Our family tree

By Max Rempel Myakishev

To my children

The first English edition

St. Petersburg, Russia – Rockville, MD, 2005

This study was first written in Russian in 1992 when I was inspired by the stories by our grand cousin Maria Haikind. I tried to collect the family legends and stories in order to pass them to our descendants. It was my intention to select mostly funny stories, even though sad stories and all kinds of tragedies are usually remembered better.

Little is known about Pinhus Rempel. He was born around 1860 and died some time before the World War 1, 1914. He was a traditional observing Jew. He must have been an outstanding man because he became an Honorary Citizen of the City of Kishinev, which was difficult for a Jew. The city of Kishinev was part of Russian Empire at that time, which was traditionally Orthodox Christian. The Jews were allowed to live only on the western border of this empire. This was controllable because each Russian citizen needed a special passport to travel and to settle. The Jews were not allowed to settle in the inner part of the Empire beyond a certain “settlement line”, but Kishinev was outside. [I need a map of settlement line] Pinhus spoke Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew.

There is (probably) a photograph of Pinhus Rempel, and certainly of his wife, made around 1900, when he and she were about 50 years old. We do not know her name.

This is probably Pinhus Rempel, although it is hard to verify some 120 years later.

The wife of Pinhus Rempel (around 1860-around 1910)

Rempels were involved in forest and lumber business. These are words of Lasar Rempel, his granson, 1907-1995. I can only guess that Pinhus Rempel was involved in commerce. Jews could only participate in a few professions in Russia, such as commerce, medicine, small professional services like tailor and shoemaker. I have searched the database of Rempels in Kishinev and found few Rempels who were working in commerce and trade, so Pinhus might have participated too.

We know some things about four his children. The son of Pinhus born around 1890-1887 was named Israel, a typical name for a Jew, in late 19^th century. This was a time when the State of Israel was re-invented, and possibly the name of Israel symbolized Pinhus’s support for this idea. Thus, Israel Rempel was born some 60 years before the state of Israel (1948) was created. We do not have his photograph, but here is a photograph of his three sisters.

We know a name one of them, Polina Pinhus Rempel (in the middle). My mother, Polina Samuel Rempel was named after her. Polina Rempel finished Freibel’s courses of Social Education, which gave her the love for freedom and emancipation. She became the member of communist party and married another communist, Sheider. After the Revolution she became the director of Social Education first in Simferopol and then in Sverlovsk (Ekaterinburg). Her husband had to flee Russia because he belonged to an opposition of the communist party.

A nice thing about genealogy is that the more you go into the book the more you know about every person. Although we do not have the photograph of Israel Rempel, we do know quite a few facts about his life. He was born in Kishinev around 1884 to the quite prosperous Pinhus Rempel. Israel did not go to school and studied by himself. He settled in the small province city Dubossary near Kishinev, some 100 kilometers away, about 2 hours on train or 6 hours by horse at the time. Israel went to work to Kishinev where he was employed as the senior manager of the lumber storage that belonged to Romanian landlord Sirbu. The wood that was produced in Russia was sold everywhere including Europe. Around 1905, Israel married Sulamith Steinberg (Суламифь Штейнберг). Again, there is no photograph of Israel, but we have many photographs of his wife.

1891, 1902, 1920, 1930, 1935, 1941, 1946

She was the daughter of Lasar Steinberg, who was born in 1860 and lived in Kishinev. She finished a Russian 7-year school and then obtained initial medical education and could speak Russian and a little of Yiddish. Sulamith Steinberg's parents were emancipated and educated Jews.

Lasar Steinberg (Лазарь Штейнберг) and his wife around 1880.

Lasar Steinberg, photograph made around 1890.

In 1907, Israel and Sulamith had a first son Lasar Israel Rempel

Lasar Rempel, 2 years old, around 1909.

In 1911, the second son, Samuel Israel Rempel, was born.

Samuel Rempel, 1911-2001 and Lasar Rempel, 1907-1992.

1913 was the last prosperous year in the Russia before the war.

Lasar Rempel in school uniform, 7 year old, just before the beginning of the war.

In 1914, the War between Russians and Germans started, this became the First World War. The war started from a terrorist act in Saraevo, in which duke Ferdinand was killed. So, imagine Israel: he was 21 years old, had quite a few relatives, his family spoke Russian but all of them were Jews. He had two small children and a nice income from the managerial work. He knew how to read Hebrew and learned from his educated wife how to read Russian. The Germans were approaching and he did not have a profession that would feed his family at difficult times. All he knew was what he had learned as a lumber storage manager. He was glad to…

Some time before the war or soon after, Israel and his family moved to another part of Russia – about 300 km north to Bykhov, Belarus, which was still part of the Russian Empire. They used a horse and a cart to move their belongings and two sons Lasar, seven years old, and Samuel, three years old, to move into a wooden house in Bykhov near the river Berezina. During the War, in 1914-1916, he continued to work in Bykhov for the same employer, landlord Sirbu, as a ranger and watched over his forests. It was nice that Rempels moved away from Kishinev to the forests, because they escaped from the German attacks.

Lasar Rempel, around 1918

In 1918 the Germans started marching on Russia. The brother of Sulamith Elukim wrote to the family inviting them to come to Feodosia to him. We only know that Elukim was the second child of Lasar Steinberg, born in 1982 in Kishinev and died in 1919 in Feodosia at the age of 32.

1919 was a terrible year: the Red army had forced the rest of the White army to the sea and all kinds of disasters happened in Krimea. Feodosia was one of the last ports from which the remnants of the Empire fled to Turkey and Paris. Jews did not like the Russian Tsar, as he was cruel to them, and they supported the Red army. History has shown that what much of what came with the Red army was even worse.

Sulamith Rempel (born Steinberg) and her brother Elukim Steinberg.

Elukim Steinberg

In 1919, Israel Rempel sold the house and moved with Sulamith and his two sons to Feodosia on the train. During the long trip, Lasar and Samuel both caught the flu and the soldiers let them warm up in a cargo wagon. In Feodosia, Israel bought a mechanical gasoline saw and started making stools and beds for the Red Army hospital. This year was a year of real disasters: there was no food or work. Israel and his son Lasar went to the abandoned mansion near the ocean to look for stuff. The paper was peeled from the walls and Lasar read old newspapers about nice times. This was exciting for him and helped him forget the disasters of the war. In the Tatar village nearby he discovered old tombstones which were more than a thousand years old and he was fascinated by their ancient history. There were places in the harbor where the Black Sea washed away the stones and Lasar together with other children would collect coins with faces of ancient kings, which he remembered by heart. Thus his interest in archaeology was revealed for the first time. Soon he became the devoted historian and archaeologist.

Sulamith, Feodosia, 1920.

Israel was making the furniture and huge wooden matches. The Russian economy was in a very bad situation and it was hard to get enough money for food. Around 1921, Israel lost the fingers on one hand as he was not experienced enough in using the motorized saw. Then things became even worse. In 1924 he became sick and went to Yalta (Krimea) for medical treatment. His sister Polina Rempel came from Simpheropol where she worked as Director of Social Education and took 17 year old Lasar Rempel to Simpheropol to continue his education in a school of technology. Sulamith and 13-year-old Samuel went to Yalta to watch after Israel.

Polina P. Rempel (3^rd from right) at the regular local communist party meeting, around 1925.

In 1924, Israel died from lung cancer which was caused by the wood dust from his saw. His wife, Sulamith, at 37 years old and Samuel, 13 year old, joined Polina and Samuel in Simferopol. Lasar finished technical school, worked on a factory named Renaissance which was producing canned fish in Simpheropol. He married in 1924 to a woman from this factory, who was 10 years older than him. This marriage did not last long, which was not unusual at these turbulent times.

Lasar Rempel, around 1924.

Lasar I. Rempel near the tumb of his father, Israel Rempel, at 1926.

Lasar (at the right) at the First Congress of Soviet Architects, Moscow, 1928.

Lasar 1929

Abram Druyan 1875-1943,

Abram Druyan and his children from first wife Mihalina: Roza, Vitaliy, and Sonya, photograph taken around 1910

Golda Izekovna Maimind 1870-1960, daughter of Itze-Ber Maimind and his wife from Yafet family, the mother of Elena Druyan, rempel, married Abram Druyan the widower with 3 children.