My family is Italian on both sides, and Jewish on my mom’s side. My grandfather’s dad left, while his mom was pregnant with him in the hospital, so he never really knew his dad personally, and he only got to meet him two other times, before he died at age 80. My great-great-grandparents were Italian and Jewish and were born in Poland, in a city called, Bialystok, and they came to America before the Holocaust occurred. My great-great-grandfather was the first Jewish Seargent in the Russian army. He won a medal for escaping World War 1 and bringing back 10 soldiers. My great-grandmother was a milliner, which is a person who makes lady’s hats. My grandpa was born in New Jersey, in Williamsburg, which was not an ideally safe city, so my grandpa and his mother moved to Brighten Beach to escape the gang violence. My grandpa’s original name was Geovany Tivany, which he changed to Dennis Tanner, a non- Italian, non-Jewish name, because everyone would always ask him how to pronounce, and spell his name. And living in a Jewish neighborhood, people always asked him if he was Italian. In this photo, you can see a picture of my great-great-grandparents, and even though they died when my grandfather was at a young age, I still have this picture to see my great-great-grandparents and learn more about my family.

– Isabel DeCoursy

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