The Birnbaum's and Religion

Etty,

According to my mother Avrum and Tobe were very observant people. The family comes from a long line of Rabbis from way back when. However Avrum was a bit of shall we say a "black sheep" or renegade, as he never got his smichas (did not become a Rabbi) even after studying at the Yeshiva.

As well, instead of allowing for a match maker to arrange a sidich with someone he didn't know, Avrum had picked out Tobe on his own and insisted that she was the one. The match maker then just took care of the appropriate arrangements.

As to how he brought up his children. Yes they got to go to the public high school (the gynasium). The story that I know from my mother who was told it by her father is that the boys had to promise not to take the train or write on Shabbas when they went to school. Since the gynasium was in the nearby town of Nizko (a few km away), the boys would start walking and not go to the Rozwadow train station. However, they would frequently hop on the train as it slowly pulled out of town. If Avrum new about it, he simply looked the other way as he knew the times were change perhaps not for him, but at least for his children.

The Rozwadow Yizkor Book

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, there are people working on the translation of the Rozwadow Yizkor book.

Here is the link to the Table of Contents of the on-line translation

http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/rozwadow/Rozwadow.html#TOC

So far only a small portion of the book has been translated. Much of what is hear is straight out the English section of the book. However, having it on-line is a lot easier then going to the library to read it.

Roswadow - Photos 1997

As we all know the Birnbaums and Gartens came from the town of Rozwadow, Poland. Prior to World War I Rozwadow was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and hence considered part of Austria.

There are many stories of pre-WWII in the Rozwadow Yizkor book. I have a copy and I believe Moishe Avrum has a copy as well. This might help you with your research Leslie. Copies of these books do exist at major research libraries. Leslie if can not locate a copy near where you live, call me next time you're in Toronto and I'll show you my copy.

Below are some photos I took on my trip to Poland back in September 1997. The first photo shows an empty lot. Unfortunately we were about two weeks late as the Birnbaum homestead had just been demolished. This is where the store front and house where my grandfather and I'll assume most if not all of his sibling were born stood. My grandfather Yichaskel purchased the property from Avrum, just before Avrum emigrated to Palestine. My uncle Irving was also born in the same house.



This second photo is of an apartment building on the opposite side of the rynek (town square). And is typical of what most of the buildings around the rynek still look like. Visible in this photo is an upstairs apartment with a balcony. This is where my mother's maternal grandmother (Raizel Stelzer) lived and where my mother Niunia (Anne) was born.



I'll try and find some time over the next couple of weeks to scan some photos from the Yizkor book so we can all see how pre-WWII Rozwadow appeared.

Northwest Greetings

Hi
I am Leslie Birnbaum, daughter of Jack and Sally Birnbaum, grand-daughter of Leo and Katie Birnbaum, sister to Michael (Ricky) (Alberta), Peter (California) and David Birnbaum (Toronto). I am one of the Toronto Birnbaums living in Tacoma, Washington. My grandfather, Leo, said that we were distant cousins to George Burns. My brother David "dropped in" at his house (years ago) in LA, where David introduced himself, as Leo's grandson and a distant cousin. George Burns was very gracious...but since then I have heard that we aren't from the same Birnbaum branch. Perhaps Alan or someone else can confirm or deny.

I have some questions for those of you who remember stories that our great aunts/uncles, grandparents, uncles, aunts, parents told about the "old country." I am interested in finding out about living conditions in Rozwadow for our family. (about persecution due to our religion) I am also interested in hearing about their voyages to the US/Canada.

I am dabbling in writing for children and trying to write something about the Holocaust.

Thanks to Alan for arranging this. Some of you already know - I am a fair-weather e-mail/computer person and there are significant lags in my communication!


Leslie

Photo Clarifications

About a month back Gideon had distributed this photo by e-mail.



At the time Gideon stated that the photo was of:
Tobe, Avrum, Max (back row)
Judy, Ethel (Golda's daughters) & Golda (front row)

My mother thought that it wasn't Golda in the picture, but instead that it was her aunt Ruchel.

I just got off the phone a few minutes ago with cousin Judy and she has confirmed that it is indeed her aunt Ruchel and not her mother in the picture. All other individuals are correct.

Best guess photo was taken around 1931

Birnbaum & Garten Family Trees

Many years ago (best guess 10), I created an HTML version of the family tree and published it to a web page. It isn't anything fancy and I haven't updated it ever since.

Because of it, I reconnected with some relatives from my grandmother Ewa side and even discovered some cousins that we didn't know existed as well from my grandmother's side.

These family trees have generated many inquiries, but so far no new relatives for the Birnbaum or Garten family trees.

On-Line Family Trees

Descendants of Scharia-Leib Birnbaum
Descendants of David Garten

Since many of you didn't know these trees were available, I thought I'd share them with you. Note there are most likely many mistakes in these trees, as I haven't been updating them. I do keep a current family tree on my computer and am constantly updating it as family members send me new information. If anyone would like full PDF copies of these trees simply e-mail me and I'll be happy to send them to you.

Of note to this group. About 8 years ago I establish contact with a branch of the Garten family here in Toronto. They are related to us, but are not reference in the on-line tree, once again because I don't update the on-line version.

Birnbaum Family Phtoto

Etty,

This is exactly why I set up this blog. Many photos have been going across the Internet via e-mail the past couple of months. This was one of them.

Moishe Avrum has also asked for a high-quality version of the photo suitable for taking to the local photo store for printing and subsequent framing.

The photo my mother has is not of the greatest quality. I did scan it and made some adjustments to it to enhance the photo. I believe that it will serve this need.




To save this high-quality photo to your personal computer simply right click on the image and choose the save function. The actual size of the photo is 4.77 x 6.45 inches.

Or click on the above photo to see it in full size and then save the file to your computer.

Here is the order of people in the photo

Back Row Left to Right
Gitel, Itzchak, Golda, Yechaskiel,
Nissan Silber (Golda's Husband),
Fruma, Fievel
Middle Row left to right
Tobe, Avrum
Front Row left to right
Ruchel, Max

I'll be posting more photos over the next couple of days. Please if anyone else has any photos please take the time to post them.

this is a wonderful thing

I am so glad this family blog has been started. I'm not the best at keeping in touch with people, but I am interested in the family history, and often questions or just thoughts enter my mind in regard to the family. They get shelved in the back of my mind as it seems trifling to bother people with it, but that leaves questions unanswered.
To introduce myself, I am Etty Dickinson (nee Ethel Birnbaum), only daughter of Max and Chana Birnbaum, born July 8, 1954 in South Carolina
I grew up in New York city but have lived in London with my husband Nigel (who is British) since 1983. We have 5 children;
Alicia born August 3, 1979 in NYC
Lindsey born April3, 1983 in NYC
Nina born October 31, 1985 in London
Andrew born September 14, 1990 in London
Elodie born June 15, 1995 in London
Some of you who remember me will remember a spolied brat and a troublesome kid. All true.
But I am middle aged now and although I have health issues
the good news is that I have settled down and have become, if not a mensch at least not a vilda chaya.. My father of blessed memory was an impossible man in so many ways, but I will be eternally grateful that the last words I ever spoke to him were to tell him I loved him. Of course I miss my darling mother immensely. She was truly the most angelic woman I have ever met.
OK, enough about me.
Here is a Birnbaum trivia question:
One of the Toronto Birnbaums (I don't remember which one, but they are my generation) told me that George Burns was somehow related to our branch of the Birnbaum family. A distant cousin. True or false??
I hope to make this blog a regualr thing, thank you for inviting me!!

ETA:
Thank you, Alan, for posting the picture of Ruchel. I have seen it befofre but don't have a copy of it. The family picture you have on the main page is one I have never seen before. Is there a way to make it bigger?? I would love to get a good look at it. Thans!

Ruchel Birnbaum

We've all heard the tragic story of Ruchel Birnbaum's life and how shortly after her return to Poland, the Second World War started and her family was forced to flee. Without the opportunity to obtain the appropriate medicines and the hardships on the journey, she succumbed to her lung aliment at the age of 31 years old.

I know other copies of the above photo exist, but I thought I would share this one with everyone in case they don't have a copy of it.