![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/JGSS-Diamant-2-Norbert-and-Irena-Aleksandrowicz-c1922.jpg\")
<\/a>Twins Norbert and
Irena Aleksandrowicz, c1922<\/p><\/div>\n
Meir was a well-known Judaic scholar and eventually returned to Stanislawow from Vienna, teaching languages at a local high school. I know little about Meir and have only one photo of him. From documents I\u2019ve received from the Ivano-Frankivsk archives, I\u2019ve managed to obtain more information about the Weissbergs. Meir and his wife had four children, two boys and two girls. Both Weissberg daughters married, but only one, Frydryka, had children. She and her husband, Alexander Aleksandrowicz, had three children, Lidja (born 1915) and twins, Norbert and Irena (born 1917). Through the IKG in Vienna (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien), I was able to determine that all the Aleksandrowicz children were born in Vienna, but eventually returned to Stanislawow, after a short stay in their father\u2019s hometown, Bielsko-Biala, Poland.<\/p>\n
And now the trail became very cold. I had hit the wall. In 2015, I submitted a brief family biography to the JewishGen Discussion Group, specifically looking for any information about any of the Aleksandrowicz children, my father\u2019s second cousins Lidja, Norbert, or Irena. If there were a chance of living relatives from this side of my family, it lay with the Aleksandrowicz children. I had gone as far as I could go, even after hiring researchers in Poland and Ukraine.<\/p>\n
In January 2016, I received an email from a man named Lucas in Poland. He had read my family description in the JewishGen Discussion Group, recognized the name Norbert Aleksandrowicz, and thus began a wonderful relationship. Lucas spoke only a little English but, with the aid of Google Translate, we were able to communicate.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Norbert Aleksandrowicz,
Post War, Poland<\/p><\/div>\n
It was Lucas\u2019s grandmother who had saved Norbert\u2019s life. She found Norbert hiding in the utility room of her Stanislawow farm, hiding from execution, from certain death. She told Norbert he could stay and she hid him on her family farm for three years, at great danger to herself, and thus allowing Norbert to survive. In 1945, Lucas\u2019s family and Norbert were resettled in Klodzko, Poland, where Lucas, his father, his grandmother, and Norbert continued to live.<\/p>\n
I had a million questions and Lucas had most of the answers, in addition to photos from Norbert\u2019s youth and as an adult. Lucas described Norbert as his adoptive grandfather and a nice man, easy to talk to. Norbert died at age 90 of natural causes in 2007, after a successful career as a banker, like his father, Alexander. Sadly, Norbert\u2019s entire family, including his twin sister Irena, were murdered by the Nazis. Norbert never married.<\/p>\n
Slowly, slowly, clues, which helped to build a picture of Norbert\u2019s persona, were emerging. One such clue was a \u201crelative\u201d named Gustav, who arranged to sponsor Norbert\u2019s immigration to the United States (c1945), but Norbert refused, citing his gratitude and loyalty to Lucas\u2019s grandmother and father in Klodzko. Using Ancestry.com and Google, I was able to locate the son (age 82) of this \u201crelative\u201d Gustav, who now lives in California. He told me he was about 10 years old when his father, Gustav, told of trying to bring a relative from Poland to the United States. Even though Gustav\u2019s document claimed Norbert was a relative, my research tells me different. With the assistance of Gustav\u2019s son and family, I continue to explore this aspect of Norbert\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Lucas also revealed that in Klodzko there was a videographer, Nik, who was a friend of Norbert and very interested in Norbert\u2019s story. Nik travelled with Norbert to Stanislawow, recording Norbert\u2019s thoughts and saying Kaddish at the cemetery in Stanislawow.<\/p>\n
And to think, all of this was the result of a short family biography posted on the Discussion Group of JewishGen.<\/p>\n
May 2018<\/p>\n
Kauai, Hawaii, USA<\/p>\n
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Research Notes & Hints<\/strong><\/h4>\nPrior to the advent of the Internet, Michael sent a form letter to his family members seeking information about the family\u2019s history and genealogy. This information proved very helpful to his future research.<\/p>\n
Michael\u2019s breakthrough came from a brief family biography he posted on JewishGen\u2019s Discussion Group<\/strong>, which was read by a man in Poland who had known his father\u2019s cousin Norbert. https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/JewishGen\/DiscussionGroup.htm<\/a><\/p>\nValuable information regarding the family was provided by the IKG in Vienna<\/strong> (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien). https:\/\/www.ikg-wien.at\/?lang=en<\/a><\/p>\nSee JewishGen\u2019s Kehilalinks<\/strong> for more information regarding Stanislawow, now Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine. https:\/\/kehilalinks.jewishgen.org\/Ivano_Frankivsk\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Other resources used by Michael included:<\/p>\n
Ancestry.com<\/strong> https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/<\/a><\/p>\nJewish Records Indexing \u2013 Poland <\/strong>http:\/\/jri-poland.org\/<\/a><\/p>\nFamily Search<\/strong> https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/<\/a><\/p>\nGenTeam<\/strong> https:\/\/www.genteam.at\/<\/a><\/p>\nUS Holocaust Memorial Museum<\/strong> https:\/\/www.ushmm.org\/<\/a><\/p>\nYad Vashem<\/strong> http:\/\/www.yadvashem.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n
Valuable information regarding the family was provided by the IKG in Vienna<\/strong> (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien). https:\/\/www.ikg-wien.at\/?lang=en<\/a><\/p>\n See JewishGen\u2019s Kehilalinks<\/strong> for more information regarding Stanislawow, now Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine. https:\/\/kehilalinks.jewishgen.org\/Ivano_Frankivsk\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Other resources used by Michael included:<\/p>\n Ancestry.com<\/strong> https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Jewish Records Indexing \u2013 Poland <\/strong>http:\/\/jri-poland.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n Family Search<\/strong> https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n GenTeam<\/strong> https:\/\/www.genteam.at\/<\/a><\/p>\n US Holocaust Memorial Museum<\/strong> https:\/\/www.ushmm.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n Yad Vashem<\/strong> http:\/\/www.yadvashem.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n