This might be the last treasure box found in our Catskill home. After being in our family for 63 years and after a 90-year presence in Kauneonga Lake, we are selling our home. None of our children, who are widely dispersed, can care for it. Our fortune is that we have cousins who still have homes near the lake, so we can visit.
But in cleaning out the house and the drawers and the closets, my niece came upon this last treasure buried in a drawer under linens: a beautiful cedar box from Montauks Cigars. In it were postcards written from my grandmother when she was in Europe with my mother and her brother in 1931-32. Postcards written to my grandfather in Yiddish and English, The Yiddish will have to be translated. I am hoping the generous members of Tracing the Tribe will translate these, as they are just short paragraphs.
I had to laugh because all the stamps had either been peeled off or torn. They were given to one of the grandchildren who were collecting stamps. It might have been me. I collected postcards as well. But these were probably too important to my grandparents to give to a child who might lose them.
There are letters written in German and Polish to my grandmother during the time she was in Europe. I know one is from her cousin Dora, who survived the Shoah and moved to Israel. Others I think were written by my great aunt Esther to my grandmother, her sister. The German I can understand a bit. But the Polish is impossible for me. I will need to find a translator for these letters.
There are photographs in the box. Almost every one of them is identified in English, Yiddish or German. The ones that are not identified, I actually recognize the people in the pictures.
I have already sent scans of two of the photos to my third cousin. One shows her grandmother at her elementary school graduation. Her grandmother and my grandmother were first cousins. When my grandma came to the USA she stayed with her aunt’s family. The two girls became best friends. The other photo shows five brothers who lived in the same building. My grandmother’s cousin married two of them. One when she was young with whom she had her children. And later when her husband died, she married one of his brothers who also lost his wife. My cousin was glad to see the photos. I am going to send her the original of one. The other my niece wants because she shares the same first name.
I have written about these people in other blogs. So below are links to their stories.
I think this box will be giving me much more to write about. Every time I think I have finished the story of my European family, another piece of information turns up. I hope to start with the notes my grandmother wrote to my grandfather from Europe. I always wondered if they were able to communicate. As well as what she was thinking when she was there, as we know she went to Europe so sick, she thought she would die. Her plan was to leave my mother and uncle in Europe. Thank goodness she got well!
zicharonot 