Mlynov and Mervits Descendants Network

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Want to add your family's history or memory to this site? We have formed a private Facebook group, a "virtual shtetl if you would," for descendants of Mlynov and Mervits who wish to stay networked as well as a roster of emails. If interested, you may request to be added here, or search on Facebook for "Mlynov Descendants Group" or you can email the Mlynov Town Lead.

Of Historical Interest

Due to the substantive number of immigrants from Mlynov to Baltimore, and the smaller size of Baltimore as a city, the original Mlynov immigrants stayed connected.

Eventually, they formed a "Mlynover Verein" (Society of Mlynovers) that for a number of years functioned as a social group and charity. They raised money, provided financial support to those in need and sent money back to those in need in Mlynov and Mervits before WWII. That group evolved into the Maryland Free Loan Society and appears to have disbanded in the 1960s.

Eta (Goldseker)Fishman summarizes the activity of the Mlynov Verein in the Mlynov-Muravica Memorial Book. She writes in the Memorial Book:

After World War I, many people from Mlynov immigrated to the United States. Many times, the husbands preceded their wives and children. Husbands would come first to raise enough money to pay the cost of the ship's passage.

The new immigrants worked hard and long hours in order to save enough money in order to bring their families to this country. Many worked in small stores 17–18 hours a day or they worked in sewatshops 10 hours a day. In spite of how little they earned, they managed to send money to their needy family members in Mlynov...

In 1925, the Mlynover immigrants formed an organization known as a landsmanship. They met each month to socialize and plan ways of collecting funds to send to their families. My older sisters, Chaya [Ida (Goldseker) Fishman Gresser] came to the United States before my husband and I arrived in 1927. She invited us to join the group of people from Mlynov. Sometime after our arrival, I became the Secretary of our organization and I continued to serve as Secretary until the group disbanded many years later.

Although the year 1929 was the year of the Great Depression in the United States, we managed to continue collecting money so we could help our families and frienst in Mlynov. We sent funds to erect a fence around the Jewish cemetery, to repair the public bath and the Mikvah. We sent funds to purchase equipment for baking matzo. When the money was received in Mlynov, the local committee would send us a report listing how the money was spent.

There is no way to express our deep sorrow. We never imagined that our beloved town would be destroyed and our families would perish in such an unbelievable horror.

I, myself, lost 3 sisters, Perel, Baila and Charna and their families and most of the extended Goldseker family. Beginning in 1939, we knew nothing about the destiny of our families. It was not until the year 1944 that we learned of the great tragedy that befell the Jews in Europe. There were very few survivors from Mlynov and Muravitz.

Our mission then became assisting those who survived and those who were in the Displaced Persons Camps in Europe. We sent food packages to Jews who were located in Poland and Italy. We also sent money to Palestine. After the deaths of most of our local members, our Chapter of the Mlynover Group disbanded.[1]

From the records at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, it appears that the society keep formal records between 1930–1955. You can view some of those records online, at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

Notes

[1] See Etta Fishman from Baltimore, "Jews from Baltimore Assisted their Home Shtetl Mlynov," 495-497, in Mlynov-Muravica Memorial Book, . ↩

Compiled by Howard I. Schwartz
Updated: July 2024
Copyright © 2021 Howard I. Schwartz, PhD
Webpage Design by Howard I. Schwartz
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