My סבא (Saba/Grandfather’s) father Harry (Hersch) moved to Canada alone in 1929, at nineteen.  Before, he lived in Seda, Lithuania with his parents, ישראל (Israel) and רחל (Rachel) and eight siblings. His oldest brother, Milton moved to the United States at the turn of the century and lost contact with the family. Two of his other brothers, לייזר (Lazer/Louis) and שכנא (Shachna) both moved to Canada before the war and anglicized their names. Louis returned to Lithuania before the שואה (Holocaust) to try to get his parents to leave but was unsuccessful. שעיה (Shaya), another brother, became a successful farmer. Many of the Jews of Lithuania were murdered by mass shootings by Nazi death squads. Jews in Shaya’s area were forced to gather on his farm, and dig their own graves. One of their sisters, סוניה (Sonya), whom my mother was named after, was extremely educated for a woman in Lithuania at that time, and worked as an activist and educator before she, her husband, and children were all killed. עליא (Elia), another brother, arranged for his two children to be hidden before he was taken to Auschwitz. His children survived but he didn’t. One of the only things my family still has from them is a postcard from Harry’s father that was written on January 23, 1941 wishing him well and asking for help. They were killed about six months later.

– Galia Cohen-Margolius

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more