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Itzik Avrohom (Eliyahu’s son) and his wife

Pinya Baizer and his son, Mottel Avrohom Yosef Barg’s two sons Yaakov Barnbaum, son of Efraim, Sorke’s son Yanku, 40.

Hettie Barnbaum, daughter of Moshe

Yanku’s wife, she called out to a Petlura soldier to come and kill her, 35.

Mordechai Barnbaum, son of Yaakov, all the Barnbaums were stabbed on the hill behind their house, 10.

Hertz Barnbaum Itzik Dovid Barzach

Yehoshua Barzach and his wife Sholom and Moshe Bekker

Chaya Sora Huberman’s Grandson Meir Ber (Avrohom’s son)

Berel Berman, the tailor, 46.

Rivka Berman, his wife, 45.

Chaika Berman, daughter of Berel, 20. Pearl Berman, daughter of Berman, 18. Simcha Berstein and his son, Shloimah Moshe Avrohom Binyaman (son of Aaron the sexton) and his brother-in-law Zusia Zalman Blecher and his wife and children Zalmon  Blever’s  (Blecher’s?)  son, wounded in the first pogrom and killed in the second pogrom

Menashe Bloch’s wife and four children Rochel Bloch and her son

Leizer Bonder’s son

Koine Braver, son of Isaiah, pulled out of someone else’s house and killed, 26. David Braver, Anschel’s son, 2.

Avrohom Elyu Brenman, son of Velvel and his mother, 28.

Avrohom Brenman, son of Mordechai Avrohom Zjushkivtzer, President of Community Council, 62.

Golda Brenman, wife of Abraham, 60. Nachman Brenman, son of Avrohom, 23. Gitel Brenman, daughter of Avrohom, 18. Isaac     Genedels-Brenman

The Cantor of Felshtin  Noson Chosid and his wife Avrohom Itzy Cohen’s family

Feiga Cohen (Eli Chaim Herschel’s daughter)

Bairach Cooper, son of David, killed near the Polish cemetery, 60.

Dedalya’s son Yankel and his wife Herschel Duchovney

Shloimah Einkoifer’s wife

Akira Elefant, his wife, and his wife’s brothers and sisters

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Feifer

Schachne Fireman’s wife and five children Moshe Fleisher, Avrohom’s son and Necha’s son, stabbed to death, 40.

Avrohom Fleischer, (Shloima Yosef Isaac’s son) Chaika Fleisher, Avrohom and Necha’s daughter, stabbed to death, 38.

Chaim Fleischer, son of Wolf, Fradel Zeigerman’s son-in-law, was shot on June 6, 32. Avrohom Fleischer, Shloima Yosef Isaac’s son Ezra Fleischer, Shloima Yosef Isaac’s wife. Efraim Chaim (Fruma’s) Forman (Sora Ita’s, Friedel’s husband)

Gitye (Gentzi’s) and her daughter Froim Forman

Shmuel (Gentzi’s son), his wife and daughter

Yona Herzovis (Forman), his wife, Yocheved, and daugher, Leah

Baila Gerschgorn, Michel’s daughter, 50. Avrohom Elyu Gerschgorn, Orin’s son, 19. Yechiel Gerschgorn, Orin’s son, stabbed in someone else’s house; Baila and her son Yechiel managed to run into the street where they both collapsed dead, one falling on top of the other. Mendel Gerschgorn, Aba’s son, Yechiel Rofeh’s son-in-law, 31.

Mindi Gerschgorn, Yechiel’s daughter, 26. Chaika Gerschgorn, Mendel’s daughter, 6. Rosa Gerschgorn, Aba’s daughter, Mendel’s sister, killed in the field on June 6 (1919), 20. Shmuel Ber Glantzov’s (Gitza’s son) wife Yechiel  Berish (Esther Chaya’s)

Chaya Golda and her daughter Pinchas Goldman, son of Hirsch, 48. Rivka Goldman, daughter of Leib, 45.

Susia Goldman, Hirsch’s (Son of Shmuel) wife Tuva Goldman, son of Pinchas, all shot near bathhouse, 18.

Chaim Greenbaum (Chana Slova’s) Hertz Greenbaum, shoemaker Avrohom Guttman, shoemaker Shimon Hantman

Yosel Hantman

Akiva Helfand and his wife, Chata Riva, their three sons and a daughter

Michel Hersch (Itzik Hersch’s son)

Esther Herschel (Eli Chaim Herschel’s wife) and daughter Feiga Herschel

Zalman Herchel’s wife and child Avrohom’s (Chaim Herschel’s son) wife Moshe Chaim Herscheles (Steinberg)

Velvel Hochman’s (Feivish’s son) wife Moshe Press Hoizgezund (Lemeshke’s son) Sholom Horowitz’s (Schachne’s son) three daughters

Shimon Horowitz’s (Hirsch Leib’s son) wife Chaya Sora Huberman, Wolf’s daughter, Avrohom Moshele’s wife, stabbed at home with a bayonet, 62.

Shloima Mechel Huberman, son of Moshe Golda’s husband, 55.

Buzzy Huberman (Shmuel Zelig’s daughter) Noson Jungreis (Aaron Bedonis’ grandchild) Sheva Kagan, daughter of Yitzchok, wife of Shlomo the teller, who lived by Leibish Shabsis, 44.

Yaakov Kagan, son of Shlomo, stabbed at home with a bayonet, 15.

Herschel Kapilopwitz, the Rebbe Moshe’s future son-in-law who came from Kamenetz, 23. Chaim Getzi Kaplan, son of Alter, Monday night he was choked and then thrown into a cellar, 65. Alter Schneider Karshenbaum, his daughter, who was Shloima’s wife, and two children.

Itzik Karshenbaum (Alter Schneider’s) and the family

Isaac Katz and two sons, Dovid Leib and Moshe Yoel (Moshe Yoel was killed in Grading) Schloima Leib Katz (Yisroel Hirsch’s son), his wife and two sons

Sholom Katzav, his wife and five children Shlomo Yosef Isaac’s Katzav (butcher) and his wife

Itzik Yosel Kellenson

Yosel Shmuel Isaacs Kerdman and his wife and two children

Pinney Kerdman (Lozer’s) and his wife, Baila Itamar Kichovitzky

Noach Kirschenbaum’s son-in-law Zelig Pigrishes Kirschner Avrohom Kirschner and his wife

Shloima Michel Kirschner’s son, Nachum Meir Kirschner

Ita Krishtal

Itzik Leib Kirschner (Yarid’s son-in-law) and family

Zusia Kitai (Habers)

Yosef Kitover, Rabbi Yisroel Kitover’s son, he was paralyzed, 65.

Avrohom Kitover, Yosef’s son, 23.

Rabbi Mordechai Kitover’s wife and six children, her father, and her son-in-law, the Solopkivotzer Rabbi, all burned in a fire

Moshe Klares, a broker for landlords and priests Henoch Binem Kleiner’s wife, Chaya Liba, and her nephew, Berel

Dovid Kliban Chaim Kliban

Dovrish Klug (Bairach Cooper’s Daughter)

Noson Koritner (Berel’s son)

Matel Korn, Moshe’s wife and Zlata’s daughter, 40.

Sasya Korn, Nachman’s second wife, 35. Pessie Korn, Matel’s daugher, two months. All three were hiding in a lime pit, a peasant spotted them, and they were all shot. Yaakov Kornblit, son of Eliezer, 70.

Elyu Moshe Kornblit, son of Yaakov, stabbed near the synagogue, lived for a day, 36. Yechiel Kornblit, son of Yaakov, 42.

Miriam Kornblit, Meshulem’s daughter, 36. Chantzi Kornblit, daughter of Yechiel, 18. Tzipa Kornblit, daughter of Yechiel, 15. Rochel Kornblit, daughter of Yechiel, 8. Yehuda Yitzchok Kornblit, Yechiel’s son, 2 weeks.

Meshulem Kovler and his wife Pesach Krishtal (Binyaman’s son)

Zusia Krishtal, son of Pesach, his wife, and their five children

Avrohom Leib Krishtal (son of Binyamin) and his wife

Fridel Kum, famous for his quips and quotes, his wife and their grandchild, a tiny baby

Herschel Kum, Fridel’s son, his wife and child (his child became frozen while crying) Avrohom Lazer (Leib’s son)

Naftali Lazer (Leib’s), his wife and four children

Muttel (Yaakov Leib’s son)

Baba (Dovid Leib’s daughter), Rosen and her son, Leib

Moshe Lekman, son of Mechel, 65.

Zalman and Ita Lerner and son, Yechezkel and daugher, Sima

Itamar Lichovitzky

Yosel Maddick’s wife Shaindel and their five children

Dr. Y.A. Masur from Odessa, stabbed to death, 36.

Yisroel Avrohom Melamed (previously Yayetchnik)

Moshe Melamed (Shtempel), his wife, his son Yechiel and his wife and child

Yosef Melech, son of Yaakov, Ezra Cohen’s son- in-law, 45.

Tuva Melech, son of Ezra, 40.  Nunye Melech, son of Yosef, 22. Chana Melech, daughter of Yosef, 11 Roise Melech, daughter of Yosef, 9 (The Melechs were all shot in the house where a grenade was then thrown in.)

Rochel (Chaim Mendele’s daughter) and her family

Shlomo Mindlen, son of Yaakov Zusia, 49. Meshulem Mordechai (Yoel’s), blacksmith Chaim Moshe (Avrohom Aaron’s son) (sexton), his wife and child

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Nechama’s son Asher and his wife  Rabbi Novoseller’s wife and two daughters. Yosef Ofeh (Chana’s)

Tova Baila Orband (Eni’s) and a grandchild Shaika Oxsman (Sora Yankel’s son) and his brother

Herschel Leib Pollack’s wife, Miriam Dvorah, and their son, Moshe

Brocha (Alter Polick’s daugher) (She was a mute.)

Yekel Portegal, Leib’s son, stabbed at home with a bayonet, 68.

Ita Portegal, Avrohom’s daughter, stabbed at home with a bayonet, 65.

Rivka Portegal, Yekel’s daughter, stabbed at home with a bayonet, 40.

Asna Portegal, Yekel’s daughter, stabbed at home with a bayonet, 34.

Nuta Postivess and his wife

Susia Principalke and her daughter Mendel Rabin and his wife

Yosef Raver and his wife, Hennie Gittel Rachmilevitch (Leib Polick’s

daughter), Shaya Aaron’s (Nuta’s son) wife, and her two children

Polick Raver’s (Schochet’s) wife Yosel Rizshulinetzer and his wife

Mendel Moshe Ritzshilnitzer and his wife Zeev Rochman and wife

Zusia Roiz, son of Moshe, shot on the frozen river, 34.

Yosef Roizman, son of Gershon and Hhusband of Chaytshe (son-in-law of Moshe Yaakov) was caught running away and hacked with a sword, 46.

Chaytshe Roizman, Moshe Yaakov’s daughter, raped and killed in the street, 40.

Sora Roizman, Yosef’s daughter, raped and killed in the street, 15.

Menucha Roizman, Yosef’s daughter, raped and killed in the street, 13.

Bina Roizman, Alter’s daughter, stabbed in the street with a sword, 65.

Rochel (Shloima Rovo’s) and her son Zaida Rusia’s wife

Yechiel Saltzman, Bina Roizman’s son-in-law, lived with Moshe Braver, stabbed at home, 35. Yisroel Saltzman, Yechiel’s son, stabbed at home, 8.

Danya Saltzman, Yechiel’s daughter, stabbed at home, 1.

Mr. Scheinberg, father of Mika, Toby, and Chaya

Yaakov Leib Schneider, his wife and two children

Noson Schochet, son of Moshe, Abrohom Kirschner’s son-in-law, 38.

Gitel Schochet, son of Avrohom, 33. Moshe Schochet, son of Noson, 6. Yosel Schochet (Raber) and his wife

Yechiel Schochet (Wasserman) and a son, Velvel

Leib Schuster’s son

Lebenyu Schuster’s daughter, a mute. Yaakov Segal’s (Yossi’s son) wife Sora Ita Mutti Segal, son of Aaron Shmuel, 23.

Meir Segal, Chaim Sholom’s son

Yosel Segal’s son

Chaim Shemesh, his wife and son Moshe Yehuda Ber Shenkman (sexton in the learning hall) and their two children Shlomo and Zlata. Yosel Segal’s son

Ephraim Shpantz (died of a heart attack after the first pogrom)

Reuven Sostchin, son of Chaim, killed and thrown into a cellar, 55.

Tzipa Sostchin, Reuven’s wife, 53.

Avrohom Sostchin, son of Reuven, killed with a gun in the street, 28.

Chaim Sostchin, son of Reuven, 18.

Tuva Sostchin, son of Reuven, both stabbed with knives at home, 15.

Yenta Sostchin and her  daughter,  Chaya Yoel Sostchin with a child in his arms Machliye Shpert, Simcha Goldman’s daughter and five children

Asher Shuylsinger from Galicia, a teacher in Kolterlige School, 32.

Feige Shulsinger, from Galicia, first raped and then mutilated, the calf of her leg was cut, 30. Chana Shmurak, daughter of Efraim and Sorke Barnbaum, 40.

Gitel Shmurak, daughter of Isaac, stabbed with a bayonet, 10.

Ber Leib Shmurak, son of Avrohom, stabbed on the stoop of his brother-in-law’s house, 23.

Shloima Shmurak, Ber Leib’s son.

Yankel Mannes Steinshleger

Tsiril Steinshlager (Wolf Eli’s daughter) Zisia Sternick and his wife, Fruma Moishe Stolyer and his wife

Shmuel Yeshaya Sviner, Avrohom’s son, Asstant Chairman of the Community Council, Chairman of the Zion Organization, stabbed with a bayonet, 36.

Shifra Sviner, Orin’s daughter and Shmuel’s wife, butchered like an animal, 27.

Velvele Swindler (Chana Manny’s) Paisa Tchibaner and his family of eight Mutti Tut

Avrohom Chaim Tzinis, Bassie Wolf’s son-in- law, stabbed while lying ill in bed, 37.

Chaim the Water Bearer (Vasserfirer) and his wife and four children

Gershon Vatenmacher and his son and his grandson Yosef’s family

Menachem Verboch’s wife Betty

Yaakov Voghalt, son of Moshe, their grandson from Kupin, stabbed with a bayonet, 15.  Moshe Chaim Weintraub and his wife, Rivtzy (Rivka)

Mally Weintraub, Chaim’s daughter, stabbed with a bayonet, 38.

Michel Weintrab and family

Mendel Weitraub (Mechel Meir Mendel’s son) Rochel Weintraub, Moshe’s daughter, 5.  Chaim Weintraub, Moshe’s son, stabbed, 1 1/2. Avrohom Itzis Yasel (Bella’s), his wife and two children

Mordechai Yosef’s wife (Baum)

Yosel the Redhead’s son, Chaim

Dvorah Velvel Zafrin and a 10-day-old child Fradel Zeigerman, daughter of Pinchas, Aharantzi Itzy Bidanis’ wife, 65.

Yerachmiel Zeigerman and his wife and daughter

Herschel  Zeigerman (Yerachmiel’s son) Susi Zilberg, Yisroel Schneider’s daughter, stabbed naked in the street, 22.

Gedal Yahu Zilberman, son of Zalman Yaakov, found sitting up with a quart of water in his hands; killed in his house, 67.

Sora Riva Zilberman, daughter of Isaiah, killed at home, 65.

Manele Zilberman

Simcha Zussman from Galicia, Yekel Portegal’s son-in-law, shot in a peasant’s garden, 30. Yosel Zweig (Shmuel Chaim’s son)

A girl from Satanov and 10 other strangers

The following, in alphabetical order, are names of Felshtin orphans who went to

“Then it came my turn, and I said I would not give the speech I had prepared. Instead, I repeated phrase for phrase, word for word, the full speeches of the other three. And that won me the appointment.”

He described his principal duties as Felshtin’s rabbi: “My first duty was to answer questions about Torah, halachah, and fine points of the Mishneh. I arranged compromises between quarreling families and business people. I gave advice on personal troubles, settled disputes about wills and inheritances. And once a week, I went to the slaughterhouse to supervise kashruth.”

Rabbi! We buried your wife and two little girls. We found a large piece of flesh from a leg, but after examining your wife and daughters, saw that their legs were intact. We have no idea whose leg it is and where to bury it.

I replied: “That flesh is from my own leg. Bury it together with my wife and daughters …”

He concluded with a desperate plea:

“Ukraine became a river of blood and tears … Please send us money, tickets for the boat, and papers so that we can leave this G-dforsaken hell on earth.”

The Rabbi emigrated to Philadelphia in 1928, bringing some Felshtin orphans with him. For a man who had experienced so much horror, the goal of merely surviving would have been quite understandable.

Yet Rabbi Novoseller did far more than survive. In Philadelphia he founded Congregation B’nai Yehoshua, established a free hotel for homeless people, and started a business today known as Ko Kosher Service.

Several decades after arriving in America, Rabbi Novoseller reflected on his new home:

“In a way, this is another shtetl. A fine Jewish neighborhood this, where kosher butchers still make a living.”

I lived in my grandfather’s house on a hill. He sold sacks of grain, corn and wheat. He had a cow and sold milk and cream. He also owned an orchard a small distance away. Once I went there and watched the workers pick the fruit. I also remember playing in a brook near the house, splashing in the water with my bare feet. In the cold weather I played with my sisters, Sonya and little Gittel, in the warm loft-like room over a stove.

My father was a tall, slim man who went quietly about his work, making shoes and boots to order for his customers. My mother was also a gentle person.

The Pogrom Comes to Felshtin

My placid existence ended abruptly in 1919. Until then, the Russian Revolution had hardly affected our small town. Then stories spread about the Cossacks, who had been told that the Jews provoked the Revolution. They stormed through the Jewish communities, burning, looting and brutally murdering the defenseless people. They came closer and closer to Felshtin and finally struck in February.

When the news came that the Cossacks were coming, my mother snatched up the baby and Sonya. I didn’t even have time to put shoes on. We slipped and fell down the icy hill, fleeing through the fields and woods, hoping to find a friendly gentile neighbor to hide us. But the peasants, who had been warned that anyone aiding the Jews would also be killed, turned us away.

The Cossacks charged through the woods on horseback and soon found us hiding and grouped us together on a frozen brook. We were sure that they were going to shoot all of us, when one of them, perhaps a Jew himself, said, “Let’s just leave them here. They will freeze to death anyway.”

Later we found out that my grandfather and some of the other elders had paid a group of Cossacks to guard us, but the villains took the money and joined the attack on the town. We struggled back to the house to find the house torn apart by the drunken Cossacks. Many people had been killed. Fortunately, our family was saved.

Life slowly went back to normal, but not for long. During Shavuot, which came about the middle of May, the Cossacks returned. Again our mother snatched us up against the will of her father, who wanted to take my sister, Sonya, his favorite, with him. We fled through the fields and hid in the middle of the cemetery. The caretaker, a Jewish man, found us and took us to his home. When the Cossacks came, he gave them food and whiskey while we hid in a dark corner of a shed. 

This time were were no so lucky. When the Cossacks left, driven away by the Bolshevik soldiers, many more people had been murdered, among them my father and grandfather. Those who had been spared gathered up the bodies of their slain loved ones and buried them in a common grave. Even as the bodies of the dead lay in the open grave, a small band of Cossacks galloped by, shooting into the little cluster of mourners.

Somehow we existed without a man in the house, sheltered only by broken walls, sharing what little we had with less fortunate neighbors. During the next winter, news came from the Felshtin Association in America. They had heard of the terrible pogroms and had collected money to bring the survivors to the United States.

Orphanage in Lemberg

We gathered our meager belongings and were hurried over the snowy roads to the nearest railroad station where we were herded onto a train, eventually arriving in Lemburg, Poland, where we would at least be safe from the pogroms that were still sweeping across Russia.

Since there was not enough money to send everybody to America, it was decided that only the orphans would go, so we were separated from our mother. All the children were brought to a synagogue. My mother charged me, “Shaiva, you are the oldest. Take care of your sisters. Stay together.”

At night, in the dark synagogue, huddled with the little ones, I relived the terror of hiding in the cemetery, hearing the yells of the Cossacks as they searched for more victims. At last a rich Jewish woman, who had heard of the orphaned children, came with an open truck and brought us to an orphanage in the city.

Posing as an aunt, our mother visited us. One day our uncle came to tell us that after one of our visits, mother fell or was pushed from the crowded train by a drunken soldier. The doctors amputated her leg, but she died seven weeks later. Now I was the head of the family. How old was I? Seven or eight?

Life in the orphanage was very hard. I tried to say Kaddish for my father and mother. The director of the orphanage, a real Hitler, would not allow us to leave the building. I had made friends with the cook. She left a window open in the kitchen so I could sneak out and go to the synagogue. All went well until the kind people of the congregation gave me a smoked fish to bring back to eat at the orphanage.

I hid the fish at the back of our clothes cupboard, but I couldn’t hide the smell. The director found it, and I was punished. I wouldn’t tell on the kindly cook who had befriended me, but I could no longer go back to the synagogue to pray for the souls of my dear parents.

We were often hungry. Once Sonya got a rusty spoon and wouldn’t eat from it. The director got angry and forced her to eat the mush, even though it made her nauseous. As soon as she went to bed, she threw it all up. We were so afraid that he would punish her again, I took her to the bathroom and washed her and the bedclothes, which we put still wet so he would not find out.

We had to work to keep the place clean. The brass railings on the stairway had to be kept sparkling. We put brushes on  our feet and slid around the parquet floors to keep them shining. The unhappy children often quarrelled, and I received my share of bruises in the ensuing fights, sometimes trying to protect my sisters.

At last we heard that our papers had come. We would be able to leave for the United States. We left the orphanage with high hopes, but when we arrived in Warsaw, the ship on which we were booked had already left. We were sent back to the orphanage in Lemberg.

A whole year passed. To a child it seemed an eternity. Again our passage in Warsaw was arranged. This time we were ready, but the ship was not. We waited through the spring. In the summer, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, known to us as HIAS, arranged for us to attend a summer camp in Danzig where we would be close to the ship.

On the first Sunday, all the little girls lined up and marched down the road. My sisters and I marched also, right into the village church. Needless to say, the next Sunday we didn’t get in line.

When the ship was ready, the HIAS representative, a fine young man who was engaged to be married, wanted to adopt my sister, Gittel. I wouldn’t allow it, saying, “My mother left her in my care. We have to stay together.” He was very good to us and when we left for the ship, he gave us presents, dolls, toys, and food.

Voyage to America

It was very stormy. The ship could not dock at the pier. The confusion was terrifying. When we got on to the ferry, I lifted Gittel in my arms and told Sonya to hold onto my skirt. When I got into the cabin, I turned around. Sonya was gone. I called, but no one answered.

“Stay here, Gittel. I must find Sonya.”

I pushed through the crowded cabin, calling, “Sonya, Sonya. Has anyone seen my sister?” No one answered. No one cared. Everyone had their own problems. I had to take care of mine.

I went back to Gittel. “Don’t move from here. There is another cabin at the front of the boat. I will see if she is there.”

I opened the cabin door. There was a blast of wind and rain. I stood against the wall and held onto the door knob. The wet deck pitched up and down. There was no railing to hold onto, only ropes stretched across the heaving deck from one cabin to the other.

I stretched out on my stomach and pulled myself across the open space. When I got into the forward cabin, there was frightened little Sonya, her face smeared with tears. I took the sash of my print dress, put Sonya behind me, and tied the sash around both of us. Out of the cabin into the wind and rain once more, down on my stomach on the rain-soaked deck.

“Hold on tight … not that tight, you’re choking me!” So many years have passed, but it could have been yesterday.

We observed Yom Kippur on the ship. Now we prayed that our lives in America would be easier that what we were leaving behind. The weather was stormy; we were all seaskick. Sonya had a sore on her finger. I was afraid she might be rejected and not allowed into America.

“Don’t cry,” I told them. “If your eyes are red, they may think that you have a sickness. They may send you back to the orphanage.”

We finally reached New York Harbor and Ellis Island. We gathered our possessions into the straw suitcases and waited for our sponsor, our cousin, Gussie Wasserman. She had come to America several years earlier.

Other families were greeting each other with cries of joy. I ran to a couple hopefully, but it wasn’t cousin Gussie. At last she recognized me through a resemblance to my father.

Our suitcases, with the little clothing we had, were stolen. My uncle advertised for our papers, and they were found, but only after we were detained for a week, hoping every day that we would be released.  

A New Home

At last we were taken to New York. We stayed with the Wassermans while the relatives decided what to do with us. After all my efforts to keep us together, we were separated. No one had room to take the three of us. Sonya would stay with the Wassermans in the Bronx, Gittel would go to an aunt named Wallowitz on the lower East Side. I would live with my aunt, Dvorah Greenberg.

Aunt Dvorah died tragically during childbirth a year later, and I was sent to live with another cousin, whom I called Aunt Channah Kirchenbaum. There was no bed for me. Every night we would put together two kitchen chairs with the bedclothes on them, and that is where I slept. I was very unhappy there, but tolerated it because I didn’t know where to turn.

I went to Louis Greenberg and asked him to take me to the Wassermans in the Bronx. I had kept in touch with my sisters. The families they lived with adopted them and gave them their family names. Sonya became Sonya Wasserman. We called her “Sunny.” Gittel became Gertrude Wallowitz. I was the only one to keep our family name, Kellenson, but I was no longer called “Bas Shaiva.” Now I was “Shirley.”

I lived in the Wassermans’ apartment in the Bronx and went to school. When I was 15 or 16, the Wassermans decided to move to a smaller apartment. I had to leave school and get a full-time job to pay for a furnished room.

I assembled jewlery for Mr. Duke, who had a small place at 116 Nassau place, not far from New York City Hall. My salary of $15.00 a week didn’t go very far. Every Christmas he raised my pay another dollar or two, but I could never get far enough ahead to afford to take time off to look for a better paying job. I stayed on for 13 years.

Through friends of Sunny I became acquainted with Jack Zinick. He visited me every night and called me at work during the day. After only a week, he insisted on making a ring out of a diamond stick pin and gave it to me.