Oma's Memoir: For Her Grandchildren By Phyliss Korn Zatzich
Sara Korn
As I enter my 80th year of life, I realize that I am your only connection with the 19th and 20th centuries. If your other grandparents decide to tell you about their families, then you’ll have more than one look at your ancestors.
Both my mother and father were born in the last years of the 19th century. My mother came from Bialystock (a city in Poland) and my father came from Galicia (a town in Austria. (I really don’t know where that is and I won’t have much to say about my dad’s early life, because, he never talked about it to me. I was very young when my parents divorced and he died before we could become friends (like parents and kids do today).
BUT YOU WILL HEAR HOW MY PARENTS SAVED HIS BROTHER AND HIS FAMILY FROM HITLER & HIS PEOPLE.
My mother was born into a family where her father Taudrus was a brilliant Talmudic scholar. This is very important in Jewish families. Learning is more important than anything else. And my grandfather was a very learned man.
There were six children, five daughters and one son. I’m going to tell you in detail about them because it’s so interesting to hear how people who lived in a shetel (a ghetto) organized their lives, and some of the things that happened to them.
They were a poor family, and I really don’t know how they made a living (a term for not going hungry) but I do know that Friday night Shabbas dinner was the most important night of the week. They had challah, and wine (kids had grape juice) chicken, and said all the Friday night prayers. The whole family was together…and often other families joined them. My mother remembered those nights as very special as well as the other wonderful holidays. It meant a family who didn’t have much…were together to celebrate with other families and friends.
I’m going to tell you about each of the sisters and their young brother because their stories are so interesting. It tells you about the early 20th century and how your relatives lived such different lives from you. I was told these stories by my mother and other family members…and we’re lucky. How else would I be able to tell you about them.
My Auntie Rochel (rose) was the oldest (first born) and she was very beautiful.
There was much happening before the Russian revolution, and she belonged to a controversial cell (they wanted to change the way the world was and remove the Czar of Russia). She fell in love with a man named Maxim Litvinov. If you ever study 20th century history, he was very powerful in the Russian government…a very famous man.
If you remember, I said my grandfather was a very religious man and a great scholar. He forbad my Auntie Rochel to marry this man and forced her to marry a Talmudic Scholar.
When they came to the United States, he became an Atheist . (very non-religious) and
never studied or cared about religion. My poor aunt spent the rest of her life living with a man she didn’t love.
What I remember about him was that he had one missing finger, which he lost while working as a carpenter or plumber. I don’t remember how it happened but it was something for a little girl to see.
No one explained anything about it to me….isn’t it different today when you can ask about anything at any time…and you’ll almost always get an answer.
Next I’ll tell you about the order of age and marriage in a traditional Jewish family from the Ghetto. My mom had four other sisters and she was the youngest. But when the Russian Cossacks stormed into their village to kill and hurt the Jews…one of the warriers hit my Aunte Adel (Ida) on the head. From that time one she was rather slow; maybe described as retarded…think about your Uncle Stuart and you’ll understand.
From then on she was known as the baby and my mother couldn’t marry until Auntie Adel (Ida) did. Her sisters found her a husband in the United States.
But first, my poor Uncle Everimal. ( Uncle Abe). He really was the baby, and not too smart. He didn’t have the make up to be a Talmudic Scholar (as was his father). So when the family broke up…and he was on his way to America…he was starving at the back door of a restaurant. The owner took pity on him and fed him, bit,only if he would marry his daughter. Well, that’s how Uncle Abe and Little Auntie Gertie got married. And all the sisters brought them to the United States. She was called little Autie Gertie because she was petit and now there were two Gerties.
WHAT YOU MUST UNDERSTAND IS HOW THE FAMILY TOOK CARE OF EACH OTHER. SOME BECAME WEALTHY AND OTHERS REMAINED POOR…BUT FAMILY IS FAMILY.
My Aunti Dora (Draverie) and Auntie Gertie(Gurnchi) married to brothers…Isaael and Mendel. The reason I tell you their real names…is because that’s how I knew them. Once they came to the US, they all lived in Detroit, Michigan. When the two sisters became prosperous…they sent for the remaining sisters and their little brother.
Now, I’ll tell you about your Great Grandmother…Sarah Kaplan Korn.
Imagine yourselves, being about 15 years old…leaving the only family you’ve ever known, going on a giant steamship…to a place where you don’t know the language.
My mother knew no English, but she could read and write Yiddish, understand and maybe even speak Polish and Russian.
(I know in our home we had books in Russian that My Mother read).
When she came to New York City,( remember, this was a very little girl who never was out of the Ghetto before)…family in New York sent her to Detroit, where her family was
In 1917, she married my dad, Sam and they built a life (three children) and a very successful business together
They were a complete family without me…my mother wanted a little baby very much so finally after ten years…when her other family , my sister and two brothers were almost grown up…she had me.
My mother was the brains of the outfit and my dad was the charming salesman. When the depression came to the US…my family was rich because of how my mother ran the business. She paid for all the merchandise in cash so she didn’t have any debts.
My sister was the only person in the family to go to the University of Michigan because her dad could afford it. Everyone else was so poor that my sister’s roommate was the daughter of a member of the Purple Gang. That was the Jewish Mafia in Detroit.
From left to right, Monte Korn, Belua Korn, Sara Korn, Sam Korn, Robert Korn
I’m almost through, kids, but there are some memories that I treasure….and I want to share them with you.
One was all the holidays…when all the sisters came together to COOK. Everything was from scratch…and all the traditional dishes from the Ghetto…were made. Matzha balls, Gifelte Fish…kreplahs, stuffed kishke and on and on….
And last and most important…the family picnics. Remember we all lived in the same community within a few blocks of each other. Each car was filled with family and food.
The kids were roughly the same age and were very good friends.
They were one giant family. …and they loved, respected and in so many ways took care of each other. If there was trouble, they helped each other any way they could.
My father’s brother Israel, his wife Rochel (another Rachel) and their two daughters…Onnie and Lanie were stuck in Hitler’s Germany. In 1934, my parents paid for and sponsored them to come to us. That’s when I learned to speak and understand German.It was so much fun to watch my Tante Rochel make noodle from scratch.
Those were wonderful memories too…except that my poor uncle had been in a concentration camp (even though he was a WWI hero.) He would sit quietly in one room and if he saw my dolls, he would fall apart..
I never understood what seeing the dolls did to him but it was terrible.
Next, were the tragedies My cousins Paul (a beautiful person and fine artist) and my cousin Sidney, who died in the second world war.
I never got to know them at all because I was so young when the war happened
I have closed my memories to all of you by reporting some events of the 30’s and 40’ that most of you will be studying. …probably in college. But by hearing about it from a person who was there, YOUR OMA, they may be, meaningful to you. These may be more than just historical facts to study before an exam.
So that is the story of your relatives who came to this country in the early years of the 20th century. I hope that when you study these events they will come off the pages for you. Your family was part of that history.
This is the end of my tale, because you all know about me today…I’m your oma who loves to cook for you, give you presents…. and be with you whenever we can be together..
"Mama Sara" Korn
Editor's Note: This history is written by Phyliss Korn Zatzich, youngerst daugher of Sara Kaplan Korn and yougest sister of Beula Korn Moss, Monte Korn, and Robert Korn. A special thanks to our Great Aunt Phyliss Zatzich for sharing this with us. We love you.
I am definitely NOT A MORNING PERSON. And i think I never will be. However, with these tips, they somehow remind me to do the "RIGHT" thing before sleep to make sure i have ample rest. My hectic schedule comprises of work, social, dating plus exercising in the wee morning through the night. So, some days I have to repay my debt of not sleeping a good 7-8 hours.
