Elkhonen Saks' cousins Elya Saks, Frida Stern and Ite Hildesheim

These are the children of my Uncle Haim-Leib Saks. In the center is his son Elya, on the left his older daughter Frida and on the right his younger daughter Ite. This amateur photo was taken in the apartment of Uncle Haim-Leib in Mozhaysk near Moscow before the war. My uncle had four sons and two daughters. His wife died before the war. His older son, Josef, married a Russian girl in 1927, broke with his Jewish roots and left the family of his father. The second son Motl was called up to military service, became part of the tank corps and was killed at the front. The youngest son was caught by the war in Belarus, while visiting his relatives, and murdered by fascists. Only the third son, Elya, and the daughters, Frida and Ite, remained with their father. Elya was about 18 years old then. Before the war he tried to enter university, but wasn't accepted because he was the son of a rabbi. After the war the Polish nationals received the sanction to return to Poland. Haim-Leib, his son and his daughters managed to get fictitious documents and left with some of their Polish friends. From Poland they quickly got to France. Both daughters married orthodox Jews there and left for the USA. Frida's husband is a rabbi, her surname is Stern. She has eight children and many grandchildren. Ite's surname became Hildesheim after her marriage, she brought up ten children, but lost her husband early. All her kids are very religious. Ite has thirty-two grandchildren. In 1999 I visited her for the wedding of one of her granddaughters. It was a real Jewish wedding, populous and very cheerful. Uncle Haim-Leib and Elya left for Israel. My uncle died in 1952. Elya lives in Israel now. He's over 80 now. He has five children and many grandchildren.