Golem is taking a break for a while while I explore my family’s immigration story further in a new large-format sketchbook.
Substack is the home for great culture
Golem is taking a break for a while while I explore my family’s immigration story further in a new large-format sketchbook.
Have you looked for the shipping manifest for Lena? Often those include the person in the new country that the immigrant will be joining. And that’s almost some kind of a relative, whether uncle or sibling etc. I doubt anyone would send a young woman to the US without a plan for her to stay with someone known to her. My grandmother came alone but joined a sister who was already here. My grandfather joined his mother’s brother. It can be confusing because often people change their names when they got the the US, so for Jewish people you need to search using the name they had in the old country, which is typically a Yiddish name, frequently starting with the same letter as the name they used in the US. For example, my grandma Fanny was originally Frima. On the other hand, my grandpa Hyman was originally Yankel. Forgive me if you already know this, but if you didn’t and want help contact me privately.
Decades ago when I lived in Israel, my best friend was Hannah Tolchinsky.