My father, George Dietz, grew up in Rezekne, a town in central Latvia. He was one of seven children-Frada, Moshe, Shlava, Avram, Shlomo Yaacov, and Naftoli-, all brilliant.
Below: Main street in Rezekne, 1900
His mother, Libbe Ada- her maiden name was Passov- did everything- raised the children, ran a general store, kept the house, made the meals, everything.
My grandfather, Chaim Dietz (the name was originally Deitsch, meaning German), was a Talmud chacham (wise man), and sat all day in the House of Study and read the holy books. My father never respected him, for his mother did all the work.
Pa- he was called Shlomo(Shumel?) Yaacov in those days ( the early 1880’s) went to the village cheder (Jewish school), and hated every minute of it. I think he spent a lot of time playing hookey. It was cold, too- he used to tell me that his skin used to stick to the iron fence rails on the way to school, it was so cold. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for ‘formal’ education, he could speak Yiddish, Russian, German, and later also Dutch and English. He was always a great talker; he was a natural-born salesman.
One day when he was about sixteen, he decided he was sick of cheder, of the tiny village, of Judaism, of everything. He ran away, and volunteered for the Czar’s army. Mind you, in those days, every other Jewish boy was trying to evade being drafted into the Russian Army (Jewish boys would be seized and made to serve for twenty years).
After a short time, however, he discovered that it wasn’t so much fun in the Army (no wonder everyone else was trying to avoid it!), and wanted out. Fortunately, he was an excellent poker player. One day a Prussian officer came to visit the troops. He challenged him to a game, and won everything from the officer- his uniform, his passport, the works. He decided to become the officer, and, and ran away from the army passing himself off as Count Von So-and-So (Pa had blond hair, blue eyes, and spoke perfect German, which helped). Using the passport, he went to Dusseldorf, Germany, and set himself up as a Prussian gentleman, interested in art, and went to art school. He even joined a Prussian fencing club (though he never got the de riguer scar). While in Dusseldorf, he attended art school, and was even able to make money selling his paintings.
One night, however, his landlady woke him up in the middle of the night, and told him that the police were coming to arrest him; the authorities had discovered that he wasn’t really a Count, only Shlomo Yaacov from Latvia. He ran away that night, and went to Utrecht, in Holland, where he lived for a time with his brother Avram, who had also left Latvian Russia. Later on, they went to England, where his brother settled down. Pa changed his name to George, naming himself after the king. Pa always believed in starting at the top.
Toby’s variant: From England, Pa took a ship to Boston, MA., where he lodged at the Art Institute of Boston on Newbury Street. He painted many pictures and sold them on the street. One day he saw an ad in the newspaper placed by United Fruit Company, whose headquarters was in Boston, looking for a maintenance supervisor for their plantations in Jamaica, West Indies. He went down there, and the line of people applying went around the block. He noticed on the door that the president of the company was named Grabow. He went right in ahead of the line, and said he had an urgent appointment with Mr. Grabow. After he persisted, they let him in. Mr. Grabow asked what the urgent message was. Pa said, “The message is- I’m your man!” They both spoke German, they got along famously, and that was how Pa got his job with United Fruit in Jamaica.
Ernie’s Version: While in England, he read an ad in the newspaper, looking for people to work in Jamaica, on the boats and hotels of the United Fruit Company in the British West Indies. He answered the ad, and moved to Jamaica, where he became a maintenance manager on the United Fruit plantations.
He lived there about 15 years, maintaining buildings, teaching riding, and playing the tropical gentleman with the starched white collar.
In 1905 there was a large earthquake in the West Indies. Pa, who now called himself George, was injured. United Fruit sent him to Boston (where their home office was) to recuperate. There he met and married my mother, but that is another story.
Many years later (in the early 1960’s), Jean and I went on vacation to Jamaica, and visited the Myrtle Bank Hotel in Kingston, which my father had helped to design, build, and decorate. He had also built the hotel in Port Antonio for United Fruit.
An elderly black gentleman ran up to me, and said, “Mr. Dietz! Mr. Dietz! You’re back!” Then he realized that I was his son, now about the same age was when George Dietz had left fifty-five years earlier.
“You know, Mr. Dietz,” said the old man, “when you walk these streets, you should be very polite to the people you pass, and tip your hat. For some of them may be your brothers and sisters.”
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Many years later, in 1929, I heard that the Tzar's brother, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich was visiting Boston, and I went to collect his autograph. When I told my father he was upset, because he thought maybe the Russian army was still looking for him after he had deserted in the 1880's.
United Fruit was started as Boston Fruit Company in 1877 by Capt. Jesse Freeman, Capt. Lorenzo Baker, and others, for the purpose of exporting Caribbean fruit to New England.
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