Out of the Shoebox (18 page)

This
book was published in Hebrew on May 3rd, 2014.

On
May 23rd, at 1 a.m., I received the following email:

Dear
Yaron,

My
name is Nelly Segal. I found your email address in some correspondence with the
wonderful Miri Gershoni.

I
live in New Jersey and just arrived in Israel for a visit the other day, and,
today, Nurit Yosefi brought me your book about your family and its Chortkow
roots.

I
started reading it this evening, still struggling with jetlag, when suddenly
there popped up the name of Mordechai Liebman, who was my mother’s close friend
during her youth in Chortkow, a very special, beloved person in my childhood
who used to write to me from Egypt, where he was stationed by the British Army.
Not merely tales of this-and-that, but actual stories, accompanied by sketches,
of colorful characters, members of the Allied Forces, with whom he served
during World War II.

After
the war he married Sima (yes, same name as your aunt), who was also enlisted
and whom he’d met during their military service.

They
used to visit us quite often in our home in Beit Oved and we used to visit
them, they lived in a house with a garden at the edge of Hadar neighborhood, at
the bottom of Mt. Carmel, just above Hillel Street as best as I recall. But if
I’m not mistaken they – or maybe just Mordechai (whom we called Mucho) – used to
live on Hillel street.

If
you’d like any additional bits and pieces of memories, don’t hesitate to call
me. Looking at the time, I see it’s already tomorrow, and in order to function
properly, I’d better get some sleep…

In
the meantime, all the best,

Nelly

And
so, to my utter amazement, the characters in the book continued to emend the
facts.

That
same night, I called Nelly and learned that Mordechai had Hebraicized his last
name. Obviously, after such a dramatic development, I couldn’t sleep, so I used
the rest of the night to track down Mordechai’s past.

Within
a few hours, I found in the British Mandate’s records that Mordechai’s name had
originally been Marcus Liebman, and in 1939 he’d changed it to Mordechai
Lev-Man. The full picture immediately became clear: Mordechai Liebman, my
father’s co-owner of the lot, was never officially known by that name; he went
by the name Marcus Liebman or Mordechai Lev-Man, which is why I hadn’t been
able to locate him. The fact that his photo appears on the Meiselman family’s
memorial page on the Chortkow website also made sense now; Mordechai, who was
indeed Shmuel Meiselman’s friend from Chortkow and my father’s friend in Betar,
had served in the British army alongside Asher Meiselman. So, his photo was
erroneously added to the memorial page, next to the photos of the Meiselman
family.

The
next day I managed to discover that Mordechai had a brother, Haim, and a
sister, Yona, who immigrated to Israel with their mother, Tzilla. Mordechai’s
father, Ben Zion, died in Chortkow. Mordechai and Sima had no children.
Mordechai was killed in a car accident in 1961, at the age of 50.

Within
a few days, I tracked down Mordechai’s family and met his two nieces: Ilana,
Haim’s daughter, and Esther, Yona’s daughter. They told me that Mordechai had
studied architecture at the Technion and was employed by the City of Haifa, as
an architect.

Every
year on the 10th of Tevet, my father’s yahrzeit, I’d linger at my father’s
grave, wondering at the simple elegance of his headstone. When I asked, “How
come Dad has such a beautiful headstone?”, my mother used to reply: “It was
made by your father’s good friend, who was an architect for the City of Haifa
…”

Strangely
enough, she never mentioned his name.

***

When
writing this book I was describing the developments as they took place, almost
in real time. It served as a diary while my personal journey unfolded over some
26 months.

I
would like to stress that at any given point the writing describes, or is based
upon, the knowledge available to me at the time. As my personal journey
progressed, and the story with it, new information was added. I chose not to go
back and change the story according to new information I discovered. For this
reason the reader may find some inaccuracies or contradictions between earlier
chapters and information revealed later on.

Perhaps
the book should have been edited differently, and my Aunt Zelda
Finkelman-Liebling's diary, as well as Jan Kruczkowski's testimony should have
been moved to the end. But I felt that both chapters were important in the way
they contributed to my ability to better understand and feel the events that
took place in Chortkow during the war. Both chapters played a key role in my
growing desire to visit Chortkow, experience it and get to know it.

For
the reader's convenience I have added a list of names of family members
mentioned in the book, and their relation to me, as well as a family tree.

The
Kramer family, my mother's family
:

Menachem Mendel, my grandfather –
murdered in the Holocaust 1890-1942

Fradel, my grandmother – murdered
in the Holocaust 1888-1942

Malca (Malia), my mother 1911-2013

Anshel, my uncle – murdered in the
Holocaust 1917-1942

Selka, my aunt – murdered in the
Holocaust        1920-1942

Moshe, my uncle – murdered in the
Holocaust 1922-1942

Pepe, second cousin – murdered in
the Holocaust 1922-1942

The
Finkelman family, my father's family
:

Isak,
Itzig, my grandfather 1868-1933

Rivka, my
grandmother – murdered in the Holocaust 1870-1942

Ethel, my
aunt – immigrated to the US 1889-1958

Chaskel,
my uncle – immigrated to Colombia 1890-1971

Zelda, my
aunt – survived and immigrated to Colombia 1891-1965

Zigush,
cousin – survived and immigrated to Colombia 1929

Dr. Sima,
my aunt – murdered in the Holocaust 1899-1942

Shlomo
Zvi, my father 1908-1958

Zanka,
second cousin (my mother's classmate) –murdered in the Holocaust 1911-1943

Lijuchnia,
Zanka's baby – murdered in the Holocaust 1940-1943

Hudel,
second cousin – murdered in the Holocaust 1915-1942

Zelda
(Liebling), second cousin – survived and immigrated to the US 1918-1998

Eliyahu
(Loushu), second cousin – survived and immigrated to Israel 1923-2002

My
encounter with Israeli bureaucracy began the moment Attorney-at-Law Elinor
Kroitoru, head of Location & Information at Hashava, The Company for
Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims’ Assets, contacted my family. It
continued through the connection I made with Hanni Amor, at the Custodian
General’s bureau of the Ministry of Justice, and ended with receiving
compensation equal to the lot's worth from the Israel Land Administration. My
encounter with the Israeli establishment was a positive one, to say the least.
I would like to thank all the public servants involved for their dedication and
empathy, throughout my quest to locate the lot and have it returned.

I
would like to thank Ms. Ada Sales of the Technion in Haifa for searching the
Technion archives and finding my father's student file from 1932. Without that
file I would not have been able to solve the puzzle.

A
special thanks to Miri Gershoni for opening a window to a world I didn't know,
and infecting me with the "Chortkow bug", for helping me uncover
invaluable information about my family, and for her encouragement during this
journey.

Marta
Goren's book Voices from the Black Forest was of great service to me while
writing. Her book provided me with accurate details of Chortkow's tragic
history during World War II.

Thank
you to Hanna Avni for sharing with me your mother's, Tonia Vermuth testimony
about her own fate as well as the fate that befell my mother's family in the
Holocaust.

Warmest
thanks to Viktor and his family, my partners in my journey in Chortkow, for
arranging the trip, for their generous hospitality, for their superb
tour-guiding, locating information and setting up meetings with local
residents.

A
special thank you to Hanan Schaham, my associate, for listening, for his advice
and for encouraging me to put pen to paper and document these events. Also
thank you to his wife, Idith, for her legal counsel.

A
heartfelt thank you to my editor, Simona Hanoch, for her sensitivity,
gentleness and professionalism which greatly helped bring together this final
product.

Thank
you to Lee Oshrat for the cover design.

Thank
you to my translation & editing team, Nina Davis and Shira Davis, for their
accurate yet lively translation that captures my voice and style.

Thank
you to my friend Camilla Conlon for proofreading.

Thank
you to my sister, Ilana, for urging me to write down the story so it will not
be forgotten.

Thank
you to my wife, Raya, for her insights and unfailing support along this
journey.

I
am convinced that without the considerable help I received from these people,
and others, the journey would not have taken place and the story would not be
told. For that I am eternally grateful. 

***