ISRAEL-ITALY-LATVIA-LITHUANIA
Compilation of SEARCHES
Allgenerations, Inc.
September 19,2008
for ALL the Generations
Compilation of SEARCHES

ISRAEL – ITALY – LATVIA- LITHUANIA

Compiled and edited by
Serena Woolrich,
President, Allgenerations, Inc.

RESPOND TO ALLGENERATIONS@AOL.COM UNLESS INDICATED OTHERWISE

Please note that some SEARCHES may also be printed in the Together newspaper and on the web site of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants. We are doing this to increase the exposure of the SEARCHES and the chances of receiving responses. If you only wish to have your SEARCH posted in Allgenerations and do not wish your SEARCH to be posted or printed anywhere else, please send me an e-mail in that regard. Please note that SEARCHES may include the submitter’s name and his/her city/state/country, unless you specifically request that it not be printed in the SEARCH. Except for Together, the SEARCHES herein, either in part or in its entirety, are not to be reprinted, copied or used by anyone in any manner or for any matter (except for personal use by family and friends) without the written consent of Allgenerations, Inc.

If you would like to respond to any of the SEARCHES in this Compilation or ifyou would like to add your own SEARCH inquiry to the Compilation, please send an e-mail to us at: allgenerations@aol.com with relevant information.

If you would like to respond to any of the SEARCHES in this Compilation or if you would like to add your own SEARCH inquiry to the Compilation, please send an e-mail to us at: allgenerations@aol.com with relevant information.

Board of Directors, Allgenerations,Inc.
Serena Woolrich, President
Audrey Kirzner Syatt, Secretary
Isaac Kot, Treasurer

SEARCHES FOR SEPTEMBER

From Leor Alcalay, a 2g in Boston, Massachusetts:

I’m writing to you because I’ve lost contact with one of my few relatives. My father, Albert Alcalay, a Survivor and an artist, recently passed away. His memoirs,”The Persistence of Hope.” were published by the University of Delaware Press (I was involved with the book’s production).

The relative I am looking for is the daughter of Albert’s uncle, David Alcalay (the spelling might be different), who worked in Yad Va-Shem in the Righteous Gentiles section for many years, and who has a square named after him in French Hill in Jerusalem.

David lost his first wife and child in Belgrade during the war, but he remarried in Jerusalem. He had a daughter, Liora, from that marriage. Liora grew up in Jerusalem, but married a Swiss man. I met her once only, at the time of David’s death, in 1982, in Jerusalem.

We know the name of the man she married. It is Bronnle, or Bronle, with an umlaut over the “o”. We had an address in Switzerland, but all of our recent attempts (in the past few years) to contact her have failed. We know that she worked as an interpreter, probably in English, Hebrew, French, German, and possibly Serbian. It’s possible she also knows Hungarian, as her mother was a native Hungarian speaker who also spoke Serbo-Croatian.

I know that she and her mother had been involved in an almost-fatal automobile accident in Israel, when she was a child. I know that she was older than me, although I don’t know by how may years (maybe born in 1950?).

Her father David would have emigrated to Israel about that time, I suppose. Her father was a well-known and beloved figure in Israel, especially among the Yugoslav Jewish community in Israel, which is highly respected for its activities, and where I also had inquired. All mail sent to a street address I had, was not responded to. She telephoned our home perhaps 10-15 years ago, once, while traveling in Canada.

I don’t know if your network might have some suggestions. There is also a legal reason we need to speak with her , which involves the resolution of some small property in Belgrade which was restituted, finally, after the Nazi expropriations, and which my father intended to donate to the Jewish community.

Maybe you have some ideas that I haven’t thought of? It would be nice to hear of some suggestions.

http://quincycollege.edu/qc/about/testimonials/leor.htm

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ITALY AND DP CAMPS
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From Leopoldo Infante, in Rome, Italy: (seeking family hidden by grandmother):

I am searching for anyone who may know Charles Gerszenzon (or Szwajcer). The Szwajcer/Gerszenzon family were Jews of Polish origin who took refuge in the house of my grandmother, Mrs. Villata, in Moncarlieri, Turin, Italy during the Nazi persecution.

Charles Gerszenzon (or Szwajcer), the youngest of the Polish family was born in 1944 in Moncalieri when the family was secretly hosted by Mrs. Villata. The surname Szwajcer was the original family name which was retained by the grandmother, Dwojra Szwajcer, when the rest of the family changed the name to Gerszenzon.

At the end of the war the Szwajcer family moved from Mocalieri to Angoulême, France. The finding of this Charles would be a matter of great happiness to my grandmother who, though now an elderly lady, vividly remembers those far off days.

I’m thankful for any kind of assistance you may be able to give in this matter.

Best regards.
***************************************

Below is an excerpt of a letter Mr. Infante wrote to Yad Vashem regarding this matter:

“The finding of this Charles is the condition for my grandmother, Mrs. M. Villata to be recognised in the “Giardino dei Giusti” and receive the highest acknowledgment reserved for those individuals who risked their lives helping Jewish people during the 2nd World War.

As I am sure you well understand, this recognition would be a matter of great happiness to my grandmother who, though now an elderly lady, vividly remembers those far off days. She remembers well the dangers and fears but also fondly recalls those families and individuals that she so courageously helped.

Thank you for any assistance you may be able to give in this matter.

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From Francesco Lotoro, pianist and author of the CD-Encyclopedia KZ MUSIK in Barletta, Italy:

I am searching for some news concerning the pianist and musician, Bogdan Zins, who was in the internment camp of Campagna (near Salerno, Italy) during WWII. He was active as a musician in Campagna (as a conductor of a little orchestra, also). According to some information, Bogdan Zins probably moved to the USA after the war. He probably is still alive.

If somebody knows something about him, please contact me. It’s very, very important.

Thank you.

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From Edna Seaman, a Survivor in Cambridge, Massachusetts:

I am trying to locate survives who may have information on people of any age who may have been in labor camp in Asino, near Tomsk / Novosibirsk in 1939- 41.

I was there as a child during that period and I am trying to fill in huge gaps in my memory.

Do you know of a list serv I could join? Can you help or can you point me in a potentially fruitful direction.

With hope and thanks.

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DP CAMPS IN ITALY
A Match!

Eugene Frisch and Philip Beckman (Rafal) Beckman
Found mutual friends from when they were in Italy!

BARI

Inquiry received from Nathan Lichtenstein, followed by the responses he received, from Melissa Beckman and Bert Schachter. ALSO FROM BARI
From Michelle Katz, a 2g in Freehold, New Jersey:

My father was in a DP camp in Bari from 1945-1950. His name is Abram Belzycki (now Belz) and he was originally from Lodz and then Piotrkow.

From Rivka Greenberg, a 2g in New York, New York:

My parents, Avraham and Rachel (Kohnshtam) Bekerman, originally from Lodz, stayed after the war in a DP camp in Austria and came to Italy in 1947. I believe that they stayed in Bari for a while, and then moved to Tradate (near Milan) where I was born.

From Tania Feierman, a 2g in Albuquerque, New Mexico
How do I get in touch with the people from the Bari Italy DP camp?
My parents and I were there ‘45-’48.

From Sharone Kornman, a 2g in West Hartford, Connecticut:
My father, Eugene Frisch, who was born in Poland, was living in a transit camp in Bari, and was working for the American Joint.

He lives in Fort Lee, NJ and can be reached by email.

From Rebecca Knaster, a 2g in New York, NY:
My parents were also in Bari. My older sister, Mirka, was born there.

From Lena Fiszman, a 2g in Melbourne, Australia:
My parents – Moshe and Franka Fiszman – were both in DP Camp in Bari as well and would love to get in touch with others.

Also from Rebecca Knaster: One of the survivors who was in Bari called her from Australia.

From Shulamith Shafer, a 2g in Alexandria, Virginia:
I was also born in the Bari, Italy DP camp (like Rebecca Knaster’s sister, Mirka).

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SALVINO

From Rosian Zerner, a Survivor in Newtonville, Massachusetts:

After WWII I was in Italy at two Hachshara style places for children: Selvino and Avigliano.

Is there anyone out there who knows about Avigliano? Might there be someone who was with me in Selvino and Avigliano, Italy; or knows others who were there, or knows something about these two places?

I have little recollection and would appreciate whatever information comes my way.

Also, I was in a DP camp at the Ursulinenkloster in Gratz, Austria and perhaps also someone has either been there, knows someone who was there or has contact information for me. Apparently, this was not for Jews only since my father, Paul Bagriansky, was head of the camp’s Jewish section. I have only very sketchy memories.

From Lou Appleman, a Survivor in Queens, New York, in response to the inquiry below from Rosian Zerner:

I was in Selvino, Italy, in early 1945. It was a way station for DP children on the way to Palestine.

I didn’t stay there long as my mother had me taken back. However, I do have a picture taken with another boy there that I can share with Mrs. Werner.

Please have her contact me

Lou Appleman, Selvino ‘45

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From Dorothy Small, a 2g in Detroit, Michigan:

I am interested in researching the DP camp where my parents met. Does anyone out there have any information about camp Barletta in northern Italy?

My father was the camp president, dates unknown. He was known as Moses Aaron Giman, (Moshe and Morris) and he was born in Kozienice, Poland.

My mother was Rose Preisler, known as Race, Raca, Rachel, Red and she was born in Visuel de Sus, Romania.

*************

From Hesther Weisberger, a 2g in New York, New York:
I was born in Santa Maria de Leuca in 1946.

My parents traveled to Italy after the war and were in several places before I was born. Both my parents were Holocaust survivors.

Few people know that there were a handful of camps for displaced persons in Italy and most, if not all, the babies were born where I was. (The location was at the heel of Italy).

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LATVIA

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From Karen Frostig, a 2g in Boston, Massachusetts:

My father fled Vienna in 1938. His parents, my grandparents, Moses Frostig and Belie Frostig, were deported to Riga on December 3, 1941. That was all that I knew about them.

I have since learned that they never made it to the Riga ghetto, which was not yet open to German Jews (they had to first murder the Latvian Jews). So my grandparents were sent to Jungfernhof, a small satellite camp that there is very little information about.

I am not sure they survived the transport of three days in freezing temperatures. Some records indicate only 300 survived, another indicates that most survived.

If anyone has ANY information about the transport from Vienna, or conditions in Jungfernhof, I would be very appreciative.

Thanks.

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From Sandy Speier Klein, a 2g in New Rochelle, New York:

My beloved father, Herman Speier, spent four years in the Riga Ghetto. He never spoke about it. If anyone who was in Riga and knew my father, I would be interested in hearing from him.

*****

From Clara Knopfler, a Survivor in Scarsdale, New York:

I am a survivor of Riga. I worked only in Kaiserwald for 3 months in 1944; June, July and August – we were taken by merchandise ship to Stutthof. I would like to know what happened to the prisoners in Kaiserwald till the Russians liberated the prisoners (if there were any).

My book, “I AM STILL HERE, My Mother’s Voice,” has a long chapter about our life in Riga.

*****
From Osnat Rabin, a 2g in Holon, Israel:

Dear Serena,

My name is Osnat Rabin, and I am a 2g, born in Riga. (Aysa was my name in my Russian papers – I am named after my grandfather Asher). My maiden name was Rozinko. My sister’s name is Ariana. Both my parents are from Latvia; my mother was born in Riga and I believe my father was born in Limbazhi .

Our father, Nathan (or Nate) Rozinko, was the oldest son of Asher and Rasha (Rachel), who had 7 children; my uncle Shlomo Rozinko and my 5 aunts, whom I knew very well; now we have only 3 with us.

My parents, with numerous members of the family, fled to Kazakhstan in June 1941 from Riga, Latvia. My grandmother on my mother’s side did not make it and was killed in the Riga ghetto.

We all live in Israel; I made Aliyah in 1974 and the rest of the family (13!!!) did in 1976. I have lived in Holon, Israel for over 34 years.

*****

From Lev Raphael, a 2g in Okemos, Michigan:

Does anyone have any relatives from Lithuania or Latvia with the name, Garbel? I’ve struck out on JewishGen and everywhere else I’ve looked. I have found some things my late mother wrote about the war and she lists two (2) sub camps of Kaiserwald: Strassdenhoff Labor Camp and Yugla Seidenfabrik. They housed many German and Latvian Jews, but also 1,500 or so women deported from the Vilna Ghetto Sept. 23rd or 24th 1943.

My mother worked in the Strassdenhoff satellite camp and Yugla Seidenfabrik but I haven’t found any information on them anywhere, and Kaiserwald/Riga documents were apparently destroyed both by the Nazis and the Soviets. She was there as Liale or Lalke or Lidja Kliatshko (Klaczko) along with a good friend Frieda Zewin. I have their numbers at Stutthof (where they were transferred from Riga) and they’re consecutive – both however had changed their last names, perhaps to be considered sisters?

Did anyone who was in these camps know my mother, Lidja Garbel (aka Lidja Klatchko) from Vilno? Does the name Garbel ring bells for anyone out there?

If any of these names sound familiar, please contact me.

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From Ellie Schild, a Survivor in East Meadow, New York:

The information I have is very sparse, but I do know that my father’s 3 out of 4 sisters were sent to Riga: Helene David, husband Max and their children; Fritzi Segal, Heinrich Segal, and their children; and Ida Segal married to Herman, (brother of Heinrich Segal), and their children. All were sent to Riga.

I have a date of February 6th 1942, for Helene and Max and the children being deported to Riga.
******

From Russ Steinweg, a 2g in San Jose, California:

My father, Walter Steinweg, was deported to Riga from Krefeld, Germany in December 1941, along with his parents and most of his siblings.

Thanks.

******
From Jeffrey Strauss, a 2g in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

While I know Strauss is a common German name, I am interested to know if Susan Taube, nee’ Strauss, had any knowledge of my Dad’s sisters and nephews, who I was told were sent to Riga.

I have no confirmation other than that was what my Dad was told by other survivors who knew his family.
*****

From Allan Ulman, a 2g in Cincinnati, Ohio:

In case you, or your email correspondents, don’t know, there is a Society of Survivors of the Riga Ghetto group, headed by Lore Oppenheimer in New York.

My father is a survivor of Riga and a member of the group.

*****
From Hanka Temel, a Survivor in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in response to the e-mail below from Berta:

Dear Berta,

When I read your inquiry, I asked my best friend, Dr. Trudy Schneider, nee Hirschhorn, Gruppe Wien, who wrote several books about Riga, etc., and who went personally to Arolsen to get her lists before anybody knew that Arolsen existed.

According to Trudy’s information your mother Regina Scheck, and sister, Grete Scheck, came to Riga Ghetto with the Gruppe Dortmund on January 27, 1942. We don’t know if your mother was sent to “Duenamuende” on Passover that year or what happened to her. In any case, Greta Scheck left Riga on the second merchant boat and arrived in Stutthof on October 1, 1944. Where she was sent from there we don’t know.

This is all very sad, Duenamuende was a fictitious name for the first “Aktion” in the German Ghetto where older people were selected and sent away – and you really don’t want to know how and where. Most of the surviving women came with the first boat and were brought to Sophienwalde from where a good percentage survived (thanks to our Kommandant Schultz who was not as good as we thought he was.). This is unfortunately all I can tell you.

*****
From Susan Taube, a Survivor in Rockville, Maryland, in response to Berta’s e-mail (please see e-mail below):

Dear Berta,

I am Susan Taube, nee’ Strauss, a survivor of the Riga Ghetto. I was deported from Berlin in January 1942. Around that time people came from all over Germany to Riga.

I wish I could tell you that I knew your family and what became of them. We have a newsletter “Survivors of the Riga Ghetto” that comes out 4 times a year. I would advise you to put a note in this paper; also the “U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington” has information about the Riga Ghetto.

My husband, Herman, wrote the introduction to Mr. Katz’s book, we are friends of the family. The book reflects what life was like in the Riga Ghetto and afterwards. The book is available at www.amazon.com. Also at the Holocaust Museum book store.

*************

From Berta Scheck Wesler, a Survivor in Walnut Creek, California, in response to the e-mail below from Herman Taube:

Dear Mr. Taube,

My mother, Ryvka Weingarten/Eckstein was born in Drohobycz, Poland, and later married my father Gedaliah Scheck. They lived in Dortmund, Germany for many years.

My mother and my sister, Grete, were deported to Riga, Latvia, probably in January 1942. I do not know where life ended for them.

Do you perhaps have any knowledge of either one of them in Riga? I would greatly appreciate hearing from you if you do. I understand from Serena’s postings that you wrote the introduction to Josef Katz’s book.
LITHUANIA

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From Tobie Dimont, a 2g in Tucson, Arizona:
Looking for survivors from Shirvint (or Servintos) or Kovna in Lithuania.

My mother is a survivor from there.
*****
Esia Baran Friedman, a Survivor in West Hartford, Connecticut:
Looking forany information about Chaja Sczeranska, who lived on Wilkomierska Street in Vilno. We attended school together. Her familyowned a bakery.
It is possible thatshe may have moved to Israel.
******
From e. nathanael kramer, a 2g in New York, New York:
Can someone help me with any information about my mother, Rosa Druck, born in Vilna, Lithuania and enslaved in the Vilna ghetto, then sent to several concentration camps; one in Estonia about 1943, then to Stutthof c.c about late 1944?
My mother was liberated by Russian troops in 1945.

*****
From Lev Raphael, a 2g and author, in Okemos, Michigan:
Did anyone know my mother, Lidja Garbel (aka Lidja Klatchko) from Vilno?

I have a copy of my mother’s Buchenwald prisoner card and it has her maiden name (Klatchko) etc., but lists her as Lidja Garbel, married to a Michael (or Michal) Garbel, “whereabouts unknown.”He had a sister, Frieda Garbel. I have had no luck trying to discover if she actually was married before she met my father. Also, are there any relatives out there of Patti Kremer, a fairly well-known Bundist who was executed by the Nazis in the Vilna ghetto? I know of one relative, Frieda Zewin, who survived the war.

*******
From Relli Robinson, a Survivor in Haifa, Israel, on behalf of a California attorney looking for Rachela (Rachel) Goldberg, who was saved during the war by a Lithuanian family in Lithuania.

My father’s family sheltered a Jewish girl during WWII. My father would like to find his “sister” after all these many years. We believe that the girl’s name was Rachala (Rachel) Goldberg. She was born around 1940 in the Suwalki region of Lithuania. Her father was in the textile manufacturing industry and her mother was a school teacher.

They were taken to the Kaunas Ghetto. In about 1943 the Nazis ordered the elimination of all Jewish children (this is what my father was told) from the ghetto. Rachela’s father sought to hide her.

My birth grandmother lived in Kaunas and apparently had been putting bread on the fence for Jewish people on their walk to forced labor. Rachala’s family approached her and asked her to hide Rachala. She agreed. I do not know if there was compensation involved.

Rachala was taken in a sack by bus to Panevezys, Lithuania, and then to Naujamestis, a small town southwest of Panavezys, where my great-grandfather had a mill. At the time Rachala spoke only Yiddish and/or Hebrew.

Rachala was renamed Halina (Helen) and was raised with my father by my great-aunt Apolonia Shaparis (nee Mazeika), who I refer to as my grandmother. My father, Romuald (Romualdus in Lithuanian), was raised believing that Apolonia was his mother and Rachala his sister.

In the closing days of the war the family fled by train moving ahead of the front. The train stopped in Poland and they settled there in Slupsk. In Slupsk they lived on Chopin Street. My family spoke Polish, Lithuanian, as well as some German and Russian. In Poland my family changed their last name from Shaparis to Shaparys and later to Shaparyski.

Rachala’s father traced the family and came to take his daughter. He took her back in December of 1946 or early 1947.

On behalf of my father, I am looking for the above mentioned Rachala (Rachel) Goldberg. I would appreciate any further leads or assistance in locating her.

Thank you for your time.

***

From Tobie Dimont, a 2g in Tucson, Arizona:

Looking for survivors from Shirvint (or Servintos) or Kovna in Lithuania. My mother is a survivor from there.

*****

From Esia Baran Friedman, a Survivor in West Hartford, Connecticut:

Looking for any information about Chaja Sczeranska, who lived on Wilkomierska Street in Vilno. We attended school together. Her family owned a bakery.
It is possible thatshe may have moved to Israel.

*****
From e. nathanael kramer, a 2g in New York, New York:

Can someone help me with any information about my mother, Rosa Druck, born in Vilna, Lithuania and enslaved in the Vilna ghetto, then sent to several concentration camps; one in Estonia about 1943, then to Stutthof c.c about late 1944? My mother was liberated by Russian troops in 1945.