|
The Story of
Sam and
Minnie Klausner The Tale of an American Jewish Family |
|
Dedicated to our
bubbes
and zaydes, who had the wisdom and courage to
come to this wonderful country.
Zichrono Livracha. May their memories be a
blessing.
Select a page, or to view all the
pages in order, click
continue. |
|
INTRODUCTION: a word from the webkeeper In 1880, America, with a population of 50 million, was home to only 500,000 Jews. The great wave of immigration that began that year would bring here about 2.5 million Jews from Eastern Europe. So when a Jewish American, like me, rises at a family simcha to thank their ancestors who had the courage and wisdom to come here, chances are better than 80 percent that the Jews being praised had arrived during those years. Thus, this site's Generations section, which began with Simpson Thorman and will end with a Jewish family from the Former Soviet Union, should have an example of a family from that great wave of Jewish immigration. My own grandparents had come to the US then - my mother's parents in 1894 from Lomz (today in Poland), and my father's parents in 1895 from Chernowitz (today in Romania). But they weren't Clevelanders. My "example" family must have come to Cleveland and stayed here. Then I read Violet Spevack's Cavalcade column in the September 19, 2008 Cleveland Jewish News. She wrote:
Hoping that this might be a good family to illustrate this wave of Jewish immigration, I called Judy and Fred Klotzman, who were mentioned in the CJN story. Then I met Fred, whose mother Mary was the oldest daughter of Sam and Minnie Klausner. He readily agreed to share the family's story and his own on these pages. Soon other members of the extended family of Sam and Minnie Klausner began to help.
Arnold Berger, webkeeper January 2009 |
