Family Gurvitz from Linkuva

Family Gurvitz from Linkuva
By Vardit Fabran
My grandmother was very dear to me, but growing up, we had some language difficulties. She spoke Yiddish and English, I spoke only Hebrew. A large picture of her mother Reize was in the living room, and she used to sit by it and cry. My grandmother was very warm and loving, and always carried the memory of her family with her. Her name was Ida Fabran (Eidale or Ettka) born Gurvitz. She was born on May 19, 1903.

She came to Palestine all on her own in the early twenties. The fact that her parents let her do this is astonishing to me. My grandfather (Binyamin) came to pick her up from port and have decided that she's going to be his bride... how romantic. In 1926 they heard that her brothers 4 or 5 of them (Barnie, Robert.. I don't remember other names) were moving to South Africa, and Eidale, who was pregnant, convinced Benyamin to go back to Linkuva and meet her family. The 4 brothers who immigrated to South Africa, changed their name to Horowitz.

My father Isaac was born then in Linkuva (Even though he was concieved here in Israel) and Benyamin joined the brothers and went to SA. Eidale and her baby followed afterwards when they could make the journey. Another sister Hienka went to Israel and lived in Kibbutz Yagur, but in Linkuva were still the parents: Reizl and husband, and one or two little kids a boy and a girl I believe. This was the last time my grandmother ever saw them. They were killed in the war, I knew vagely that they were shot probably with the other Jews in the forest, but nobody ever told me the details.

Now I don't have anyone to tell me the story. I was the only one that was interested, but my young mind didn't put anything in the right historical context.

Vardit Fabran

GURVITZ (GURVICAS) Simcha (Mordecheliu - Sunus?) and Reiza (Nee Dahl?):

1. Isaac (Zalman) b. Linkuva, d. South Africa (Children: Annette + 2 (USA), Shirley + 4 (Canada), Carmel + 3 (Canada)

2. Eida b. Linkuva 19.5.1903, m. Israel 1926, Binyamin Fabran, d. 1975 (Children: Isaac + 5 (d. Israel 1997), Shifra + 2 (Israel)

3. Robert (Reuven) b. Linkuva d. South Africa (Children: Jules + 6 (SA&USA), Barney + 4 (SA&USA)

4. Charles (Chaikel) b. Linkuva, d. South Africa

5. Hienna, b. Linkuva, m. Shraga Riklis d. Israel (Children: Bat Sheva + 3 (Israel), Shmuel + 4 (Israel)

6. Barney (Berl), b. Linkuva d. South Africa (Children: 2 daughters, twins?)

7. Beilla b. Linkuva

8. Motte-Leibel (Motte-Leitke) b. Linkuva

Six children of the Gurvitz family, have left Linkuva before the war. Beilla and Motte-Leitke stayed with their parents. When the German came, Beila was around the age of 19, already engaged. Her fiance was a partizan who urged her to join him and come to their hideout in the woods. She wouldn't leave her old parents behind. Simcha, Reiza, Beilla and Motte-Leibel died in the Holocaust.

My grandmother, Ida (Gurvitz) Fabran (1903-1975) and my Grandfather Binyamin (1900-1989)

Reize and Simcha Gurvitz. Simcha was called �Der Reiter� � �The red headed�

The Gurvitz family (Left to Right and clockwise): Hienka, Reize, Beila, Charlie, Barnie, Simcha and Motte-Leitke

Reize and the two youngest children, both perished along with their parents

Reize and Beila (around her Bat-Mitzva)

Reize

Motte-Leitke and Beila.

Great-grandmother Shifra, immigrated to the U.S. in the Twenties. My aunt Shifra is named after her

Saying Good-Bye to Hienka who is going to Palestine to live in a Kibbutz. (Left to Right): A neighbor-friend, Motte-Leitke, Beila, Reize and Hienka. The Gurvitz�s house is in the background (No. 5, the street name unclear)

My grandmother�s birth certificate (Eida is probably the Lithuanian spelling)

[Table of Contents] [Background - Journey to Linkova] [The Journey to Linkuva] [Photograph Gallery - Linkuva, Lithuania] [Maps of Lithuania] [Blumsohn tree] [Linkuva Directory] [Linkuva and Holocaust Resources] [Audio testimony - Murder in Linkuva]