Notes from Sima's grandson Jamie Rose, who visited the Ukraine:

Started by Private User on Thursday, January 7, 2010
Problem with this page?

Participants:

  • Private User
    Geni Pro
  • Private User
    Geni member

Profiles Mentioned:

Showing all 3 posts
Private User
1/7/2010 at 7:08 PM

FYI, I had a chance to go to Ananiev in 2000 and walked in the high school where Sima went
(the only Jew allowed in, apparently), and on the area where she told me the family had a cart
and sold sweets to the Gentile's after church on Sundays. :-) It was quite an experience. Not
a Jew left in the whole city now - which apparently was a renowned summer resort / farming area
at the time before the family left. But I had a chance - through Russian friends I travelled with -
to speak to many folks there .. I told them of my affection for the community (even as a Jew - which
surprised them ; Grandmom told me stories of pogroms where the family was sheltered in flooded
cellars by gentile friends, so that's why my warm feelings for the community). I told them, "I'm a
son of this soil" and someone shouted out to me "You're not American, you're Ukrainian" and
asked me to come live there. Incredible experience, with even more things that endeared my
sense of the town. Partly, I travelled the same train route rails that the German's transported
Jews from Odessa region, back to the west and the death camps. And the landscape looked
just the same as 70 years ago. It was very soul stirring.

Also, back to heritage, I wasn't able to get a name, but apparently there was a great great grandparent
circa 1870's who was a young Rabbi, and fled into the woods for many years during a military conscription campaign by the Tsar. And, Sima told me that 'dancing on the roof' at weddings was
a not uncommon thing to happen. She saw it many times. :-)

Private User
1/8/2010 at 6:32 AM

Anita: Who is this person and when was the trip? Where is this town in relation to familiar cities in Ukraine?

How is your family???

Private User
1/8/2010 at 8:19 AM

This is a Stiffelman 4th cousin, in Nevada. Louis gpts Aaron & Pauline (original surname Dorin in "Russia") came from Odessa on the Black Sea. Some siblings married men from Ananyiv, a small city 100 miles north, easily accessible by train in the 1800s. A & P left by 1891; the ones who stayed past 1906 saw a lot worse in terms of pogroms (Mogermans & Moultons). We are just now connecting with these branches, who settled in Philadelphia. Yampil is to the west, deep in the heart of the Ukraine. All is Ukraine now.

Showing all 3 posts

Create a free account or login to participate in this discussion