I discovered that many of our family, including other children of Usher and of his brother, Lazar Elia, arrived on these shores well before this story begins. Subsequent research has uncovered some of their stories. Still, Carl's story is unique in being my only first-hand account of shtetl life. His father-in-law, Hirschel Uberstein, stayed in Gorodok and was killed in a pogrom in the late 1920's.

Morris emigrates

Hirschel Uberstein and Rivka Hyman may well have had many more children than the five who eventually found their way to the United States. Pressed by the threat of the draft, Morris, the oldest of those who came, was the first to arrive. The year was 1901, although 1905 is the year of arrival indicated on his death certificate. Japan was soon to attack Russian-controlled Port Arthur (now called Lu-shun), initiating the Russo-Japanese War on the Pacific coast over 4,200 miles to the east of Minsk.

Dora stays

Esther Minnie was the second of the five children of Hirschel and Rivka to arrive in America. Esther Minnie traveled here alone, according to her daughter, Marion Shapiro Patashnick of North Adams, Massachusetts. Brothers Jack and Henry arrived later. Dora, younger than Morris by some 12 years, was still a child when he left for America, and so she remained at home with her parents. This account focuses on the period of Carl's and Dora's life together. While their story in America is one of success and a full and good life, the narrative that follows centers on their environment in Russia, including Carl's many brushes with danger and his family's numerous frightening experiences.

From Krasnoje to Gorodok

Carl and Dora knew each other from the time they were children. Carl was about 10 years old when he was sent from his village, Krasnoje (Kraz-nick), to neighboring Gorodok (Horr-o-duck). It had been arranged that he study there for his Bar Mitzvah and live in the home of his teacher. Gorodok, the home of the Ubersteins, is much closer to Minsk than either Krasnoje, where Carl's family lived, or Radoskovici, where his aunt and uncle had a shop. Radoskovici (Raa-dosh-co-veech-ee) is 30 miles from Gorodok, according to Carl, who referred to making the "30-mile walk to Radoskovici."

Shtetls and stadts

Carl wanted to be sure I understood the difference between a "shtetl" and a "stadt." Minsk and Vilna were stadts or provinces in the Pale of Settlement where Jews were forced to live, and they were also the names of major cities. A shtetl was a townlet (a little town or village), and Jews typically lived in shtetls unless they had specific permission and the papers to live elsewhere. Gorodok, Krasnoje, and Radishkovici (see map) were shtetls in the province of Minsk.

The Jewish population

Despite oppression, the Jewish populations of both Minsk and Vilnius reportedly reached 40% of the total population by the eve of World War II. Gorodok is situated between those two cities -- 35 miles northwest of Minsk and 150 miles southeast of Vilnius. "The original influx of Jews is traced to settlements in the 14th century," according to The Columbia Encyclopedia (1968).

Fiddler on the Roof

Forests dominated the landscape, Carl said. Between the town and the forest, peasants grew corn and tended their cows. Visions of "Fiddler on the Roof" come to mind. The place to go when it was time for fun, according to Dora, was the mill on the lake at the end of one of the streets on which "Christians lived." The mill was where 40-pound bags of barley and rye would be taken for turning into the flour used to bake bread.

Fun at the mill

At the mill there was a special rope, and the youngsters would take turns pulling on it. The rope would send them swinging outward Tarzan-style, and they would then "come up on the third floor," Dora said, enjoying her memory of the fun they had.

The quiet life

During intervals in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century when there happened to be no ongoing war, revolution or pogrom, what was life like in the little village near Minsk? "It was quiet," said Carl, and he drew a small circle to represent Gorodok and two intersecting lines for its main streets. Gorodok's residents numbered "about 200 Jewish families and 50 non-Jewish peasant families, and there was one policeman and a government office." The town paid taxes, and when a problem arose, the troublemakers, Carl said, "would be called to the office."

About a year after reviewing these notes and reading about the pogroms, my response is, " 'quiet' as compared to what?" One answer is that although pogroms were commonplace, Gorodok's ratio of Jews to non-Jews made self defense possible. Morris' father, Hirschel Uberstein, was killed in a pogrom in the late 1920's, but I have been unable to uncover any details. He was a tanner and traveled to Minsk for skins. He may well have run into trouble enroute or in Minsk.

Trouble on Tuesdays

In the central area of the village was a single big house occupied by "a wealthy Jewish family," and on the northern periphery, two synagogues: one Hasidic and the other, Orthodox. The Jewish area lay chiefly in this region and to the northwest, but as Dora said, it was essentially a two-street town. "Sometimes the Christians [peasants] would get drunk, such as on Tuesday which was market day, and also on Christmas, New Year's and Easter," she said. "They didn't like the Jews, and they would make trouble."

Nobody talks

My father has always maintained, "They never talked about life there." After reading about the horrible slaughter of Jews year after year in incident after incident, I asked him again. Why is the Holocaust constantly with us and not the pogroms, as well? He had no answer beyond acknowledging that this is so. My view, with a brief look at anti-semitism through the ages and Jewish migrations and pogroms, is in progress for Cousins Plus as a companion piece, tentatively entitled The Ubersteins and the Romanovs.

Politics Russian style

Morris Uberstein was born in 1883, two years after the assassination of Czar Alexander II by "a revolutionist's bomb." His successor, Alexander III, immediately increased the oppression of minorities, oppression that was "particularly severe in regards to Jews," according to Funk and Wagnall's Universal Standard Encyclopedia (1931-1957). Jews "were forced to live in certain areas, not permitted to enter specific professions, and killed in great numbers in pogroms fomented by the government."

Multiple dangers

While Morris' departure from his homeland was spurred by the desire to avoid military service and almost certain death in the Russo-Japanese War, everyday life was often fraught with danger. There were the Cossacks implementing the government's unofficial program of pogroms, and also, soldiers and peasants, who, when drunk or with any excuse, could and did make trouble for Jews they encountered. During Cossack raids, the Karben family would hide in the basement of the house they rented from the blacksmith, and they would lie on the floor with the lights out until the danger had passed.

Latkes and Cossacks

When Dora had the feeling marauders were about to appear, she would prepare stacks of latkes or potato pancakes, said Shirley, who didn't leave Russia until the age of 4. She is the oldest of the three Karben children born in Belarus. (Phil is two years younger than Shirley, and Artie, who passed away in 1990, was only six months old when the Karbens left for America.) Shirley said her mother told her that during Cossack raids, she would "stuff the children's mouths with potato pancakes so we wouldn't make any noise."

The term

The term "Cossack" comes from the Turkish word for adventurer but came to mean "predatory horseman." It originally referred to "a people of the Soviet Union principally of Russian and Ukrainian stocks." In the latter part of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century, the czarist government used Cossack troops "to perpetrate pogroms against the Jews."

Poverty and emigration

Belarus, whose capital city is Minsk, had been "laid waste" by the Napoleonic invasion. Thereafter it continued suffering "great poverty," which spurred mass emigration to the United States in the 19th century, "notably among the Jews." Morris was 11 years old when Nicholas II ascended to the throne in 1894. Again, the history books note, there was "an increase of autocracy, oppression and police control."

Domestic strife

Morris had emigrated just in time to sidestep the Ruse-Japanese War. In its takeover of Port Arthur, Japan overwhelmed Russia's forces; domestic strife added to the "complete defeat" of Russia, and the revolution began to build. There were demands for reform, demonstrations, strikes and riots. The revolutionary movement was crushed in 1906, regrouped, and was again repressed. A revolution "was being prepared by the radical parties" when the outbreak of World War I occasioned its "temporary postponement."

A 30-mile walk

Meanwhile, Carl had obtained an apprenticeship to a furrier in Gorodok, and he was working there in 1914 when his uncle, who lived in the nearby village of Radoskovici, was taken into the army. His aunt had no choice but to go to Gorodok to ask Carl to take over his uncle's shop. He was told the pay would be $10 a week. "So," Carl said, "I took a 30-mile walk to Radoskovici."

A Polish soldier

During a period when the Poles had driven away the Russians, a Polish soldier found Carl on the street. "I almost got shot," he said. Dora nodded in agreement. At that time, they were married and had two children, and they were living in Radoskovici in the house that belonged to the blacksmith. Dora mentioned often having to lie down "on the floor in the basement without any lights on because we were afraid."

Wagon wheels

After the Poles had driven away the Russians, the peasants were able to go looking for their stolen horses. It happened that some peasants told the Polish soldiers that Carl had taken some missing wagon wheels. Quick thinking on Dora's part saved the day. "I went across the street where a Polish man lived," she said, "and I brought him back to say Carl was an honest man." Carl added, "I didn't even know who it was who took what was missing."

And so it was that he and Dora lived in Gorodok during troubled and dangerous years.

Carl in the army

On August 2, 1914, Russia declared war on Austria and Germany, and within a year Carl was drafted and sent to Siberia for three months of basic training. Then he was ordered to the German front, which at that time was "only 15 miles away from Minsk." Efforts were being made to evacuate civilians living in the area. "There was no food, and it was raining," said Carl, who got permission to leave the camp to go to the city for food.

Carl goes AWOL

In the city he saw soldiers with bread, so he went up to them and asked where he could get some. "They pointed out a place," he said, "and they told me, 'You want to eat? Go in and eat.'" Carl entered the place, which turned out to be a synagogue, and it was full of refugees. "There was my mother and brother, and another two brothers and a sister," Carl said. "So I took off my uniform and gun, and I threw them away and went with them."

Bought "papers"

The Germans were "thrown back" a couple of weeks later, Carl said, and the people returned to work. The family's Radoskovici shop was set up in Minsk, where Carl's mother had gone for refuge, and they rented an apartment. Carl knew he was going to need papers for the government, so for 100 rubles he bought papers.

The Police

The papers said that his army company had sent him to Minsk for three months to recover from sickness. When things quieted down in Minsk, everyone had to register with the police, and Carl took his papers down to register. The man in charge looked at Carl's papers, and then he said to Carl, "Where did you buy these?"

Prison life

Carl was arrested and spent three months in prison awaiting trial. "I was lucky not to be shot," he said. There were 20 soldiers imprisoned in one room with long benches. Conditions were not good. "Once every couple of weeks they would take us to a Turkish bath," Carl said. He was expecting to be sent back to the front, and then to have to serve four years after the war ended.

Welcome the Revolution

Meanwhile, the Revolution came. "Thank God I had not fought for Nicholai," said Carl, referring to Czar Nicholas II, whom the Revolution toppled. What about Carl's trial for having bought phony papers? The trial never took place; the Revolution had caused a change in agenda.

Straw mats

Instead of a trial, Carl was sent "deep into Russia" where he was put to work for the winter making the mats that soldiers used for sleeping in the trenches. The mats, he said, were one-inch thick and made from straw. Eventually his assignment changed, and he was put to work in a bakery.

The pill

One day Carl obtained from a friend a a pill that would make him sick. For three weeks he lay ill in bed in the hospital, and then he was sent to Minsk. "Go home," he was told there. "They gave up on me," he said with a grin.

A Story of Heroism

The Chasmans

Usher Uberstein's granddaughter, Esther -- her mother had married Samuel Kirshner -- was living in Newark, New Jersey, with her husband, Leonid Chasman, when she became very ill with tuberculosis. She arranged to go to a spa in Switzerland, the spa that Thomas Mann wrote about in his novel, "The Magic Mountain." Esther took her four children to stay in Gorodok with her father and mother -- Usher's daughter whose name we do not know -- while she tried to get well in Switzerland. Then World War I broke out. Esther regained her health but had to return home alone. Her children learned Russian while they waited out the war, and the youngest child died.

Carl Karben, hero

After the war ended, travel still was not permitted. The grandparents of the Chasmen children asked their niece's husband, Carl Karben, to smuggle the three children out of Russia so that they could get back home to Newark, New Jersey. By this time, Randolph was 14 years old, Sidney was 12, and Ethel was 9. Carl told me, "I hired a man from Poland to go get the three children [probably from Gorodok] and bring them at night to Radoskovici" where he and Dora were then living. The children were accompanied by Esther's sister, Sonia Kirshner, who pretended to be their mother. Sonia had become a dentist, but she took advantage of this opportunity to emigrate to the United States, according to Randolph's widow, Eleanor Chasman of Hollywood, Florida.

Arrested

"Somebody found out [what was going on]," said Carl, who was arrested as a result because it was thought that he was a communist. Quick thinking and cash got him out of that situation. "I gave money to the soldiers," he said.

Poland off limits

Carl then embarked on the dangerous journey of taking the three children from Radishkovici to Warsaw. Once there, he took them to the U.S. Consul; then he bought the tickets for their passage and sent them home. "They were shooting anyone who dared bring people from Russia to Poland," he said. "I put my life on the line for them."

Finally, America

In 1923, Morris arranged passage to the United States for the Karbens. He had raised enough money -- probably with the help of some other family members -- to bring the Karben family of five all at the same time. By then, Morris was confined to a wheelchair, so his wife, Esther Simon Rubenstein, met the Karben family at Ellis Island on October 12, which happens to be Columbus Day.

A new name

In Russia, Shirley had been called "Tziril." By the time the immigration officer was ready to write down a name for this four-year-old immigrant, Esther Rubenstein had come up with another possibility. She was reading a novel with a heroine named "Shirley," and so that was the name she told the immigration officer to write down. When it came to a last name, Karbenovich became Karben. Carl Karben became an American citizen five years later, "to the day," said Shirley.

Valued worker

My father remembers what a hard worker Carl was and how he went looking for work as soon as he arrived in New York City. He was never out of a job, said Shirley, "because he gave full value for a day's work." He was also versatile. Carl was a superb lathe operator, joined the union, and whenever an opening became available, was usually the first chosen because of his fine reputation . He was also a qualified furrier thanks to his early training in Gorodok. And, Shirley said, he even had skills that enabled him to find employment in the manufacture of children's shoes.

The fortune-teller

Before leaving Russia, Dora had taken the customary trip to visit a fortune-teller. The major revelation was that the fortune-teller envisioned her with four children. "My mother was sure that would never happen," Shirley said. The year of Morris' death -- 1940 -- is now forever associated in Shirley's mind with the fortune-teller. It was on the occasion of Morris' unveiling that Dora announced her pregnancy with Jerry, who was to be her fourth child.

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