Alien Attack: Get Your Relatives' AR-2s!

Many people, especially women, who came to America in the first half of the twentieth century, never naturalized, for a variety of reasons.  If they were still alive and non-citizens in 1940 (or if they weren't sure if they were citizens), the Alien Registration Act of 1940 compelled them to register their status by filling out a form called the AR-2.  These forms have recently transferred custody from USCIS to NARA, which means you can get these without the ridiculously long wait associated with the USCIS Genealogy Program.  I recently ordered several and had a wonderfully pleasant experience (USCIS had set a very low bar) and found information--and people who had registered--that I hadn't expected.

Bessie Tolchin's AR-2

Diamond Emigration Anniversary - and Diamonds' First US Census

On April 1, 1947--75 years ago today--my Diamond grandparents and my Baich/Bajcz great grandmother came to America.  And today, April 1, 2022, the day that the 1950 census became publicly available, I was able to see them on their first-ever United States census, along with my father's older brother Abe, age 2.  (The census becomes publicly available on the April 1 that is 72 years after the census was taken.)

Diamond/Baetz in the 1950 Census (Paul Diamond inserted from end of previous page).  Baltimore, Maryland

Immigration Documents - Please Comment on Proposed Fee Increase!

Do you have ancestors who immigrated in the 20th century?  Well, then you need to pay close attention to a change in fees that's being proposed.  And you need to voice your opposition to this price hike before it happens.

Anyone who naturalized between September 27, 1906 and March 31, 1956 has a C-File, and these can be a goldmine of genealogical information.  And even if your ancestor didn't naturalize, if you had ancestors in the US between 1940-1944, they had to register as aliens.  And if your family came after April 1, 1944 (as did my Holocaust survivor grandparents), your ancestors likely have A-Files.  And these files are about to get out of reach to genealogists and others.  And we need your help to stop this from happening.

One Page of My Great-Grandmother's A-File--These Things are Awesome!

Rutner Family Hungarian Passport

My great grandmother Esther Rutner Joshowitz had only one sibling who came to America--her brother Adolph (also known as Abraham).  Adolph/Abraham was born in Dulfalva, Hungary (today Dulovo, Ukraine), married Amalia "Mali" Kassirer and had two sons in Budapest, moved to Paris, and then emigrated to America.  His wife and two sons later joined him in Pennsylvania, and Adolph's daughter Helen was born in America.

Adolph's second son, Emile, gave me copies of some family documents back in the early 1990s--among which were the passport on which he, his mother, and his brother Max used to emigrate to America.

Although at the time this passport was issued, Dulfalva was in Czechoslovakia and Petrova (Amalia's birthplace) was in Romania, Amalia's passport was Hungarian.

Sonia Diamond's A-File

After "only" 16 months, I received my grandmother's A-File.  Some of the documents were contained in her C-File, but there were lots that I hadn't seen before.  [To learn how to order A- and C-Files, see here.]

Sonia Diamond's Alien Registration form; page 1

When You Can't Find a Ship Manifest

You know those relatives that you just can't find on a ship manifest?  That you search for using wildcards and alternate spellings and every trick in the book--and they're just nowhere to be found?

Well, those were my Joshowitzes.  I knew that my great grandmother Esther Rutner Joshowitz came to America with my grandmother's oldest brother Izzy.  They came at some point after WWI and at least nine months before my grandmother's birth in February 1922.  I tried with just first names (lots and lots of Esthers and Esters came to the US in that time period).  I tried with as many wildcards as Ancestry would allow.  And nothing.

I cursed transcribers who obviously couldn't read my great grandmother's name.  I grumbled at the Ancestry programmers who put too many restrictions on wildcards in searches.  And then I tried searching on Steve Morse's site.

Output on Steve Morse's site

New Eizikovics Link--Or Maybe Not!

Samuel Hers Eizikowitz kept popping up in my research.  Since I had a great-great-great grandfather with this name, I suspected he was relatively closely related to me, but even with a pretty comprehensive Eisikovics tree, I couldn't fit him in.

I knew he had gone to America--his daughter's birth record has his place of residence as "New York, America."

Berta Eizikovics Birth; Kolodne; 1911

Temporary American Immigration

I've always thought that the migration patterns for Eastern European Jews was that the father &/or older children would come to America and earn money to bring over the mother and younger children.  I've seen that pattern in several branches of my family.  But that wasn't always the case.

Isak & Josef Jasowics Ship Manifest, 1906

Sonia Diamond, Post-WWII

Earlier, I posted about the Red Cross tracing forms that my grandmother (Sonia Diamond) had filled out in the 1950s.  The International Tracing Service (ITS) also had a series of documents tracking my grandmother through Displaced Persons (DP) camps after WWII.

ITS Summary Card, Sonia Diamond

Sonia Diamond's C-File

I sent away to USCIS for my grandmother's C-File.  I got it in the mail--along with a note that she had an A-File as well, and they will get it to me eventually.  Meanwhile, here's her C-File!

Her Declaration of Intention has her as both Diment and Diamond and has her born in Luck, Poland (now Lutsk, Ukraine).  She was actually born in nearby Horochov, but it was in the Lutsk District of Volhynia.  It has a wonderful picture of her, as well as her signature with both versions of the surname.

Sonia Diamond's Declaration of Intention

HIAS Follow-Ups

As mentioned earlier (here and here), the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), along with the Zuriff and Turk relatives, helped to bring my grandparents and great grandmother to America.  But even after April 1, 1947, when Sonia and Paul Diamond and Sheva Beitch arrived in New York, HIAS was still involved.

HIAS Letter Checking on Sheva Beitch; Summer 1947

Coming to America, 1947 (Through the Lens of HIAS)

Previously, I traced the 1946 effort to bring my grandparents and great grandmother to America as seen in HIAS records.  In 1947, things started to come together:

New York HIAS Office Request to Baltimore Office for Fees

Getting the Diamonds to America--1946, the Year of HIAS Paperwork

I'd written a bit back in 2013 about finding my grandparents' and great grandmother's HIAS file, but I never went into detail about everything that was there.  Their file was very comprehensive and had letters, documents, and telegrams tracing the process of getting them sponsored to America, their transit to America, and the legal follow-up that needed to be done to ensure that they wouldn't be a burden to the American taxpayer.

Much of 1946 was spent with HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) getting the paperwork together so that my grandparents (Paul and Sonia Diamond) and great grandmother (Sheva Beitch) would be able to legally come to America.

The earliest document in the folder was from June of 1946.

Visa Affidavit, Nathan Zuriff, June 1946

Paul Diamond's C-File (Part 2/2)

I previously blogged about the documents that my grandfather, Paul Diamond, generated when he was in a DP Camp in Germany in order to come to American.  Once in America, he began the process of becoming a United States citizen.

In September 1947, just over five months after arriving in America, he filed his Declaration of Intention--and lists his name as "Pejsach Diment also known as Paul Diamond"--and attaches a photo.

Paul Diamond, Declaration of Intention, 1947

Paul Diamond's C-File (Part 1/2)

I recently received a C-File for my grandfather, Paul Diamond, via the USCIS Genealogy program which contained a lot of interesting documents as well as some photos.

While in the Neu Freimann DP camp outside Munich, he applied for a US Visa.

Paul Diamond (Pejsach Diment) Visa Application; January 1947 (page 1)

Paul Diamond (Pejsach Diment) Visa Application; January 1947 (page 2)

Sheva Baich and My First A-File

I've already done an Ancestor Deep Dive on my great grandmother Sheva Fine Baich.  But I recently received her A-file via the USCIS Genealogy program which contained a treasure trove of information on her, and some photographs that I'd never seen before.

While still in Germany, she applied for a visa.  The document verified her parents' names (my grandmother had been pretty sure of Sheva's mother's maiden name but had not been positive) and gives details of where she was during WWII.  Interestingly, Sheva consistently puts her married life as taking place in Lutsk whereas her daughter Sonia has always maintained that the family lived in Horochov.

Sheva Baich Application for US Visa, January 1947 (page 1)

Tracking the Newly-Discovered Diamond Cousins....

I recently wrote about discovering a manifest for the husband of my grandfather's aunt, which said he was going to his brother-in-law, Leibish Diamond.  But interestingly, there were four other individuals on the same page who also listed Leibish Diamond as their destination.  At least 3 listed him as a relative; one has a relationship that I cannot read.

Ship Manifest, Moses Dorfmann (Line 17); David & Chaim Rosenfeld (lines 18-19); Motel Landsman (line 20); Arye Koruczuk (line 27), Arrived May 26, 1909

Motel Landsman, a 28-year-old butcher, said that he was going to his brother-in-law L. Diamond, and that his wife Ester was his closest relative back in Europe.  My grandfather had said that one of his father's sisters (therefore one of Leibish's sisters) was Esther!  I know know her married name and that her husband came to America.  The question then became, what happened to Esther?  Did she join her husband in America?

More Diamond Cousins? A New Mystery....

Earlier I posted about discovering via DNA testing that my grandfather's aunt, Jennie Diamond Dorfman, had actually come to America.  After that, one of my father's first cousins mentioned that there was an Uncle Leibish that she recalled meeting as well.  This was another of my grandfather's father's siblings that he had mentioned.  I looked, and sure enough, I found that Leibish had come to America!

Ship Manifest, Leib Diamond (line 18), Arrive New York Sep 3, 1905

Leib Diamond was a 19-year-old butcher from Biskupicje, Russia, going to Brooklyn (along with line 17, Leib Blaustein) to join a friend Schloime Galperin.

The Diamonds Are Coming to America!

Today I spent a couple of hours at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.  I'm still going through everything I found there, but the last thing I went through was my grandparents' HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) folder.  There were dozens of pages of correspondence tracking the Baltimore-based family (particularly Clara & Nathan Zuriff and Henry & Jessie Turk) working on helping my grandparents and great grandmother get out of their DP camp outside Munich and get them to America.

This series of telegrams and letters traces their path out of Europe, including them receiving their visas:

Paul Diamond's Autobiography

This autobiography was written by my grandfather, Paul Diamond, probably around 1980.

I, Paul Diamond, was born in Wolyn, Ukraine, Poland, in the year 1922. We were a family of fine children, two sisters and three brothers.  I went to school and I also attended Yeshiva until 1939.  When I was 17 years old, the Russians entered our area. I went to auto mechanic school for one year; then they assigned me to drive a truck for a hospital.

Paul Diamond

In 1941, when Germany invaded Russia, it started to look very bad for the Jewish people. First, they took away our homes and valuable possessions. Then the Nazis put us in the Ghetto. There was no more school, no more freedom, and we had to do very hard work.