The Story of My Great Grandmother

The Story of My Great Grandmother

Summarized By Paul Kivelson

The story of my great grandmother and great grandfather has all the elements that make up a great story.   When my grandfather on my mother side told me their story, when I was in sixth grade and asking for a family tree assignment my first thought was, this would make a great story, I am going to write it someday. I have written many stories since then, however I have never written their specific story. The reason being, I always felt the story deserved more skill than I had. It was and is a story I have always respected and wanted to write, but you only get one shot to write the story of your ancestors. Further, if you screw up it is not just you who looks bad. I suppose however a summary of the story I would write if I ever build up enough confidence would in no way diminish or tarnish the story.

They were born first cousins in the Jewish ghetto in Russia. It was a different time and apparently no one had a problem with first cousins marrying, because marry they did. My great grandmother really wanted to leave the ghetto, but in that time the Russian Tsar where not the biggest fans of the Jewish people so this was quite a challenge. However, it is an understandable that she would have so fervently desire to leave the ghetto as poverty, disease, and generally bad living conditions were abundant and the norm in the Jewish ghettos. She finally figured out a way to escape, but on the surface it seemed it was only a temporary solution. She managed to train and become a nurse in the Tsar army. After she was done serving, she would have been sent back to the ghetto and her husband was still back in said ghetto, so all in all it would seem an imperfect solution. However, her plan was not as simple as just serving in the army and heading back to the ghetto, she wanted freedom for her and her husband.

When she was leaving to serve in the army her husband managed to sneak out with a group of opium smugglers, allowing him to escape the ghetto. Apparently they almost killed him when they realized he was Jewish, but he told them a couple of jokes that went over so well they decided to let him live and take him with them. I of course asked what these famed jokes where, but they have been lost to the annuls of history. I also asked why she did not travel with him and the opium dealers as a group because it seem seemed a simpler solution. Apparently they did not have enough money to bribe passage for two and still have enough money to book passage on a ship. So the two part fragmented plan is what they went with.

At the same time my great grandmother lied to her superiors and told them she was going out to pick flowers for the injured. She actually left on foot and traveled all the way to the couple’s set rondevu point. I cannot image the ordeal of traveling so far by oneself without knowing if you or your loved one would make it. Nobody seems to remember what port they went to, but the couple had a tearful reunion and got on a boat heading to England pretending to be an orthodox Christian couple. They made it to England and managed to make a life for themselves after their great escape.