Sunday, January 26, 2014

My Great Grandfather's Signature!!

My great grandfather, Avrohom Tzvi Diamond/Dimant, was killed in the Holocaust in 1942.  Other than his name and some stories about him, nothing of his survived--no pictures, no documents, no posessions.

Nearly a year ago, I asked a researcher who lived near the former Dimant family village to see if he could find anything on the family.  I tried following up with him multiple times and never heard back.  I had basically given up.  And then yesterday, he sent some documents, including one that, while it probably had political implications when signed, was personally very exciting:
1925 School Declaration by Abram Diment; Source: State archive of Volyn oblast. Fond 454, opys 2, file 450, page 103

Translation:

Declaration

I, the undersigned, Abrum Diment, citizen of the Republic of Poland of Jewish nationality, resident of the village of Biskupichi, Czarukov township, Lutsk County, as the father of children of school age as follows:
  1. Kreina, 11 years old
  2. Dwora, 7 years old
according to the Article 3 of the Law as of July 31, 1924 that contains regulations concerning organization of school system, express my willingness  to make the Polish language the official  language of education in the public school of Biskupichi.

March 17, 1925

And then there was my great-grandfather's signature.  I find it a bit ironic that he's committing to his children learning in Polish--and then he signed the document in Russian!

The two children listed here are my grandfather's older sisters.  I've written about Kreina's short life earlier.  Dwora survived the Holocaust and immigrated with her husband and my grandparents to Baltimore.

The area that Biscupice was in had been part of the Russian Empire for years.  But in 1921 it became part of Poland.  This appears to be part of the region's migration from Russian-language to Polish-language education.

And--did I mention--it has my great grandfather's signature!!

3 comments:

  1. I totally understand your excitement! Cheers!!

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  2. I am distantly related to this family, via information I found in Family Finder in Family Tree DNA, but probably will not know how. I am both proud of my heritage and deeply sorrowed by their suffering.
    Ted McGill, Louisville, Kentucky, tediona@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your grandfather signed the document in Ukrainian, not Russian. Ukrainian is pretty similar to Polish.

    ReplyDelete