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As a result of a picture printed in a Jewish newspaper, Samuel Kopinsky, a pharmacist, of 357 Vermont street, Brooklyn, will hold a reunion over the week-end with an aunt in Philadelphia whom he had never expected to see again.
Kopinsky, who was graduated this Spring with honors from the College of Pharmacy of Columbia University, hopes to learn from the visit more details of how members of his family died one by one during and after the Russian Revolution.
Between twenty and twenty-five years ago, Kopinsky’s father, the late Morris Kopinsky, came to America from Shpola, Kiev, Russia, leaving behind three sisters, his father, mother and brother. The father corresponded regularly with the members of his family. After a few years one of the sisters, Mrs. Bessie Gordon, joined him.
COULDN’T LOCATE KIN
Brother and sister lived together for some time and then decided to send for another sister, Bertha. This decision came in 1917, when the revolution was raging in Russia. As a result all efforts to locate the family failed.
Year after year, according to Samuel, his father tried to get in touch with his relatives but could find no trace of them. Despite his efforts he died several years ago without knowing what had happened to his family.
A few days ago Samuel received a letter from a Mrs. Bertha Mirapol of 2426 Lawrence street, Philadelphia. Mrs. Mirapol wrote that she believed she was Kopinsky’s aunt, explaining that she had seen his picture in the Philadelphia edition of the Jewish Daily Forward. The picture had been published in the newspaper’s rotogravure section in connection with Kopinsky’s graduation from college.
ANTICIPATES MEETING
Mrs. Mirapol wrote she also had been trying ineffectually to get in touch with her relatives in America. She explained she had come to this country six years ago and had no idea of where the Kopinskys were located until she saw the picture in the newspaper.
Kopinsky said he was looking forward to the meeting and expected to learn from his aunt how his father’s family had been wiped out and why details had so long been missing.
For years Jewish Daily Bulletin readers have turned to us for various types of information.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
