#16 Rywka KATZ Siblings (Szajindla GOLDGRAB)
- derek4440
- Sep 10, 2022
- 12 min read
Updated: Jul 26, 2025
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KATZ, SZAJINDLA (6B)
The next eldest of Mordechai Lieb & Sara Hendla’s Children was Szajindla KATZ Born 20/JAN/1868 LAGOW, RUSSIA Died about 1931 LAGOW, RUSSIA Married about 1890 STASZOW, RUSSIA Abraham GOLDGRAB & had 8 Children Born 2/MAR/1866 STASZOW, RUSSIA
MURDERED 8/NOV/1942 STASZOW, RUSSIA Age 76 years old
Abraham travelled to SCOTLAND & then Boarded SS COLUMBIA in GLASGOW bound for NEW YORK, where he arrived at ELLIS ISLAND on 14/SEP/1903. By the Census of 1910 he lived at Pitt Street, Manhattan, NEW YORK, USA, also at the address was Lieb GROSS who was a presser. The Census also stated he was Married for 20 years, making 1890 the year of his Marriage.
Abraham was Murdered by the NAZIS (GERMAN & UKRAINIAN) together with some of his Children & their Families most likely in the Market Square in STASZOW, when the Jewish population of STASZOW & the surrounding area were being deported to AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU.
They first had an UNKNOWN SON who was Born & Died in 1893 (No 1)
Szajindla & Abraham GOLDGRAB had a Son called Hyman GOLDGRAB Born 9/MAY/1894 STAZOW, Died Dec/1975 NEW YORK Age 81 years old Blanche Blima ZALCBERG Born 15/APR/1892 STASZOW, RUSSIA Died 12/FEB/1988 NEW YORK Age 95 years old Married FEB/1918 STASZOW, RUSSIA had 4 Children,
Hyman aka Chaim (No 2) left STASZOW when he was 15 years old & took a ship from BREMEN, GERMANY called SS BARBAROSSA (you couldn’t make this up if you tried!) He arrived at Ellis Island & went to live at 95 Pitt Street, NEW YORK with a relative called Marim John GOLDGRAB. (It’s possible Hyman’s Father was also in NEW YORK & lived at the same address when Hyman arrived.) After moving to Brooklyn, he then returned to STASZOW in 1914, & after living there for 9 years he again returned to NEW YORK this time on SS AMERICA, also from BREMEN, GERMANY.
This time he went to live with his Cousin Sam FIELDING at 1122 Kelly Street, Bronx, NEW YORK & became an American Citizen 1/APR/1929 Petition #146689.In 1942 Hyman was Drafted at the age of 48 years old under Draft Card Serial #643 into the US Army. Hyman Died at the Age of 81 years old in DEC/1975.
His Wife Blanche Blima (nee ZALCBERG) Emigrated 1/MAR/1934 Aged 41 years old on SS PULASKI departed GYDNIA, POLAND, with 2 of her Children, & went to live 257 East 3rd Street, NEW YORK. Blanche Died 12/FEB/1988 Age 95 years old.
Hyman & Blanche had 4 Children, the eldest was Hyman Chiel aka Herbert GOLDGRAB Born 15/NOV/1916 STASZOW, POLAND Died 15/SEP/1987 2735 Brighton 7th Street, Brooklyn, NEW YORK, USA Married Dorothy SCHLEIFER 29/JUN/1946 TORONTO, CANADA Born 13/APR/1929 TORONTO, CANADA Died JUN/2015 NEW YORK, USA They had 4 Children
Herbert travelled to LE HAVRE, FRANCE, where he boarded the SS FRANCE & arrived in NEW YORK on 3/JUL/1931. Hyman Enlisted 12/MAY/1941 & was in the American Army until he was demobbed 8/NOV/1945, having spent the war in EUROPE & FRANCE. From 7/SEP/1952 until his Death Herbert lived at 2735 Brighton 7th Street, Brooklyn NEW YORK. He is Buried on STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK, USA.
His Wife Dorothy crossed into AMERICA on 30/JUN/1947 at NIAGRA FALLS, USA, & was Naturalised 22/JUL/1952 through the Eastern District Court of NEW YORK #470613. Dorothy moved from her home at 2735 Brighton 7th Street, Brooklyn, NEW YORK, USA in MAR/2012 to a Nursing Home in Brooklyn, NEW YORK, USA where she remained until her Death 3 years later in JUN/2015.
Nothing is much known regarding their Children & Grandchildren.
The next child of Hyman & Blanche is Max Mordke I GOLDGRAB Born 23/NOV/1919 STASZOW, POLAND Died 22/MAY/1996 Brooklyn, NEW YORK, USA Married 6/FEB/1947 NEW YORK, USA Margaret NEDELMAN They had 4 Children Born 4/JUL/1921 UNKNOWN
Died 4/NOV/2004 Brooklyn, NEW YORK, USA
Max Mordke Arrived NEW YORK 14/MAR/1934 age 14 years old aboard SS PULASKI departed GYDNIA, POLAND, in the company of his Mother Blanche & Brother Harold. Like his Brother Hyman he was in the American Army during WWII. In 1952 he lived in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NEW YORK, USA
Max & Margaret had Eli Jacob GOLDGRAB Born 22/DEC/1951 NEW YORK, USA, Married before 1978 Brooklyn, NEW YORK, USA Esther TRAINER Born 16/APR/1955, USA
They had 15 Children!
Eli is a Rabbi, the first two of their Children, Chaya Freda & Chana Devora were Born in JERUSALEM, whereas the next 13 were all Born in Far Rockaway, Queens, NEW YORK, USA. Today the Children live in CHICAGO, IL, LAKEWOOD, NJ, LONG ISLAND, NY & ISRAEL .By 2012 Eli & Esther had moved to Long Island, NEW YORK, USA, where Eli is a Rabbi in a Yeshiva.
Harry Morris aka Harold GOLDGRAB & Fiancee Andree ELZAM in CASABLANCA, MOROCCO
Harry Morris aka Harold, (Hebrew Name Hersch Mojsche) GOLDGRAB Born 18/MAR/1924 STASZOW, POLAND Died 24/APR/2012 NEW YORK, USA Married MAR/1945 CASABLANCA, MOROCCO Andree ELZAM Born 11/JUL/1926 CASABLANCA, MOROCCO
Died 4/MAR/1998 540 Oakland Avenue, Cedarhurst, Nassau County, NEW YORK, NY, USA
Arrived NEW YORK 14/MAR/1934 age 9 years old aboard SS PULASKI departed GYDNIA, POLAND, in the company of his Mother Blanche & Brother Max Mordke. Harry Morris was in American Army & served in North AFRICA, where he met his future wife Andree
After WWII he Enlisted as a Private in Hawaiian Department Enlisted Air Corps. By 1952 he lived at 679 Montgomery Avenue, Brooklyn, NYC, NY, USA, & by 1984 he had moved to 540 Oakland Avenue, Cedarhurst, Nassau County, NEW YORK, NY, USA.
His wife Andree was possibly born in RABAT or CASABLANCA both in MOROCCO. She sailed on 20/JUN/1946 on Board SS Thomas H Barry from CASABLANCA to NYC & was naturalised on 8/FEB/1949 Eastern District of NEW YORK, District Court, NEW A.R. #182856 Petition #463843. At this time she lived at 389 South 2nd Street, Brooklyn, NEW YORK, NY, USA. Andree Died 4/MAR/1998 at 540 Oakland Avenue, Cedarhurst, Nassau County, NEW YORK, NY, USA They had a Daughter Sheila Married, Divorced no Children & a Son Shelby, Married with 3 Sons
Hyman & Blanche’s youngest was Jean GOLDGRAB Born 10/AUG/1935 NEW YORK, Died about 2021 SUFFERN, USA Married Sydney GOLDSMITH 6/FEB/1954 NEW YORK Born Unknown NEW YORK, USA Died OCT/1989 NEW YORK, USA They had 4 Children
Jean GOLDGRAB & Sidney GOLDSMITH WEDDING
Last time we were in PARIS we visited Murielle at her home at 88 Boulevard du General de Gaulle, GARCHES, where she made lunch for myself & Joan. Simone, Murielle’s Mother was also there, & because Simone doesn’t speak ENGLISH, Murielle acted as interpreter. After lunch we started talking about the Family & Simone called her Cousin Jean in America & spoke to her in YIDDISH. I then spoke to Jean & over the course of the next year or two we had an electronic correspondence where Jean was kind enough to give me details of the GOLDGRAB Family which I wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere else.
Jean & Sydney had 4 Children, who in turn all Married & had their own Children. Though I have the details of the main events in their lives (Births & Marriages) the only one I know anything about is Shoshana, who is their youngest. Shoshana aka Shani, has 3 Children & is Divorced from her Husband Marc BERRIN, & I believe she now lives in JERUSALEM, where she works for the ISRAELI Government on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Shoshana has written Articles & also Published Books on the Dead Sea Scrolls, under the name Shani L. BERRIN
The Pesher Nahum Scroll from Qumran: An Exegetical Study of 4Q169
"Pesher Nahum" in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls,
Unfortunately, Jean became ill & stopped corresponding, & I wasn’t able to make meaningful contact with any other member of the family. She was a very helpful person & gave very willingly of her time.
Jean GOLDGRAB Graduation
The Family was very unfortunate as their Son Laizer GOLDGRAB (No 3) Born 16/AUG/1896 STASZOW, POLAND Married 1930 STASZOW, POLAND Chaja Sura HAJMAN MURDERED 1943 AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, POLAND (ID 8532740)
Chaja Sura HAJMAN Born abt 1895 POLAND MURDERED 1943 AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, POLAND (ID 8532742) They had 11 Children Szajna, Ita Herna, Mojzesz, Elimelek Fiege Bluma, Fischel David, Moshe Shlomo, Chaim, Yehoshua, Modekhai ALL MURDERED 1943 AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU
Son (No 4) Samuel GOLDGRAB Born 16/DEC/1898 STASZOW, POLAND Married 26//APR/1930 PARIS, FRANCE Edge DAWIDOWICZ MURDERED 25/MAY/1944 AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, POLAND Samuel was on Convoy #74 20/MAY/1944
Fortunately, Edge DAWIDOWICZ who was Born in FRANCE in 1908 & their Children escaped the fate of Samuel & they all survived the war. Edge Died in RIS ORANGIS, nr PARIS, FRANCE 17/AUG/1986 & she was survived by their children who eventually had children of their own.
Abby & Szjindla’s Daughter Perle GOLDGRAB (No 5) Born 15/DEC/1900 STASZOW, POLAND Married though I don’t have details of her Husband & any Children MURDERED in WWII AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, POLAND
Abby & Szjindla’s youngest Mordka Lieb GOLDGRAB (No 8) Born 15/AUG/1914 STASZOW, POLAND MURDERED FEB/1943 AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, POLAND Mordka Lieb was on Convoy #46 9/FEB/1943
Szajindla & Abraham GOLDGRAB had a Daughter called Rose (No 6) who Moved to PARIS & Married Wolf BRAFMAN in 1935 & had a Daughter called Simone who was Born 9/JUL/1936. As you probably know during the early part of WWII, PARIS was in the part of FRANCE that was Occupied by the GERMAN’S, whereas the southern part of FRANCE was run by the VICHY FRENCH under the direction of the NAZIS. When Wolf, Rose & Simone went to a relative for SEDER Night at PESACH, they were warned by the Concierge that the family had been taken by the FRENCH MILICE to the Velodrome d’Hiver, (eventually they learned they went onto Drancy & eventually to AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU).
Because of this Wolf & Family decided they would try to reach SPAIN, & when they arrived at the border with VICHY FRANCE they were turned back by the FRENCH officials, when a GERMAN official took their Passports from the FRENCH & gave them back to Wolf & waived them through.
They soon realised they would never reach SPAIN, & changed direction to try & reach SWITZERLAND. They didn’t realise until later that the approach to SWITZERLAND was heavily guarded & they changed direction again, this time towards GRENOBLE.
They ended up hiding in the forest with other Jewish families. They saw GERMAN Soldiers leaving food under trees, & realised this was probably a trap, but eventually hunger made them go for the food. Within a few days more food was left by the soldiers, without any attempt being made to capture the Jews. Wolf & Rose had realised they couldn’t expect Simone to survive, especially when the weather turned colder, so they put her into a Convent where she lived until the end of the war. When Wolf & Rose went to collect Simone, she had no memory of being Jewish, but knew the Catholic prayers in Latin. Most Jewish Families have stories like this, & this is just the lucky ones,
Simone Married Moise Aime ATLAN 11/JAN/1960 in PARIS. Aime was at that time a driver with the American Army. Aime was Born 26/NOV/1922 in BOU SAADA, ALGERIA & was 14 years older than Simone. They had 3 Children Murielle, Virginie & Geraldine.
We used to visit both the BRAFMANS & the ATLANS when we were in PARIS. Simone & Aime had a “ Cave” on the Ile Saint-Louis, right in the centre of Paris, with the Tour d’Argent at one end of the street & the Notre Dame on the next island.
We also visited Wolf & Rose at their home at 199 Blvd St Martin, PARIS, where Rose cooked us a beautiful meal.
Wolf, Rose Aimee,Simone plus Leon & Hyman GOLDGRAB
Wolf & Rose BRAFMAN, Aime ATLAN & Simone
And on another occasion, we visited Wolf’s workshop in Belleville, where Wolf gave Joan & the girls handbags that he’d made
Wolf’s Workshop 79 rue Rébeval, Belleville, PARIS
Wolf, Rose, Aime, Simone & the Three Children all came to stay with us in Fulwith, & Sean & Murielle started a relationship which resulted in them getting engaged. For whatever reason this didn’t last but they have remained very good friends ever since
Simone, Aimee, Shirley, Joan, Wolf & Joan’s Mother in Chair at Fulwith
As Wolf didn’t speak ENGLISH, I gave him Martin GILBERT’S “Atlas of the Holocaust” to read, which he could manage as it was mainly Maps. When it came time for them to leave, I gave him the book to keep, for which he was very grateful.
After they’d all left, I tried to buy another copy of the book only to find it was now out of print! Eventually I traced a copy to MACMILLAN’S the publisher in NEW YORK & managed to persuade them to sell their last copy to me.
Atlas of the Holocaust
Their eldest Daughter Murielle Florence ATLAN Born 17/JUL/1961 PARIS, FRANCE, Married Clarence Arthur Stanislas do REGO Born 6/MAY/1955 SAKETE, BENIN on 21/SEP/1996 in St CLOUD, FRANCE. They have two delightful Children Marcus Amos do REGO Born 6/JAN/1999 & Tina Abi do REGO Born 19/APR/2002, both in NEUILLY sur SEINE, FRANCE.
Clarence has been Married before & has a grown up Family, & works as an Accountant, whereas Murielle works in Computers. They all live in a beautiful house in GARCHES, just outside of PARIS. We still see Murielle quite a bit, last time on her own when she came to HARROGATE, & stayed with Sean & Josie, to celebrate Joan’s’ 80th Birthday at Brios.
Murielle wouldn't marry Clarence whilst her Maternal Grandparents were alive. When they had both died she told her Parents that she was Marrying Clarence, & her Father forbade her to get Married. Murielle asked if I would give her away, & I agreed if she would allow me to write to Aimee beforehand. I wrote to Aimee in French & asked him to reconsider as Murielle loved him & he would no doubt regret not giving his daughter away. The letter I got back in French, forbade me to give Murielle away or even attend the wedding. Needless to say I not only gave Murielle away, but acted as her Chauffeur in Joan's Royal Royce
Clarence, Murielle, DMG & Rolls Royce
Front Row Mimi, Dani, Murielle & Lili Back Row Tina, Marcus & Clarence
Another Son Leon GOLDGRAB (No 7) Born 1912 STASZOW, POLAND Died 22/MAY/2006 TORONTO, CANADA, Age 94 years old Married 1951 TORONTO, CANADA Judith GOLDSZMIDT Born 1919 BIALYSTOCK, POLAND Died 28/AUG/1997 TORONTO, CANADA, Age 78 years old
I never met Leon but was told the following;
Fought with Communist’s in Spanish Civil War. In 1943 Shipped off from Drancy Concentration Camp in France, bound for Auschwitz. Escaped with two others, who were shot. Leon went back to Paris.
Another Version from Jean GOLDGRAB
Leon emigrated to France before he was married. while there he became socialist and joined the Communist party. When France fell to Nazis, Leon was caught in the Nazi web arrested and placed in train cars to be sent to the camps. In the interim he had married Judith and had daughter, Ramone. Judith was a tough lady, who managed to bribe the NAZI guard and got Leon out. "They hid in the forests with the Free French, and Ramone was hidden with a Christian family. After the war, France wanted to send Leon back to his country of origin, Poland, finally my father and brothers convinced Uncle Meilach to sponsor Leon to come to Canada.
Whichever version is correct Leon was a very tough guy & his wife Judith was very strong. Leon lived at 170 Palmerston Avenue, TORONTO, CANADA in 1952, by 2006 he lived at 107 Collinson Boulevard, DOWNSVIEW, ONT, CANADA.
His wife Judith’s story is even more adventurous. Apparently, Judith went to pre-state ISRAEL when it was British Mandate PALESTINE before WWII. Whilst there she got Married, though we’ve no idea what happened to her Husband & whether or not she had any Children.
Here is the saga of Uncle Leon and Aunt Judith. We will do Aunt Judith as told it to my family when they came in from Toronto to my daughter's wedding.
“Judith was big strong woman, not particularly attractive, who had strong opinions and did not hesitate to voice them, yet Leon was the dominant one. She was born on the Polish-Russian border, she was 10 years old when her mother died. Her father remarried, and enter the evil stepmother who did not want Judith. Judith's brother went to Palestine as a chalutz, so father dearest put her on a boat to Palestine to live with her brother. What a terrible trip for a little girl. She lived in Palestine for a while, spoke Hebrew fluently then sort of floated around, where she met Leon. They were both socialists-communists. I don't know about a first husband and her daughters never mentioned it. They lived together and eventually married; to be continued”
I met both his Daughters, the eldest Raymonde/Ramone was in charge of immigration in the Liberal Government & travelled to many Third World Countries encouraging their population to come to CANADA. I also met Sheila & her partner Joel in TORONTO. Unfortunately, the sisters didn’t get on, & because I saw both of them, now neither wants to be in touch with me.
As related in my BLOG “Voyage of Discovery” the Jews of STASZOW who were still alive & living in STASZOW on 8/NOV/1942 were herded into the Market Square together with their meagre belongings. Many were beaten to death, by the UKRANIAN Guards where they stood awaiting deportation to the Death Camps. Amongst those Murdered on that day we believe one was Abraham GOLDGRAB. The irony was that he’d emigrated to AMERICA & lived in NEW YORK at 1491 East 17th Street, Brooklyn, but came back to STASZOW where his wife Szajindla Died abt 1931.
STASZOW Market Square
On a happier note, a young POLISH boy noticed something by the fire that the UKRAINIAN’S had lit of the Jewish peoples few possessions, & rescued it without realising the significance. He hid it for many years & eventually gave it to a group of POLES who were establishing an ad-hoc museum in memory of STASZOW’S JEWS. This was the Torah that I saw when I visited STASZOW.
Derek with STASZOW Torah
Rebuilt house on site where Abbish GOLDGRAB lived in STASZOW
This is how the Abbish GOLDGRABS house would have been
Many of the KATZ Family were recorded in POLISH Records as KAC. Both names mean COHEN, so this Family were from the Priestly Tribe of LEVI, but in addition descended from Aaron, Brother of Moses.
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