From Bosnia & Bilgoraj to Passaic

This newsletter is dedicated To Ruth Folkman, the author of this retelling, our sister, and the first born in America to Clara and David Levy  
     
Clara was born as Kreindl Klara Kupersztajn on March 18, 1921, in Bilgoraj, Poland. She was the youngest of seven children of Salomon Sholom Kupersztajn, a musician and Chana Szwarcberg Kupersztajn. The oldest was Israel (Sruel), followed by Hinda, Efraim (Froim), Wolf, Leib and Shaye. In 1933 the Kupersztajn family moved to Warsaw and settled in the Wola section of the city. Klara started to attend school and graduated in June 1939. While Klara attended school in the evening, she worked during the day in a dental lab. Her brother Wolf worked in a "Majde" soap factory. In August 1939 Klara visited with her sister Hinda and her family in a small town Zwierzyniec, some 10 miles east of Bilgoraj. Wolf Kupersztajn, who was married to Sura and had a little boy Marek, was paid by the owners of the soap factory with soap and candles. 

Klara returned to Warsaw and joined her parents and brother and together they survived the month of bombing and hunger until the city surrendered. They exchanged the soap and candles for food. After the German Army entered the city, the anti-Jewish repressions started immediately. In October 1940 the German authorities announced the formation of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw. The Kupersztajn family had to move into a room in a crowded apartment at Nowolipie Street in the ghetto. Klara would take off her armband marking her as a Jew, and leave the perimeter of the crowded and starving ghetto. She sold the remnants of soap and candles on the so-called Aryan side of Warsaw and purchased food for her family. Klara was able to get false documents in the name of Klara Dulman, identifying her as a Polish Catholic girl. Together with other young Jews, they formed a group with a goal of leaving occupied Poland and reaching the Soviet zone. The journey was long and arduous, but they were able to cross the border only to be arrested by the Soviets. At first they were sent to Gomel in Belarus and from there Klara and her friends were deported to a forced labor camp on the Volga River in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia. The prisoners, and Klara among them, worked in extreme cold, cutting trees and building roads. They were treated as enemies of the Soviet State. Klara was transferred many times to other camps in Siberia where conditions were just as miserable. Many of the prisoners died of hunger, disease and exposure. Klara found out after the war that two of her brothers: Israel Sroel and Leib died in Russia. Shaye was killed while trying to cross the border from occupied Poland into the Russian territory. Only her brother Efraim Froim with his wife Chana, survived the ordeal, but their two small children died. 

In 1946 Klara returned to Poland to search for her family, but it became clear that none survived. Leib Kupersztajn with his wife Ryfka and baby daughter Henia perished. Klara's parents and her brother Wolf with his wife Sura and son Marek, all were murdered either in the Warsaw ghetto or in the Treblinka death camp. Her sister Hinda Kupersztajn Biberman with three little girls: Roni, Dobi and Sara, found a hiding place in Maniewicze with a Polish woman, Mrs. Lidia Potocka, but her neighbor denounced them to the Gestapo and all, including Mrs. Potocka, were executed. She found out that Hinda's husband, Leib Biberman perished in a forced labor camp. Klara was able to locate a cousin who survived on false papers, and even though the war was over, he continued to live as a Catholic. 

Klara decided to leave Poland. With the help of the Jewish illegal organization "Bricha," (literally, “Escape”) she escaped first to Austria and then Italy. Klara located cousins and decided to stay in the Bagnoli displaced persons camp in Naples There she met a survivor from Banja Luka in Yugoslavia (Bosnia).

David Levi was born on February 12, 1912 in Banja Luka, the second largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was one of ten children of Moses Levi and Rachel Montiljo Levi. Upon graduating from elementary school David started his vocational training in plumbing, heating and metalwork. David served in the Yugoslav Army and later opened his own business. The Germans and their allies invaded Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. At that time David served in the Yugoslav Air Force and was taken as a P.O.W., but managed to escape to his parents' home. They urged him to escape. David Levi reached Split and found work in a cement factory. This area was under Italian occupation and the Jews were interned in Sossano, Italy, about 90 km west of Venice. In September 1943 the Germans seized control of northern Italy and Rome. David Levi escaped from the internment camp and hid in a backyard of a woman for whom he worked. Despite urging of the local priest and the woman who hid him to convert to Christianity, David refused. He continued to stay at the farm until the liberation by the US Army in April 1945. 

David found out after the liberation that only one sister and one brother from his family survived and the rest of this big family were murdered probably in the Jasenovac camp in Croatia. 

David reached Venice where he was reunited with the Jewish community and became deeply involved with the activities of the "Jewish Brigade." These activities involved smuggling survivors into Italy and later recruiting them into the "Hagana" in preparation for the War of Independence in Palestine. At the same time David started to teach plumbing in the DP camps in Italy, so the survivors arriving in Palestine would have a profession. 

David and Klara met in the Bagnoli DP camp in Naples. They were married in 1949 in Bari, Italy by Rabbi Alberto Altaras, originally from Banja Luka. Klara's brother Froim and his wife and two children born in Italy, immigrated to Israel. The conditions in the new country were very difficult and Froim wrote to Klara not to come to Israel. Klara, now Clara Levy and David Levy boarded the ship SS "General Hershey" and arrived in New York on September 12, 1950, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year).
 
David and Clara settled in Passaic and stayed with friends before renting a third floor apartment on Madison Avenue. David always claimed he arrived in the U.S. with the equivalent of $.62 in his pocket! Initially, David soldered for a refrigeration company and Clara worked as a seamstress in a Passaic factory which manufactured suits. Later on, David worked for a plumber. David used to tell the story of how his boss suddenly took a week off to “go hunting” leaving David without any income and a family to support. When David’s boss returned from his hunting trip he came to pick David up for work and David told him that he too had “gone hunting” but instead of game, he hunted and found another job……The family domiciled on Madison Avenue for about 10 years.  They established a plumbing and heating business. Their three children were born in Paterson and delivered by Dr. Morris Joelson at the Barnert Hospital. They are, respectively, Ruth Levy Folkman was born in 1953; Mark Levy was born in 1955 and Helene Levy Diamond was born in 1960. 

When David and Clara had saved up enough money they bought a house at 367 Paulison Avenue.  When our folks came over from the ‘old country’ they were rather secular but once established in Passaic they took greater interest in the Jewish community and joined Adas Israel Synagogue on Tulip Street. Dad served on the “building and grounds” committee. Later on a new synagogue was built. The kids attended P.S. # 11 School. Ruth and Mark attended Hebrew School on Tulip Street and eventually Helene and Mark attended Hillel Academy. Rabbi Leon Katz was the rabbi at the time and over the years he officiated at the marriage of all 3 children.
 
We all have happy memories of growing up in Passaic – We shopped at Hollander Brothers on Broadway; “Jaffe” was our kosher butcher on Monroe Street; Schtzman was our hardware store also on Monroe; the Army-Navy Store on Prospect was popular; and “Two Guys” in Garfield was a frequent destination. Mom got her hair done at Leon & Louis on Broadway. We enjoyed the Village Delicatessen and the Village Bakery on Route 46 in Clifton too. After a hard day on the job, dad enjoyed ‘chilling out’ by bringing home a pitcher of beer from “Pink’s Bar” located at Oak & Paulison.

Dad spoke some Italian from his time in Italy and he befriended many Italian families. Many of them became part of his multi-cultural customers. David came into Paterson for plumbing jobs in the mills. He bought crates of grapes on E. Railroad Avenue and made his own wine. Two American-born generations of Levys have wonderful memories of life at 367 Paulison. That would include the grandchildren Benjamin, Jesse, Madeline, Evan, Sam, Max, and Zachary.
 
David Levy passed away on December 29, 2000 and Clara died on August 14, 2011. The photos that appear below also appear on the digital website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
 
Mark and Ruth Levy, JHSNJ enthusiasts