We are about to embark on an exciting but somewhat sad journey to Europe to trace my parent's families My mother's family, the Kallmanns and the Abrahams were from Germany, and my father's family, the Spiegels and Jegers, who were from Austria-Hungary in what is now Romania and Ukraine.
My parents in the 1943 getting married in Battle Creek, Michigan before my dad shipped off to Europe...
The "we" who are travelling is my wife Susan and me, Steve, from Seattle, WA. We have been married for 33 years and have traveled together through Africa, Ecuador, Italy among other places. We lived in China for 6 months and India for one month before taking a 75 day trip through Eastern Africa six years ago. This will be a 21 day trip through 9 countries.
What are we leaving behind? Here's a view from downtown Seattle on a somewhat gloomy day...
So where are are we going?
Seattle to Frankfurt to Trier to Luxemburg to Frankfurt to Vienna to Budapest to Sighet, Romania to Mukachevo, Ukraine to Kosice, Slovakia to Bratislava to Vienna to Frankfurt to Seattle, something like this...
Before we go, I want to provide some context as much as possible although imagining the horrors they encountered is impossible. My story is not unique. It is unfortunatley the same one many others have told for the last 70 years and is not unique in the pain and suffering our families have labored through even now as I look into the past which was not discussed much by our grandparents. Thankfully, my mother and her brother have been able to provide a lot of detail of events we never talked much about. It is still stunning to see the impact of the huge holes in our families due to the Nazi elimination and murder of immediate and extended families. I have been studying my family's genealogy for a while and with the help of DNA testing and lots more on-line records, I have located at least 20 3rd cousins or closer in the last year. And yes, the lady claiming to be my mother for 62 years is actually my mother. Now that I have scientific proof.
Some family background...
Lore Kallman's Family...
My mother's family was a proud and deep German family. Her father, Moritz Kallmann, fought for Germany in WW1, was injured, received the Iron Cross and lost a brother during the war. He had 8 siblings and never conceived of any place to be other than his homeland. His family was farmers and cattle dealers in the small town of Irrel, Germany. His extended family was from Wittlich, Wawern and Butzweiler.
My grandmother's family was from Trier, the largest town in the Southwest corner, of Germany. My great grandfather, Arnold Abraham, created the first brush factory in Germany and they were very progressive in commerce and actions. The Abrahams lived in Trier at Neustrasse 89, with three generations under one roof when my mother was born. (Interesting side note: My mother and her brother were born in a Convent in Trier which was the only place that hospitable services in the area. We will be staying the hotel the convent was converted into for 5 nights.) My grandmother had only one sibling as did my mother. Their extended family was in Aach, Thalfang, Neumagen, Bremen and Rhens among others.
Due to the Nazi persecution, my grandfather realized they had to leave Germany before it was too late. The issue was that Arnold was blind and would not be accepted in any country. So they prepared to leave but could not until he died. Arnold died in 1936 at age 90 and after getting the necessary guarantee of support in the U.S. and having all the documents signed in Germany, the family of four, Moritz, Bertha, Lore and Gunther, sailed to America, arriving April 1, 1938. My mother, Lore, was almost 13 and her brother, Gunther, was 7. Bertha's brother had already left and was in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Three generations... Lore, Bertha, Arnold and Gunther...
Two of Moritz brothers made it to the U.S. and five siblings and their families were murdered by the Nazis.
David Spiegel's Family...
My paternal grandmother was born in Alsorona, Hungary (10 miles SE of Sighet). My father was born in the same town, however, due to the shifting borders at the end of WW1, the town had a new name and a new country. It was now Rona de Jos, Romania. My grandmother's family had been in the same town for at least 120 years when my father was born in 1922. This family was quite poor and not well educated. Their poverty probably saved them from the Nazis.
My paternal grandfather, Miksa (Max) Spiegel was born across the river in what was then Nagybocsko, Hungary became part of Czechoslovakia after WW1 and part of Ukraine after WW2. Today it's name is Velykyi Bychkiv. Max's father, Herman, was a successful businessman in Munkacs, Hungary which followed the same country switching as Nagyboscko and is now Mukachevo, Ukraine. My grandfather was poor and interested in taking a chance on going to America. We don't have a lot of details on how or why he came to the U.S. or who assisted him but when my father was one year old, Max made his way to the U.S. around the same time as one of his brothers. He didn't send for this family in Romania for 8 years meaning my father never knew his father until he arrived in the U.S. at age 9.
Esther always told us her sister, Helen, and her mother, Rosa, were Holocaust victims but following the paperwork it was revealed there never was a sister we could find but there were three brothers no one knew about. Since it turned out the Esther's father was 67 when she was born, it is possible her father had an earlier family and Helen was a child of a half sibling but we have not located that connection. All three brothers were killed either in a concentration camp or in a Labor camp or Death March.
My dad and his mother...
Max's family suffered similarly. Max and two brothers escaped early due to poverty and one brother, Ira, was sent to Auschwitz where his wife and child were murdered. He married an Auschwitz survivor and had a great life in America. I watched his moving 2 hour video testimony in a Shoah Library and learned a lot about life in Munkacs in the 1930s.
Six of Max's siblings and their families were murdered by Nazis or Hungarians and three brothers survived to live long lives. At least six of Max's fathers siblings and most of their families were killed in the Death MArches or Concentration camps. The surviving siblings of his father spread between the U.S., Spain and Israel but, sadly, my father had several 2nd cousins living 30 miles away from him in LA he never realized were there or got to know.
And now on to Germany...
