Making the lost un-lost

(Updated August 25 as I found some more records)

In 1988, around when I first got started on my family tree research, one of my paternal uncles spent a tremendous amount of time dictating to me all his notes on the family that he'd gleaned, I assume, by talking to older relatives.

He gave me a run-down on my Sperling great-grandparents, 2x-great-grandparents, and the siblings of my Sperling great-grandparents. I wrote it all down faithfully. What he gave me that day is the core of the research I have now - over the years since, I've found a variety of documentation to confirm, refute, and expand what I wrote down that afternoon.

One of the information pieces I've always found distressingly insufficient was the story of my great-grandmother Teodora Grün's brother Samuel. It went something like this: "Samuel's entire family was killed in the Holocaust, except for two sons, Isaac and Moses, who live in Haifa, Israel."

Samuel's wife and the names of all his other children, and any grandchildren he might have had, were completely unknown. And as I got better at finding primary sources, I was able to find lots of documentation on other siblings of Teodora, but full information on Samuel was always elusive. Until...today.

Firstly, some background on what documentation I was able to find which gives information for Samuel.

(All Nowy Sacz document scans are from www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl, by the way.)

1. He shows up on the 1890 census of the town of Nowy Sacz, Poland, along with my great-grandmother and a bunch of their other siblings.

Here we have my 2x-great-grandparents David and Rifke Grün with children Samuel (1863), Golda (1873), Hermann (1877), Roza (1878), Teodora (1880), Laje (1882), and Sime (1884)

2. He shows up on the 1870 census of the town of Nowy Sacz, Poland.

Here we have again my 2x-great-grandparents David and Rifke Grün with children Samuel (1866), and Blüme (1869). Source: jewishgen.org

3. Most recently, I found his birth record.

Left-hand side, fourth from the bottom. Actual birth date turns out to be October 5, 1867.

That was it for documents where Samuel is or shares the focus. But there were some other documents which mentioned him peripherally:

4. When his mother immigrates to the United States in 1910, she lists him as her closest relative in her country of origin.

See line #11.

5. There is an application for admission to Australia made by my great-grandfather Leo Sperling (Teodora's husband) for his nephew Marcus Grün

Source: National Archives of Australia

Since Leo's wife Teodora's maiden name is Grün, it stands to reason that this Marcus Grün he's applying for admission to Australia for is his nephew because Marcus is the son of one of Teodora's brothers. According to my uncle, she had only two brothers: Samuel and Herman, and Herman had just one child, a daughter, Gertrude. So it is very likely that this Marcus is a son of Samuel, but not guaranteed...yet.

6. There is an arrival record for a Simche Grun coming to the United States in 1922, and, he lists his closest relative in the country he came from as his father Samuel Grun.

See line #2.

Of course, the question with this record is, how do I know that the Samuel Grun listed here is the same person as my Samuel Grun? (Having looked through various vital records from Nowy Sacz, I know that there's more than one Samuel Grün from there.) Answer: Because on page two, Simche lists the person he's going to join as his uncle Louis Bloom, living at 1520 Silver St., Bronx, New York. The street name was originally typed as "Siberry", but someone has crossed it out and written in "Silver" instead.

And it just so happens that Samuel and Teodora's sister Gizella (aka Golda from that 1890 census record above) married a man named Louis Bloom. On their marriage record his first name is given as Leon, but once they get to the United States, he consistently lists himself as Louis. Of particular interest is Louis's WWI draft registration card:

See the address where he and his wife Gizella are living? 1520 Seabury Place, New York City. Identical to the address which Simche Grun states his uncle Louis Bloom is living in 1922, spelling notwithstanding.

So that arrival record of Simche was an incredible find, because it at last gave me information about a child of Samuel's that I had not known about before.

Most unfortunately, I could not find Simche in the United States after his initial arrival; given the family story that all of Samuel's children except for Moses and Isaac perished in the Holocaust, I therefore assumed that Simche had returned to Poland. Also unfortunately, I didn't find anything else in Poland which could tell me more about Samuel's family - no marriage record, no birth records for children which I could definitively point to as being children of my Samuel Grün...nothing.

But today, I started finding documents that let me piece things together!!!

Clue #1: Birth record for Simche Grün/Lustbader

This matches Simche Grün from the 1922 arrival record:

• Same name
• Same town (Zalubincze is a sub-area of Nowy Sacz, as far as I've been able to make out)
• Right age (Simche from the arrival record was 20 in 1922 and Simche from this birth record was born April 1, 1902)
• Same father's name (I realize that Samuel isn't listed in the informational section for father; rather, he's listed in the notes. But this seems to be very typical for the births of children where the parents haven't been legally married even though they've had a wedding ceremony recognized by their community as binding the couple; birth index search results for these records at jewishgen.org list the man who's listed in the notes section of the original record as the father.)

This was an incredibly important record, because it finally gave me the name of Samuel's wife! Feige/Fani Lustbader, daughter of Kalmen Hersch Lustbader and Gitel Deutelbaum. This gave me the ability to go poring through birth records of Nowy Sacz before and after 1902 and to know with confidence whether any children of Samuel Grün that I might find were the right children. Which leads me to...

Clue #2: Birth record for Moses Grün/Lustbader

This was clearly a sibling of Simche Grün since the parents' names are the same. But also, it confirms the family story that one of Samuel's children was named Moses. This is one of the children who survived the Holocaust.

Clue #3: Birth record for Kalmen Hersch Grün/Lustbader

Another sibling for Simche and Moses!

Clue #4: Birth record for Marcus Grün/Lustbader

This record was a fantastic find because it confirmed that the Marcus Grün in my great-grandfather Leo's application for admission to Australia (above) was indeed a son of Samuel. Not only is the name a match, but Marcus in this birth record was born September 11, 1905, and my great-grandfather's application, dated 1925, said that his nephew Marcus Grün was 20 years old.

Clue #5: Marriage record for Samuel Grün and Feiga Buchsbaum

This is clearly a marriage record for my Samuel Grün since it gives his exact birth date which is a match to his birth record, and his parents' first names here are also a match. The weird thing here, though, is that his wife's surname, having been given as Lustbader in all those birth records for Samuel's children, is now suddenly Buchsbaum, even though her first name is still Feiga. Having said that, her mother's name listed here is Gütli, which is very similar to the name Gitel given in the other birth records, so I suspect what may have happened here is that Feiga's father died and her mother remarried to someone named Buchsbaum? I really don't think this is a brand new wife for Samuel who just happens to also be named Feiga, since he is listed as single on this marriage record and not a widower.

Clue #6: Birth record for Sara Grün

This is clearly a child of the couple from the marriage record (above) of Samuel Grün and Feiga Buchsbaum.

Clue #7: Birth records for twins Dawid and Isaak Grün

These are clearly two more children of the couple from the marriage record (above) of Samuel Grün and Feiga Buchsbaum. But also, it confirms the family story that one of Samuel's children was named Isaac. He is the other of the two children who survived the Holocaust.

So this is fantastic. I now had seven children of Samuel where previously I had just two!

It was now time to see whether I could start confirming the rest of the story, that everyone except for Isaac and Moses died in the Holocaust.

Holocaust record #1: Yad Vashem testimony for Symcha Grin

This seems very likely to be my Simche Grün:

• Spelling notwithstanding, it's the same name
• Age is a match
• Town of birth is a match
• The occupation is a match to his 1922 United States arrival record

This is a very precious record to have because for the first time, we discover a grandchild of Samuel: Simche's daughter Vidushka, born about 1934. Simche's wife is Sima, here is her testimony record from Yad Vashem; she's the daughter of Moshe Rotershtein:

Holocaust record #2: Auschwitz forced laborers, Markus Lustbader

Source: jewishgen.org

This is clearly my Marcus Grün due to the parents' names being Samuel Grün and Fany Lustbader, not to mention that his birthdate here is an exact match to his birth record; plus the birthplace of Nowy Sacz (aka Neusandez). This is also a great record to have because it shows us that Marcus got married; his wife is Esther Goldberg.

Holocaust record #3: Nowy Sacz forced laborers, Sara Grün

(At this point I started crying.)

Source: jewishgen.org

This is extremely likely to be my Sara Grün due to the name match, the location of Nowy Sacz, and because her birthdate here is the same as in her birth record; it's just one year off, which could be due to a transcription error. 

Holocaust record #4: Auschwitz prisoners, Markus Lustbader

Lustbader, Markus (prisoner number: 117613) born: 1905-09-11, place of birth: Neusandez

Sources:
1. Personalbogen

This is the result of a search of Auschwitz prisoners at the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum. We know from the record of Auschwitz forced laborers (above) that Markus, under the surname of Lustbader, ended up in Auschwitz, and again here we see repeated his exact birthdate and town of birth.

Holocaust record #5: Mozes Grün on a list of Jewish refugees from Poland in the Soviet Union who were evacuated to Tehran

This is a match to my Moses Grün from his birth record (above) on his name, spelling notwithstanding, the town of Nowy Sacz, and the same birthday, although the year is off here by two. Also, this confirms the family story that Moses survived the war.

So, the story so far:

• Samuel Grün, b 5-Oct-1867 in Zalubincze, Poland, married Feige Lustbader. Children:
• Kalmen Hersch Grün, b 27-Dec-1899 in Zalubincze, Poland
• Simche Grün, b 1-Apr-1902 in Zalubincze, Poland, married Sima Rotershtein, d 1942 at Belzec. Children:
• Viduskha Grün, b about 1934, d 1942 at Belzec.
• Moses Grün, b 25-Oct-1903 in Zalubincze, Poland, evacuated as a refugee to Tehran during the war, moved to Haifa, Israel after the war
• Marcus Grün, b 11-Sep-1905 in Zalubincze, Poland, musician, married Esther Goldberg, sent to Auschwitz
• Sara Grün, b 18-Jan-1908 in Zalubince, Poland, participated in forced labour workshops in Nowy Sacz and was likely sent from there to Belzec
• Dawid Grün, b 1-Jan-1911 in Nowy Sacz, Poland
• Isaac Grün, b 1-Jan-1911 in Nowy Sacz, Poland, moved to Haifa, Israel after the war

What a difference this is from where I started: with almost nothing.

What's next?

I'm going to see if I can find birth records for any other potential children of Samuel, as well as marriage records for the children of Samuel and possibly even birth records for grandchildren. I will also keep searching at Yad Vashem to see if I can find more members of this family mentioned there. 

I want to know who these people were, and to name them, so that their lives will never be forgotten.