Click on the photos for more explanation.


This is a great photo because it depicts my greatgrandmother Frieda holding my father on her lap. My dad was born on "Shavuos," said my grandmother Goldie. Birthdates were not kept by the family in Russia. So a birthdate was determined by the Jewish holiday closest to their time of birth. My dad was born in 1902. That's why my sister says this photo dates to 1903. I might add that at this time my grandfather's family name was "Yvri" and my grandmother's "Ravicher."



I have to thank Felia Holtzman for these photos. They were taken in Europe before my father's family arrived in America. The photo with the inserts in the upper corners may actually be concentration camp photos of my father and uncle.

*Read my sisters account of the "Escape from Russia"
below.


My grandfather is said to have gone to Moscow to buy diamonds as portable wealth to finance the journey to America. They left as members of a group of about 40 or so. They settled first in Bucharest long enough to obtain Rumanian passports. This is a photo of most of that group of refugees.


The family left from Hamburg in 1921 and sailed to New York. When they got to the states they were without funds (diamonds sewn into the lining of my grandmother's coat had mysteriously vanished). This photo was taken soon after their arrival. One of my grandmother's brothers had already come to Tulsa, and said it was a good place to settle.While many members of the group settled in New York, my father's family came to Oklahoma.


My parents wedding at the Synagogue; Tulsa, Oklahoma.
January 1, 1930.


Click on the invitation for a larger view.


Looks like the whole family turned out for this wedding at the Mayo Hotel. It is interesting to contrast this photo with the 1903 photo of the Ravitz family. My grandmother was reunited with all her brothers. The only one of her children not in this photo is my uncle Louie.


One of the few vacations my parents took. The Bar Mitzvah of Robert Holtzman in New York, 1954.


I include this photo of my uncle Louie here with his son Louie, because it is one of the few formal portraits I have of Louie as an adult.


The last portrait of my grandmother and her grown children. Unfortunately, Louie was not present. It was not too many years later that my father died.
*My Father was a storyteller. He had an interesting young life and never tired of telling stories about it. Here is the story, as I remember it, of his

ESCAPE FROM RUSSIA

by
Freda A. Bieler

It was 1918 at the beginning of the Russian Revolution and, as usual, a bad year for Jews in Russia. There was a lot of unrest and turmoil and the Jews were subjected to pogroms (raids on their villages where many were injured or killed). Jewish boys were being conscripted into the Russian Army and those that went were either abused or killed. My Bubbe (grandmother), Goldie Yvri, didn't want this to happen to her boys; she had four. Jack and Carl, the two oldest at 16 and 15 were the most at risk. She decided that the boys had to leave. Zaide (grandfather) Avrum didn't want to go so she decided to send the boys alone. Their cousins, Carl Ravitz and, I think, a brother or another Ravitz cousin were also the same age and were to go with them.
They left at night, four boys ages 14 to 16 probably scared but, I imagine, also looking forward to an adventure. Yankel (Jack), the oldest (and my father) was the ringleader. As they were crossing the border into Rumania disaster struck, they were caught. Evidently it was a crime to cross the border without visas or passports.

They were sent to a concentration camp. For six months they stayed there, watching out for each other. While three slept one was standing guard to make sure they were not robbed and killed. It was a very dangerous time for them. This spurred Zaide to action, as Bubbe knew it would. He decided it was time for the whole family to leave Russia.

They immigrated, the whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends), to Rumania and became citizens. They bribed the officials and got the boys freed from the concentration camp and lived in Rumania for a short while. Their goal was to go to the United States, the promised land where the "streets were paved with gold", or so my Daddy always told me.

They left Rumania in April of 1921and arrived in (I think) May of 1921. Their trip was not an easy one. The ship they were on was meant to carry about 300 people; there were 1500. My Grandfather had gone to Moscow before they started their trip and changed all of their rubles into diamonds. These were sewn into the hem of my Grandmothers coat. When they arrived in the United States the diamonds were all gone. Daddy always said they were stolen. My brother Allan thinks that Zaide gambled them away. This seems a more probable solution.


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