Hi Reuven Chaim,
I learned from Herb Schabes that his namesake in the article is his uncle and he too has been looking to learn more about him. I should still be home throughout June, and I’y”H if it is medically advisable I shall travel to Eastern Europe and from there to Israel. While traveling you can email me at louster50@gmail.com
Best wishes,
Louis Schonfeld
From: Reuven Chaim Klein [mailto:rachack@futurecities.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 5:42 PM
To: 'Reuven Chaim Klein'; 'Louis Schonfeld'
Subject: RE: A Town near Munkatch
I look forward to working with you on this project more in June.
=====
Reuven Chaim Klein
http://www.myhomeloancompany.com
Vice President
AIM/AOL Screename: IAmRachack (Add|IM)
(Attention: Usually I can only check my email on Friday Afternoon and Motzei Shabbos.)
From: Reuven Chaim Klein [mailto:rachack@futurecities.com]
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 11:48 AM
To: 'Louis Schonfeld'
Subject: RE: A Town near Munkatch (2 files attached)
Thank you so much for your help. I already have a basic family tree somewhere on my website for my family. The URL is http://www.myhomeloancompany.com/kleins and a lot of information on that tree is not my own research but was compiled by another researcher who I met on the internet (through JewishGen).
I was also trying to find out about this Schabes person mentioned in the article, but I had no luck at all finding out anything about him. My mother (her maiden name was Messinger, and her mother's maiden name was Kohn) originally lived in Horne Saliby (sp) in Slovakia and then in Bratislava (Pudabest) before she moved to Boro Park in the late 70's or early 80's. I haven't really begun to look into that side of the family, yet.
Valley Village is just another name for North Hollywood used for real estate purposes. I live right around the corner from Wilkinson: I live on Chandler Blvd. between Wilkinson and Corteen. The Shul that my family goes to is run by Rabbi Zvi Block it is called Bais Midrash Toras HaShem (used to be Yeshivas Aish HaTorah until about ten years ago). Rabbi Sugarman who you mentioned moved to Eretz Yisroel two summers ago and periodically comes back to speak at Shaarei Tzedek. I actually did not attend Toras Emes for Elementary, rather I went to Emek Hebrew Academy. When I went to High School afterwards, I went to Yeshiva Gedolah of Los Angeles/Michael Diller High School (where Rabbi Eliezer Gross is the Rosh HaYeshiva) and when I was in ninth and tenth grade, my good friend Herschel Halberstam was in the Bais Midrash in YGLA (now he learns in Slabodka in Bnei Baraq). I am currently in First Year Bais Midrash in Yeshiva Gedolah of Los Angeles, and next year I plan to go elsewhere, possibly somewhere in Eretz Yisroel. Yeshiva begins again tomorrow morning, so afterwards I will only be able to check my email when I'm home (because I dorm in the city).
Again, thank you for all your help,
=====
Reuven Chaim Klein
http://www.myhomeloancompany.com
Vice President
AIM/AOL Screename: IAmRachack (Add|IM)
(Attention: Usually I can only check my email on Friday Afternoon and Motzei Shabbos.)
From: Louis Schonfeld [mailto:ischon@adelphia.net]
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 10:43 AM
To: 'Reuven Chaim Klein'
Subject: RE: A Town near Munkatch (2 files attached)
Dear Reuven Chaim,
I will do what I can to assist you in your pursuit of this interesting challenge. I hope to be spending more time in Israel, I’y”H in the latter part of 2006 and onward. If so, I will do what I can, gratis to find out information about your grandfather from the CZA. I have also accumulated much documentary and anecdotal information about Munkacs and its Jewish inhabitants. I will henceforth pay attention when reviewing this information to see if I have any specific data on your grandfather. If I can provide you with helpful data that was unknown to you all I ask in return is that you provide me with a compiled family tree periodically.
In Beachwood (a suburb of Cleveland) I go to shul with Herb Schabes who is likely the son of Isadore since his family came from Vienna to the U.S. in the early 1940s. Perhaps he has documents from his father that include information about your GF. I am also friendly with two brothers who emigrated from the Kosice area a few years prior to the time your mother left. They are Moshe and Tibor Rosenberg and are distant relations to me. My family’s earliest venue in Hungary was Medzilaborce (now in Slovakia, due south of Stropkov). The first known name of Schonfeld in that area was Eliezer, father of Moshe Schonfeld, a son-in-law to the Bnei Yissaschar.
I too lived in North Hollywood for a few years on Wilkenson or Wilkerson Avenue and davened by Shaarey Tzedek (at that time led by Rabbi Sugarman). However, I am not familiar with Valley Village. I am not familiar with the Seforim you mentioned, but in the original version published in Munkacs is there a list of Pernumeranten (usually in the back of the sefer)? Rabbi Hershel Halberstam was the original Rav of Kehillas Atzei Chaim (prior to Rabbi H.H. move from his shul in the Pico area there was a smaller shul at that location led by Rabbi Deutsch). His son, the current Rav is Avrom Chaim.
Did you attend Toras Emes with Avrom Chaim’ son Tzvi? May I ask where you now attend school and what grade are you in. FYI I was born 1949 in Windsheim DP camp. I am married with B”H six children from the ages of twelve to thirty three, and have also Bli AYin Horah 10 grandchildren. I own nursing homes in Northeast Ohio which my children operate. When I am not at home I am traveling to Eastern Europe, mostly to Ukraine where I am involved in several commercial ventures including buying apartments in Kiev, renovating them and reselling. Several years ago, just because it was so inexpensive and convenient I bought a large three room apartment in Munkacs on the main street of the town about 5 buildings away from the famous Varoshasz (city hall) seen in several of the Vishniac photos. I had to slow down recently because of a detached Retina suffered in my left eye from which I am still recuperating. That’s enough for now. Stay in touch, be well and study hard.
Louis Schonfeld
From: Reuven Chaim Klein [mailto:rachack@futurecities.com]
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 1:39 AM
To: 'Louis Schonfeld'
Subject: RE: A Town near Munkatch (2 files attached)
I don't really have money to afford to hire a professional genealogist to research for me. So I guess that it out of the question for now.
Regarding my grandfather: He passed away when my father was only 7 years old, so very little is known in my family about his life. All we had pertaining to him was a postcard (from 1941) from a newsclipping service that said that he was mentioned in the New York Times. After some online research, I was able to find that article, and I have attached it in PDF format in this message. I also know that my grandfather was in the US Army, but when I sent the NARA a request for his records, they sent me back a letter that his records were burned in a fire and that they only had a temporary incomplete record, and they sent that. It was only a certificate which verified that he actually was in the US Army (I attached the scanned version of that certificate also).
I do know that the Jewish Agency for Palestine changed its name to the Jewish Agency for Israel following the establishment of the Medinah. I actually went to the Holy Land this past summer, and tried to get to the Central Zionist Archives during the hours perscribed by the CZA's website (across the street from the Binyanei HaUmah, near the Central Bus Station), but it was all locked up with security guards not letting anyone in. Later that day, we called the phone number on the website and it told us that the CZA was closed for the summer. So I had no luck over there. Even before that, I sent emails to people in the agency and CZA and no one was able/willing to help me.
My family was not in Los Angeles during the 70's. My father moved here in the early 80's when he was still single. My mother emigrated from Slovakia around the same time, and they got married in 1985. We actually live in a suburb of Los Angeles, known as Valley Village (North Hollywood), but I go to Yeshiva in Los Angeles. However, if the Rabbi Halberstam I know in the City is the same one who you davened by, he is a Satmar Rav in the city with a shul called Atzei Chaim and he had a son Tzvi/Herschle who was in the same Yeshiva as I was. There are quite a few Munkatch families in Los Angeles, including the famed Schlussels who are descendants of Nuta Nosson the dayan of Munkatch.
Perhaps, since you seem to be so acquainted with Munkatch, you have heard of my ggg-grandfather, Reuven Chaim Klein the Mechaber of the sefer Shenos Chaim, a biuer on the Rabbenu Yerucham's Toldos Adom V'Chava. I'm also looking for information about my family from that time period. From what I know (from the 1985 print of the Sefer, Machon Yerushalayim), the Shenos Chaim was a descendant of the TaZ and ReMa. I also have a kabbala from a cousin of my father that my great-grandmother, Chaya Zlata Friedman (who married my g-grandfather Mordechai Klein, and then my grandfather's step-father Shlomo Mermelstein) was a descendant of the Noam Elimelech. I'm trying to trace the genealogy of that line also.
Thank you for all your help, have a Freilichin Chanuka, gut Chodesh, (and a happy new year),
=====
Reuven Chaim Klein
http://www.myhomeloancompany.com
Vice President
AIM/AOL Screename: IAmRachack (Add|IM)
(Attention: Usually I can only check my email on Friday Afternoon and Motzei Shabbos.)
From: Louis Schonfeld [mailto:ischon@adelphia.net]
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 5:59 PM
To: 'Reuven Chaim Klein'
Subject: RE: A Town near Munkatch
Hi Reuven Chaim Klein,
I can refer you to a professional genealogist specializing in researching the Jewish communities and families of Subcarpathian Ruthenia. I must admit I have never heard of the village in question and I can only assume that you have already determined the current name and correct spelling of the town. The listing of birth, deaths and marriages for the town would be found in the district ZAGS office located in Munkachevo and another copy in the regional archives office in Uzhgorod. Many of the books listing births, deaths, marriages according to government requirements that began in 1851 are still extant and possibly available. However, others (called Metrical books) have been lost or destroyed over the years.
In addition to metrical information that might be available there are also the regional archives, also located in Uzhgorod which contain historical information about events and people throughout the region. Information of historical interest would have been preserved and should be in those archives. The documents stored there would have information about both Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Access to the archives in that region is nearly impossible for a non-Ukrainian, and even very difficult for authorized Ukrainian researchers. Even without knowing the precise location of Kleczanev I can say with a great degree of certainty that no written information would be found in the village. However, if there is a city hall it would be worthwhile for the researcher to visit there and discuss with the mayor what might be available. Perhaps some documents could have been preserved in the local church.
I am confused about something you wrote: was your grandfather in Vienna during the Anschluss in 1938? If he was in the Carpathian area throughout the entire period the Gestapo did not have a presence their until Germany invaded Hungary in April of 1944. Do you have a copy of the New York Times article you mention? If so could you scan it and send it to me as attachment to an email?
One final suggestion. It would be most likely to find information about your grandfather’s involvement with the JAP by researching the appropriate files in Israel, either at the Central Zionist Archives or perhaps there is also a Jewish Agency archive. There are a number of Israeli researchers who could do this for you.
I lived in Los Angeles from 1957 through 1978, most of the time on Blackburn Ave near La Cienega. We davened by Rabbi Halberstam during that period. Has your family been in Los Angeles during this time? If so, which Klein family are you? There was one Klein family from Munkacs who also davened by Rabbi Halberstam, but I recall that he had only a daughter.
Good luck,
Louis Schonfeld
From: Reuven Chaim Klein [mailto:rachack@futurecities.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 6:24 PM
To: ischon@adelphia.net
Subject: A Town near Munkatch
Hello. My name is Reuven Chaim Klein and I live in Los Angeles, CA. I am trying to research my family history. My grandfather (whose name was Reuven Chaim Klein, he passed away in 1968) grew up in the town of Klyachanovo (Kleczanev) near the city of Mukacheve (Munkács). His father's name was Mordechai Klein, but his father passwd away while he was very young and so he was raised by his step-father Shlomo Mermelstein and his mother Chaya Zlata Mermelstein nee Klein nee Friedman. I am looking for more information about the Jewish community in Kleczanev to see if they can have more information about my grandfather. He was mysteriously released from jail three times by the Gestapo after the Germans invaded Austria and an article from the New York Times (June 23, 1941) states that the reason was because he was employed by the Jewish Agency for Palestine in Vienna and his services were needed. If possible, I'd like to find out what was the nature of his employment for the JAP and if there are any references to my family anywhere near Kleczanev form which I can get more information. Perhaps you know of someone who can help me on this quest or you know how I can go about finding more information.
I found your email address while searching the name of the town in Google.
AIM/AOL Screename: IAmRachack (Add|IM)
(Attention: Usually I can only check my email on Friday Afternoon and Motzei Shabbos.)
