Naividel

Krelitz

Ellis (Eliashevitz)

Feinberg

Rose (Rosin)

Craine (Kroida)

Family Book

This book is the latest embodiment and expansion of a family tree first started in early September 1966, when Joel and Nicki Alpert went out to dinner with their grandfather, Harry Ellis, just prior to returning to the University of Wisconsin in Madison to start a new school year. During dinner the discussion turned to the questions about the family in Europe. Upon returning to Harry's apartment, the start of the family tree was sketched out. After the tree's initial creation, many people, in particular Aunt Fanny Ellis Rubenstein, helped fill in missing information. Over the past three decades, the tree was duplicated numerous times, distributed and notes of births, marriages and deaths were spora dically added. In December 1990, Joel obtained a Macintosh computer and a piece of genealogical software from the Mormon church. It was then that the combination of modern data processing and groundwork done over the previous three decades culminated in this project.

In researching the family history it became clear that many family members each has a few pieces of information or oral family history, but it had never been collected in a single work; that is the purpose of this document. It is h oped that this work can serve as the collection point for all the scattered bits of our family history so that it can be known to all those who want to know from where we came, and who were our immediate ancestors, and who we are.

More recently this search for family history has been contributed to by George Ellis(Milwaukee), Leslie Bern (Milwaukee), Leona Krelitz Freshman (LA), Rosalin Ellis Krelitz (Milwaukee), Olga Zapolsky Gans (Birmingham, MI-Detroit), G eorge Zerry (Detroit), Sanford Loceff (Delray Beach FL), Helen Rosenbloom Ross Irwin (NYC), Henry Friedman (Dedham, MA), Ann Garfinkle Cohen (Lexington, MA), Helen Beiles(Ottawa, Canada), Faye Schrage Ullmann (Bloomfield Hills, MI-Detroit), Irwin Rose (Ho pkins-St. Paul. MN), David Ellis (St. Paul, MN), Regina Borenstein Naividel (Tel Aviv), Gita Abramson Bereznitky (Tel Aviv), Bilha Bass Lerental (Tel Aviv) Joesph Rosin (Haifa), Max Sherman Krelitz (Mexico City) and Jack Cossid (Chicago - who is not a mem ber of our family, but who knew many family members in Yurburg who were murdered in the Holocaust and supplied information on them) ...and others.

The intent of this book is to both document the names and information about the lives of our families and of our ancestors before this information is forgotten forever, and establish our family connections before we have dispersed so far that the connections are lost forever. An example of these nearly lost connections and information is the fact that the family name Naividel is unknown to most of us, yet is the name of our most common ancestor Hillel Naividel, the father of Sholom and Shmuel (who was identified as being part of the family only in 1994) Naividel, Mary Naividel Eliashevitz, Leah Naividel Krelitz, Beyleh Naividel Rose, Chana Rochel and Pesha Naividel Zapolsky. It is hoped that this book can provide answers to us and our descendents when we finally start to ask about our great-grandparents and their parents and so on. Eventually and inevitably many of us start to ask these questions, and become very disappointed in ourselves because we had neglected to ask these questions years before. With this in mind, this work is dedicated to the memory of our ancestors.

The purpose of this Family Book is to provide information to those of us interested in our family history, which now spans seven generations and nearly 200 years. It can become a vehicle for collecting information to even extend that history, since we all have tidbits of oral family history. Until now there has been no single repository for gathering it. In the end, it becomes a record of where we have come from, and where and who we were and are today. It can even become more valuable than simply family history, because by cataloging medical issues of our antecedents (see the medical alert at the end of this section), we can become aware of any hereditary data that could be helpful in shedding light on some of our indi vidual medical concerns and those of our families. Further since many of us have old family photos not shared by others, there even exists the possibility of copying them and making prints available to all of us, thereby even providing us with a photogra phic (or videotape) record of these people, making them even more real to us. With the advances in computer technology we can now scan in these old photos and include them in this book and even transmit them electronically to eachother. Anyone with old family photos should contact the compiler, Joel Alpert.

Initially the text of this book is created on a Macintosh computer using the WRITENOW word processor. It is now being modified and generated using MS WORD 6.0 and can be transmitted via e-mail in many other word processors at no ch arge. The family descendent charts are created using a genealogy program, called Personal Ancestral File, from the Church of the Latter Day Saints. The photos are xerox copies of family photos that many people have lent the author, Joel Alpert, w ho has rephotographed them, so that negatives exist and high quality copies can be generated easily. The text and the genealogy program along with the data base are available from the author on floppy disks for the Macintosh or the PC and are the easiest way of transfering the information to those with computers. Eventually, if there is enough interest, we may decide to formally publish this material. It could then be periodically updated (possibly every ten years) with the decade's new information. F orms for submission of family records and history for this purpose are contained in the section: HOW TO OBTAIN MORE INFORMATION AND CONTRIBUTE YOUR FAMILY'S INFORMATION.

The basic information (and this text) exists in memory of the Macintosh type computer in the format readable with the Mormon software program Personal Ancestral File, it is easily transferable and available to anyone who owns or has access to a Macintosh computer or an IBM PC or compatible . It is important to note that the genealogical data base contains much more information than could be contained in the text of this book and is possibly of interest to those seeking more infor mation. For further information please refer to the above mentioned section and fill out the form: REQUESTS FOR DISKS OF COMPUTER PROGRAM AND GENEALOGICAL DATA.

Our grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great grandparents came from Yurburg, Lithuania around the turn of the century (1900), seeking a better life, and now nearly a century later most of us, their descendents, have become part of the fabric of America, and have in fact spread all over it, from the Midwest, to the South and the Southwest, to Boston, to California, to Florida, and even to Alaska. Some have followed the Zionist ideal and have become part of Israel. Even oth ers have become established in Mexico. Amazingly some of us survived the Shoah in Europe and remained there; others eventually immigrated to Israel from Lithuania even as recently as 1990. This is our story.

ORGANIZATIONAL NOTE: At present this book covers a maximum of eight generations of family members, with Hillel Naividel being the earliest known ancestor in the Descendant Charts. We have even guessed that his father's nam e was Mayerelie Naividel, based upon his many descendants with the name Meyer; chapter 5 contains a more detailed discussion of this hypothesis. We further guess that Hillelís grandfatherís name was Shmuel, again based upon the names given to his desce ndants. Hillelís generation is therefore referred to as Generation 1. Hillel is referred to as Generation 2. His children, Shalom, Shmuel, Miriam, Leah, Chana Rachel, Beyleh and Pesha, are therefore in Generation 3. However in the Krelitz family, the earliest ancestors Cecil, Avraham Mordecai, and their sister Sarah (name is in question) are at a level equivalent to Generation 3, in which they are placed; their father and grandfather, who certainly existed, but whose names a re yet unknown, were therefore appended to the top of this tree and assigned to Generation 1 and 2. Similarly in the Eliashevitz family, Shalom, or Solomon, the earliest ancestor, belongs in Generation 3, so again his yet unnamed father and grandf ather were appended as Generation 1 and Generation 2. Similarily in the Feinberg family, Chaim Mayer's father and grandfather is appended into Generation 1 and Generation 2, as are Dovid Kraid's father and grandfather in the Craine family. These additions allow the numbering of the generations to be consistent in all the families. This scheme is carried in the Descendants Charts, hence by finding a person, or yourself, you can immediately identify the person's generation by the number in f ront of the name. It is hoped that someday we will discover the names and something about the lives of the unnamed fathers and mothers! By leaving them conspicuously present, yet unnamed, it is hoped will spur us to find their names.

Lee Ellis Alpert was born with a congenital condition called a Shallow Asitabulum, which is a shallow hip sockets. It is a condition that is believed to run in the Krelitz family, with others known to be affected being her Aunt Chareva, cousins Lee Krelitz Weisberg, Leona Krelitz Freshman, and Lorry Krelitz. This condition appears to affect primarily females. Babies descendant of the Krelitz family should be checked for this condition shortly after birth, and their parents should be aware of it. This knowledge should be passed on to the newer generations. Leib Krelitz, son of Meyer Krelitz and a first cousin of Lee, Leona, and nephew of Chareva, was also know to have a hip problem (reported by Jack Cossid). He died in the Holocaust.

We have learned (Jan. 7, 1997) that Alexis Leah Sherman, great-granddaughter of Leah Krelitz Sherman (daughter of Meir Krelitz) also has this condition.

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1. FAMILY BACKGROUND

Yurburg, Lithuania

Locating Yurburg on the Map of Lithuania

The Family in Yurburg: 1830 - 1941

Immigration To America: 1890 - 1930

and The Early Days in America

Immigration To Israel: 1927 - 1945

Immigration To Mexico

Holocaust Victims

Today

CHAPTER 2. DESCENDANTS CHARTS

Four Generations of Mayerelia Naividel Descendants Guide to the Big Picture

Sample Descentant Chart

Naividel Family - also contains the Ellis Family

Rose Rosen / Elka Family

Naividel /Elka Family

Krelitz Family

Craine Family

Feinberg Family

CHAPTER 3. INDIVIDUAL HISTORIES

Harry Ellis

Leah Golda Ellis Alpert

George Cecil Ellis

Max Zarnitsky

Bernard Laden

Sam Ellis

 

Philip Krelitz

 

Pinchas Shachnovitz

CHAPTER 4. FAMILY GROUP RECORDS OF THE ANCESTRAL FAMILIES and SAMPLE PEDIGREE CHART

CHAPTER 5.. FAMILY MYSTERIES

Hillel Naividel - Who was he? Who was his father?

Krelitz - Who was Cecil's and Avraham Mordecai's Father and was their sister (who married Chaim Meyer Feinberg?) named Sarah?

- The story of how this "missing " branch was found.

Craines - How exactly are they related?

- The story of how Ben Craine's 1927 films of Yurburg were discovered and identified.

Ellis - How was it spelled in Europe? Elijaschevitz? Eliashevitz?

- Who was Shalom Eliashevitz? Does anyone know anything about his parents?

Rose - Any contacts with this part of the family?

Naividel - What happened to the family of Shalom Naividel?

The Incredible Story of Finding the Naividel Family

Family members who died in the Holocaust - How Jack Cossid filled in many of the unknowns

The Story of the Photographs of the Headstones from the Yurburg Jewish Cemetery

Commissioned by Donald Levinsohn and the List of Headstones Identified

List of the Headstones from the Yurburg Jewish Cemetery

CHAPTER 6. NAMES AND HISTORIES OF FAMILY MEMBERS WHO WERE HOLOCAUST VICTIMS,

EXCERPT OF THE YIZKOR BOOK ON YURBURG

THE HORRIBLE DAYS-The Story of Gita Abramson Bereznitzky

(as told to and translated by Regina Borenstein Naividel) "How I saved myself from the Kovno Ghetto at the time of the liquidation of the ghetto in July 1944......"

Mayerelie Naividel Descendants HOLOCAUST VICTIMS

Compiled January 1995

ALL THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST VICTIMS WHO WERE DESCENDANTS OF MAYERELIE NAIVIDEL

THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE OF THE COMMUNITY OF YURBURG, LITHUANIA - Introduction and Summary of Chapters

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE OF THE COMMUNITY OF YURBURG, LITHUANIA

JEWS OF YURBURG - LIST OF NAMES

List from Memory - Mordechai Berkover

Originally from THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE

Translated by Regina Borenstein Naividel

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF YURBURG - from the book Yehudat Lita (The Jews of Lithuania)

translated from the Yiddish by Regina Borenstein Naividel

TRANSLATION OF A SECRET NAZI DOCUMENT THAT DETAILS THE MURDER OF THE LITHUANIAN JEWISH POPULATION INCLUDING YURBURG AND OTHER COMMUNITIES OF OUR FAMILY

CHAPTER 7. HOW TO OBTAIN MORE INFORMATION AND CONTRIBUTE YOUR FAMILY'S INFORMATION

AND ORDER ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS BOOK

REQUESTS FOR DISKS OF COMPUTER PROGRAM AND GENEALOGICAL DATA

ORDER FORM FOR ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS BOOK AND PRINTOUTS OF TOTAL FAMILY INFORMATION.

CHAPTER 8. IDEAS FOR FURTHER FURTHER RESEARCH

CHAPTER 9. UNINCORPORATED MATERIAL