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52 Ancestors Week 27 - Independence
Jul. 6th, 2018 10:48 amThe theme for Week 27 (July 2-8) is Independence.
Nobody in my family was anywhere near North America in 1776, so U.S. independence didn’t immediately impact my family history.
Lithuanian independence came after World War I and that did have a big influence on my family. Jews were expelled from much of Lithuania during the war and forced into certain Russian provinces. With Lithuanian independence in 1920, they were able to return and enjoy the rights of citizenship. Until, of course, the Russians invaded in 1941.
The other country whose independence mattered to my family is, of course, Israel. My great-uncle, Nahum FAINSTEIN, fought in the war of independence (after surviving the Kovno ghetto and Dachau). His children and grandchildren have been privileged to grow up in a country where they control their own destiny.
Nobody in my family was anywhere near North America in 1776, so U.S. independence didn’t immediately impact my family history.
Lithuanian independence came after World War I and that did have a big influence on my family. Jews were expelled from much of Lithuania during the war and forced into certain Russian provinces. With Lithuanian independence in 1920, they were able to return and enjoy the rights of citizenship. Until, of course, the Russians invaded in 1941.
The other country whose independence mattered to my family is, of course, Israel. My great-uncle, Nahum FAINSTEIN, fought in the war of independence (after surviving the Kovno ghetto and Dachau). His children and grandchildren have been privileged to grow up in a country where they control their own destiny.
