An Immigration Story

Reubin Ezekiel Zerlin was born in Minsk, Russia on July 6, 1891.

Hannah (Annie) Forsyth Zerlin was born in Minsk, Russia, in 1892.

Hannah and Reubin married in 1912. Hannah gave birth to my grandmother, Ida, in 1915.

Six months before Ida was born, Reubin emigrated from Russia and was going to find a way to get Hannah and Ida when he settled.

Five years later, Ida and her mother were arrested for trying to leave Russia. Ida was in prison for six weeks (even though she was only five years old) and her mother longer.

After they were released (because of insufficient food and supplies), they attempted to leave again, and this time they made it out. They arrived in NY in 1922.

Ruebin met them in New York, and they traveled to New Orleans.

Oscar Kagan (Kagan) lived in Poland. Oscar’s mother would dress him as a girl or woman, placing him in shadows, to keep soldiers from grabbing him during the First World War. He was 10 to 12 years old at this time, and this ploy saved his life as Jewish children were placed on the front lines.

Unfortunately, Oscar’s parents were taken to the forest near their home and killed with so many of the other Jews in Vilna, the center for Jewish culture and learning for so many years.

Ida and her mother went to Poland to visit family in 1930. Ida and Oscar met thanks to a close family friend (possibly a cousin), Shep Zitler, who introduced them.