ASIMOV, Abraham Ber

Notes:

In his written recollections, Judah (Jack) Asimov, 1896-1969, wrote that his great-grandfather, Abraham Ber, died when Jack was 3 years old, but that he remembers being brought over to the death bed to be blessed, and that Abraham Ber gave him some sort of red jelly. That's all he remembered and could not visualize the old man's face.

But Jack remembered hearing stories that A.B. was smart, a great scholar, a "great and charitable man in town" and, "like his predecessors, a dealer in rye and other products."

A.B. and his first wife had 12 children -- all but the youngest, Mendel, died. So Mendel was, of course, precious to Abraham Ber.

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992) quotes his father, Jack, in "In Memory Yet Green" regarding Abraham Ber: "The stories I heard about him were that he was a natural-born smart man, and that he was a great scholar. ... Like his predecessors, he was a dealer in rye and other products, and he was well known in town as a great and charitable man."

Abraham married UNKNOWN, Wife about 1860 in Russia. Wife was born about 1830 in Russia; died in Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: SHEPSHELEVA, Sosya. Sosya was born in 1827 in Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"He was not only not a scholar, but he was a very average man," according to his half great-nephew, Judah Asimov (1896 - 1969), quoted in "In Memory Yet Green," the first autobiography of Isaac Asimov.
Isaac explains: "This one, you see, my father saw with his own eyes. It is easier to be a scholar if there is an insulating period of decades between the man who is the subject of the description and the man who is doing the describing."
Judah Asimov (1896 - 1969) goes on to say of his half great-uncle: "In my time, he married and had a daughter. While I was in the United States I heard that she became a physician, but I do not know anything more."

Family/Spouse: UNKNOWN, Wife. Wife was born about 1860 in Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mendel was the youngest of 12 children of Abraham Ber and his first wife, and the only one of his siblings to survive infancy, according to the written recollections of his grandson, Judah (Jack) Asimov, 1896-1969.

In his recollections, Judah writes that although Mendel was "not a scholar," neither was he ignorant of Jewish reading and prayer -- only of the Talmud. Yet he was clever, and was elected several times to the "Society of Psalm of David Sayers." He also was in the Chevro-Kadisho, a volunteer group that took care of holy burials. Mendel's decision would prevail if there were disagreements in burial location, as there often were.

Family/Spouse: UNKNOWN, Wife. Wife was born about 1850 in Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Physician

Notes:

Judah (Jack) Asimov (1896-1969), her half first cousin once removed, mentions her in "In Memory Yet Green," Isaac Asimov's autobiography:
"In my time, he [her father, Judah Asimov] married and had a daughter. While I was in the United States I heard that she became a physician, but I do not know anything more."

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Dealer in grain: rye, oats, barley, buckwheat. In the family mill they prepared it to be cooked and eaten.
• Occupation: Dealer in raw linen:“penka,” “len,” and “poskany.” Able to sort out the linen by grade and quality.
• Religion: Jewish
• Residence: Petrovich, Russia

Notes:

In 1979, Serafima Asimova wrote to her cousin, Isaac Asimov, from Leningrad, and said that her Grandfather Aaron Asimov and Grandmother Hana Leikin Asimov had six children: Judah, Rachel, Dvosja, Boris, Ephraim and her father, Samuel.

Judah (1896 -1969) wrote a recollection of years in Russia and said that Aaron Asimov had been a grain dealer who sold rye, oats, barley and buckwheat.

Judah wrote that his father was a great believer in G-d.

He wrote that Aaron did not hit his children--except once. Judah was about 18 when he and his father asked the local rabbi to rule in a business dispute between them and another man whom they believed had deceived them. When the Rabbi ruled against Aaron and Judah, Judah objected. Aaron slapped Jack, saying that the decision was the Rabbi's to make and that they would abide by it.

Aaron was smart. When a new tax collector came to town, it was Aaron who noticed that the townspeople weren't being given receipts for the money they paid. Instead, the tax collector had them sign a paper after they paid. So Aaron asked for a receipt. The tax collector refused, so Aaron said he would neither pay nor sign.

It turned out that the paper everyone was signing was a lease that turned over their property to the tax collector and permitted him to raise their rent at will. So Aaron and the other townspeople took the tax collector to court in a case that went up to the Russian Duma. No one knows how the judge would have decided, however, because the year was 1917, and the Russian Revolution turned everything upside down.

Here is an excerpt from a 2006 email from Serafima Asimova, the daughter of Aaron's youngest son, Samuel, referring to the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in the 1920s:

"By then, it is the middle of 20 years [1920s], family of grandfather Aaron have deprived with all earned, mills, have forced to go to work ( hi there were 70 years) in collective farm."

Serafima also wrote that Aaron went to live in Leningrad with his son, Boris, in later years, and died in a hospital after an operation.

Died:
In an email much later, 2019, Serafima says Aron died in 1937

Aaron married LEIKIN, Hanna about 1893 in Petrovichi, Russia. Hanna (daughter of LEIKIN, Husband and UNKNOWN, Ziva) was born about 1870 in Hislavichi near Petrovichi, Russia; died about 1936 in Petrovichi, Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried alive with his wife and 9-year-old granddaughter, by fascists

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: UNKNOWN, Wife. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: KOROBOVSKY, Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Jack
• Education: Started school at age 5, Petrovichi, Russia
• Occupation: Owned, operated candy stores at or near each home address.
• Occupation: Candy store owner, Brooklyn, NY
• Occupation: Dealer in rye, oats, barley, buckwheat in Petrovichi, Russia. The family mill was 2,450 square feet. Made kasha from buckwheat
• Immigration: 13 Feb 1923, NY, USA
• Naturalization: 6 Sep 1928, District Court, Brooklyn, NY

Notes:

The Asimovs were leading citizens in Petrovichi, socially & economically. There, Judah set up a co-operative organization for buying and distributing food, which he ran for 5 years.

He helped organize a library in the town, and he and his wife, Anna Berman Asimov, took up amateur theatre. She was apparently a good actress.

He also brought the first real doctor to Petrovichi in 1915, named Dr. Gugel. There had been no doctor in Petrovichi at the time -- only a registered nurse called a "feldsher."

Judah's Grandfather Mendel loved him very much. Judah was his first-born grandchild. (There had been a girl born earlier, who died in infancy.) Mendel used to hold Judah in shul, and Judah felt that Mendel would have given his life for him.

Judah was one of eight children, though two died in infancy: a girl in 1894, and a boy in who died at 6 months in 1904.

Judah was born about a block away from Anna Rachel Berman. (See notes in their wedding section.)

Judah and Anna left Petrovitchi for Moscow on Dec. 24, 1922, by a hired horse and buggy. They traveled to the Pochinok Station with their 2-year-old son, Isaac, and their nearly 6-month-old daughter, Marcia, who had a bad cough. The family went to Liverpool and boarded the USS Baltic, which landed at Ellis Island in Feb. 1923.

Judah's recollections, written in 1969, say they arrived on Feb 3 1923 and were allowed to leave the ship on Feb 7. The electronic record of the ship's manifest (ellisisland.org) (https://tinyurl.com/35tsy2sn) erroneously says they arrived on Feb. 13, 1923. But the record itself has a Feb. 3 date. Judah said it took them four days to leave the ship, so they set foot in NY for the first time on Feb. 7, 1923.

The Baltic's manifest lists the family from "Petrowitschi" as follows: Juda, Hana Rochel, Aisik & Manis Asimy. https://tinyurl.com/35tsy2sn

As for the ship:
BALTIC 1903
The BALTIC was a 23,876 gross ton ship built in 1903 by Harland & Wolff, Belfast for the White Star Line. Her details were - length 709.2ft x beam 75.6ft, two funnels, four masts, twin screw and a speed of 17 knots. There was accommodation for 425-1st, 450-2nd and 2,000-3rd class passengers. Launched on 21st Nov.1903, she sailed from Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York on 29th Jun.1904. In 1909 she rescued survivors of the collision between the REPUBLIC and the FLORIDA off the US coast, in which the REPUBLIC sank. On 12th Dec.1918 she commenced her first voyage after the Armistice, from Liverpool to New York and in 1927 her accommodation was altered to carry 393-cabin class, 339-tourist class and 1,150-3rd class passengers. On 17th Sep.1932 she commenced her last voyage from Liverpool to New York and Liverpool and on 17th Feb.1933 sailed for Osaka, Japan where she was scrapped. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.2,p.763]

In "In Memory Yet Green," Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) writes of Judah: "When I was young, my father, who loved to tell me stories and parables designed to improve my mind and spirit, would occasionally expound on a biblical verse. (He knew the Bible by heart -- for he was a very very great scholar, too, in the shtetl sense--but in Hebrew, of course.) He would recite the verse in Hebrew, then translate it into English--or Yiddish, if he couldn't think of an English word..."


1st apt: 425 Van Siclen Ave., Brooklyn betw Sutter & Black
1925: 434 Miller Ave., corner Sutter
1926, 1st candy store: 751 Sutter Ave. between Miller and Bradford
Dec. 1928, Apt: 651 Essex Street, above the second candy store, corner New Lots Ave.
1933: Church Ave candy store for about 1 month
1933: Apt: 1312 Decatur St, with candy store
Dec. 1936: 4th candy store: 174 Windsor Pl, between Fuller Place and 10th Avenue
Apt: 192 Windsor Pl.

Immigration:
Ship: Baltic

Buried:
JPG, Genealogy/Reunion/headstones/Asimov Headstone.jpg, Anna Berman and Judah Asimov Headstone, HEADSTONE

Judah married BERMAN, Anna (Hana) Rachel in Jun 1918 in Petrovichi, Russia. Anna (daughter of BERMAN, Isaac and UNKNOWN, Tamara) was born on 5 Sep 1895 in Petrovichi, Russia; died on 6 Aug 1973 in Ila Hotel, Long Beach, NY, USA; was buried in Mt. Golda Cemetery, Huntington, Long Island. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: "worked at a plant in a small town"

Notes:

"She was a most kind-hearted woman," wrote Serafima Asimova to Isaac in 1979.

Family/Spouse: BERMAN, Grigory (Girsh). Grigory (son of BERMAN, Isaac and UNKNOWN, Tamara) was born about 1897 in Petrovichi, Russia; died in Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"She was sweet, hard-working woman," wrote Serafima Asimova from Leningrad to Isaac Asimov in 1979. "I remember her well. She died in Leningrade in 1977."

Dvosja married KATZ, Boris about 1924 in Petrovich, Russia. Boris (son of KATZ, David) was born in 1896 in Smolensk oblast, Shumyachsky district, Petrovichi; died in 1941 in WWII. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Mathemetician
• Immigration: 1974, From Leningrad, USSR, to Israel

Notes:

Boris' niece, Serafima Asimova, wrote to Isaac Asimov in 1979 from Leningrad. She said: "Boris was living in Petrovichi for a long time, then he came to Moscow. He was mathematician. Later his sick father -- grandfather Aaron -- came to his house....After the war, Boris lived in Leningrad. He had no family and was alone. Now he is living in Israel."

In 2006, Serafima wrote more about Boris in an email. She said: "(Like his brother Samuel), Boris too had huge propensities to mathematics. It also became then the teacher of mathematics though very much loved poetry, knew by heart Pushkin, Tyutchev, Fet. Perfectly knew Sacred Classic Jewish language so then the Hebrew referred to."

"The daddy [Samuel Asimov], mum, I, uncle Boris and the [maternal] grandfather [Samson Shmulevitch] lived in one room of a municipal apartment in the street Gogol 21, in Leningrad."

In another email, Serafima wrote: "Boris -- measured, slow, lyrical, the mathematician -- the theorist, writes verses in Hebrew. ...Boris lived with Aaron and Hanna - parents. Then, when his mum [Hanna] has died - he has left for Moscow. At Boris since the childhood the right foot was not bent - in game boys have pushed - has fallen, has broken, there was no good doctor, in Smolensk the medical assistant has rescued a leg , but she has ceased to be bent. War began. ...

"Boris has left for evacuation to Tashkent. Once to me aunt Dvosja [sister of Judah, Boris, Samuel and Rachel] told, that in Moscow Boris married and he had wife and the daughter, but they tragically were gone. It has been told once, but I was more never about it heard. It was not accepted to speak never on this theme.

"[Boris' younger brother] Samuel has decided - it is necessary, that Boris Asimov has arrived to Leningrad, here to Life him it will be easier. ...Samuel has solved - I more sociable, I shall leave, and the room let remain to Boris. ...Samuel has taken all and has returned to a room to Boris. We lived all together in a small room - Uncle Boris, the daddy, mum, [maternal] grandfather Samson, I. It is 1953.

(By 1966) "Uncle Boris has remained in the room. It was very beautiful house in the center of Leningrad, but there it was difficult to live - there was no hot water...it was necessary to heat fire wood.
It is difficult for understanding. A room - in an apartment, where 3-5 more rooms. Another's people live in them. And only one room for uncle Boris.

"In 1968 to uncle Boris gave other room with hot water and heating and in 1974 he has left for Israel.
Uncle Boris is a lot of with me was engaged, he learned me to mathematics, he paid for my music education, and the piano has presented me, drove in museums and cinema. He very much loved me and I very much loved him. Boris was the religious person, he perfectly knew a Hebrew, wrote verses in a Hebrew, every day was engaged in a Torah."

Serafima writes that her son, Alexander -- who has taken the name of his grandfather, Samuel, since moving to Israel -- has inherited some traits from his Uncle Boris: "From Uncle Boris (though they saw only 2-3-times), Alexander - Samuel 1971 of a birth, has inherited love to poetry and the romantic attitude to a life."

In the late 1970s and early '80s, Boris' nephews Stanley and Isaac, and his niece Marcia, exchanged letters with him. He wrote in Yiddish, which Stanley or Marcia had translated. Stanley's secretary, Sylvia Smith, went to visit him. Sylviaibed Boris as living in impoverished circumstances, but unwilling to accept help.

He had a social worker, however, who tried to help him. In a letter to Stanley, Marcia and Isaac, social worker Colin Keye wrote that Boris had an eye operation and that that was the "straw that broke the camel's back." Boris was placed under state guardianship in an arrangement overseen by an American attorney, Arthur Rosenstein, of Hertzl St., Netanya. Boris received help from the Netanya (Israel) Social Services for the Elderly, Stamper ST. 5, Netanya, Israel.

In the last weeks of his life, he was placed in a psychogeriatric ward of this nursing home in Hadera, Israel: "Beit Noach, Shikun Weitzman," where he lived for about 6 weeks, and then died.

2008: (For the first time, Serafima sees the photos of Uncle Boris in his final years. She writes to her cousin, Nanette Asimov): "I have seen his photo and heart mine was compressed, and to eyes the tears have risen. I never saw him by such old and helpless. I knew him, as very courageous, hardworking man, which knew very much, as mathematics and the connoisseur talmud. He very well knew Russian classical poetry and itself wrote verses on ivrit. He very beautifully sang, he had warm baritone - vote, as Violoncello. I shall send his photos, I would like, that near to his surname other photo has appeared still."

Buried:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/764NjLFNqAJNhbWcA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Education: graduated from Technology Institute in Leningrad, chem major
• Occupation: Chemist
• Cause of Death: Gas chambers in Maykop

Notes:

Graduate of the Technical Institute in Leningrad.
Fought in WWII
"Was quite successful in his work," wrote his niece, Serafima Asimova, in her letter to Isaac Asimov from Leningrad in 1979. "My father tried to get any news about him (after he disappeared during the war) but he did not manage."

In her 2006 email, Serafima wrote that Ephraim "played on a violin, a balalaika, a guitar, without notes, on hearing. As well as many young people, he has left to study for Borovichi. There he has arrived in "rabfak" where accepted workers...Afroim has perfectly well finished "rabfak" (college) and has left for Leningrad. A has acted and has finished perfectly well Leningrad an institute of chemistry & technology. He dealt with a problem of research and introduction of artificial rubber. By this time he has already been married. His wife called the Rose, (she was from Petrovitchi) at them was two children.

"On scientific development Afroim should receive a degree of the doctor, but it was 1939-1940 Year He has received a direction in the city of Maikop and has left there with the family. My father was going to go to us to holiday, but war begery quickly to Caucasus there came fascists. All family was lost in gas chambers about what to my father employees of a factory informed In many years in Petersburg State University of Chemistry and Technology institute I have redeemed the private affair of student Asimov. I shall scan it and I shall send."

Serafima wrote on Facebook that “Afroim, his wife Rose Khaldei together with children died during the occupation in the gas chambers in Maykop.” 

Ephraim married KHALDEI, Rose about 1925 in Petrovichi, Russia. Rose was born about 1900; died in Nazi gas chamberP. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In his written recollections, Judah Asimov said the boy died at about 6 months old.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Military: fought facist invaders. Volunteer, helped run blockade of Leningrad. Officer's rank.
• Occupation: Metallurgist

Notes:

Fought the fascists.

"All his life, the music was his hobby, his passion," Serafima wrote Isaac in 1979. "He had not got musical education, but he can play the many musical instruments."

"He was very kind, clever and talented man, and I'm glad my son looks like him," Serafima wrote.

From Serafima by email in 2006:
"My father Samuel Asimov was born 7.11.1909. He has ended Petrovitch school, and then went for 6-7 km to school 9-?? which has stopped with distinction and recommendation to be engaged in mathematics."

"The daddy was the officer during the Finnish war, and has then left the volunteer when Great Domestic war began. He was on the Leningrad front, was responsible for protection of bridges of Leningrad."

From Serafima by email:
"In city there was Isaac Leikin, daddy (of) Ilya and Solomon, grandfather (of) Ira [Irina] Leikin. He [Samuel] brought the of soldering Isaac, and once has simply rescued him from destruction, has had time in time because Isaac was at edge of destruction. Isaac Leikin was the large engineer, and then was lost in railway accident, in 1944 with which to him have arranged. So father told to me."

Serafima adds that Samuel helped Isaac Leikin's wife, Anna, raise her two sons [twins Ilya and Solomon] after Isaac was killed in a railway accident in 1944. [The twins both died in St. Petersburg in 2005]

From Serafima's email: "I the (my) daddy has died in 1963 after 3 heart attacks. Years of war, blockade, a difficult post-war life have affected. We have remained one with mum but when I have grown, I have tried to find all relatives of the father which very much I love."

Serafima writes that Samuel was "very cheerful, sociable, sports fast, but very obligatory."

Serafima continues: "Samuel has gone on the Leningrad front, has gone through the Leningrad blockade, protected bridges of Leningrad. ...After war Samuel has arrived to Leningrad, his apartment has burned down, to him gave a small room. He worked, as the engineer - the metallurgist at university. Samuel has decided - it is necessary, that [his older brother] Boris Asimov has arrived to Leningrad, here to Life him it will be easier. ...

"Samuel has solved - I more sociable, I shall leave, and the room let remain to Boris. Then Samuel married my mum - Dora Shmulewitch. I was born on March, 22, 1949. We lived in a mother's room - the daddy, mum, grandfather - Samson - Shmulewitch and I. But my mum was the doctor. In Leningrad began ´ Crime of doctors ª. Doctors - Jews ñ Poisoners.
My mum should abandon her room and should move from Leningrad. Samuel has taken all and has returned to a room to Boris. We lived all together in a small room - Uncle Boris, the daddy, mum, grandfather Samson, I. It is 1953.
The grandfather has died in 1961, to him there were 84 years. The daddy has died in 1963, to him there were 53 years."

Samuel married SHMULEVITCH, Dora Samsonovna in 1948 in Leningrad. Dora (daughter of SHMULEVITCH, Samson and RUBINSTEIN, Serafima) was born in 1916 in Minsk; died in 1984 in Leningrad. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Olga married RECHITS, Igor [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: UNKNOWN, Wife. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]