich was Lejba’s grandson. Three Smugil’s sons were written in the chart: Solomon with his 4 sons and few grandsons (as I found out later, all names there were correct), Gershn with 2 sons – Lev and Isaak, Sholom with a son Gershn. My grandfather’s name (Gersha Samuilovich in his passport, Grigorij Samojlovich in usual pronunciation) coincided with the names of the second son and of one grandson of Smugil’, but both patronymics were not correct. My grandfather did not have a son named Isaak. Lev was not an oldest son, Ruvim-Moisej and Shmaya were older, and my father Nyoma was the youngest son. These Lev’s brothers were absent in the chart. So it was impossible to find my grandfather’s position in the chart. More precise structure of Smugel’s branch was necessary.

I began to question my father about his relatives, whom he could remember. Almost at once this research became interesting for me. Unfortunately my dad died 3 weeks later (while he was sleeping at night May 14, 1968). I realized that the research should be conducted without a delay and that I should take notes as I am interviewing people despite the fact that it could be disruptive. (I did not have a compact tape-recorder till 1990). I arranged for a meeting to discuss the chart with my father’s older sister Bela Grigor’evna Leites. My Aunt Bela was a respected professor, Doctor of science. She had an excellent memory and clear logic. Her information and conclusions were beyond doubt. Bela and her oldest sister Galya had seen their grandfather (not a great- grandfather) Smugil = Shmujla who came to Gomel for a few days. Bela was named after her grandmother, Smugil’s wife Bela Ginzburg. This reliable information helped to place my grandfather in the family tree. Bela said that Smugil had been mentioned in the Jewish Encyclopedia in connection with Mstislavl rebellion. Bela remembered the name Monos as a famous ancestor or relative. 34 Every meeting I talked to my Aunt Galya (the oldest of my grandfather’s children). She told me about different unusual occasions and events. Her stories always were very vividly and imaginative. But the names, dates, and even situations could change in her stories. Her stories are included in Section 7 below. Soon I made a rule for myself to write essay of the interview as soon as possible, while I remember details. I arranged meetings specifically for getting information about family history. Uncle Lyova (Lev Grigor’evich Leites) told me about Malev - family of my grandmother Elka. Information about Solomon-Alter’s branch I got from aunt Bela, who was a friend with his granddaughters, from his great-granddaughter Larissa and also from his youngest daughter Nekhama (Mura). Natan Semenovich Leites (he was born 1918 in Shumyachi - 50 km SE from Mstislavl) informed me about a big branch of his grandfather Natan, who was born in the middle of XIX century. We assumed that this Natan was a great-grandson of Nosn – the second Monos’ son in the chart Fig.1.

The modified chart of our family tree (men – descendants of Monos Leites) is shown in Fig.2 (page 47). At that time I wrote the table of all members of the clan including women and spouses. Jumping ahead I’ll say that a quarter of a century later I had to change the chart Fig.2 fundamentally – at “perestroika” I got a possibility to work in Archives and found out that Sholom is not Monos’ son, but his father. Instead of Nosn (the second Monos’ son) I found Nota – the oldest Sholom’s son. So since 1992 our clan became Sholom’s clan (instead of Monos’, a notary of Mstislavl) – see Fig 3 in pages 56-57.

Let us return to late 1968. I thought surname Leites is a rare one and all or most of bearers of this name are relatives. With this idea I began to call to all Leites I found in Moscow phone book. Usually they had no interest to genealogy. They were afraid of the possibility that they could find relatives abroad, persecuted, “nationalists” and so on. But sometimes they agreed to connect me with the oldest person in the family. If I got lucky they allowed me to come and gave me interview. Some people would try to reschedule their appointments few times and finally would completely refuse to meet. Some were very afraid and asked do not call them any more. One man, a militia colonel, who found me when I was interviewing his mother-in-law, interrogated me as to why I am doing this and to whom I wanted to sell the data. He could not see another reason for the job. At the end of interview usually I persuaded them to call their relatives and introduce me. I asked them to save my phone number and address and give it to all Leiteses they meet anywhere. Two decades later one of these calls helped me establish connection with my first cousins in the USA. A lot of people just said that they were too busy to meet with me. Only one came as soon as he heard about my project – he was mentioned above Natan Semenovich Leites, Doctor of science in psychology. Another scientist, Doctor of science in chemistry, Larissa Aleksandrovna Leites showed an evident interest too. I’ve noticed an interesting pattern – Doctors of science showed interest in genealogy. Only one of scientists was indifferent – Doctor of science in technology, a metallurgist Abram Vladimirovich Leites from Khislovich clan. There was a funny episode involving him. Once I came to Moldavian metallurgical works in Rybnitsa. In the hotel a colleague, who was supposed to meet me, has asked for the key to Dr. Leites’s suite. The porter was surprised, - “Did Leites return? Where is he? Abram Vladimirovich left recently. He told us that he will return in a month”. I want to draw your attention to one more fact. Out of all women in the family who reached Doctor of science degree, not one changed her maiden name Leites, although each one of them was married. My third cousin Doctor of science in biology Aleksandra Yakovlevna Gubler did change her surname to Khesina, but her maiden name was not Leites, she was Leites on her mother’s side. 35 I worked with book’s and thesis’ catalogs in the main library of the USSR (“Leninka”). I looked through phone books in each city that I visited (the Lenin library did not have phone books). I wrote to publishing houses which published books of the Leiteses, unknown to me, asking them to forward my post-cards to the authors. That is how I met Nataliya Samojlovna Leites, Doctor of science in philology from Perm’. Her clan is from Vesyolye Terny near Krivoj Rog. She visited me in Moscow. Now she lives in Boston.

In 1971 my mother and I visited Mstislavl’ and Gomel’. We knew that the Leiteses did not live there after the Second World War. Our only findings were the Leiteses’ graves in Mstislavl’ cemetery, but we could not read Hebrew or Yiddish on the graves.

A few more stories about interesting coincidences are below. In 1952 my friend, a student of the same MEI, Viktor Kuindzhi, who lived at the dacha in Kratovo, came to our dacha with a nice and clever girl Larissa Leites, his friend from childhood. She was interested if we were related. My father and she at once solved this problem, as he knew her Uncle Samuil. I was not impressed by the appearance of my second cousin once removed down of the same age as I was. I was not interested in genealogy at that time. In 1954 I was appointed to Moscow transformer works for practice before graduation. My parents found a way to get an advice about people at this works, with whom it was better to work. A far relative of my father’s mother E.A. Man’kin worked for this works. I went to him. A young man (of the same age as I was) opened the door, offered his hand to me and said, – “Leites”. I was surprised, – “How do you know my surname?! “ He said, – “It is my surname!” That was Iosif Leites, a husband of Man’kin’s daughter Rufina. At that time I was not interested in the possibility of being related to him. In 1998 I was invited to give lectures at transformer works in Palo Alto, CA, where Iosif and Rufina lived. In their home I looked through old photos and found out that their son and granddaughter at age of 1 – 3 years old looked absolutely like my son and grandson at the same age –see page … .

In 1960 I was in Leningrad Institute LO TEP. I was introduced to Aron Moiseevich Leites (born 1930), who worked there. He was very excited about our relationship, but I just wrote down his phone number. Eight years later, when I began to call all Leiteses, I discovered that he died in 1966, and his widow knew nothing about his relatives.

In 1981 I decided to call all Leiteses again. I found by phone, that last edition of Moscow phone book is in library named after Gogol’. I went there, having the Leiteses family tree with myself. I came to the library officer, gave my passport: - “Register me, please” (it was necessary in order to enter into reading room in the USSR). She answered, - “Why do you want to register again? I just looked over the list and I saw your name”. …. (She pulled a card from her pile). … “Oh, pardon me, there was a woman”. I asked: – “Would you please, tell me her name.” She said: - “Raisa Yakovlevna Leites”. I looked out my papers. She was PhD in chemistry, born 1926, from Tolochin clan. My data was received from her uncle. I went to the reading room, made a educated guess and came over to her: - “Hello, are you Raisa Yakovlevna Leites?” She was surprised: - “How do you know me?” I answered: - “I do not know you, I have “guessed” that it is you”. “I am Leites too”. She added some data about herself and her close relatives, but about her far relatives I had more information, than she had. Now she lives in the USA.

In 1982 Larisa Leites got a letter through her American relatives. This letter from Munih was in English, dated Nov.1, 1979 – see Enclosure E1. Gregory von Leitis was looking for information about all Leiteses. Because his address was changed, I was able to locate him only in 1992. Then he mailed me data he had – 16 pages in German. Translation of this letter into Russian is in E1. Three 36 times Gregory von Leitis was supposed to come to Moscow, one of those times we were actually waiting for him in the airport Sheremetievo, but our first real meeting took place Apr.20, 1997 in New York. Later he gave me his book “Die Leitis im Wangel der Jahrhunderte” – 23 pages, prepared 1974 – its copy is placed in E1. Now Gregory von Leitis is busy with his job as an Artistic Director of Academy of Continuing Education in the Arts – Elysium – Between two continents, which he founded on Oct. 11, 1983. A surprise for us was that his first and last names pronunciation in German is absolutely identical with my son Grigorij Leites name pronunciation in Russian. Gregory von Leitis and his friend Michael Lahr pronounced his name and my wife Bella and I pronounced my son’s name many- many times to confirm this. Unbelievable information was that Gregory von Leitis began to study his genealogy in 1968, exactly the same year as I did in the USSR and Victor Laties did in the USA.

So, I continued the search in any way I could. I wrote to the Post office and Police office of Khislavichi asking to send my letter to the Leiteses who lived there. One woman related to Leiteses answered me, but she had nothing to add.

In Minsk police department I reached an officer of city inquiries office and got a permission to receive phone numbers of all Leiteses (according to regulations an applicant must know the first name and age of the person and can receive no more than 2 answers at once). As a result I got data about two families and saw my namesake Leonid Leites. In Moscow I called his cousin: - “Hello,. I am Leonid Leites …” He interrupted me: - “Lyonya, are you sick? What’s wrong with your voice?” I said: - “I am another Leonid Leites. I live in Moscow. I brought you greetings and a parcel from Leonid Leites from Minsk”. Incidentally, a complete namesake of my father Veniamin Grigor’evich Leites lives in S- Petersburg.

In 1990 our relations with my Uncle Shmaya’s family were reestablished (see Section 8 and Enclosure E2 below). Shmaya was my father’s brother. He moved to the USA in 1922. He had 4 sons. In 1937 communication with him was interrupted, all his letters have been destroyed. In the USA he became Simon Laties. I did not know about his name changing, so it would have been very difficult to find his sons on my own. My son Grigorij moved from the USSR to Vien (first point on the way to the USA) Dec.9, 1989. I asked him to search for descendants of Shmaya or Syoma Leites or Leytes in the USA. Of course, Grigorij had a copy of family tree with him. At the same time professor Alan Laties (the third Shmaya’s son) came up with an idea to search for relatives in the USSR. Alan told his brother Victor Laties (the second Shmaya’s son): - “Such search is not a danger for them now; our help may be useful for them”. In early 1990, when my son moved to Italy, Victor began compiling a directory of Leiteses and Malevs, who have published scientific articles or books (see Enclosure E2). This way Victor found address of one Leites in Stokholm and Alan wrote him a letter in March, 1990. Information about this letter reached me the same week, may be the same day April 20, when my son Gregory Leytes reached the USA and I got his phone number and address. In another 3 weeks my letter reached Alan, and Alan and Victor contacted Gregory. A month later Gregory had seen almost the whole Laties family, when this family had got together about a half a year after the death of Shmaya’s second wife, mother of Shmaya’s sons.

In 1991 Victor Laties found articles about the Mstislavl disturbances, where Monos Leites mentioned2 – see Enclosure E3. 37 In 1993 and 1995 my wife Bella and I found out a lot of very interesting data in Byelorussia Archive – see sections 7 and 9 below and Enclosure E4.

After moving to the USA I spoke on Russian radio broadcast ”Search”, on Russian TV, searched phone books, and so on. Although there were no immediate results, those ways of search should be utilized.

In 1996 in the book “The world book of Leytes, published by Halbert’s family heritage” I found eight new addresses and wrote to each of them. I got a reply from France and soon a very nice girl Virginia Leytes gave me a list of a big family and photo of part of it. This family lived in Kiev before revolution. Virginia was in New York for internship in UN organization. In 1997 I sent 50 E-mail messages to unknown Leiteses. I got only four replies with some information.

My friends from Israel gave me two post addresses of Leiteses. I have seen both families when I visited Israel in 2002.

In 1998 I made an Internet search for Leiteses with different surname spellings. The number of hits (Table 3 in page 16) surprised me very much and I stopped calling before further sorting. Curiously enough there were a lot of Spanish names in this search. I realize that Jews from families emigrated from Russia to South America can bear Spanish names, but I do not have enough time and strength to call everybody.

I did not mention trivial cases here, when people gave me information about their relatives. However I should like to emphasize my impression that in the USA people gave me information easier, than it was in the USSR.

In 1996 I activated search for possible relatives outside former USSR. In the same time I started preparing the data I had for the publication. In 1997 in order to speed up at least the first part of the project I limited its’ coverage to only one clan – descendants of Sholom Leites from Mstislavl. I finished it in September 1998 and sent its parts to eight my relatives. A copy of some of its pages is in Enclosure E5. I asked my relatives to check and add the information about their branches of the clan. I assumed that this stage would take at least a couple of months, and I decided to use that time to work through the Plisetskys family tree – my mother’s relatives. This clan was much smaller than the Leiteses clan and I thought that this project would take two-three months. But the job became 20 times bigger and took three years. The book got a lot of complements from very different. people. As I understood what a huge job I have with my materials about the Leiteses, I stopped an active search for possible relatives. My task now is to save the data which I have. If I would have begun collecting a quarter of century earlier, we could have had about ten times more information about our ancestors. Although such an interest at those time could kill the collector and his family during the mass repressions of 1948 – 1952.

A unique occurrence took place Oct.20, 1998. Evgeniy Vaisberg met Lev Leytes in Palo Alto (CA) and asked him about possible relationship, because Evgeniy knew Leites as maiden surname of his great-grandmother! (Majority do not even know maiden surnames of their grandmothers). Lev at once called his parents Iosif and Rufina, they called to me and gave me phone number of Evgeniy’s parents Mirra Bolotina and Feliks Vaisberg, who lived in San Diego. The same day I spoke with Mirra, and a big branch was added to our clan. Mirra’s grandmother Masha Leites proved to be Masya, daughter of Smugil Leites, my great-grandfather. Masya was written in 1858 census of Mstislavl – see Fig.4, page 61, right bottom corner. She was 5 years old. She was known in Leites 38 family as Masha Ratner. She had 13 children. One of them was Zhenya Ratner, Mirra’s Bolotina mother. My Aunt Galina Grigor’evna Leites-Margolina mentioned Masha Ratner as her first cousin, her Unckle Sholom’s daughter. In fact Masha was Galina’s aunt, Sholom’s sister. Mirra remembered that once she visited my parents in Kratovo.