Nathan Olbe Letter 1996
  


  Dear Edward,

I was recently very busy in putting my home in order (painting inside and outside, new roof, etc.) and this was the reason that I didn't answer your letter sooner.

Now I will write to you only what I know. My father, (still not married with his 4th wife) in 1910 crossed the ocean to New York as a visitor. He spent four weeks in the house of his daughter, Rose Weinmann. During his stay he was invited by other members of the Ohlbaum family and made a speech suggesting they should found an Ohlbaum Family Society in order to meet together more often. This is the story how the Ohlbaum Family Society was founded.

My grandfather, Koppel Ohlbaum, lived in Ranizow (about 8 miles from Rzeszow) and passed away at the age of 102 years.

My father, Joseph Ohlbaum, was born in May 1860 in Ranizow and passed away in January 1926. He had cancer in the stomach.

My father was married four times. The first two wives were sisters. The third wife was my mother, and with the fourth wife (married in 1912) he didn't have any children.

These are the names of the children with his first wife: Adolph, Rose and Tilcia. With the second wife he had four children: Milton (Moses), Laura, Aida and Simon. With the third wife (my mother) he had two children: Nathan (myself) and Leo, who was 19 months younger.

Adolph immigrated in 1901 to New York to evade to be drafted into the Austrian army. He was married in New York and had 4 children, all born in New York City (Manhattan): Irving, still alive; Liliana, passed away; Jack and Gladys, both alive.

Rose married Ick Weinmann in Rzeszow, and a few weeks later both immigrated to New York. Here was born the only daughter, Liliana. She studied singing and acting and became an opera singer in Milan. She married an Italian fascist named Teruzzi, a right-hand of Mussolini. He was a governor of Cyrenaica in North Africa, near Libya. They didn't have any children. She divorced him before the Second World War and returned to New York. Teruzzi was killed a few days before the end of the war by the underground fighters.

 [Editor's note: I suspect the above-referenced individual was Attilo Teruzzi, but I cannot confirm this.]

 Rose, Ick Weinmann and Liliana all three are buried in the cemetery in Brooklyn which is owned by Temple Emanuel at 5th Avenue and 56th Street in New York.

Tilcia married David Hauser and lived in Rzeszow. They had two sons, Edouard (Edek) and Adolph (Dolek). Edouard studied medicine in Prague and committed suicide in Rzeszow around June 1924.

Adolph (Dolek) studied dentistry in Vienna and after anti-Semitic excesses in the university immigrated to Milan to finish his studies. He married his young sweetheart, opened a dentistry practice in Milan, and they had only one son named Edek after Dolek's older brother.

During the Second World War, he immigrated to Venezuela, where his sister-in-law was a doctor specializing in curing leprosy. She was doing excellent work in this field and was honored by the government with a gold medal. On the way to Venezuela he met on the ship a Jewish German manufacturer of asphalt tiles, concrete, etc. They at once became friends and decided to open a business together as partners. My nephew Dolek spoke Italian fluently, and the Italian workers and businessmen preferred to buy their products rather than those of their competitors. I will make the story short. Ten years ago (1986) he sold his share in the business to his partner for $10 million dollars, immigrated to New York, bought a condominium near 50th Street and First Avenue opposite the United Nations building. In New York, his wife passed away, and five years later, he passed away too. Their son inherited everything.

With his second wife, my father had four children, Milton (Moses), Laura, Aida and Simon.

Milton had three children, Vicky, Victor and Freddy, all born in Rzeszow. In 1932, Milton, together with his family, immigrated to Brussels, Belgium. As the Nazis occupied Belgium, the whole family arrived in Paris and from there, via Spain and Cuba; he finally immigrated to New York in 1942. He and his wife and youngest son passed away.

Laura was married to a lawyer, Adolph Wasserman, and had three children: Irving, alive and living in Logan, Utah…Vicky, living six months in Naples, Florida and six months in Morris Plains, New Jersey… and Ruth, who was killed by the Nazis during the war in Lwow, Poland.

Aida was married to Joseph Jolles and lived in Vienna. They had a very good business in petit point bags with offices in London, New York and Paris. They had two daughters, Marta and Stella. My sister and brother-in-law passed away. The two nieces lived in New York.

Simon was two years older than me. He was a judge in Stanistawow, Poland, and his wife was a dermatologist. They had one son, Joseph. All three perished during the war.

With his third wife, my mother, my father had two sons, Nathan (myself) and Leo, who was 19 months younger. I immigrated to Paris in 1929 and was the manager of my sister Aida's petit point business there. I married a French Jewish girl, Fernande Briefel, and we had a daughter, Ellen, who was born in Paris. During World War II, we immigrated to New York, arriving here on December 28, 1941. Soon thereafter, I divorced my wife and kept my daughter with me. Two years later, I married Elfriede, a widow with a child one year younger than Ellen, also named Ellen. Both my first and second wives have passed away.

On April 17, 1996, I celebrated my 95th birthday. I am feeling very good and healthy. I walk every day 20 city blocks, weather permitting. On June 3, 1996, I became a great grandfather because my granddaughter, Anne Tillier de Castro, gave birth to a son, Leo de Castro.

Leo, my younger brother, studied machinery in Brno and couldn't get a job in Poland. He took the train to Vienna and was busy in our sister Aida's big business in petit point bags. As the Nazis invaded Austria, he immigrated to Brussels, Belgium, where Aida had a warehouse of petit point bags and other goods. During the German occupation of Belgium, he was caught in the street with his wife, and both perished in concentration camp. They didn't have any children.

My daughter, Ellen Tillier, had two children, Paul Tillier and Anne Tillier de Castro. Anne was married in 1995 to a skin doctor and, as mentioned above, had a son Leo, named after my younger brother. They live in Lexington, Kentucky.

Uncle Shimon had three sons, Moses, Chaim and one who lived in Philadelphia, the owner of a kosher butcher store. Moses had three daughters. The whole family perished in concentration camp during World War II.

Chaim lived in our house from 1920 to 1924. He was employed in the shipping department in our candy and marmalade factory. Shortly after marriage, he immigrated to Brooklyn, New York. He opened a coffee place in a hall of an industrial building in Manhattan and sold beverages and sandwiches to those who worked there. He had one son, who was a high school teacher. They passed away.

[Editor's note: The third son could have been Harry Ohlbaum. Harry and his wife, Blanche, had two sons, Julius and Will, younger by two years. Will and his wife of 64 years, Minerva (Mickey), had two children, Kenneth and Nadja. Will passed away in 1998. Brother Julius was married first to Jean Rosenberg and then to Sally Kalish. He had three children, Jerome, Nadine and Eileen. Julius died in 1992.]

 Aunt Gittel lived in Ranizow. During World War I she moved to our house with her daughter, Mincia. After the war, they emigrated to the U.S. and opened a grocery store in Brooklyn. They passed away years ago.

I hope I gave you plenty of details to add to your research of the family's roots.

Sincerely yours,
Nathan Olbe

P.S. For business reasons, I changed my name from Ohlbaum to Olbe.

 [Editor's note: This letter was written in June 1996 in response to my request. Cousin Nathan passed away April 4, 1999 in Largo, Maryland at age 97.]

 


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