My father's mother Irene is daughter of the late Ashkenazi Jewish* Pauline Mungiu, who fled Romania with 12-year-old Irene to escape the Nazis. Pauline was a talented seamstress, and my understanding is that she concealed the shabbat candlesticks** pictured below by sewing them into the lining of a coat. After a brutal journey, Pauline and Irene finally arrived in Pittsburgh with almost nothing, speaking no English, and the distant cousins who had promised to meet them at the train station never appeared. My great-grandmother worked tirelessly sewing and ironing to pay rent, and my grandmother grappled with learning English. Gifted with sharp intelligence, fierce stubbornness, and a dry sense of humor, Irene ultimately flourished, earning a full scholarship to Brown University (at the time, Pembroke College for women) and later her master's at Columbia. Pauline drank in all the art and opera she could and was regarded as a very intelligent, cultured woman despite her 2nd grade education. I believe that curiosity and that eagerness to learn is a trait I inherited, and one that is found throughout my family tree. I may or may not have also inherited that fierce stubbornness...
* Ashkenazi Jews are those who derive from Eastern Europe.
** Practicing Jews traditionally light two candles each Friday evening as part of the weekly "shabbat" ceremony. Candlesticks such as those pictured are often an heirloom passed down in Jewish families.

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Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant