Dear descendents of Charles Cohen,

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the birthplace of our common ancestor. I was able to learn much about the culture and lives of our ancestors. In this letter, I will attempt to convey as much of this information as I can figure out how to put into words. Needless to say, walking the same streets as ones distant ancestors produces many emotions that are not easily put into words. Please pass this letter on to any members of our family who you feel would be interested in its contents. With this
letter I have included some photographs of the town, a not to scale map and a list (incomplete) of the descendents of Morris Cohen, Charles' father.

The information that I had about our ancestor Charles (Chaim) Cohen (Kohen) was that he was born in 1868 in Ostrin, Lithuania, near Kovono. These two towns are not to be found on any map of Lithuania. This is because the Lithuanians spell the names of these places as Ostrinya and Kaunas. These two towns (actually Kaunas is a city) are in a region where boarders have been redrawn regularly for the past few centuries. Currently, Kaunas is in Lithuania and Ostrinya is in Belarus, although both of these places have been in each of Belarus, Lithuania and Poland at some point during the last 200 years. The spelling of Ostrinya in Belarussian is ³OctpblHa² and is pronounced more like Ostrinya than the Polish version Ostrin. Recently, business took me to Minsk in Belarus. Over a weekend there, I arranged to travel to Ostrinya.

The cultural landscape which is important to understanding our ancestors is best explained in terms of ethnic regions rather than political boundaries. Indeed, the region of the Polish, Lithuanian, Belarussian boarder has been politically redefined so often, there are significant populations of each of these three cultures is each of the ethnic regions. It is important to note
that the Jews were not a minority in at least the Lithuanian and Belarussian ethnic regions.

Before the war, the composition of what I am calling the Belarussian ethnic region was approximately 40% Belarussians, 40% Jews, 15% Polish and 5% others (mostly Lithuanians, Russians and Latvians). Furthermore, the Jewish population was uniformly distributed throughout the region. This means that the population of every city, town and village was approximately 40% Jewish. The situation was similar in Vilnius, the capitol of Lithuania, and perhaps many other places as well.
My knowledge of Poland and Lithuania is incomplete.

A few words about the Belarussians are in order. They are certainly different from the Russians, even though their culture and language is very similar. The Belarussians are friendlier and more tolerant than the Russians. Their language is also very similar, but distinct. The alphabets of the languages share many symbols. However, for example, the Belarussian language
uses the symbol ³i² while the Russian does not. The Russian spelling of Ostrinya is ³ActpblHa.² The differences are small enough so that a Belarussian speaker can carry on a conversation with a Russian speaker without much difficulty. The Ukrainian language is the third language in this group. Incidentally, the average Belarussian can tell the difference between a
Russian and a Belarussian by sight at a distance of 20 paces. The difference is very subtle. The best that I could manage was to distinguish the Poles from the other ethnic groups.

The importance of the above discussion is twofold. Firstly, it is written that our ancestor was a scholar, writing in Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian. Since Belarussian is easily mistaken for Russian and the current citizens are Belarussian speakers (as they were before the war), I suspect that Charles Cohen was fluent in Belarussian, not Russian. Later, when he moved to Mogilev
in the Ukraine, he would have had no difficulty conversing with the non-Jewish locals who spoke Ukrainian. It would have sounded like he had an accent. The reason for my trip to Belarus was to visit the Belarussian Academy of Science. My contact there, Nickoly N. Metelski, was very interested in my Belarussian ancestry. He had a colleague whose half brother Yousef is the vice governor of the Shushin [Ellen's note: Szczuczyn/Scucyn] region that includes Ostrinya. On a Sunday, Nick, Vladimir (another colleague of Nick¹s who was along for the ride and the Vodka) and I rode a bus for 3 hours from
Minsk to Shushin. During the bus ride, I wondered aloud with Nick why it was that my ancestor chose to leave his home and family on what was unquestionably a one way journey. Nick wondered aloud with me how it was that my ancestor
became so educated. This was very rare in the 1800¹s. We found the answer to both questions in Ostrinya. In Shushin we were met by Nick¹s other colleague and Yousef. The five us rode the last 20km to Ostrinya in Yousef¹s car.

The current population of Ostrinya is about 2000. Not much has changed in the village in the last 100 hundred years. The village is at the crossroads of two through streets. (See the enclosed map.) At the main crossroads, there was a small, informal outdoor market. I am sure there have been markets at this intersection for hundreds of years. There were about four vendors,
one who brought his goods in a horse drawn cart. They were selling apples and cloth and some other items that I am not sure of. We did not stop at the market. In the two hours I spend in Ostrinya, I saw only ten other cars, most
of them parked, and one truck.

Most of the houses in Ostrinya were small wood structures from the last century. The majority were south east of the main intersection. There were about a half dozen newer, soviet style buildings. The three story soviet apartment buildings were well spaced on the east/west main street of the town. Their spacing suggests that today they house only a few people more than the
housing that they likely replaced. In the time of our ancestors, the town was populated by about 1000 Jews and 1000 Belarussians whose religion was Russian Orthodox.

On the way to town, I asked (via Nick¹s translation) about the Synagogue. The answer was that there was none in Ostrinya. When we arrived, I understood why Nick was curious as to how our ancestor became educated. I wonder how
anyone, even today, can get an education in a town like Ostrinya. There are no libraries and the only books are among the few possessions of the very poor residents. Charles was the oldest son of Morris. If Morris was a moderately
successful businessman, his son would have certainly had to work in the business. Since Charles had the time to study, his father must have been very wealthy (at least relative to the population). In a town of 2000, there could have only been a few such wealthy families, maybe two or three.

Our first stop was at the only house that Yousef knew had been occupied by a Jewish family. It was a two story brick house on the main east west street (see map). It was marked with a wrought iron symbol that was placed as a reminder that Jews had lived in the house.

Then, we went to the cemetery at the east end of town. After walking around for about ten minutes, we realized that there were no Jewish grave sites there. We decided to find an older resident of Ostrinya who might remember where the Jewish cemetery had been. We began our search by heading west. We stopped to turn around at the bus station. The station was closed on Sunday. I suspect that very few buses stopped there in any event. The structure was a gaudy soviet production. Travel to and from Ostrinya today is a bit difficult. I suspect that when Charles left for Ukraine he either had his own
horse or booked a passage with a travelling merchant. In any event, the journey would have taken at least five days, probably longer.

We then went back into town, passed the church and made a right turn. On the next corner, there was a small store that was selling fresh bread. This I discovered this from smell alone, as we did not enter the store. Within a few moments, an older man (in his 80¹s?) came out. He remembered much about the Jews of Ostrinya. The remaining information that I aquired was from him via translation.

The three houses that were next to the market (see the map) were the homes of Jewish families. He motioned to the left to point them out; and I was told that the synagogue was near. In anticipation (and more emotion than the others) I walked ahead of the group. The only choice was to take a left at the corner. I took another few steps and stopped, realizing that the tructure some 25 meters ahead at the end of the street was the synagogue. It was larger than the houses and the facade was similar to the other synagogues that I had seen in the older parts of cities in the Baltic region. The sharp lines of the roof were softened by a facade with an arch. My guess is that the arch inscribed a Star of David. I walked around the synagogue and examined the building. The brickwork on the sides and back of the structure were more elaborate (and costly to build) than the style used for houses. Currently, the building is used as a small local theater. I suspect that some other meetings take place there. There are some brass plaques indicating the current use of the building by the front door.

There was another large two story brick house that was near the synagogue. When the others in my party caught up with me, they told me that this house also was the home of a Jewish family. The two brick houses and the three wood ones where Jewish families lived are indicated on the map. The Cohen family most likely lived in one of the two brick houses. I believe this because the brick houses were built only by the wealthy. There were very few wealthy families in the small, poor town of Ostrinya; and the Cohen family probably was one of them.

The last Jew in Ostrinya was named Rosenberg. He died recently. His children had moved away some years ago. Most of the Jews in Ostrinya were artisans and craftsman, making prosperity common, but wealth unlikely. It is a mystery how Morris Cohen amassed enough wealth so that his son Charles did not have to work and could study. It is clear that there is little to offer an educated person in Ostrinya. He also had a job offer for a position that involved scholarship. I strongly suspect that there was a similar position at the synagogue in Ostrinya and that the person who filled this position was one of Charles¹ teachers. Furthermore, the library at the synagogue was probably the only one available within a days travel of Ostrinya. Charles would have had a long wait for this person to retire and open up the one intellectual position available in Ostrinya. This is why I think Charles decided to leave.

The old man who was so helpful also knew the location of the Jewish cemetery. It was on the north end of town. We drove there. Nick and I got out of the car and walked in a large, level field that had had a pile of wood stacked near the road. Nick removed his hat and told me the following the story that the old man told him.

The field that we were standing in was the site of the Jewish cemetery. About 15 years ago, a soviet commissar noticed that the place had become overrun with vegetation. As was common in the Soviet Union, the conclusion reached was that no one cared about the individuals buried there. They seemed to overlook the facts that the Nazis took all the Jews and the travel into the country was severely restricted. The commissar had the land cleared and leveled. He ordered new houses built on the site. Then a most amazing thing happened. The citizens of Ostrinya refused to enter any building that might be built on the site. They were stubborn and the commissar backed down. Now the land is vacant, save for the pile of wood. The grass was cut and I suspect that maybe children play there. The site was at least twice as large as the only other cemetery in Ostrinya. I asked why and was told that Jews from all over the region used the cemetery as well as the synagogue. So it appears that Ostrinya was a local center for Jewish life in the days of our ancestors. The only thing left to do there was to cry.

We returned to Shushin for lunch. On the way, I was asked questions about the USA and religion there. The lunch was specially prepared for us at the request of Yousef in his capacity as vice governor. One of the dishes was potatoe pancakes. I was told that they were a traditional Belarussian dish. I told them that it was also a traditional Jewish dish. Nick, my host, and the other Belarussians in the party were very helpful. It was clear to me that before the war, the Jews had better neighbors than we have had since.

The lunch was served with half a litre of water, three quarters of a litre of wine, and a litre of vodka. When we left, some of the water was left, as was half the wine. I am not a big vodka drinker, and Yosef, the driver had none. Nonetheless, the vodka was finished during the lunch. In this way, the Belarussians are similar to the Russians.

After lunch, I was taken to a mass grave site in Shushin. Two thousand Jews and Belarussians were buried in an area 30 meters by 4 meters. There is a fence around the site and a stone marker. Again, the Belarussians removed their hats in respect. A full quarter of the Belarussian population was lost in the struggle against the Nazi¹s. In terms of percentages, their losses were as severe as the Jews. I am sure that this grave site is the final resting place of all of our ancestors that remained in Ostrinya when the Nazi¹s arrived.

The vodka made it easy for me to sleep through much of the three hour bus ride back to Minsk. The images of Ostrinya stayed in my mind that night (and several nites to follow). Please pass this letter on to any of our relatives who you think would be interested in reading about my impressions of Ostrinya.