Family History

My name is Markel Marcus. I was born in October 14, 1924 in Boryslaw, in the Lwow region, an area that was included then in the territory of Poland. I live in Haifa, Israel from 1948.

I would like to tell here everything I know about the history of my family, Markel- Bartel.

I remember all the following since I was a child, from the stories of my grandmother and father about our family. I will endeavor to reconstruct all the events, as my memory will let me remember.

It all began in the year 1820, the year in which my grandfather's father, Bartel Solomon, was horn in the village Lutowinsko near the city Sambor, which is in the southeast region of Poland.

The events took place during the time of the Napoleon's wars that conquered then half of the European states. I do not remember the name of my grandfather father's wife at all, but just the fact that my grandfather was a farmer, who was married in 1850 and lived in Lutowinsko, where he raised a family. The name of his firstborn son is Shamay Bartel.

He was born in the year 1860 and continued the family dynasty in the same village. Shamay Bartel is in fact mr grandfather and the grandfather of my cousin Sidney Prince, who lives in the U.S.A and I will talk about him in length later.

I immigrated to Israel in 1948 with the establishment of the state. I dwelled in the city of Haifa and married Hanna Nusia of the Zandberg family in 1950, who was horn in Poland in the year 1927. Here in Haifa I raised my own family.

We had two wonderful sons: my firstborn, Dr. Solomon Markel, was born in 1952. He had finished his studies in the faculty of electricity engineering and computers in the Technion. He graduated and had also finished his MA and his third degree there. Now, he is a senior officer in the Israeli defense forces and has a brigadier degree in the Navy. His wife, Ariella, a daughter of the LiPe family, was born in 1957. She is working as a music and special education teacher. They have three sons. Gal, who was born in 1978, is a medicine student in the University of Jerusalem. Hen (Hanan), who is called after my deceased wife, Hanna, was born in 1981. He studies in the twelfth grade. Amit, who was born in 1990, studies in the second grade. Their economic condition is well.

My second son, Shamay Markel, was born in 1962. He had finished his studies in the electricity and computers faculty in the Technion. He married Yehudit (Dity), the daughter of the Zimrin family and raised a family in Tel- Aviv. They have two children, a boy and a girl.

The girl, Liran, who was born in 1992, starts the first grade, and the boy, Elad, who was born in 1996, is a beautiful and fascinating blond baby.

I am sorry that my wife, Hanna, who died in 1981 because of a severe disease, was not fortunate to see her grandsons in their growth and their adulthood. But I am happy with what I have and with the fact that I can see my sons continuing the dynasty of the Markel family and I derive a lot of satisfaction from them.

Shamay Bartel was married in the year 1877. His wife's family name was originally Markel. They settled as aforesaid in Lutowinsko before the beginning of the First World War. The Austro-Hungary Empire with the leadership of Franz Josef, the Caesar, dominated the Lutowinsko district. The Caesar's attitude towards the Jews was kind. This entire district of southeast Poland (Ost Galizien) was then attached to the empire.

My grandfather wedding was arranged according to the best of Jewish religious law, with "Kiddush" by a Jew Rabbi and was signed by him and by witnesses.

The couple had three boys and four girls:

The boy's names:

1. Solomon- called after Solomon his Grandfather.

2. Aaron- called after Aaron- the grandfather, the grandfather's father of the house of Markel.

3. Jehezkel

And the girl's names:

1. Molly- Malcia in Polish.

2. Matilda.

3. Miriam

4. Frida



Malcia (Molly)

The first-born daughter left Poland after the First World War and was married to an American Jew from a Polish origin. His name was Marcus Prince. Then they lived in New York City in Brooklyn. Marcus worked as a wage earner in a men's hats factory. They had two sons:

1. Sidney

2. Martin.

They also adopted a girl, but I cannot remember her name.



Matilda

The second daughter was married in the year 1930 to a farmer from the village Olsanik, near the city of Sambor, which is placed in the north southern part of Poland.

I cannot remember the name of her husband or his family name. They had three sons and three daughters. I can remember just their firstborn son's name, Wowa. I had a close acknowledgement with all the family. They used to be land workers in the village. They had fields, cattle, horses and poultry.

Since I was a young boy of five years old and from that time my parents used to send me to this family in the village for the holidays, mostly for a whole month. I enjoyed being with them-had the possibility to ride on horses, drink cows' milk right from the milking process. Moreover, there were farmer's crap fields-vegetables, potatoes, carrots, cucumbers and also fruit: apples, pears and plums. The product was brought in wagons, which were harnessed to horses to our town Borislav, and there they sold their merchandise to traders. Father, who was a shopkeeper by his profession, used to buy the product to his grocery.



The daughter Miriam

I remember very well the youngest sister, the youngest girl, which grew and was married in the year 1940 to Lion Shoor in the city BorislaW in her wedding day, when I was a young boy at the age of 16. Her husband was a senior worker in the refinery and he earned a good salary for his living. In the year 1941 they had their firstborn daughter. Exactly then the war between U.S.S and Germany burst.

I liked Miriam and her family very much. They lived in our street in Borislaw Lukasiewicza

road, in front of the police building They lived welfare lives. They acquired two houses for rent and also a fine private apartment was part of their property Frida Frida was also married to a farmer in the year 1921, whose name was Jgel and she remained to live in the same place. Their economic position was grooved: dunams of soil for agricultural crops of wheat,

horses, poultry and dogs The work they invested In the farm was difficult. They had two sons One of the boys enlisted an the year 1938 to the U.S.S army. I shall now speak about my uncles from the Bartel family. Aaron Bartel He was a farmer who dwelled in the village, Koblo. He was married in the year 1920 and lived in the Sambor region. Like other family members, his economic position was good. He owned soils and an agricultural farm, which included horses,

cattle and poultry. Moreover, he dealt with horse trade and also held warehouses full of agricultural instruments I do not recall his wife's name. but I do remember that they

had two sons and two daughters. There also, I used to spend time during summer vacations as a child, and I liked to stay as a guest an their private and nice house. Yehezkel Bartel My second uncle was married in the year 1940 to Hudla from the Zumer family I was present

an their wedding. I was 16. They did not have any children. With the burst of World War 2, an the date September I, 1939, not a long time had passed- two weeks approximately- until Poland was divided between Germany and the U.S S and the Molotov- Ribentrop agreement was signed. The Germans received the western side of Poland, and the eastern part was attached to the U.S.S. In  the year 1940 we received a postcard from aunt Molly in Brookline, who wanted to know what happened to our family and if everybody was healthy. Through the international Red Cross my father returned her an answer, which informed her about the normal condition of

the family members. in that period my family lived in Boryslaw. My parents owned a grocery store and a store, which sold fruit and vegetables. In addition, they had houses and apartments for rent. The family was considered a middle class family and a family that had money and property. The Communist Russlans conquered the area and we lived an a constant fear from the fact that we would be sent to camps an distant Siberia For our happiness, it did not happen And thus the living routine continued. My father worked very hard as a sample workman in order not to be sent to Siberla. In the year 1941 the German armies attacked the U.S.S army and the battles flamed again. The Germans invaded and conquered all the southern east area of Poland- the place in which the Bartel- Markel family had dwelled. My desire is to expand the stories about my personal family. My father, Solomon Bartel, was called after his father

according to the custom of that period, in order to immortalize the remembrance of the previous generation and to honor it. He was married in the year 1922 to my mother, Lea, from

the Seaman family. They moved to live in Boryslaw and there I was born in the year 1924. brother, Shamay, died in the year 1939 and my young brother, who was born, was called Shamay after his name.  After the birth of the children Shamay and Marcus, a certain problem was created regarding the family names. My father last name was, as had been said before, Bartel, but because my grandfather and grandmother were married in a Jewish ceremony and not in a civil one, the marriage was considered illegal, because it was not registered properly in the interior of flee. Therefore, the children, who were born, were registered as Markel- the family name of the mother- and not as Barrel, the family name of the father. In order to facilitate the confusion, my father was offered a solution, in which he would replace his last name to Markel, an order to ensure that all the family members will be called an the same name. I received the name Marcus because of my mother's father and my brother, Shamay- as was saved before, I was called after my father's father. Shamay was shot by the Germans and murdered in the beginning of his life, in the year 1942, when he was only 16. As an incident remark, I will point out that I also continued the custom of immortalizing my beloved ones, and the sons, who were born to me, my firstborn, Solomon, and my second son, Shamay, were called after my father and my brother, and thus I closed a circle from a personal point of view. I would like to return for a moment for my aunt, Frida One of her two sons was recruited to the Red Army in the year1939, when he was 21. While all the families had been killed and the Holocaust, he was the only one left as a survivor, because he had been in Russia as a soldier, who participated in the battles against the Germans. In August 1944 I was released from the Nazi enemy. I did not have then anyone in the world- only me and my loneliness. I remembered

The postcard, which was sent from my aunt, Molly, from the U.S.A, and I thought for myself that I must find my aunt! 1n the came time I knew that my mother was in the extermination camp, Auwswiz, but I did not know clearly whether she was dead or not. I knew nothing about my father. After a while, I found out that he was killed in Metaeozen camp in Austria and my mother remained living in the Oswincim extermination camp. I started to search after all the ways in order to find her.

I also wanted to find a sign of life from my aunt, Molly, in the U.S.A. Through an acquaintance I received the address of a man from N.Y., whose name was Egit. I wrote to him and asked him to send me aunt Molly's address. Mentioned in my letter that I was left alone and besides this aunt, I did not have another relative in the world. I did not know this aunt personally and did not know whether she was alive or where she lived. To my surprise, I received a reply letter from Egit, which pointed out Molly's address. You cannot describe in words how my happiness was great.

Since then, a wonderful correspondence system had begun between us. In addition, my aunt sent me food packages, which were at that period very valuable merchandise.

Molly wrote to me in her letters that she received from her niece - Frida's son- a letter from his staying in the Russian army, in which he served, but it was the last letter. She did not hear from him since then. It seems that he was killed in one of the bitter battles against the Germans, and the Russians did not know whom to notify about his death.



My grandmother's family- Markel

My grandmother from the Markel family had two brothers and a sister. The two brothers of the Markel house lived in the city of Lwow, established families and in the year 1936 immigrated to Israel. In the year 1939, a month before the burst of World War 2, they brought their parents from Poland to Israel, from the city of Lwow, and thanks to that they stayed alive and did not pass through the Holocaust trauma. The parents died and they are buried in Israel. One of the sons settled in Haifa and he had two daughters and a son. The name of the son is Mates Markel and the names of the girls are Chawa and Zelda. They all died. Chawa married a man named Plot. They did not have children. Zelda married a man from Petach Tikva, whose name was Yosef Porat, who worked as the manager of the education department in the Petach Tikva city hall. Three children were born to them: Zvi, Rivka and Tali. All of them are married and have

Children. Zvi Porat works today in the aerial industry in Petach Tikva. Riki works as a special education teacher and she is also a resident of Petach Tikva. Tali lives in Haifa and works as a teacher in the Leo- Beck high school.

In the year 1946, when I was in Germany, I stayed in the refugees' camp, UNRA, in Berlin. My aunt, Molly, from the U.S.A, sent for me and for my mother two applications for an immigration certificate for journey for the U.S.A. My uncle, Markus Prince, who worked, as was said before, as a hatter, did not succeed in business in the same period, but despite of that fact my aunt sent the certificates for our arrival to the U.S.A. My mother and me passed a hearing at the American consul in Berlin and waited to get a travel certificate for the quota, the amount of Jewish travelers from Poland, who could receive an approval every year. The certificate did not come. Then, we waited for two years. After the establishment of the state in the year 1948, we decided to immigrate to Israel, and thus ended the American dream.

Since I had lived in my father's house remembered that the Markel family lives in Haifa, which consisted of my father's cousins, who were mentioned above. There was a correspondence between the families and thus destiny summoned to me an immigrant messenger from Israel, who

arrived to Berlin and by chance was a Haifa resident, whose name was Almogi Jacob. I asked him to locate in Haifa a man, named Matityaho Markel. To my great happiness, the man told me that Matityaho Markel was a famous man and he was an engineer in the Hadar Hacarmel committee in the Haifa city hall. And thus begun my first step towards Israel in the right side and in a successful way.

When I immigrated to Israel I knew my entire grandmother's family, all the Markels from my grandmother's house, the cousins and their families. Matityao Markel raised a family in Haifa, married Noomi from the Ribacki house. Their son, Modi, was horn in the year 1948. Today he is married and has a daughter. He works as an economist and lives in the city of Givataym. His sister, Mija, who was born in 1946, is today the dean professor of the administration and management faculty in the Technion in Haifa, and she is very talented. She is married to Lifa Arez and she lives in Haifa. They also have a son, Adi, and a girl, Mor. The daughter, Mor is married and has two daughters. That in any rate, the Markel family has a continuance generation and the Nazis did not succeed to exterminate it from the world.

My grandmother had a sifter named Rebeka, who married a fellow from Boryislaw, named Wilf. Four

sons were born to them: Dyonyo,Juda, Moses and Herman. The boys raised families when they grew up, but all of them were killed in the Holocaust, besides the two daughters of the brother, Moses-the oldest brother. The names of his daughters are Nosia and Jota. They hid during the Holocaust at a Polish farmer, who was a good friend of their father and thus they had been saved.

Jota was married and gave birth to a son and a daughter and had even grandchildren, and all of them live in Israel in Netanya. She herself is in a nursing institution because of her Alxhaymer disease. The second daughter, Nosia, was married in Poland after World War 2 to a handicapped from the Russian army in 1945, when she was 17. Her husband's name is Frank Polek. They immigrated to N.Y with their two sons in 1948 and were united there with the family of Polek's father. Their economic status was good and they found their living in a laundry shop. They bought a nice house in Hadson, Monitor.

Frank got a cardiac arrest three years ago and he died. His son was killed two years ago in a car accident, so Nosia suffered from terrible tragedies but she recovered and was consoled by the fact that she has wonderful brides and grandchildren and another son- life goes on and so does she, according to her words.

I am used to correspond with her and we talk on the telephone. She visits Israel every year and sees her sister and me. I love her veer much because she is a sweet woman and she is in fact my cousin from a second rank (our fathers were cousins) from the family of our grandmother.

My grandmother from the Markel house died approximately in the Year 1927 according to my parent's testimony. The grandfather, Shamay, was left with six children (Molly had traveled meanwhile to the U.S.A) and then remarried, and from this marriage another son was born. The marriage ceremony was arranged according to the Jewish religious law and not according to the civil law, and therefore the born baby was registered by his mother's last name- Birenbaum. He was the half brother of my father. I do not remember Birenbaum first name. Anyway, he lived in the city of Sambor with his wife and children-a son named Belo and a daughter named Hela. They had a store for selling candies.

I knew them well and in the age of 13- the Bar Nitzva- my parents sent me to them for a vacation from school in Sambor. We became good friends.

Birenbaum'e wife was a midwife- this profession was considered dignified in that period. Their economic condition was excellent.

In the Holocaust all the family was destroyed and only the daughter, who worked as maid for a

Polish man, survived. After the war the daughter was married and gave birth to two daughters. In the Year 1957 they arrived to Israel. My mother had a fluent connection with them because they knew each other well, since the days of the war.

They visited me in Haifa and I attempted to help them as much as I could in that period. The oldest daughter, Pela, stayed as a guest in my house for a week and told me that she had finished three years of studies in Poland. She studied medicine in the university and here in Israel continued her medicine studies in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She did not have the economic means and she lived in the student'8 accommodations. Therefore, each month I sent her an allowance of 30 Liras (in the year 1957-1958) and also asked my mother to add 30 Liras from her pension from Germany. Thus, during a year we sent her 60 Liras as a yearly allowance.

We were disappointed because this girl was not grateful towards us. She did not write and did not keep in touch. We stopped supporting her after a Year. She finished her medicine studies and was accepted in hospital "Hemek" in Afula as a doctor. There she met a gynecologist named Dr. Zokerman, married him and had two daughters. My mother was in her wedding. They did not invite me, for some reason. They progressed in their profession and her husband is the gynecology professor in the medical center named sifter Rabin. There is no connection with them since then.

I find it useful to remind the whole affair because when aunt Molly's daughter arrived to Israel, she told me that even when she was in Poland she corresponded with aunt Nolly and asked her for financial support, but aunt Molly was then an elder woman and she could not help her financially. I told her that when she was in Haifa in my house.

My aunt Molly and her husband, Mordechai Prince, died in N.Y., U.S.A. My cousin, Martin Prince, their eldest son, died also from a severe disease. The people who are alive era his wife, Dozis, his children and his grandchildren. My cousin- her youngest son- Sidney, lives with his family in Florida in the U.S.A with his wife, Adela, and they have two sons, Jeffery and Richards, a daughter, Dennis, and their economic condition is very good. I have a constant relationship with them- by phone calls and letters. Sidney visited us twice in Israel and we enjoyed our joint meeting very much.

Another thing which I wanted to add is connected to Markel- Bartel destiny during the Holocaust. All my uncle Aaron Bartel's family, his wife, children and himself were deported from the Kabalo village to Sambor ghetto in the beginning

Of 1942. From there in November 1942, they were sent together with all the ghetto Jews to Belzas, extermination camp, where they died by the Nazis murderers.

My uncle, Yaheakel Bartel, his wife and his family, which lived in Borislaw, were also cent in October 1942 to the extermination camp, Belzas, and they died there.

The Eigal family and my aunt, Frida, with her husband and her son died in the same camp in the end of the year 1942.

My aunt, Matilda, her husband and her children, were also sent to Belaas and died there.

My aunt Miriam from the Bartel house was sent with her daughter, the baby, and her husband, in the end of the year 1942 from Berislaw to Belzas.

Prom my grandmother family- all the Wilf family, aunt Rabeka, her husband, their four sana with their wives and children- all died in the Holocaust by the German Nazis murderers. There is not one survivor from this family!



My mother's family- Lea Markel from the Seeman house

My mother, Lea, was horn in the year 1902 in the city of Steri, which is in southeastern Poland in the Lwow area. My mother's father was called Grinfeld Nahum and my mother's mother (my grandmother)- was Berta. My grandfather was a religious man, who behaved according to the

commandments. They lived in the city of Steri. They had a hotel not far from the railway station. As a child I visited them a lot and loved them. They were wonderful people and it was fun to be in their presence.

My mother had a sister, Miriam- born in 1990 and a brother- David, who was horn in 1898. With the burst of World War 1 all the family moved to Austria, to Vienna, and stayed there until 1919. In this year they returned to Poland and settled in Steri. Their financial condition was good. The cousin immigrated to Czechia, to the city of Carlstbad, and there he married a rich girl and opened a clothes store for children, men and women one son was horn to him- Max. In the year 1938, after Czechia was conquered by the Germans, David and his wife succeeded to escape in a rented plane to Chile- Santiago and he took with him also cash. We kept in touch with him until the year 1941. David died in Chile in the year 1946. His son, Max, was married and moved to Rio de-Janerro in Brazil, the place from which his wife cams. There he was engaged in shoes selling and his daughter was born. In that year, his mother died from cancer and his daughter got ill in the same sickness and died. He still lives in Brazil until today.

My mother's sister, Miriam, was married after she returned to Poland. Her husband was engaged with hook- keeping. They had a son- Marcus and a girl, Rosa. They lived in the city of Borislaw and therefore I knew them well. They were sent in the year 1941 to Beronize forests after the Germans' invasion and there all of them were shot to death.

The daughter, Rosa, was saved by hiding in the office, in which she worked. But in the year 1944, in the month of April, when she was in a concentration camp, she was sent with the rest of the camp residents to Ausviz. Because she was beautiful, she was not sent straight to the incinerators but was used as a clerk because of her considerable knowledge in the German and in the English languages. Because of a 1ack of food, she got ill with tuberculosis and was put in a building, which was converted to a temporary hospital, and waited to be sent to the incinerators. Fortunately for her, Ausviz was released in January 1945 by the Russian army, and th118 her life was saved. David turned to the international Red Cross and they found her ill and overwrought. She was removed to a health resort in Lozern in Switzerland, where she was two years, healed and received a travel certificate to South America, where she met a Jewieh fellow with an Austrian origin, who lived in Argentina, and his name was Max Klien, in the city of Boaynes- Ayres. She married him and gave birth to two sons- Max and George.

They all visited here in Israel.

Her husband died during the '80 and she still lives in Boayness- Ayress and ahe is 79 today. Her sons and their families live today in Argentina, in Boayness- Ayress.

My grandfather from my mother's side- Nahum Grinfeld, was married to my grandmother (zeman) in a traditional Jewish ceremony and not in a civil ceremony, and therefore my mother's last name was registered as Zeman. Her sister and brother were also registered in this name.

I will point here that my grandmother, Berta, was driven in Novanber 1943 to Baronize forest, and there she was shot with other Jews to death.

My grandfather, Nahum, died in the year 1940, before the burst of the war between Germany and the U.S.S.

My grandmother had two sisters and two brothers.

One brother, Izek Zeman, lived with his family in the city of Skola in Poland. There is not a trace of their family. All of them were killed in the extermination camp, Sobibor. The other brother, Hanoh, lives with his family in Lwow, and the Nazis also exterminated them. The sister, Regina, a pharmacist in her profession, lived with her family in Warsha and died with all her family in the extermination camp, Treblinka. My second grandmother's sister, Zila, lived in

the city of Psemisel with her husband and their five children. They all were killed in Sobibor.

My grandfather, Nahum Grinfeld, had two brothers and a sister. His brother, Smuel, lived in Drohobicz and was killed with his family in the Holocaust. His brother, Meir, lived in the village, Popyele with his family and was killed there. There is not a trace of them. My grandfather's sister, Boca, her husband and their seven children lived in the city of Truskaviz in Poland. They were all sent for extermination. And thus only me and my cousin, Sidney from the

U.S.A, who passed the Holocaust, had been left from our extended family. My mother, Lea Markel, was saved from the Holocaust when she was in the Ausviz camp. The Nazis did not manage to burn her. She died in Haifa in the year 1992 in an old age- in the age of 90, she had grandchildren and great grandchildren and she lived her last years in a good way. hope I succeeded, even in some way, in my Attempts to reconstruct all the horrors that had

Passed in our extended and large family. The period of the burst of the war between Germany and the U.S.S and the Nazi occupation in our area was for our family- my father, my mother, my brother, Shamay and me- a very realistic hell. The soldiers burned our house and all its contents and we were very hurt from the terrible situation. I was transferred with the entire city Jews to the ghetto in which I experienced all the horrors and the traumas of the cured Nazi occupation: hungar, plagues, walloping and a very difficult physical work. In one of the many kidnappings of the Jews by the Nazis, the Germans shot my brother and killed him when he was only 16. My father and me transferred his corpse to the Jewish cemetery in the city, but today this cemetery is completely ruined and therefore there is not even a grave for my brother. But the glass of suffering poison only began to fulfill and we were transferred to the horrible extermination camp,Ausviz, in burden trains for the loading of beasts. In the way I managed to run from the train and this is the reason I stayed alive. For me the escape was compared to the coming of the messiah and the revival.

My parents arrived to Ausviz and there the men were immediately separated from the women. My mother, Lea, remained in Ausviz in Birkenao camp, for hard works, until her release in January 1945, and my father was sent from Ausviz to Austria for the extermination camp, Metahozen, and from there to a very difficult working camp, Gozen 2. In this camp all the Jews were finally exterminated by hard labor. In Passover of 1945 my father collapsed during the morning line- up and did not rise anymore. He was 44 in his death and his burial place is unknown.

In general, some words about the period:

With the occupation of 18 European states by the Nazis, the German promised the European people that the cooperation regarding the final solution for the Jews will be very profitable for them from the economic aspect- all the Jews' property: real estate, houses, factories, businesses will be transferred for their benefit, in addition to the funds, the securities, the jewels, the art objects- all that had been deposited in the European banks in that period, and above all-they will get rid of the Jews, but not before taking advantage of them in hard labor.

It was a real hall for the Jews. Everyone gave up his immovable property and these who succeeded in hiding come money, gold and jewels, passed a humiliating process of search and robbery. Golden teeth were even plundered from the bodies and thus there is a great fortune of money, tones of gold and million of dollars and money in other foreign coins until today.

All the European states had part in this process- without any exception. For all of them the deal

was worthwhile. Thus, our people's property had been robbed and the robbery continued until these days. What a shame that so little is left from this big family. I take comfort from the fact that in my age have a lot of satisfaction from my two sons- Solomon and Shamay and of course from my dear grandchildren and their two brides. We all live here in the country and I wish my children to enjoy only the good, to have a lot of health and happiness, that all their wishes and hopes will the fulfilled and that they will be able to raise their children in love and in happiness.

Finished but certainly not over,

                                    Mordechai Markel