HERE WE GO AGAIN! — Sharon Mark Cohen

Here we go again! The search continues for long-lost relatives, and every tiny clue is tremendously helpful.

Upon opening an overflowing five-inch binder holding the letters from my family abroad, together with their translations stowed in archival sleeves, the name Shmuel (“Shmulik”) Murovany jumped out at me. Shmulik was my grandfather’s eldest brother.

The scores of letters from our ancestors are ripe with clues divulging information about all the members of our many family branches. Over the past three decades, we’ve had the greatest pleasure meeting many of our cousins. While we have yet to find anyone from the remaining two lines, my Granduncle Shmulik and Grandaunt Rosie’s (“Rose”) families, quite possibly we will soon crack that brick wall.

Shmuel (“Shmilik”) Muravin, his siblings, children and grandchildren

Rosie “Rose” Roitman, her siblings, children and grandchildren

Partial letter from Shmulik in Chudnov, Ukraine to his brother Nachman/Nathan (my grandfather) in America translated by Harry Langsam, z”l

Undated letter from Shmuel (“Shmulik”) to his brother Yellik (“Louis”) in Philadelphia Translated by Harry Langsam, z”l

Undated letter (probably early 1930s) from Shmulik to his brother Nachman/Nathan in Newark, New Jersey (my grandfather) Translated by Harry Langsam, z”l

Undated letter (probably early 1930s) from Shmulik to his brother Yellik (“Louis”) in Philadelphia Translated by Harry Langsam, z”l

Those “hard to digest” letters give “a taste of the cruelty and poverty” our ancestors endured in Ukraine.

The search for the whereabouts of any descendants from Shmulik’s part of the clan continues. Letters Shmulik and his son sent to my grandparents give us a few clues. They reveal three addresses where he lived, and bits and pieces of information to chart in his branch of the family tree. It would mean so much to me to find those cousins, learn more about our family, and share the information I have accumulated.

Address my grandfather’s brother Shmulik Murovany requested he write to him

Page one of undated letter from my grandfather’s brother Shmulik Murovany - Written in Yiddish - English translation by Harry Langsam, z”l

Page two of undated letter from my grandfather’s brother Shmulik Murovany - Written in Yiddish - English translation by Harry Langsam, z”l

English translation by Harry Langsam, z”l, of undated letter from my grandfather’s brother Shmulik Murovany
In this letter Shmulik notes that my grandmother is also his cousin.

Ten letters from Shmulik and one from his son Leib, all penned 100 years ago, will certainly be something to discuss when we find their offspring. They’ll have a descriptive narrative of their ancestors…our ancestors, and their impoverished existence before WWII.

Moving on, for now, I have no pictures of the Roitman family, whose matriarch was my grandfather’s sister, Rosie “Rose.” Rose was married to Simcha Roitman, who died on Shavuot in 1921. The couple had seven children. We know that in 1927 one son was killed and another in 1941.

My notes recorded about Rose and Simcha’s son, Yellik, show that bandits killed him during the collectivization by the Soviets. He was a revolutionary, and his job was to organize collective farms. At the time of his death in 1927, he was married with three children. Yellik’s mother, Rose, died in or about 1935.

Yellik’s older brother, Aaron, was married to a 1st cousin, Sheindl Kaya. The accounting of their tragically sad story is in my blog post, “Our Cousins, Our Heroes, dated March 22, 2022.”

Rose and Simcha, parents of Yellik and Aaron, had a daughter named Rachil. Information stored in my files about Rachil shows only that she was born about 1920. According to my records, aside from Yellik and Aaron, a brother Leib and sister Golda were each married. Two younger sisters, Sheindl and Rifke were still single, in or about 1924, according to the last communication with Rose’s large family.

December 2, 1923 letter from my grandfather’s sister Rose Roitman (original written in Yiddish), English translation by Harry Langsam, z”l

Page 2 December 2, 1923 letter from my grandfather’s sister Rose Roitman (original written in Yiddish), English translation by Harry Langsam, z”l
Here, Rose tells that her son Aaron married her sister’s daughter Sheindl

September 15, 1924 letter from my grandfather’s sister Rose Roitman (original written in Yiddish), English translation by Harry Langsam, z”l

Undated letter from my grandfather’s sister Rose Roitman (original written in Yiddish), English translation by Harry Langsam, z”l

The world is closing from the COVID-19 pandemic and opening to discoveries of long-lost family members. We hold onto hopes of finding a living descendant of the two remaining branches of my father’s paternal side of the Muravin/a family yet to be discovered.

With help from our cousins, friends, and landsmen, the descriptive letters in the five-inch binder, which include old-country addresses, will, hopefully, pave the way. Will they know the same family stories? Will I have something of theirs to share? I’m psyched to take this to the finish line.

My cousin living in Russia wrote, “We live in different countries, we were brought up in different traditions, different generations. But we are all united by the common genes of our ancestors. It's amazing.”

What is also amazing is that I’ve found a living relative from all five of my grandmother’s siblings and met at least one relative from each branch of that part of our family tree. While I have not met any descendants of my grandmother’s brother Wolf (“Velvel”), our daughter Rina met them and stayed with them in Israel, and we are in close contact with the cousins living in Israel.

Furthermore, having found living descendants in all but two of my grandfather’s family branches is monumental. I believe as we now have the information about a descendant of his sister Rose’s branch, we’ll soon find a connection, and we’ll continue searching for any descendants of their brother Shmulik’s branch of the family tree.

After writing to my cousin in Russia, she replied on January 27, 2022. Movingly, it was on Holocaust Remembrance Day that she wrote, “My dad says Vladimir [aka Wolf] Roitman lived in Leningrad. He had never heard he could live in Estonia. However, Estonia is located not far from Leningrad and maybe my dad doesn't know something. Vladimir had a wife, Anna, and a son, Evgeny. Evgeny Roitman studied at one of the prestigious medical institute in Leningrad to become a doctor. Then he moved to Karelia in Olenegorsk. He worked as the head doctor at the hospital. He had a Korean wife. There is no more information yet. Dad says that Vladimir was 15 years older than him. It means he was born in 1925. It's like in Sharon's notes. Dad says he was some kind of relative on his father's side. But he doesn't know for sure ‘Wolf Volodya Vladimir’ is the same thing. It seems to me that Chaim is Eugene [aka Evgeny].”

My goal remains to connect with as many of the descendants of my great-grandparents as possible. Will anyone else who I find have sentimental photographs of our ancestors to share? The prospect keeps me searching. Adding fuel to my flame is the thought of sharing all the memorabilia I’ve saved with additional long-lost relatives who share my thirst for knowledge about our ancestry.

The letters from our ancestors asked for money, and then, more importantly, they were requesting packages. We have cousins living in Chudnov today. On March 9, 2022, a thank you came with appreciation for funds, yet, once again, asking for packages:

“Спасибо большое. Сейчас нам действительно надо продукты, запас медикаментов и топлива. К сожалению топлива нет...не могут довезти( а вот продукты возят слава богу”

Asking Google translate, it shows:
“Thanks a lot. Now we really need food, a supply of medicines and fuel. Unfortunately, there is no fuel ... they can’t deliver (but thank God they carry the products).”

History repeating itself over 80 years after WWII makes my head swirl. Such knowledge makes it more important than ever that we know who our family is and that we keep a connection. We now have relatives around the world trying to help our family living in Ukraine.

Our cousin in Chudnov sent an instant message on March 17, 2022, saying, “I am very happy that so many people have contacted me and want to help. For me it is very nice and unexpected. I used to think that I had very few relatives, but now I learned that many) Thank you for your help and support.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a doubly tough time to present eyewitness testimony to the horrors of war, but the truth needs to be told. Harry Langsam left me this testimony as told by his sister-in-law, our cousin, Raya: