Zoltan Rubin - January 12, 1983
Extended Family
How large do you think the extended family and the immediate family were?
The immediate...I would say around seventy people. I'm talking about immediate family because uh, like for instance, my... Let me start with my oldest brother. My oldest brother, okay he remained, he was, he remained because he went back to Persia in 1939, he run, ran out, run back to Persia with his wife and child. They had remained there, they were alive. Sister, there were five children, one child remained, nobody else.
One survived the war?
One survived the war. She's the only one who is still alive in Montreal. Then I had a brother who had two children, nobody survived. Another brother, three children, nobody survived. Another, the other sister...The other brother, two children, nobody survived. Uh, then uh, a sister, three children, nobody survived. Among all of the survivors were my brother who went to, to, to Israel in 1933, he remained, my brother who went to Persia, he remained, and I remained in Czechoslovakia. I was the only one.
How many do you think were lost?
I say seventy people. I would say close to seventy people. My aunts, we have my fath...from my father's side, there was a big family. Uh, my grandmother from one side. As a matter of fact, my grandmother was ninety years old. Close to ninety when they were taken...when they took her away. As a matter of fact, I think I have it right here. Yes, she was born in 1854, my grandmother. Eighteen-fifty-four and this happened in 1940, so they took her when she was uh, 1940...eight years...She was eighty-six years old then.
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn