SHE NEVER LEFT CHUDNOV — Sharon Mark Cohen

Pictures, pictures everywhere. The one on the title page of this blog post, I was able to snap in 2002 at a cousin’s house in North Carolina.

It’s a long story, but my cousin Alexsander had the lone picture of his paternal grandmother, Basha, a 1st cousin to my father. Basha was one of eight children. Her mother, my Grandaunt Gitl, had six siblings. My paternal grandfather Nathan was one of Gitl’s three brothers.

My father and his cousin, Basha, were both born in Chudnov, Ukraine. The difference is that Cousin Basha, the mother of five, never left Chudnov, where, according to her grandson, she died at around age 42, in about 1935.

The picture tells quite the story. In the olden days, it was highly unusual to have a photo of someone with their teeth showing. After reading Antique Letters Deliver Joy and Sorrow at sharonmarkcohen.com, dated May 31, 2022, my friend Carol posed a question on June 1, 2022, “Despite the tragedy your family has suffered, you are right to document it all, along with the joys and sometimes comic relief, which is also the result of your research.

“As I continue to delight in seeing your family photos, I am always struck by how strong and interesting their faces are. Of course, there is often beauty and sometimes not so much, but the strength is always there, and the soulful engaged eyes.

“I am also struck by the expressions that I see in your family photos vs. the photos I have. I have only old professional photographs, all staged and somber, no hint at any joyful life.

“Your professional photos are mostly that type but the others have feeling, one of the families in today’s blog even smiling. I always wondered why very old professional photos were so depressing looking, for the most part.”

I went to our son for the answer. Moss proposed, “People don't smile in old photos because the exposure time needed was much longer, so they were told to keep a relaxed expression so that there wouldn't be blurring as their smiles inevitably wavered. Also, I think they may have needed more light for proper exposure, so that may be why the photos look darker and shadowy.”

While Cousin Basha never left Chudnov, a few cousins from her family branch did escape the atrocities there, settling in the United States or elsewhere. It’s been an adventurous and rewarding hunt to find them.

Another cousin, Lova, left his birthplace in Ukraine in 2000 with photos and documents still hanging on the walls of his apartment. Possibly there was a photo of Basha with her sister Esther, Lova’s mother. Shortly after arriving in America, Basha’s nephew, my cousin, Lova, came to our home. At that visit, it was painful to learn that he left behind the bulk of our family history in photos and documents.

Maybe we’ll find someone else in the lineage in possession of this photo and other tell-tale pictures of various ancestors. Possibly additional pieces to the puzzle will be secured as documents turn up.

Will some new accounts open and become available from archives abroad? With documents surprisingly still trickling in from the old country, of course, as the war in Ukraine continues, that prospect becomes increasingly doubtful. Meanwhile, I’ll continue the spellbinding research for more clues and be happy that I found all I have.

I’ve met two of Basha’s grandsons, the children of one of her elder sons, Alexsander, and his brother Mikhail. Basha’s sister Sheindl (Jennie), see my April 12, 2022, blog post, What Was Their Story of Survival? had three children. Having already found and been in contact with my cousin Marc, the great-grandson of Basha's sister Sheindl (Jennie) in 2022, with gears in motion after rediscovering Basha’s photo in an old photo album, I researched on the computer and found another relative from her branch of our family.

Basha’s great-granddaughter and I spent five hours one evening messaging. Yes, five hours. In my blog post, What’s Your Addiction?, dated October 24, 2023, I admitted to mine, tracking my family tree.

That newly found female cousin, Basha’s great-grandniece, commented, “I’m not too into the whole past but thank you for sharing your information with me.” Satisfyingly, although she lacks interest in our family history, I was able to fill in her branch of the family tree. Whether or not she reads the series, where I blogged about our ancestry from Chudnov, Ukraine, is her game.

Nonetheless, I am happy to have solved another part of my family tree puzzle and have a new connection. While Basha's first great-grandniece whom I tracked down was not interested in the past, she passed along my contact information to her sister Jamie who contacted me, and we supplied each other with valuable family tree information. Unlike her sister, Jamie eagerly read my blog posts about our family history.

While Basha spent her life in Ukraine, we not only have her picture, but now she has a legacy that will live on with her relatives scattered about and living in America, Chudnov, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and Israel. The stories of her descendants, the blood of my blood, who made it out of Chudnov, are now part of my family history.

I’m eager for comments on this post from my friend Carol after she sees the mid-20th-century picture of Cousin Basha. I hope to hear from many cousins as well.