Grateful for my Great-Grandfather
Going through my unread mail from the past week, I followed a reader‘s link to Orin Kerr’s post telling his father’s story, the “only member of his immediate family to survive” the Holocasut
What made the story particularly touching was that his father was born in Suwalki, the town my great-grandfather fled at the end of the Nineteenth Century to find a better life for his wife and young sons, my grandmother’s older brothers.
My great-grandfather, born Fajwel Kronberg, was one of two brothers. As the second son, he would have been required to serve in the Czarist army for a term of several decades. As my great Aunt Ruth explained, an only son could escape military service so her father took the name Friedman, posing as the only son of another family.
He and his brother saved up enough money until both could leave the Russian Empire, the older going to Australia and the younger making his way to Cincinnati. Because of that choice, my grandmother was born to freedom and I would have a number of great uncles and one amazing Great Aunt, the aforementioned Aunt Ruth, whose very life was a gift to those who knew her.
And today, let me thank Orin Kerr for helping remind me just how fortunate I am. And to my great-grandfather, whom I never knew, for making the choice that he did.
So, as a tribute to those who perished in the Holocaust, read Kerr’s post. As you learn what he–and so many others lost–you might see how truly fortunate those of us are to have or have had aunts and uncles, great and just good.
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As a guy with a similar family story of family-leaving-Europe-to-find-freedom, I appreciate your family’s story and the link. May the memory of all freedom-loving people be eternal and may they find everlasting peace.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — April 26, 2009 @ 8:19 pm - April 26, 2009
I grew up on the upper west side of Manhattan, perhaps the most Jewish neighborhood in the US. My two closest friends as a child were both children of Holocaust survivors. To this day, I cannot forget the shadows of fear and grief that I always saw in their parents eyes; nor my father explaining to me why they had numbers tattooed on their arms. I am physically sickened when I hear haters like Amadinjihad (sic) deny the truth. Stories like that of Orin Kerr must be repeated and recorded to never be forgotten. Thanks Dan, for reminding us all again of what we must never allow to happen again.
Comment by John in Dublin CA — April 27, 2009 @ 12:01 am - April 27, 2009