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Hello to everyone,
<p>I am so happy to have received Bruce Reisch's message yesterday regarding
the formation of a Czernowitz Discussion Group. While I have thanked
him privately, I just want to publically express my appreciation for his
hard work in affording us the opportunity to communicate with one another
about this fine city that was.
<p>Actually I thought I was about through researching as I began in 1990
and gathered quite a bit of information about my past.
Having no living relatives, I began with one document--my father's
naturalization certificate, the results of which I am writing on the web
(by chapters) titled, "The Tailor Shop, threads of our past"--<b>reiterblitzer.com</b>
I've completed 5 chapters. Chapter 2 is about my father, Adolph
Blitzer (1889-1978) who was born in Kundrynce, Bukovina and after apprenticing
in my maternal g/father's tailor shop in Mielnitza/Mielnica/Mel'nitza Podolskaya,
moved to Czernowitz where he worked until 1913 when he was transcripted
into the Austrian army. "The Great Escape" explains how he out manuevered
the Austrian soldiers shooting at him as he swam across the Dniester river
(at night). He loved Czernovitz and I'm sure it was difficult for
him to leave.
<p>Also, an unsolved mystery is my maternal uncle, Hyman Reiter (born 1893),
who immigrated as an alien from Mielnitza (1912), said he was Joseph Blitzer,
born in Czernowitz.. The families were related, but the mystery is
Hyman's mother was a graduated midwife living in Mielnitza. Did she
actually give birth to him in Czernowitz and if so why was she there, or
was this just a ploy to emigrate.
<p>For the first 2 years, I tried researching relatives who had lived in
New York--but it turned out to be futile, so in 1994 I contracted with
Miriam Weiner to search the Warsaw archives (now on line!) for my mother's
birth certificate. Actually I was looking for information about my maternal
grandmother, Chana Fleischmann Reiter from Tarnopol (1851-1939), the midwife.
Miriam worked with 5 family surnames: REITER-BLITZER-REINSTEIN-ZUKER-FLEISCHMANN
from the towns: Mielnitza-Kudrynce and Tarnopol. She never
found my mother's birthday record but did uncover over 700 records of these
families going back to the 1700s up through the Holocaust--birth, marriage,
and death. The following year she checked the Lvov archives for Tarnopol
where my g/mother was born. In 1995 she made a visit to Mielnitza
and Kudrynce, pictures you can see in chapter 4. Miriam videoed interviews
with people in the towns and sent me an picture album too.
<p>In 1994 I had the privilege of attending the 95th reunion of the Kudrynce
Benevolent Society where I met 3 of the 10 survivors from Mielnitza.
It was so inspiring, I came home and wrote a musical revue called "Mama,
I Can See the Town". One survivor gave me his testimony and told
me about a 4-5th cousin, Julius Reiter 1914-1996 who lived in FL.
I called and introduced myself. Julius was very suspicious that I
knew so much about him and his families (from the records). Unfortunately
I never met him personally, but I learned a lot from him and he sent me
pictures of his Reiter and Blitzer families.
<p>During these years I never met a group researching my ancestral towns.
I envied those who could collaborate with others and share this common
interest. I've always wanted to know more about Czernowitz and this is
why I am so excited to be a part of the group.
<p>Thank you for taking the time to read this very long message,
<p>Jeanne Blitzer Andelman
eandelman2_at_earthlink.net
Cleveland, OH
Researching:
Mielnitza/Mielnica, Galicia, Austria, now Mel'nitza
Podolskaya,Ukraine--FLEISCHMAN-REITER-BLITZER- ZUKER/ZUCKER-REINSTEIN
Tarnapol/Ternopil--FLEISCHMAN-REITER
Kudrynce, Bukovina, Austria, now Kudrintsy,
Ukraine--REINSTEIN-ZUKER/ZUCKER-BLITZER
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Received on 2002-06-13 10:37:42
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : 2005-05-08 14:27:42 PDT