Can someone from the Holocaust Project look into this family?

Question

The profile of Arthur Sam Gruskin has a Find A Grave entry with a Bio that mentions two of his siblings who apparently died in the Holocaust. Im assuming they died in Russia as that is where this family comes from. Records are scarce and I don't feel qualified to develop the family any further back. But because of the holocaust connection I am hoping someone from the Holocaust project will take an interest in this Gruskin family.  

I got started on this family by trying to help another PM on the Notable profile of Minnie Janet Gruskin a.k.a. Anne Whitney Fogarty. We wanted to know why Minnie and two of her siblings changed their names, and it seems, also gave different names for their parents. In an effort to figure it out I started tracing Anne Fogarty's father, Isaac Reuben Gruskin. And found his brother, Arthur Sam Gruskin. 

Hope someone can take this on, thanks in advance!

Answer 1

This is one sister:  Rashel Debora Mirvis (yadvashem.org)
and here is the other: Mere Itl Golcin (yadvashem.org)

Then if you click on the link of the submitter name: Bat Sheva Arian, you will likely find other relatives.

Comments

Thank you so much for looking that up! What a great find. I thought it would perhaps be very difficult to find any record of them considering how many lost their lives in that time. Sad, sad   

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Yad Vashem has millions of testimonials. Because the Find A Grave entry listed exact names of the two sisters, that made it likely that someone submitted testimonials for them. The submitter Bat Sheva Arian lists herself as the daughter of Rashel and niece of Mere.

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Thank you, the light bulb went on for me as I did some exploring of Yad Vashem last night! The sisters both were married and I see they each had at least two children. I have started adding the information to Wikitree.

The Find A Grave entry lists the name of Rashel as Rasa-Dveira but on Yad Vasham its Rashel-Debora? The FG entry also says Arthur Sam Gruskin's birth name is Orel-Shabsel Gruskin (not sourced), talks about an 1887 Krakes Family List?? Then says Arthurs Hebrew name is Aharon Shabsel ben Chaim Zalig.

Id like to make sure I am entering names properly? It looks like Arthur would have 3 options - birth name, Hebrew name and Americanized name on documents. Any Tips??

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Hi Lorraine, great job on the profiles! Don't worry too much about the names, just use the document you have. I see you made good use of the other last name, nickname fields. If a relative or descendant comes along and would like the LNAB changed to Yiddish or Russian (for people born in Lithuania) that's great. I'm really not sure which would be the "right" one at that time, anyway. WT searches work on non-Roman alphabets, but generally don't pick up variations/misspellings (yet! maybe someday) But a quick fix I may be able to ask for is equating Aaron and Aharon. (Aron is already a recognized variation of Aaron on WT, I did a couple little tests)

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Thanks Elaine, good to know the profiles are ok! First time working on a family with Jewish Roots and Holocaust victims. 

Those pesky alternate/nicknames/other spellings of any name , Research Notes and a.k.a. in the bios I guess until it sorts out. 

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I just want to mention that Rasa-Dveira and Rashel-Deborah are really the same names, just transliterated/translated differently.  The European Jewish names were either Hebrew or Yiddish (Rashel is Yiddish, Dveira Hebrew, but used together as a first and middle name). The English name Deborah comes from the Hebrew Devorah (most common spelling) and that o can be pronounced o or oy or ay, depending on where one was from, hence Dveira, where the ei represents a version of the o sound.  I hope I am not confusing you more!!!

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Thank you Kavla, that makes a lot of sense. Not being familiar with the naming conventions, language etc has me a bit nervous. The Rashel-Dveira was from a secondary source without any way to know if it was accurate. We have the same problem with english names, but Im more familiar with the quirks. The reading I was doing today says that Orel is a Yiddish diminutive of the Hebrew Aharon which is also Aaron in English...all the same. Then the guy uses Arthur as a first name - No wonder tracing is so hard...but on the up side not as hard as the Nordic patronymic naming system!

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I am happy to help any time on something that I actually know a bit about!  I'm not so sure what Orel is, but Ahrele (pronounced R-ah-la) is a Yiddish diminutive of Aharon/Ahron/Aaron/Aron (you get the picture).  The complicating factors here include the fact that you are dealing with a different language(s) and the nonstandard spellings and transliterations from a different alphabet.  Arthur makes a lot of sense as a first name.  My husband's paternal grandfather Hersh became Harry in America, Blumas became Bettys, and Ettels became Ethels.  It's more confusing when the English name is just totally different!

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Even in english we have our mysteries! Dick for Richard, Nellie for Eleanor, Polly for Mary, Bill for William and last but not least Peggy for Margaret!