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Ozarow
  POLAND

HERSH-EL'YE THE MASON
Ozarow, Poland

1936

Hersh-El'ye and Chava Adler with their three children. None would survive.
 

Hersh-El'ye was a mason who also did interior renovations. Unfortunately, his was a trade that he could carry on full-time only a few months, during the fine weather. Chava, his wife, kept a little shop where she sold sweets, mineral water and ice cream. That may have been an improvement on the ordinary, but in her business there was a crucial problem: ice. It was the custom during the winter to go to cut large ice blocks in the "Sadzawka", a frozen pond which, during the rest of the year, served as a watering hole for cattle. Hersh-EI'ye put up a building in his garden intended to keep ice. Full of initiative, he even found a partner, Leibke, to finance the stocking and transport. Thus, it was easier to sell cold drinks.

Who would have thought that with such an enterprising spirit, Hersh­El'ye wouldn't even be able to feed his family? That, however, was unfortunately the case.

In 1937 Hersh-EI'ye, at the end of his rope, attempted to make a fresh start in Paris, with the firm intention of eventually bringing the rest of his family there. He went so far as to sell a field of four thousand square metres to cover the cost of the trip. In vain! Good fortune absolutely refused to smile upon him. He was forced to return to Ozarow, with death in his soul.
 

Ożarów 12

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