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In Memory of My Beloved Parents
Jacob and Alta (Koretz) Wolf, sister Sabina and brother Emil
By the daughter and sister, Rachel Mascha Reichert
I am the only survivor of my immediate family and daughter of Jacob M. and Alta (Koretz) Wolf. I did survive Hitler's Holocaust because after graduation from the Dental School at the University of Nancy, France, I had lived with my husband, Dr. Jacob Reichert in Italy. At the time of the outbreak of the 2nd World War, I and my husband were on a round world trip, and later established ourselves in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A.
My mother was born in Rzeszów on November 15, 1889 and lived all her life with exception for a short period, in Vienna, in the same house that her parents, Leser and Ryfka Koretz had build in 1889. My mother's father was a contractor and builder of state roads and streets in different cities of Galicia, later, he became a business man as well.
My father was born on January 30, 1881 in Starasol, near Przemysl, a son of a large landowner and businessman who was also once a mayor of his city. Father moved to Rzeszów after his marriage to my mother in 1907 and immediately took part in communal, civic and religious activities, and at one time, was elected to the city Council as a Councilman. Beside myself, my parents had 2 other children – a younger daughter Sabina who had studied law, and a son Emil, both known to our friends as Siunia and Milek.
I shall always remember my beloved mother as a real “Yiddische Mamme”, instilling in me love and compassion for the under-privileged, and from my childhood, I remember especially our Saturday candy and of colourful ribbons, and visits to a Jewish orphanage with gifts of colorful ribbons.
I shall always remember my beloved father, not only as a thoughtful and understanding father, but as a real pal and Jewish scholar, studying every day early in the morning and after work, the Shulhan Aruch and the Talmud. Because of his continuous search for learning and study, he instilled in me a desire not only for general education but also the study of Jewish history and Zionism, thus developing in me as a child, a pride and sense of belonging although to a suffering but a very wonderful people. It is from him that as a child, before falling asleep, I have learnt the superb saga of creation in Genesis, the ethical stories of the Patriarchs, the Ten Commandments and the law codes of the Pentateuch, the matchless expression of personal religion in the Psalms, this all father had said, grew out of the soil of the country and the environment of national existence. He told me too that a People who for so long, two thousand years, had so desperately needed and wanted nationhood, shood and will not be denied this opportunity. I know it would have been his greatest happiness to live to see Israel reborn. Alas, my beloved parents, as well as my sister and brother, had died in the concentration camp like other six million Jews.
My parents' teachings had helped me to take the proper place, not only in the life of our Phoenix Jewish Community, but also the Phoenix Community at large, serving and working for many charitable and cultural organizations, especially for the Youth Alyha of Hadassah. The Phoenix Resettlement Committee for Displaced Persons, the Phoenix Symphony and Musical Theatre, and at this time, I am serving as National President of the Woman's Auxiliary of the International Academy of Proctology.
Above all, I shall remember my beloved parents, sister and brother for giving me a very, very happy and peaceful childhood. Blessed be their memory. I shall miss them forever, very much.
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Rzeszów, Poland
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