[Cz-L] HELP for our FAMILY TRIP to Romania, Moldava and Ukraine

I am Edward Roberts, a professor at MIT. This is an edited update of my previous email to you on February 1, seeking help in finding information about my father's birthplace and growing up locations.

THE EDITED ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
> OUR PLANNED TRIP, tentative!! (flying in to Bucharest on April 12; arriving by car in area of Corjeuti, Lipcani, and Czernowitz by April 15; staying perhaps 3 days there; and then return home)
> THE SHORT STORY is that my wife Nancy and I, and four Israeli first cousins, are planning a trip in April to return to our "roots", the birth and growing up locations of our fathers. We six are presently assuming that we might fly from Boston and Tel Aviv, respectively, at night on April 11, arrive in Bucharest on April 12 and proceed from there. My cousins want to start in Bucharest, to enjoy that city and then to travel by private van over two days across Romania to Czernowitz, Corjeuti and Lipcani. (We will need recommended hotels in Bucharest, Czernowitz, and perhaps someplace on the drive between the two.) The key person we need is a reliable driver/guide who speaks English, a van for the six of us passengers and, MOST IMPORTANT, hopefully as much prior information as possible as to where to go in our search for clues and documents regarding our family. We do not know what birth or resident or death records might still exist in those various towns that might inform us.
>
> FAMILY HISTORY
> My father, born as Nachman Wainrober (or Vainrober or Veinrober), born on September 27, 1899, was the eldest son of the Moshe (Morris) Wainrober family in Corjeuti (formerly Korzheutsy or Korzheuts) or Lipcani. My father, who died in Boston 40 years ago, would joke with me that whether he was Russian or Romanian depended often on where the troops were parked over the weekend! He told me often that his father did not want him to serve in the Russian army and smuggled him across the border into Romania, bribing officials to get a passport. Whether completely true or not, my father did arrive at Ellis Island on November 1, 1920 on a Romanian passport which I have, at the age of 21. At Ellis Island he became Nathan Roberts. (His visa was signed by the American Consul in Bucharest on his 21st birthday -- perhaps a US requirement for immigration??) Two of his Veinrober cousins were already in the US, had previously changed their names to Roberts, and lived in Providence, Rhode Island at the time of my father's arrival. My father came on the ship "Niagra" from Le Havre and his entry said he was from Lepcan (now Lipcani), coming to visit his Uncle Schachter (his mother was Miriam Schachter Wainrober) in Brockton MA. On the same boat was his first cousin Nachman Sheinget (which I think is a Romanian version of Schachter?), also from Lepcan, whose family Nancy and I visited years ago in Cali, Colombia. My father eventually settled in Chelsea MA, where I was born and brought up.

> One of my father's sisters (my aunt Chaintza Loifman)) never migrated from the area, and lived through the war, settling with her husband Usher in Czernowitz or in the area. Her two sons (Boris and Isaac) and daughter (Anna) moved to Israel 30 years ago, one of those sons still surviving. Moshe in Israel has contacted him but unfortunately he remembers no details of their life in Czernowitz. My grandfather and grandmother Wainrobers died during the war, but I have no further information about their lives or deaths. Does anyone have memories of, or know any way to find information about the Loifmans who were all Czernowitz residents? By any remote chance, does anyone remember any Wainrobers, who may also have been Czernowitz residents before or during WWII?
>
> Shaul Wainrober (Veinrober), the father of my cousins Moshe and Miriam, was the fourth son in the family, and migrated to Israel after WWII, with his wife Yetta and son Moshe. Moshe Wainrober (his wife Varde) and his sister Miriam (Wainrober) Guttman (her husband Arie) live outside of Tel Aviv. Moshe had been born during WWII in what was then Ukraine in the town of Mogilev (now Mohyliv ???), near Luchinets where his parents were in a work camp. Both of those towns are also not far from Czernowitz. Moshe returned to visit those sites several years ago with his cousin, finding his place of birth and visiting the synagogue in Czernowitz where his parents had been married. Are there records of marriages held in the Czernowitz synagogue that would document the marriage of Yetta and Shaul Wainrober? and perhaps also of the Loifmans? My cousin Moshe says he still can speak Romanian. Moshe is sure that our fathers originally came from Corjeuti, not Lipcani, which are 20 km. apart..
>
> My father frequently mentioned going to Czernowitz to market the eggs his mother had assembled and candled from neighborhood farms. He described the trip as about one hour or so on a horse-drawn wagon, which seems remotely possible from Corjeuti. Was there a market town near Czernowitz that was closer to Corjeuti? (Incidentally, the second Wainrober son, Herschel (Harry), came to the US shortly after my father. The third one, Srul, couldn't get into the US and went to Montevideo, Uruguay and later to San Paolo, Brazil. The fifth son, David, migrated directly to Israel at an early age, and his son, also Moshe, lives there now.)
>
> MORE FAMILY CONNECTIONS
> For further help in tracing, my sister Wilma has explored various computer records and found: Frima Vainrober, 20 years old, came from Bucharest in July 1921 on the ship "Finland" with her grandfather Meier, 63, to join her uncle Isadore Roberts in Providence, who was Meier's son! Isadore was one of my father's cousins, and probably also came from Corjeuti or Lipcani. Also on the ship were the entire Berenstein family, in which the mother Hantzia (Vainrober) Berenstein, 27, was my father's first cousin and sister of Isadore Roberts in Providence. She was with her husband Joseph, 35, and child Abram, 4. I remember Chaintza and all the other Bernsteins well from our many visits to NYC where they settled. On the same ship was Ester (Vainrober) Rachita, 38, also Isadore's suster, and Brana Rachita, 3, her daughter. I also remember frequent visits from Ester during my childhood. So we have Vainrober, Schachter (Sheinget), Bernstein, Loifman and Rachita families, presumably all from the same shtetls of Corjeuti and Lipcani, with some time spent by most of them in Czernowitz, as the possible targets for our search.
>
> My sister's computer searching also found Mondko Weinrober, from Edintsa, Romania (not far from Lipcani), who came in July 1920 at age 20 on the ship "Imperator", to join his brother J.M. Roberts in Providence. So Edintsa is also a possible family site for us.
>
> HELP ???
> I know all of this is very open-ended and uncertain, but I assume that many others have attempted similar trips. Perhaps one or more agencies, offices or experts exist to assist in our search.
>
> If you can help us in any way, we would deeply appreciate it. I am available by telephone in Boston (home 617-482-0671) or email, whichever is easier for you. Can anyone suggest contacts who might help us in our searches in Czernowitz, Corjeuti and Lipcani?
>
> Thank you,
> Ed Roberts

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Received on 2013-02-12 01:08:36