(8.5)Naftoli's Family in Rezekne and the Holocaust

   In the late 1930’s, when things began to look foreboding for the Jews of Europe, Pa wrote letters to his brother, pleading for him to come to America, even sending him the tickets and everything. I remember addressing the letters. 

Return address for Naftoli

Postcard from Naftoli

       Naftoli refused, however; his community, his Hasidim, depended on him. If their rebbe leaves, he wrote, they would lose all hope. Also, he somehow imagined that his job as a government flax inspector would help protect him.

      Naftoli did, however, send one daughter, Toba, to America. She stayed with us for a while, but eventually she settled in New York City with her mother's brother. Pa left her money in his will. 

Dr. Reswa Taitz Arschon(b. 1900) and her husband Joseph Arshon(b. 1890)

    Another photo of Reswa

      Yitzhak and Deborah Arson-1930(?)

     Postcard from Reswa(Riva)

Yitzhak(b. 1928) and Deborah Arschon(b. 1923). in  1936

 Naftoli, son Zalman Peretz, daughter Reyva Taitz Arshon, son-in -law Joseph Arschon, grandchildren Deborah and Yitzhak(Izzy) were all shot at a gully near Rezekne on the 15th of Tammuz(July 10th), 1941.

Memorial Stone in Rezekne at the gully where the Jews were shot

See more on this at http://memorialplaces.lu.lv/memorial-places/latgale/rezekne-the-jewish-cemetery/#:~:text=The%20troops%20of%20Nazi%20Germany,of%20R%C4%93zekne%20Jews%20were%20killed.

https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/rezekne/jewish-rezekne-esther.php

From Eleanor Cohen:

 One daughter, Fannie(Fania Anatolieva Vorbelchik), moved to Saint Petersburg before the war. She married and had one daughter, Bronislava Vorbelchik, but her daughter never had children.

Leib and his family fled to Russia before the Nazis arrived. Leib was conscripted into the Russian army as a medic and died in combat in 1942. His widow and children eventually returned to Rezekhne. 

Military record of Leib Taitz

His daughter Rahil Ceitlin,  is named in honor of his mother Rachel. Rahil is now 87 or 88 and still lives in Rezekhne. 

Rahil and Mark Ceitlina

She is a widow and her two sons, Anatoly and Alexander, passed away in the 1990s.

Above: Alexander Ceitlins

Below: Anatoly(Tolya)  and Rebecca Ceitlins

 She has one grandchild, Mikhail, who now lives in Israel. 

Family tree(detail):

Another Section of the family tree- Dietz family in America(partial)