Notes by Ted Ashkenazy
Perhaps someone down in Australia knows or knew this man. As a DP he
emigrated to Australia from Munich in 1949. He may have travelled with
his Russian girlfriend. Unfortunately I never knew his last name. Please
respond privately. Thank you.
Ted Ashkenazy
tia@vdn.ca
(Montreal, Canada)
I am somewhat surprised by Eilat Gordin Levitan's post. My background is
similar to that of her father-in-law (Dr. Ruven Levitan) who, she says
*barely* spoke Lithuanian. I too had a German nanny and spoke
German at home. I also read the Yiddish newspaper as well as an English
boys' magazine. However I spoke Lithuanian well and most of my reading
of books was in Lithuanian. I attended the other one of the two Hebrew
schools, Schwabe.
In general, this is an interesting subject. What was the attitude of
pre-War Lithuanian Jews toward the Lithuanian language? Apparantly
proficiency in that language was not promoted. Was that wrong? Did that
cause alienation?
Ted Ashkenazy
tia@vdn.ca
Montreal
Dear Ted,
You wrote that you "spoke Lithuanian well and most of my reading of books was in Lithuanian" was you proficiency in the Lithuanian language more common
for most Jewish children in Lithuania (other than the Polish region of Vilna) who were born during the period between the two wars?
You wrote that you were "somewhat surprised" could I have misunderstood my father in law and he just spoke the language differently than the Lithuanian?
( I have talked with him a few times about it and he gave me different answers to the question why he had to act like he was "dumb"
when in hiding as a non Jew during the holocaust) I posted his story in a site I created for Kaunas. http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kovno/kovno.html
I recorded his story during a phone conversation. A non Jewish, Lithuanian born girl was helping me and to her he said
"..I had to pretend to be deaf and dumb. Although I spoke good Lithuanian, I was frightened that I might betray an accent and that people would suspect me of being Jewish..."
He did not feel right to to say that he was not proficient to a non Jew Lithuanian
Eilat Gordin Levitan
It seems to me that with the rise of nationalism in Eastern Europe,
the use of local languages increasingly became a sign of loyalty.
My grandfather, Mayer Shulman who was born in Panevezys in 1883 knew
Russian (to a certain extent) and Yiddish. I grew up surrounded by
his contemporaries and other members of the Litvisher Ferband in
Philadelphia and almost none of them knew Lithuanian. After coming
on Aliyah, I met the next generation of Litvaks and while Yiddish was
their mother tongue, they all knew Lithuanian.
I have heard parallel stories about language from Jews who came from
Czechoslovakia where Czech & Slovak were in competition with German,
which had been the preferred (besides Yiddish) language of most of the
Jews.
Shalom Bronstein, Jerusalem
Researching - SHULMAN/SHILLMAN - Panevezys; BLOCH - Krekanava (Lithuania);
the DIMMERMAN, BECK & GELMAN families from Ostrog & vicinity (Volhyn);
BRONSTEIN, BROWNSTEIN, RUNSTEIN, ROCHMANN - Kishinev (Moldava); GOLDSTEIN -
Iasi (Romania) - those who came to America all settled in Philadelphia;
GOLDZWEIG & LETZTER - Cholojow/Uzlovoye (Eastern Galicia/Ukraine)
?
<22 Aug 2007
I just returned from a visit to Lithuania.
There is a small narrow street off Dauksos gatve. I believe it was called
Eljashiv for a famous Yiddish writer (?). Well, no more. They changed it to
Sladkeviciaus gatve.
I don't know who Sladkevicius was and how he fits in to the old Jewish
quarters. It would be interesting to know what prompted the City to change
the name. Basically, the name "Eljashiv" on that little street was probably
the last and only reminder of the Jewish character that existed in that
area.
Ted Ashkenazy
tia@vdn.ca
Montreal
From: "Ted Ashkenazy" tia@vdn.ca I just came back from a visit
to Lithuania. The Jewish cemetery is in the same state of neglect,
the way it was back in 1979 when I visited it first. >>
Ted is evidently referring to the Greenhill Cemetery which, today,
is located in a residential area of Kaunas. This cemetery has not
been used for a number of years and, as Ted states, is sadly
neglected. The small Jewish community of Kaunas, about 600
Jews, do not have the resources to maintain it. If outside help
is offered I am sure the cemetery can be restored.
The Aleksot Jewish cemetery is an active cemetery in use today.
It is very well maintained and is in excellent condition.
There is a central cemetery office in Kaunas where the records for
all cemeteries in Kaunas are kept. For the Jewish cemeteries,
they only have records of the Jews who were buried in Kaunas in
1965 and later. All other Jewish cemetery records are either
missing or destroyed. The cemetery office is;
KAPINIU PRIEZIUROS KONTORA
DONELAICIO G-VE 70
KAUNAS, LITHUANIA
Howard Margol
Atlanta, Georgia
homargol@aol.com
www.pusalotas.org
Attention ex-Schwabe School (Kovno) students: There is now a brand new
plaque on the building saying that this building used to be Jewish/Hebrew
school and that most of its students perished during the holocaust. The
inscription is in Lithuanian and in Hebrew.
You should be able to see a photo of it soon on the www.gutstein.net website
Ted Ashkenazy
tia@vdn.ca
Montreal, Canada
22 Aug 2007
Hi everybody,
I didn’t expect such a response! However I am glad to be able to oblige.
I hope that you all receive these photos. BTW, this is the old cemetery on Zaliakalnio, Radvilienu plentas.
Ted Ashkenazy
tia@vdn.ca
Montreal
3 Attachments
13 Dec 2007
As a kid in pre-Soviet pre-War Kovno I learned Yiddish by reading the daily
newspaper Heintige Neis. My main incentive was a serialized crime novel,
dealing with Dillinger, Al Capone etc. Always the "hemshech kumt"
cliffhanger at the end...I wonder if any archives of that newspaper exist.
Ted Ashkenazy
tia@vdn.ca
Montrea
On Dec 27, 2007 4:35 AM, Ted Ashkenazy <tia@vdn.ca> wrote:
According to history.com the late Jack Benny (d. in 1974) was a litvak. His
name was Benjamin Kubelsky. Does anyone know more about his roots?
From Jack Benny' Passport Applications, ..the name was Ben Kubelsky
[Jack Benny]
Birth Date:14 Feb 1894
Birth Place:Chicago, Illinois
Residence:Hotel Hargrave, New York
Passport Issue Date:12 Jul 1923
Father Name:Meyer Kubelsky
Father's Birth Location:Russia
Father's Residence:Lake Forest, Illinois
Passport Includes a Photo
13 Dec 2007lF
rom other information;
Father: Mayer Kubelsky born abt 1864 Lithuania Home in 1930: Lake
Forest, Lake, Illinois ( 1930 census)
Mother: Emma Sachs, died before 1930
sister; Florence Fenchel born 1901 her husband; Leonard L Fenchel
born abt 1893
Wife: Mary Livingstone (Stage name , related to the Marx brothers,
married 24-Feb-1927 )
Daughter: Joan Naomi (adopted)
There was another Kubelsky family in Chicago that is most likely
related. Most Kubelsky family members came from Lithuania.
That's interesting. History.com said the Jack Benny (Benjamin Kobalsky) was
born in Lithuania. So they were wrong; it was his father who came from
Lithuania and not Jack Benny. But either way, Jack Benny was Litvak! One of
ours...
Ted Ashkenazy
tia@vdn.ca
Montreal
Hi Cousins:
Benjamin Kubelsky was born in Chicago, Illinois on Valentine's Day in 1894.
He died on Dec 26, 1974. He was the oldest of two children of Mayer and
Emma. They lived in Waukegan. Mayer was born in Lithuania, the son of
Benjamin. Mayer was one of 5 children. I do not have the name of Jack's
grandparents, but his great grandfather is said to have been born in
Kubeldziski LITH in 1795. Jack married Sadye Marks on Jan 14, 1927 in the
Clayton Hotel in Waukegan, IL. They had one adopted daughter, Joan Naomi
Benny, born Jun 17, 1934. She was married three times. The first time to
Seth Baker. the second time to Buddy Rudolph. Each of those marriages
produced one child. She married Robert F. Blumofe, 25 years her senior in
1963. He passed away in 2003. They had 2 children, Robert and Joanna.
The Kubelskys are a branch of my daughter-in-law's maternal family, so I
would be interested if anyone has more information about his ancestry. I
have a lot of detail about his career and life. He changed his name several
times between his birth name and finally settling on the name Jack Benny.
Regards,
Marlene Bishow
President,
Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington
Quite a number of Lithuanians have been honored by Yad Vashem, over
the years, as Righteous Gentiles. Go to the following web site
and you will see a list of those who have been honored. Click on
Lithuania and your question will be answered. 23 Mar 2008
I am tracing Sholly Kagan. He used to live in the Boston area. Sholly is my
childhood friend from Kovno.
Please respond privately to Ted Ashkenazy, tia@vdn.ca.
I am tracing an old friend. I only knew him by his first name
-- Mickey.
I also understand that he was originally from Slabodke. He was in Munich
as a DP. He left Munich for Australia some time in 1949 with his Russian
girlfriend He would be in his 80s now.
Please contact me privately. Thank you.
Ted Ashkenazy
Montreal, Canada
tia@vdn.ca
http://www1.yadvashem.org/righteous_new/vwall.html
The list is not up to date. Last year, when my group was in Vilnius,
they attended a ceremony where a number of Christians were honored as
among the Righteous. The Jewish Museum in Vilnius has a large room
dedicated to the Lithuanian Righteous Christians.
Howard Margol
thank you Howard, Marjorie, Saul and others who responded to my query as to
whether there were any "ethnic" Lithuanians who saved or otherwise helped
Jews during the Nazi occupation.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there are as many as 761
"Righteous among the Nations" listed at Yad Vashem! It is very important
to remember that in the midst of the worst of human acts perpetrated by
the scum of humanity there was decency and compassion and sacrifice.
These people who have been immortalized at Yad Vashem should be
remembered always. I like to think that perhaps these are the people
who represent the true Lithuanians... The Lithuanians who lived in
harmony with their Jewish neighbours for centuries.
I also realize that some people may find this difficult to accept.
Nevertheless in light of so much evil in the world (past and present)
it is good to dwell upon the positive, occasionally.
Ted Ashkenazy
Montreal
I am looking for people who were in Sosnovy Bor (Siberia) in 1942-43.
Ted Ashkenazy, tia@vdn.ca (Montreal)
--Wonderful explanation by Howardas Margolis. As far as I know this is a
unique linguistic feature. I can't think of any other language or
country where the name of a person identifies his/her gender and marital
status.
I wonder whether there may not now be an effort to modify it, as it could
be considered sexist. Also some women may also not want to be identified
as single.
Ted Ashkenazy
Montreal