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Part I 1938-1945
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1943
At the height of WW II, Frankie , about age 12-13 and I, 9-10 years, were the grown children at home. Chuckie was an infant, about 1 ½ years old. We both helped Lena care for Chuckie … walking him in the stroller, feeding and changing his diapers, Frankie recalls. For our generation, having these responsibilities was an exception among our friends. In the long run, though, it didn’t hurt us. As children, however, we could have gained much from having our mother’s nurturing during those tender years.
Lena slowly recovered from the physical and emotional breakdown she suffered after having had Chuckie in change of life, but mostly after having endured the 10-year struggle of the Great Depression. She and Adolph, along with all parents, were burdened with the great worry over the safety of their children, (Stan and Phil) as they served in War II.
In the afternoons, Lena, in her mid 40s, would sit and rest after the day’s endless chores. This presented a rare opportunity for me to have Lena all to myself. I began asking mama questions about her life growing up in a foreign country. The idea and images of her living somewhere other than America began to spark my curiosity, but for many years after, Lena’s stories lay untouched in my subconscious. Eventually, what I recalled has been preserved in this book.
I learned many things about my siblings in the early 1990s when I interviewed them for my research that I had never known. In particular I learned, for the first time, that Frank’s after-school activities during our growing-up years, took him outside the house, into the big world where he hustled to earn money and as a young patriotic American, did what he could for the War Effort. Our daily lives began moving in different directions … each to our own world, brought about by Frank being a male, 2 1/2 years older, doing what he could to make money as the family’s finances were still an issue.
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In his memoir’s, Eyes on the Stars, Frank speaks of his war effort at Fulton school:
“I wanted to do something for the war effort, too. Several options were open to me at school, which were not very interesting. I could knit squares for Afghan blankets, knit a sweater or a pair of socks, and there were several other crafts. Though very uninteresting for a young boy, they were necessary for the war effort, so I decided to knit squares. Because I didn’t know how to knit, Lena taught me and I began to knit squares, eventually sewn together for blankets shipped to servicemen. I don’t remember how many squares I actually knitted, but there were many. I did attempt to knit a sweater once, but Lena had to rescue me and actually finished making it because I couldn’t learn how to purl. [Frankie is a leftie—that he learned to knit is remarkable]. I also joined the Civil Defense Organization, organized to provide support in the defense of the City and I became an Air Raid Warden. I was good in Civil Defense, and I attended regular meetings where I learned about all the various types of gases and how to survive air raids. I smelled each and every gas, and became familiar with how to detect them and protect against gas warfare. During mock air raids, I was out in the street watching homes to make certain no light shone from the houses which needed to be completely dark. And I participated at the Civil defense meetings. Through these various efforts, I really felt I was accomplishing something for the war effort.”
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JEANNE
I recall having to wash tin cans, dry and stomp on them to flatten and save for garbage pickup. “Butter substitute” (precursor to margarine) was another War challenge. It involved blending a pound block of white grease, similar to crisco but not soft, with a yellow liquid, squeezed from a tube. My weak arms and hands couldn’t breakdown the fat with a fork as instructed and I shied away from margarine duty as often I could. Worse than this was having to eat it! Also, because nylon fabric was needed for the War, in the summer, women could paint their legs with a tan liquid makeup that looked like stockings, except that it ran onto the hemlines of the clothes one was wearing.
Having a pen pal was encouraged at school. I probably participated but didn’t follow through, as did a friend who continued the friendship to this day. They wrote and visited one another as they reached adulthood, marriage, and had families.
MUSIC
Piano playing and singing brightened my days. In spite of the fact that there was little money, my parents found a way to pay for weekly piano lessons, which cost $1.25 per hour (equal to $12.54 in 2003).
The lessons began in 1941 when I was 9, in the third grade.
OVERSEAS!……Little did we know what was happening in Mielnitza/Mielnica, Poland to my parents’ family and friends:
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****1941, 42 Mielnitza/Mielnica, Poland
“The last group of exiles was concentrated in Mielnica on September 25, 1942. Next day, on September 26, 1942, the first day of Sukkot in the year 5703, a liquidation Aktion took place in the town, conducted by Gestapo men from Czortkov “ (chapter 10, page 3) October 22, 1942
“2nd and Final Aktion
The next day, or perhaps some days after the Aktion, the German authorities let it be known that in two weeks (until October 22, 1942 according to another account) Mielnica was obligated to be Judenrein [clean of Jews] and that its remaining Jews were to move to the ghetto at Borshchov. The Jews loaded their remaining possessions on wagons and relocated to that ghetto. Before they left they hid several Torah scrolls under the floor of the great synagogue, Torah scrolls which they had until then managed to save from destruction. They took some Torah scrolls with them to Borshchov, where the fate of Mielnica's displaced Jews overtook them. “ (3)*****
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Home -
Introduction -
Prologue -
Preface -
Table of Contents -
Chapter 1 -
Chapter 2 -
Chapter 3 -
Chapter 4 -
Chapter 5 -
Chapter 6 -
Chapter 7 -
Chapter 8 -
Chapter 9 -
Chapter 10 -
Guest Book -
References
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