The Pogroms of Savran 1917 - 1921

View of the Southern Bug River near Savran

Trigger Warning: Graphic Violence Described Below

Introduction

Growing up in middle-class New Jersey in the 1980s and the 1990s, the horrors of the Holocaust seemed like distant echoes in other people’s ears. I knew Holocaust survivors and those born in the Displaced Person (DP) camps of central Europe – and I was exposed to the graphic truth as part of both my secular and religious education. Still, the reality of it seemed distant because my own ancestors had come to the US decades before those horrors. My kind of life makes that violence unthinkable.

Paradoxically, although the horrors of the pogroms that arose in the aftermath of WWI had happened longer ago, they felt closer to me because my grandmother was close to me. Rose Broitman Telles, my maternal grandmother, lived just a few doors down from us and was a constant presence in my childhood. She occasionally told me snippets of stories of her childhood. Of being born in the small shtetl of Savran in Podolia, of her father being a lumber merchant, of being hidden as an infant in a Russian stove while soldiers ransacked Savran with overwhelming violence - a crucifix around her neck as a sign for mercy from the mob, of fleeing Savran with the help of local peasants who had worked for her family – only to be robbed by them and others. Of the dangerous flight from Podolia to Romania, where they lived in poverty for several years. And finally, of their deliverance to freedom in Canada and eventually the United States. You can read about details of their immigration experience here, here, here, and here.

Russian stove in a peasant hut. Wikipedia.

Grandma Rose was an infant when she left Savran and barely more than a toddler when she left Romania. Her details of the events of her early life were based on stories she had been told by her parents, older siblings, and relatives. And my grandmother was not great with details. In contrast, I’ve been obsessed with discovering the details of our family’s story. This post describes the massacres they were fleeing from. 

The Ukrainian War of Independence: A Primer

There are a few things that you need to know about the Ukrainian War of Independence to put what happened in Savran into context. Jews had been in what is now Ukraine for several centuries, in part invited by Polish aristocracy to manage the economy as Christian peasants worked the land as serfs. Jews were the merchants, the tavern keepers, the money lenders, and the crafts people.

World War I saw the fall of the great empires of Europe, including the Russian Tsars who controlled what is now Ukraine for hundreds of years. With the monarchy toppled, there was a power vacuum in Ukraine. Three main groups fought to fill that vacuum:

• The White Russians, who sought to revive the Tsarist monarchy. Anton Denikin was their most prominent general. 
• The Red Russians, who sought to create a communist/Bolshevik/Soviet state. Mikhail Frunze and Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko were the most prominent generals for the Red Army.
• Ukrainian nationalists, who sought to create an independent, democratic, and pluralistic Ukraine. Symon Vasyliovych Petliura was their most prominent general. 

In addition to those three groups, there were unaffiliated warlords, bandits, and anarchists who sought nothing but wealth for themselves. 

All of these groups had one thing in common. Each targeted Ukraine’s Jewish population. The Whites saw the Jews as communists, responsible for the fall of the monarchy and the assassination of the Tsar. The Reds saw the Jews as capitalists, taking advantage of the labor class. And while the urban Ukrainian intelligencia saw Jews as a vital part of a future independent state, the soldiers fighting the war on the ground saw Jews as foreigners in their midst responsible for the poor conditions of the peasants.

Orthodox Church in Savran, built 1912. The building is now the “House of Culture.” Courtesy of the Savran Library.

This is the background for what happened between 1917 and 1921 in hundreds of towns across Ukraine, including Savran. Multiple first-hand accounts of the violence of these years in Savran are quite consistent. Based on those accounts, I’ve developed the timeline of atrocities below. 

The Terrors of Savran

March 1917: Red Soldiers Come To Savran

A Jewish self-defense group, "Agudat Hamagen," was created- led by a Dr. Klein (or perhaps Dr. Adelman, according to Gootnick, 1987) to protect the Jews of Savran in the absence of civil authorities. The peasants of the town demanded that they be disarmed, but the group refused.

A few weeks later, a small group of Red soldiers came through the town en route to nearby fighting. Several of these soldiers were drunk. The Agudat Hamagen shot some bullets into the air to scare these soldiers off, but somehow one soldier and his horse were shot and killed during a confrontation.

Fearing retribution, Dr. Klein fled with his son, but was caught and beaten nearly to death by peasants. His father-in-law, Leib Kirzner (or Alters in another account), was arrested and later brutally killed for refusing to reveal the location of Jewish weapons. 

The chaos worsened as Jewish homes were looted and set on fire. Local peasants joined in with the soldiers, escalating the violence. Although the Jewish self-defense group managed to drive off some of the attackers by standing guard and firing shots throughout the night, the violence continued.

Dr. Klein and his father-in-law were eventually killed. “The peasants made a circle around him with music playing, and  began dancing. They killed him using whatever they had, including stones and wood, causing his blood to spill all over the street until he was dead and cut up into pieces.”

The Agudat Hamagen was no more, and there was nobody remaining to protect the Jews of Savran from the horrors to come.

September 1919: Bandits

In September 1919, a warlord named Kazakov arrived in Savran with a group of armed mercenaries. They kidnapped two of the local rabbinical judges, Rabbi Kalman Berditchevsky and Rabbi Zvi Braverman, as well as a local philanthropist Yakel Dechtyar. The bandits killed seven Jews as they fled the village for the countryside. Kazakov kept the rabbis as hostages and sent Mr. Dechtyar back to Savran to collect 200,000 rubles cash, clothing, boots, and dry goods as ransom.

In a period of about an hour, the town gathered the funds and sent it to Kazakov, but the delegation that carried the money did not find the mercenaries. Instead, they found the rabbis dead, having been mutilated. A peasant who remained with the rabbis’ corpses related that they had been tortured to death and their beards shaved off.

The bandits used them for sadistic entertainment.They had been ordered to sing a Sabbath hymn and to dance and afterward forced them to eat eggs with ash. Later, the townspeople found two sons of a local resident Moishe Bershadsky that had been shot to death and thrown into the Bug River. These boys were cousins of my grandmother.

Anton Denikin, leader of the Tsarist White Army during the Ukrainian War of Independence. 

December 1919 – March 1920: The Whites Attack

The worst violence to befall Savran occurred at the end of December 1919 and continued into the early months of 1920. It was then that the notorious Wolf Brigade of the White Russian Army came to Savran en route to nearby Kryvoe Ozero. In the course of this period, they managed to kill many Jews in a series of deadly pogroms, often aided by local peasants. Here are a few accounts of what occurred:

• As the Wolf Brigade rampaged, “…those who hid in holes and cellars froze and became sick from the cold and hunger. Parents did not know the fate of their children and children did not know the fate of their parents.”
• “All the Jews were killed by crude weapons. One Jew pleaded to be killed by a rifle and got this answer: ‘Every bullet is now very expensive, pay us the bullet price, and you will get killed this way’.”
• “Many children froze to death, in addition, they abducted the wives and violated young girls.”
• “The killing lasted three days, and after ten more days, more Danikinian factions came, and again butchered, raped, robbed and pillaged the town’s Jews. The casualties’ toll came to approximately 800 people. Many of the Savarn Jews fled to the nearby villages where they died of cold or hunger.”
• “They took 200,000 rubles out of the old man Boyes hands and promised when he gave the money they would let him live. But after taking his money, they put him against the wall, poured oil on him, and torched him alive. While he burned, they counted the money in front of his eyes. Then they killed his son.
• “They found Saul Chenoaus’s five-year-old son hiding under his bed. They asked him “Where is your father?” "I don’t know," the boy said. Immediately they cut him to pieces and threw his remains to the dogs.”
• “Israel Arages' wife, a very beautiful and graceful women, they took, raped, and decapitated.”

April 1920: The Local Peasants Make Their Intentions Clear

Around Passover 1920, a Jewish student from Savran traveled to Odessa with two Christians, transporting two wagon loads of sugar. They spent the night at a train station where the student had 35,000 rubles stolen from him. Reporting the theft to the new Bolshevik authorities, a search was conducted leading to the arrest of the two Christians, who were found with a large sum of money, counterfeit currency, two revolvers, and the confiscated sugar. Upon learning that the two Christians had not returned, the peasants of Savran responded with threats of violence towards the Jewish community, posting a proclamation that demanded the release of their people. This “warning” to the Jews of Savran said: 

Tatars, Kikes, and Communists

If you don't return our people to us, we will cut all of you. Petliura's men cut you but didn't finish. Denikin's men cut you but didn't finish. We will kill all of you; even a child in a cradle will not be spared. 

Union of Exterminators 

Testimony of Mademoiselle Bersheider about the incident with the students returning from Odessa. The account is written in Yiddish and Russian. This incident is also described in “Hebrew Yearbook for Autobiography, Ethnography and Folklore - Reshumoth”

Essentially, this “Union of Exterminators,” made up of individuals from the Savran community, was saying that while the Ukrainian Nationalist Army (Petiura) didn’t kill all of the Jews and the White Army (Denikin) didn’t kill all of Jews, they’d finish the job if the two criminals weren’t returned. An especially chilling note considering that the Jews of Savran were not the ones in custody of the two men. 

June 1920: The Whites Return

Factions of the White Russian army came back to Savran as they were fleeing defeat by the Red Army. They joined with local gangs and seized approximately 200 women and girls who they then raped, mutilated, and burned alive. Reports indicated that “old people were butchered, and little children were torn to pieces which were thrown to the faction's dogs.” The Jews cowered in cellars. Others tried to leave the town but were killed as they tried to flee. 

Their situation did not improve even after the White Russians left, as the town saw a period of disease and starvation. The war had brought typhus to almost every family, and there was no medical treatment available.

September 1920: The End to the Violence?

By fall of 1920, the Soviets were in clear control of this part of Podolia. There were several incidents of violence against the Jews of Savran by local peasants, but Red Army soldiers tamped down the violence with threats to local Christian leaders. However, the Jews of Savran had nothing left. So many had been killed, fled, or died of disease that their once vibrant community was essentially destroyed. Those who remained were traumatized and had no livelihood to return to. Years of war made food scarce. In short there was precious little hope for their future.

Le Village En Feu (Village on Fire) – Marc Chagall - 1940 

Afterwards

The Reds, the Whites, and the local gangs all targeted the Jewish population of Savran even though they had no knowledge of them personally. Jews were worth humiliating, robbing, raping, and killing just because they were Jewish. Each group had rationalization and pretext, but in the end, it is just another example of sadistic antisemitism. It is just one in a long line of inexcusable terrors that have befallen the Jews for more than two millennia. 

My family was there. I don't know when they left Savran. I don't know what atrocities they personally faced. I don't know how the trauma affected them then or for the rest of their lives. And I don't know how it affects me generations later. 

When the atrocities perpetrated against innocent Israelis on October 7, 2023 started becoming clear, every newscast said that it was the “biggest massacre of Jews since the Shoah.” But my mind went to Savran. Never again should never have had to be said.

Bibliography

Accounts of the Savran Pogroms

• Account of Savran Pogroms by Avraham Drucker, 1921; YIVO Archives; Records of the Mizrakh Yidisher Historisher Arkhiv; RG 80; Folder 323; Pages 30028 - 30033. Translation by Dov Bergman.
• Reports of Savran Pogroms by Two Unnamed Survivors. From “Jewish Pogroms in Ukraine, 1918-1924. Documents of the Kiev Oblast’ Commission for Relief to Victims of Pogroms (Obshetskom)” (Fond 3050; Opis 1; File 241; Pages 38 and 39 of 48). Downloaded from the United States Holocaust Museum (RG Number: RG-31.057M; Accession Number: 2006.38; Reel 18; File 241). Yiddish translated by Lili Rosen.
• Report of Savran Pogroms by Nahum Fishman. From “Jewish Pogroms in Ukraine, 1918-1924. Documents of the Kiev Oblast’ Commission for Relief to Victims of Pogroms (Obshetskom)” (Fond 3050; Opis 1; File 241; Page 35 of 48). Downloaded from the United States Holocaust Museum (RG Number: RG-31.057M; Accession Number: 2006.38; Reel 18; File 241). Yiddish translated by Lili Rosen.
• Report of Savran Pogroms by Mademoiselle Bersheider. From “Jewish Pogroms in Ukraine, 1918-1924. Documents of the Kiev Oblast’ Commission for Relief to Victims of Pogroms (Obshetskom)” (Fond 3050; Opis 1; File 241; Page 36-38 of 48). Downloaded from the United States Holocaust Museum (RG Number: RG-31.057M; Accession Number: 2006.38; Reel 18; File 241). Yiddish translated by Lili Rosen. Russian translated by Clara and Genadi Kaminsky.
• Report of the Delegates of the Refugees from Savran about their Circumstances, 1921; From “Jewish Pogroms in Ukraine, 1918-1924. Documents of the Kiev Oblast’ Commission for Relief to Victims of Pogroms (Obshetskom) (Fond 3050; Opis 1; File 241; Page 34 of 48). Downloaded from the United States Holocaust Museum (RG Number: RG-31.057M; Accession Number: 2006.38; Reel 18; File 241). Translated by Alex Olshevsky.
• The Attack on Savran in Podolia County. from "Hebrew Yearbook for Autobiography, Ethnography and Folklore - Reshumoth" (Volume 3). Berlin 1923 (Moriya – Devir publishers, Jerusalem –Berlin). Pages 425 - 426. Translated by Reuven Telefus. 
• Gootnick, Abraham, 1987. Oh Say, Can You See: Chaos, and a Dream of Peace. University Press of America.
• Thirty Days of a Jewish Pogrom in Krivoye-Ozero. A.F. Maleyev. Dec 1919 – Jan 1920. Written March 1920. Odessa, Ukraine. Archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Item ID: 234436; Reference Code: NY AR191921/4/36/3/260.

General References on the 1917 - 1921 Ukrainian Pogroms 

• Avrutin, Eugene M., Bemporad, Elissa. (2021). Pogroms: A Documentary History. Oxford University Press.
• Bemporad, Elissa (2019). Legacy of Blood: Jews, Pogroms, and Ritual Murder in the Lands of the Soviets. Oxford University Press.
• Coder, Aaron. (1921). Ukrainians And Jews: After The Downfall Of The Russian Empire, 1917-1920. Second edition. Independently published.
• Batchinsky, Julian. (2018). The Jewish Pogroms in Ukraine Authoritative Statements on the Question of Responsibility for Recent Outbreaks, Against the Jews in Ukraine. Forgotten Books: London, UK.
• Granick, Jaclyn (2021). International Jewish Humanitarianism in the Age of the Great War. Cambridge University Press. 
• Heifetz, Elias. (1921) The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919. Seltzer: New York, New York.
• Evidence of Pogroms in Poland and Ukraine: Documents, Accounts of Eyewitnesses, Proceedings in  Polish Parliament, Local Press Reports, etc, (1919), New York: Information Bureau of the Committee for the Defense of Jews in Poland and Other East European Countries affiliated with the American Jewish Congress.
• Shtif, Nokhem and Wolfthal, Maurice. (2019). The Pogroms in Ukraine, 1918-19: Prelude to the Holocaust. Open Book Publishers. Translated and annotated by Maurice Wolfthal. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers.
• Veidlinger, Jeffrey. (2021). In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918-1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust. Metropolitan Books: New York, New York.

 

Abram Broitman Arrives In Canada

Arrival and Processing

On July 29, 1924, after nearly three weeks at sea, the S.S. Asia docked at Pier 2 in Halifax with Abram Broitman on board. He had left his temporary home in Bucharest just weeks before, departing from Constanța on 9 July while Jewish aid organizations prepared for their arrival.   

Halifax Harbour, circa 1920. Halifax Municipal Archives. A published map of Halifax and Dartmouth surrounded by business listings and advertisements, fire box numbers, a street index, and a geographic description of Halifax's wards and boundaries. Printing by Royal Print & Litho Limited. CR10-082

When they disembarked, the refugees were in rough shape. Previous groups had arrived “all looking haggard and tired out through sleepless nights and lack of food,” and this group was no different. In fact, when American representatives from the New York-based Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) saw the S.S. Asia passengers in Montreal a few days later – they happened to be there to discuss funding the refugee program -- they described the refugees as a "very scary spectacle:" ¹ 

"[N]early all of them are underfed, and on this account, exposed to all sorts of ailments… [including some who have] contracted tuberculosis . . . The Canadian immigration officials were more than merciful in dealing with these 380 immigrants. The physical examination that they were subjected to, was carried on in a most merciful and sympathetic manner. Some of these aliens never would have been admitted to the United States, even in the absence of quota regulations.”

In Halifax, Abram and his fellow passengers disembarked at the pier and underwent the standard Canadian immigration inspections. Many of them likely would have been detained or even deported if not for the intervention of Canadian Jewish aid organizations. Volunteers from the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society (JIAS) – Mr. Charles Zwerling, Mr. Harry Kitz, and Miss Bertha Goldberg – were on hand to meet the ship, and they shepherded the refugees through the entrance procedures. 

A group of 350 refugees who arrived at Halifax on SS Asia six months earlier than Abram Broitman in January 1924. Photo taken in the Halifax New Pier 2 Canadian assembly area.  Ontario Jewish Archives, Item 694.

A small office was provided for JIAS to use in the immigration building at Pier 2. After their initial inspections, Abram and his fellow passengers proceeded there to undergo further interviews. They were questioned about their occupations (Abram was a lumber merchant, but said he was a farmer;) marital status (Abram was married, but said he was single;) financial resources (Abram reported that he had $10;) and the names of any relatives in the U.S. or Canada (Abram mentioned that he had cousins in Philadelphia.) Unsurprisingly, the refugees displayed significant fright when faced with questions about their former homes in Ukraine, conditions in Romania, and the status of other refugees trapped in ports around Europe. 

SS Andania and other vessels docked Pier 2, the Deep Water Terminals, Halifax, NS.
W.R. MacAskill, Nova Scotia Archives, 1987-453, no. 2625.

Allocation

Deciding where in Canada to send the refugees – to Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, or points west -- was tricky. The primary mandate of the JCA was to establish agricultural colonies where Jews could find a secure livelihood and economic self-sufficiency. This was in line with the conditions laid out by the Canadian Dominion government, which stipulated that a percentage of the new arrivals work in agriculture. But the refugees were not suited for farm work. Not only were they in poor physical condition, but they had absolutely no experience: back “home” in the Russian Empire, Jews had been explicitly barred from agricultural work.

Negotiations about assignments ensued, conducted via telegram and letter, among the various stakeholders in each location. Factors such as the health of the refugee, family composition, and proximity to relatives were supposed to be used to make the decision; but according to internal JCA correspondence, the determination was often left to the last minute, and it ultimately came down to how many refugees each community could absorb. While Abram had prudently indicated that he intended to be a farmer, his passenger record shows that he was instead assigned to Montreal, which was then crossed out and changed to Toronto.  

The Journey West and Reception

Once their destination assignments were determined, Abram and his fellow refugees were escorted to special train cars on Canadian National Railways. According to an internal JCA memo², 

“A special car containing a cafeteria was attached to our training, which distributed hot water free to the immigrants. A reduced rate of 5¢ for a cup of tea or coffee was offered to those who wanted to drink their tea at the counter. A Pullman car was attached to the train to give us every possible comfort on our journey. Mr. Morrison and a special Inspector of the Dining Car and Pullman service were on board the training and extended to us every courtesy and assistance. A special conductor speaking Yiddish was ordered to accompany the immigrants as far as Winnipeg.”

When the train reached Montreal, only those assigned to be settled there were permitted to disembark. Everyone else was forced to remain on board with the train doors locked. Previously, refugees bound for Toronto and points west had been allowed to briefly disembark in Montreal; many of them promptly vanished into the city, simply failing to show up for the next leg of their journey west. The JCA representatives were determined not to let that happen again.

Of the 380 refugees who sailed on the S.S. Asia, 49 were sent to Toronto, Abram among them. Upon arrival, they were greeted by representatives of JIAS and the local Jewish community. Records from November 1924 list Abram’s address as “Toronto, Ontario; Ave. 11.” 

Abram was finally safe. His family, however, was still in Romania -- and still in jeopardy.

1. Letter to David Bressler, JDC, 12 August 1924 from Joseph B. detailing his trip to Montreal over the previous weeks. Archives of the Joint Distribution Committee. NY_AR2132_03903

2. JCA memorandum describing the procedures surrounding the arrival of refugees in January 1924. Erroneously dated 7 Jan 1923. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives ICA-S-CB-18-1924

Preparations for Abram Broitman's Arrival

A Coordinated Effort

Abram Broitman boarded the S.S. Asia in Constanța, Romania on July 7, 1924, part of a group of 380 refugees. Previous blog posts lay out his departure from Romania and journey at sea; but in the meantime, on land, the ship’s departure touched off a flurry of activity among Jewish aid groups and communities in Romania, France, Canada, and the United States.

• The Central Relief Committee (CR). The CR, an organization with a mandate to support Jewish victims of war, was on the ground in Bucharest providing aid to Russian Jewish refugees. Abram’s passenger record to Halifax listed a Central Relief Committee office as his closest contact in Romania. 
• The Jewish Colonization Association (JCA or ICA). This was the key aid group facilitating the refugee program. Founded in 1914, their mandate was to establish self-sustaining Jewish agricultural colonies in Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and Mandatory Palestine. Their offices in Paris, Montreal, and Winnipeg were instrumental in ensuring that Abram and his fellow refugees would find safety. 
• The Jewish Immigrant Aid Society (JIAS). The Canadian incarnation of HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, this organization was involved in supporting Abram and the other refugees both when they departed Romania and when they arrived in Canada. JIAS representatives would be some of the first officials they would encounter in Halifax.
• The Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). The JDC was primarily responsible for raising the necessary funds, in the United States, to ensure that the new Canadian arrivals had sufficient resources not to become a burden on the state.  
• Canadian Jewish communities in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and as far west as Saskatoon were instrumental in integrating Abram and his refugee shipmates into Canadian Jewish life. 

All these groups needed to work in concert in order to make the refugees’ resettlement in North America possible. They had to (a) meet the conditions for departure and arrival laid out by each government; (b) ensure that sufficient funds were available to pay for the food and transportation by sea and rail; and (c) manage the anxiety and uncertainty that the refugees were facing. 

Notification

Today, this kind of project would be coordinated via instant global communications; but in 1924, there weren’t even reliable phone lines between the relevant European offices. The primary modes of communication were telegram and postal mail, with the result that each aid group had to operate somewhat independently. Only once an organization was notified that the next batch of refugees was en route they could begin to plan for their arrival. 

• 1924, early June: JCA representatives in Bucharest, Romania notify Abram that he has been given the green light to immigrate to Canada. 
• Tuesday, June 24: Abram obtains a passport and departure visa from the Russian Consulate in Bucharest. 
• Friday, July 4: Abram leaves Bucharest for Constanța, Romania. 
• Wednesday, July 9: The S.S. Asia sets sail from Constanța.
• Monday, July 14: JCA representatives in Montreal receive notification, via telegram, of the S.S. Asia’s departure and its estimated arrival date in Halifax. It is unclear if the JCA is given details about the composition of this group of refugees – how many are single? married? families with children? – but regardless, at this point the JCA has to make initial decisions about assigning the refugees to various Canadian cities. Telegrams are sent to JCA and JIAS representatives in Montreal and Winnipeg informing them that this newest group of refugees will be arriving in about two weeks.

Letter from JCA Montreal to Rabbi Barnet Brickner of Toronto informing him of the impending arrival of the S.S. Asia. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives. ICA-S-CB-17

The S.S. Asia had already been at sea for five days by the time news of its departure reached JCA and JIAS representatives across Canada. Now the negotiations began.

Trouble in the Colonies

The process of assigning the new arrivals to communities across Canada was tricky. One the one hand, the mission of the JCA was to establish agricultural colonies, and the Canadian federal government had explicitly mandated that a certain proportion of the refugees work as farmhands. On the other hand, the practicality of settling the refugees in the Western provinces was significantly limited by the cost of supporting them, the poor crop yield of 1924, and the refugees’ agricultural capabilities -- or distinct lack thereof. 

These new arrivals had been merchants and tradespeople back in Russia. The idea of working as farmhands probably seemed preposterous to them, not least of all because back “home,” Jews had been barred from agricultural work by the Czar. The prospect of being assigned to agricultural destinations in Canada was so unappealing that earlier groups of refugees had actually refused to travel past Montreal. Accordingly, Abram and his fellow passengers had to sign pledges to go where they were told -- and to do so without complaint.

Oath required of refugee passengers on the S.S. Asia. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives. ICA-S-CB-17

The JCA representatives in Montreal expected to send a large number of the S.S. Asia refugees to the agricultural colonies out West: their help was presumably needed with the upcoming harvest, and the Jewish communities in Montreal and Toronto couldn’t absorb any more indigent newcomers anyway. When news of this plan reached the western colonies, however, JCA and JIAS representatives in Winnipeg sounded the alarm. According to correspondence dated between June 17 and June 25, the agricultural colonies could not accept additional refugees, and the small Jewish communities could only take them if they were provided with sufficient funds to house and support them. An emergency meeting of local Jewish leaders was called for June 25 in Winnipeg. While the minutes of that meeting are not available, we can assume it was made clear by telegraph to those JCA leaders in Montreal assigning refugees to the various communities that only a handful of those arriving on the S.S. Asia could be sent to the West.

Excerpt of letter dated 25 July 1924 from a JCA representative in Winnipeg to the JCA office in Montreal. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives. ICA-CB-21.1-39

This probably suited Abram and his fellow refugees just fine. Most of them would ultimately be settled in the cities of Montreal and Toronto. But this failure to turn refugees into farmers would mean the JCA would fall short of its mission and be out of compliance with the stipulations laid out by the Canadian government. Adding to their difficulties was a lack of funds: JDC representatives from New York would arrive in August with only a fraction of the money needed to support the struggling new arrivals -- money they had expected to raise from the American Jewish community. The burden of supporting the refugees would fall to the comparatively small Canadian Jewish community instead.

The Days Before the Arrival of the S.S. Asia

In the five days that elapsed between the JIAS-JCA leadership meeting in Winnipeg and the arrival of the S.S. Asia in Halifax, the JCA offices in Montreal finalized how Abram and his 379 fellow refugees would be spread across the country.

Next time: Abram arrives in Halifax

Reconnecting with Pears and Bears in London

The small Ukrainian shtetl of Medzhybizh is largely known today for being the birthplace of the Chasidism movement and the final resting place of its founder, the Baal Shem Tov. It is also one of my ancestral towns - the place where my great-grandmother, Sarah Birnberg Telles - was born. Their surname was Birnberg [Бирнберг] or Berenberg [Беренберг] or Birenberg [Биренберг] or possibly Bernberg [Бернберг].The name appears in English records in so many varieties that some folks have questioned if I'm making it up. Birnberg means "Pear Mountain" (in German) while Berenberg means "Bear Mountain" (in Dutch). I think pears are more likely than bears in this case!

Meyer Birnberg had at least six children between 1860 and 1893 when my great-grandmother Sarah was born. In 1910, Sarah came to the US following in the footsteps of her brothers/half-brothers Nathan (who came in 1901), Edel Leib (who came in 1905), and Louis (who came in 1906).^1,2 But while much of the family came to the US, her older brother Joseph immigrated to and settled in London. He and his wife Rachel had five girls, each of whom had families of their own.

My New York-based family remained in contact with this branch of the family into the 1960s and even hosted one cousin, Brenda, when she first moved to the US in the 1960s. Thanks to my mother's impeccable records, I found Brenda's married name in the invitation list to my parents' wedding in 1965. Sadly, when Sarah's generation passed on, the remaining family members did not maintain those connections. In fact, beyond Brenda we really didn’t know anything at all about the family – not even the names of Joseph’s daughters.

When I became interested in genealogy in the late 1990s, I contacted Brenda. She was so wonderful to speak with, regaling me with stories of her exciting life in the most wonderful lilting accent. Unfortunately, her promises to provide me with the names and dates needed to flesh out the family tree and connect with others never materialized. She did mention her nephew’s name to me (let’s call him "Ronald" for the sake of anonymity), but never even told me what his surname was! Eventually I lost track of Brenda as she moved from one assisted living facility to another.

Several years ago, I decided to track down the family. First, I spent time with the 1911 England Census, finding a few promising candidates for my Joseph Birnberg. Bingo! I found a record with six daughters³. Then I traced the families of each of the daughters, hoping to find records of Brenda to verify conclusively that it was the right family. 

1911 census record of Joseph Birnberg and his family
Class: RG14; Piece: 1509; Title: 1911 England Census. Downloaded from Ancestry.com Aug 2024

It took some time, but with online birth, marriage, death, and burial records I was able to flesh out the whole family tree. I took the following steps: 

• Noted the names of each of the daughters and their approximate dates of birth, keeping in mind variations in given names (e.g., Leah, Lily, and Lilian could all be the same person)
• Confirmed the years of birth using the online "England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index"
• Identified marriage records for each of the daughters to determine dates of marriages and married names in the "England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index."
• Identified the children of each of the daughters by searching the birth index, filtering by "Mother's Maiden Name."
• Located likely death records in the "England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index."
• Verified information with any additional records I could find, including online probate records and photos of headstones that indicate the father's name (via "Find a Grave", for instance). Joseph Birnberg's headstone indicates his father was Meyer, as expected.

Eventually, this allowed me to find records for the extended family, including Brenda, her sister, and her sister’s son "Ronald." It was confirmed; I had successfully identified the English branch of my great-grandmother’s family! Now to track down “Ronald” to get back in touch. Facebook? No go. But LinkedIn had several people with the right name, right places, and approximately the right ages. I reached out to each of them privately with a message I hoped would convince them I wasn’t trying to scam them. You could imagine how excited I was when one of them wrote back to say he was the right one!

Brenda sadly passed away recently, but I was able to speak to her 97-year-old sister last year, my mother's second-cousin. This week, following a work trip to England, I was thrilled to meet “Ronald,” my third-cousin, as well as his son. They showed me and my wife parts of the city we might never have gone to! We did not find a "Bear and Pear" pub, but maybe we will next time. I’d like to think that Sarah and Joseph Birnberg are smiling that the family has been reunited after a century. 

"The Bear and the Pear Pub"
Courtesy of DALL-E 3

1 Another brother, Jacob Birnberg, allegedly went to Argentina and worked with horses. However, I’ve found no records of that. I’ve contacted every Birnberg in Argentina, and we are not related as far as I’ve been able to determine. Many Jews immigrated to South America, supported in part by the JCA/ICA. Perhaps Jacob went to Brazil instead!

2. It is likely that all of the siblings shared a father but may have had different mothers. It isn't clear what the half-sibling relationships were, though. Many genealogical records from Medzhybizh were destroyed in a fire in 2003, so we may never know. 

3. The 1911 census record indicates that Joseph and Rachel had another child who died before 1911. I've been unable to determine their name, although the England & Wales Civil Registration Birth and Death Indexes has a few candidates. Sadly, one of the daughters listed on this census, Golda, died soon after the census was taken according to the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index. Another daughter, Rifka, was born and died in 1912 at five months old.    

Abram Broitman's Journey on the S.S. Asia

The Fabre Line's S.S. Asia.
Undated Postcard

The Journey

On July 9, 1924, Abram Broitman boarded the S.S. Asia at the Black Sea port of Constanța. Its route for this voyage would take it through the Turkish Straits separating the Black Sea from the Aegean; on to the Mediterranean; through the Strait of Gibraltar to the Atlantic Ocean; and finally, to the deep-water port of Halifax. A mid-sized steamship, owned at that point by the Fabre Line, the S.S. Asia was built in 1907 and could carry over 1,400 passengers. Third-class cabins, which made up the majority of the accommodations, had up to six berths each. The Fabre Line’s advertising noted, in both Yiddish and English, that the Asia boasted “shower baths” and “hygienic lavatories,” and meals would be served in “spacious and elegant dining rooms” by “courteous waiters.” Given the conditions Abram and the refugees had endured for the previous few years, it must have seemed luxurious. 

Fabre Line third-class cabin

Fabre Line dining hall Photos from advertisements for the Fabre Line ships S.S. Bagra and S.S. Asia. Images courtesy of the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives

Supporting Jewish Practice on the High Seas

The Jewish Colonization Association had gone to great lengths to ensure that the trip would in fact be as comfortable as possible for the refugees. A 1924 press release stated that Fabre Line ships would provide strictly kosher food for the Jewish emigrants and would carry a “Sepher Thora,” a Torah scroll, with a special room being set aside for use as a sanctuary “on shabbes and festivals.” 

While no Jewish holidays fell during the three weeks that Abram was aboard the ship, his voyage included three sabbaths at sea, meaning that three weekly Torah portions were read. One of these was Parashat Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9), which includes the story of the non-Israelite prophet Balaam (and his talking donkey.) Balaam is hired by King Balak of Moab to curse the Israelites, but finds he is only able to bless them. One can imagine Abram and his fellow refugees reflecting on their circumstances that shabbat morning, and hoping that despite the intentions of those who wanted to harm them, they would find blessing in their new country. 

Press release sent from the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) in Paris to JIAS.
20 Feb 1924. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives. JIAS-CA-26-5441-JCA

The Missing Passengers

While the S.S. Asia had berths for 1,480 people, it’s possible that the 380 refugees in third class were the only passengers on board. The United States had seen a flood of immigration between 1890 and 1914, but with the outbreak of World War I, all immigration essentially ceased. Immigration increased when the war ended, but the political appetite for new immigrants was very low. By 1924 there were strict quotas for new immigrants in place. In the U.S. these were based on the makeup of the American population in 1890. In Canada the restrictions were less draconian, but still heavily favored Northern and Western Europeans. In both countries, immigration legislation and policy had the purposeful effect of severely restricting the entry of Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and Eastern European would-be émigrés.

With these populations all but barred from entry, there was limited demand for steerage accommodations; hence the likelihood that the 380 refugees, including Abram Broitman, were the only passengers on the ship. Halifax was not a typical destination for Fabre Line ships, and according to Halifax arrival records for that July, the only people to disembark from the S.S. Asia were refugees.^1,2 

Next time: Preparations in Canada for the arrival of the S.S. Asia and the newest crop of refugees. 

1. Ancestry.com. Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.Original data: Library and Archives Canada. Form 30A, 1919-1924 (Ocean Arrivals). Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, n.d. RG 76. Department of Employment and Immigration Fonts. Microfilm Reels: T-14939 to T-15248.

2. There is no record of the S.S. Asia arriving in New York in July or August of 1924. I have reached out to archivists at the Steamship Historical Society in Providence, RI to learn if they anchored there or in Boston. 

Abram Broitman's Departure from Romania

Advertisement for the Fabre Line ships S.S. Bagra and S.S. Asia. Passage from Constantinople, Constanța, and Odessa to New York (top) and to Jaffa and Haifa (bottom). Abram Broitman took the S.S. Asia on a chartered voyage in July of 1924 with a group of 380 refugees. Image courtesy of the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives

By July 1924, the Broitman family was in a desperate situation. Abram Broitman, his wife Chaika, and their three surviving children – Anita, Aron, and Raisel – were living in poverty in Bucharest after fleeing the pogroms of the Ukrainian War of Independence. The town they had lived in for several generations, Savran, had been one of many places to endure massacres, disease, and starvation. The journey to Bucharest – via Kishinev – had been equally harrowing, with the Broitmans’ few remaining possessions being stolen and two of their children dying of waterborne diseases. They had eventually made the dangerous passage across the Dniester River from Ukraine to the relative safety of Romania.¹ 

Sometime between 1919 and 1923 the Broitmans had spent a few years in Kishinev with their Bershadsky cousins, with whom they had made the dangerous journey. But Kishinev had gotten crowded as an estimated 50,000 fellow Jewish refugees had flooded the Romanian border region abutting the newly-formed Soviet Union. Bucharest, further from the border, was better, but only slightly: Romanian authorities severely limited what employment their new Russian Jewish “guests” could seek. According to the Jewish Colonization Association, in 1924 there were still an estimated 4,000-8,000 Jewish refugees in Romania.² Many, like the Broitmans, had visas allowing them to join family in the United States; but the passage of the restrictive and infamously discriminatory Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 effectively ended the Eastern European Jewish immigration wave of 1892-1914. So the Broitmans remained in Bucharest, supported in large part by the Jewish aid groups Central Relief and the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). 

Luckily, in 1924, the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA or ICA) in Canada was able to convince the Canadian government in Ottawa to accept a limited number of refugees. There were strings attached, of course. 

1. The refugees needed to demonstrate that they had sufficient financial resources that they wouldn’t be a burden on the state. Otherwise, the Jewish philanthropic organizations facilitating refugee resettlement had to raise funds to support them. 
2. A portion of the refugees needed to settle in the prairie provinces and work as farmers. 
3. The steamships used to transport the refugees needed to be Canadian-flagged vessels.

This was Abram Broitman’s chance. He would go to Canada, raise enough money to bring his wife (now pregnant) and children to join him, and eventually gain entry to the U.S. On June 24, 1924, Abram was issued a passport by the Russian Consulate in Bucharest indicating that he held Russian citizenship. This was remarkable, because the country of Russia had ceased to exist years earlier! But the Imperial Russian consulates remained in operation in large part to support the stateless refugees and manage Russian property abroad.³ 

Passenger Record of Abram Broitman on the S.S. Asia, 1924.

Abram wasted no time in arranging his departure. Ten days later, on July 4, 1924, he purchased a ticket (with funds supplied by American and Canadian donors through the JDC to the JCA) from Constanța, Romania to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Although he was a married lumber merchant, he indicated on his passenger record that he was a unmarried farmer – presumably to convince the Central Relief Committee officials to allow him passage. Over the next five days he made his way by train from Bucharest to the Black Sea port of Constanța, leaving his family behind. 

Exactly 100 years ago this week, on July 9, 1924, Abram set sail on the S.S. Asia, a French-flagged vessel, with 380 fellow refugees. Destination: Canada. 

Next time: Abram's Journey on the S.S. Asia

Postcard depicting Bucharest's North Station, circa 1930.

Postcard depicting the Port of Constanța, 1927.

Postcard of Fabre Line S.S. Asia.  The vessel met a tragic end in 1930 when it sank off the coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Memo for Mr. Lyon Cohen regarding the number of refugees who may be sent to Canada Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives ICA. 6 January 1924.

1. For an account of a similar journey by fellow Savraner refugees, I recommend “Oh Say Can You See Chaos and a Dream of Peace” by Abraham Gootnick. University Press of America, 1987.
2. Memorandum for Mr. Lyon Cohen, chairman of the Jewish Colonization Association of Canada regarding the number of Russian refugees who may be sent to Canada. Sent 6 Jan 1924. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives. Montreal, Canada. ICA-S-CB-18. Two pages.  
3. Personal correspondence, Jeffrey Veidlinger, Joseph Brodsky Collegiate Professor of  History and Judaic Studies, University of Michigan. 3 April 2023.

Genealogy Pride 2024

June is Pride Month, a time when LGBTQ+ lives and history are recognized and celebrated. This got me thinking about the intersection of Pride Month and genealogy. Here are a few reflections based on my own experiences:

·        A cousin of my father’s—a WWII veteran—committed suicide at the age of 26. When I began talking with some of my older cousins in the late 1990s, they spoke in hushed tones about the mental health issues that led to his death. Rumors that he was gay were even more whispered. The stigmas were so strong that they couldn’t be openly discussed even 50 years after his passing.

·        My grandfather, Jack Weil, had two brothers (Abe and Moe) and a sister (Sadie) who never married. Were they gay? I’m not sure—family members told me that Sadie dated men seriously, but it "just never happened for her." I do know that my great-uncle Abe Weil was quite eccentric, owned an antique shop, and had the icon of a roller skate (or ice skate?) on his tombstone.

·        Getting genealogical software to recognize same-sex relationships was a struggle for the first 10+ years I was doing family history research. I had to "trick" the software into accepting my cousin’s family by initially entering one member of the couple as a man, then changing her gender afterward. Even then, I would receive errors every time I accessed her record!

·        Indicating that someone is trans or non-binary is still challenging with the software I’ve encountered. Most programs assume a static gender binary: a person is born male and remains male for life. In reality, a person might be assumed male as a child but identify with a different gender—or none at all—later in life. Newer software has more options for gender and doesn’t base relationships on the gender binary.

·        Names change too, and I try very hard to avoid deadnaming relatives. I’m not always successful, as records are often tied to "official" names rather than the names people use every day.

My genealogical philosophy is to represent people and relationships in my records as they truly are, rather than in some idealized form. I grew up with gay cousins who had families of their own and saw the generations before me slowly come to terms with their prejudiced notions of the traditional Jewish family and gender expectations. With the current generation, I’ve been thrilled to include more same-sex couples, trans cousins, and non-traditional family units in ways that are... unremarkable and normal. As it should be. Happy Pride!