Friedmans and Maltzers to San Francisco

Sol Friedman was born in Chernevitzi, Ukraine, It is about 20 miles from the Dniester River. Chernevitzi had 350 families, only Jews. There were gentile peasants living around the town. Sol said this was the little Chernevitz, not the big Chernnevitz. His mother, Leah, nee Skolnick, was born in Lechinitz, 30 miles from Chernevitzi. Sol had 11 brothers and 1 sister. (SF, 3) His father is Israel Joseph Friedman.

Sol Friedman, in 1920, at age 18, left the Ukraine. He wrote this account. “He left with eight five dollar gold pieces, which he hid by covering them with burlap as buttons on his burlap pants. He went to the Dniester River, and hid in a basement, down about 300 steps. It was winter. At midnight, on a Sunday, he crossed the river in a small row boat. He had money to pay off the Russians, and the Romanian, gendarmes. He crossed into Ottic, on the other side, then to Zdurita. Then he went, by horse and buggy, to the home of his brother Naphtalli, in Lipkon, Romania. From there he sent a letter to his brother Morris, in San Francisco. In two, or three weeks, Morris sent two hundred dollars, so Sol could buy papers that said he was born in Romania. (SF, 7-8)

I have seen other reports of the difficulties of illegally leaving the Ukraine. Abraham Gannes wrote about how he and his family dangerously crossed the border at the Dniester River, in 1920. They went to Bucharest, Romania, a temporary stop, before immigrating to the United States. (165-179)

Dina Calic’s parents died young, and she was raised by an uncle in Romania, She went to the Maltzer’s home in Kopaigorod, and lived there during the civil war. Dina was pretty, and worked hard. Sy Maltzer was wild and spoiled, and the girls in town ran after him in Kopaigorod. (SM).

Joe Friedman wrote “My father’s Aunt Ruchel was married to Isaac Maltzer,  a very learned Chassidic Jew. He lived in a large house in a nearby town. (Kopaigerod). They operated a prosperous store near another store operated by their son-in-law Lazer Licht, and their daughter, Eska. Isaac’s name was not really Maltzer. That name had been adopted as a means of gaining for him status as a first son, first sons being exempt from conscription. The real family name was something like Calic.”.

Dina had been sent to Isaac Maltzer's house by her father for safety and support. Before the Maltzers left Russia for Romania, Isaac decreed that Sy marry Dina. (SF)

Sy said he asked his father’s permission to go to America. Sy’s stepmother hid him in a bag of sugar and took him to Romania, He went to live with Malka in Bessyrabia, Romania, preparing to go to America.

Isaac Maltzer, his second wife Ethel, and his daughter Rivka (Becky) had escaped from Kopaigorod- and were living in Dombrovitz, Romania, near Beltz. Sol Friedman, Isaac Maltzer, and Becky Maltzer planned to go together to San Francisco. They waited for papers in Bucharest for almost one year. Other relatives joined them (SF)

They were Isaac Maltzer's son Ben-Zion, and his wife Micha (nee Spector), their daughter Bassya (Betty) Maltzer, and their young son Shaya (Sy) Maltzer, and his wife Dina Calic, who was also a cousin (SF)

Ben Zion, and his young son, both died on the ship. The rest of the group arrived in San Francisco in May 1921, in time for the Pidyhon Ha-ben for the birth of his first grandson Robert Licht. Isaac Maltzer died a few weeks later. (JF) Sy said that Isaac Maltzer had a ruptured the birth of his double hernia on the ship, which led to his death. Isaac Maltzer was buried in the Hills of Eternity cemetery in Colma. His grave is in the oldest part of this cemetery, at the top of the hill. Isaac Maltzer is my fraternal great-grandfather. As other members of the extended family died, they were buried in that same cemetery. 

The relatives who arrived in San Francisco in 1921 were Isaac Maltzer's son Ben-Zion, and his wife Micha (nee Spector), their daughter Bassya (Betty) Maltzer, and their young son Shaya (Sy) Maltzer, and his wife Dina Calic, who was also a cousin (SF)   Four thousand dollars, and sponsoring papers, came from Morris Friedman, Morris Maltzer, and Louis Licht, from San Francisco.  Joe Friedman told me that Shula Goldberg found an immigration letter in Washington, from Herbert Fleishacker, which helped the family members get to the U.S. Fleishacker, of the United Bank in S.F., was the banker for Joe Lanfeld, and Joe imagined that Eda Licht got Leah to get Joe to get the help from Fleishacker.  The group left Europe from Antwerp, Belgium, on the Cunard steamship, the S.S. Zeeland. They landed at Ellis Island and went by train to San Francisco. (SF)   

Bassya Maltzer’s biography notes “Soon after her father’s death, her father’s brothers and sisters, who were living in California, sent for the family. Bassya’s grandfather sold his brick houses and whatever else he could part with. When they (Bassya, her three-year-old brother, her mother, her uncle, her grandfather, and her grandmother) were ready to leave, her grandfather put all the money into a scarf and put it around his wife’s waist, under her dress, and they set off on their long journey to America. 

They reached the frozen river that separated Ukraine and Bessarabia during the revolution and there were soldiers guarding each side who had been ordered to shoot anyone attempting to leave Russia. Bassya and her family waited until dark and then crossed the river, fearfully. Finally, they reached the other side. The group then climbed into the back of a wagon, hiding under the straw, and were taken to a relative’s inn in Bessarabia, where they stayed for eight months awaiting their passports. After this interval, they went to Antwerp and boarded the ship for the United States. 

The travelers arrived at Ellis Island, and all went to San Francisco except for Bassya and her mother. They were detained at the island for six weeks – Bassya’s brother had died from measles during the trip across the Atlantic. Bassya and her mother then traveled the eight-and-a-half-day trip to San Francisco. When they arrived, they learned that the grandfather had died. The San Francisco relatives felt cheated – they had only wanted the grandfather to come in the first place, they had sent for the others only at his request.”

(This history indicates that Isaac  Maltzer came to San Francisco to immigrate, not just for a visit at the time of the birth of his first grandson Robert Licht)

Joe Freidman named these relatives, who arrived in San Francisco in 1921, the “Second Wave”.