Goldstein, Battalen, Challov & Ronen Family Histories

Category: Goldsztern

  • The OTHER other Sol Goldstein (not the gangster, not my grandfather…)

    THIS Sol was one of the few Goldsztern family members to survive the Shoah.  My grandfather Sol told me that his brother Yudel Moshe’s son Sol had immigrated to Palestine in about 1936 and that he later came to the US.   My cousins Sharon Suckman Kimelstein, Lorraine Eisner Fitelson and Maxine Eisner Pollack remembered hearing […]

  • Surprise!  Uncle Shimon Goldstein Hands Us a Mystery

    From knowing next to nothing about this branch of the family, details – one  rather astonishing – are now being discovered. To remind you, Uncle Shimon is the older brother of my grandfather Sol Goldstein.  Their parents were Berl Fayvel Goldsztern and Yocheved Rozenzumen.  Along with Sol, he and his brother Meyer were the only […]

  • Surviving the Holocaust:  Before, During and After

    The gates of memory opened for Pnina Goldsztern Shaufer (Perla) when I first spoke with her in October 2019, flooding her with memories and details of her young life in Poland.  Based on conversations with her and her brother Shraga (Fayvel), I have pieced together this story of their family’s life in Poland before World […]

  • Finding the Surviving Goldstein’s

    Finding Goldstein cousins who survived the Holocaust is the highlight and most gratifying success of my genealogical research.  Here’s how it happened: Clue Number 1:  Grandpa Sol Goldstein had told me that the family name in Poland was “Goldshtern” (Goldsztern in Polish).  The name was written as “Goldstein” on his brother Shimon’s ship manifest in […]

  • The Goldsztern’s Dreadful End at Bronaya Gora

    Most of the Jews in the Brest Ghetto died in large pits at Bronaya Gora, also known as Brona/Bronna Gora.  It lies about 73 miles northeast of Brest near the town of Bereza Kartuza, known today as Biaroza.  Because the site was located near a number of ghettos (Pinsk, Kowel and others), it served as […]

  • The Goldsztern’s & Brisk (Brest) in World War II

    Before the start of World War ll on September 1, 1939, Brest and Terespol were both part of Poland.  Terespol is on the west side of the Bug River and Brest is on the east side, so members of the Goldsztern family moved easily between Terespol and Brest (Brisk); the two entities had been closely […]

  • The Creation & Destruction of Uszer (Asher) Goldsztern’s Family

    The three children of Berl Fayvel Goldsztern and Yocheved Rozenzumen who stayed in Poland rather than emigrating were destined for annihilation by the Nazis.  This post focuses on Uszer (Asher) Goldsztern and his family. Uszer was one of the middle children of Berl Fayvel Goldsztern and Yocheved Rozenzumen.  He was born in 1881 in Terespol […]

  • Pnina Goldsztern Shaufer, z”l

    Last Thursday evening, April 16, 2020, I sent WhatsApp Shabbat greetings to Tova Shaufer, Pnina’s daughter, and to her whole family.  Early the next morning Tova responded, “Sad tidings, Mother is gone.”  ברוך דיין האמת This was, indeed, sad news.  I am so grateful that I was able first to identify and locate Pnina, her […]

  • The Goldsztern Family that Stayed in Poland – Tila & Yudel Moshe

    Eight Goldsztern children lived to have families of their own, out of eleven born to Berko Goldsztern and Yachet Rozenzumen between 1870 and 1891.  My grandfather Sol Goldstein gave me this information and I have been able to identify and locate nine of the eleven:  three who immigrated to the US, three who stayed in […]

  • Earliest Generations of Goldstein’s

    More information! Earlier this year I hired a genealogical researcher in Poland named Tadeusz Przystojecki; I had gone about as far as I could using the Internet. Tadeusz has provided a lot of information taken from the Polish State Archives and from local Polish archives (anything under 100 years old stays in local archives). I’ve […]