#yln-1:
Minna (Manya) Yolen (Hyatt)
]
Birth:
April 15, 1867
Dnipropetrovs'k, Dnipropetrovs'ka oblast, Ukraine
Death:
October 09, 1942 (75)
Congregation Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Cemetery, New Haven, New Haven, CT, United States
#yln-2:
Louis Yolen
Birth:
1889
Dnipropetrovs'k, Dnipropetrovs'ka oblast, Ukraine
Death:
December 16, 1960 (70-71)
New Haven, New Haven, CT, United States
Immediate Family:
Son of Samson (Simcha) Yolen and Minna (Manya) Yolen
Husband of Gertrude (Gittel) Yolen and Naida (Natasha) Yolen
Father of Dorothy Mark (Yolen); Ruth Stern (Yolen); Sonia Ruderman (Yolen); Bob Yolen and Bill Yolen
Brother of Eva Dranoff (Yolen); Vera Krassner (Yolen); Sam Yolen; Rose Davidow (Yolen); Harry Yolen; Will Yolen and Sylvia Plotkin (Yolen)
#yln-3
#yln-4
#yln-5
#yln-6
#yln-7
#yln-8
DNIPRO, Ukraine. My maternal great grandparents Samson and Minna Yolen raised their 8 children there. But in the late 19th century they knew their town in the Russian Empire as Ekaterinoslav, named for the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. Samson was born in Kiev; Minna, née Hyatt, was from Fastov. This photo was taken circa 1913, when my grandpa Louis, the oldest, had already left for America. You can see him in the framed photo in the family portrait. The rest of the family followed just in time, before the start of World War I. In spite of hardships, including discrimination against Jews and a cholera epidemic, they loved their home. How do I know this? When my aunt and my mother wrote a brief (one-page) family history about 60 years ago, Grandpa Louis made sure they included the street name where he’d grown up, Biriluzik Street. Much later I discovered that no such street existed: my mom and aunt had done their best to transliterate from Louis’ accented pronunciation. I’ve been thinking of them lately, in light of Putin’s unprovoked attacks on the Ukrainian people. Here’s where I learned about the deep affection people of Ukraine have for their country. Several years ago, I posted a question about the mystery street on a Ukraine genealogy Facebook group. Ukrainians, most a generation younger than myself and fluent in English, immediately offered to help. One IT specialist in Dnipro reviewed an alphabetical list of every street in the city (grown from 30,000 population in Samson’s time to nearly 1 million). He told me that only one street name was a likely match: Bezulevskaya. He also sent me a street-view GPS link. Scrolling up the street was fascinating: the homes were prewar, simple, some appearing uninhabited as if waiting for their owners to return, including buildings resembling a synagogue and a school. Now Ukraine is enduring a war targeting civilians, their homes, and hospitals. Negotiated civilian escape routes continue to be attacked daily, as more than 2 million refugees have fled, half of them children! In fact, civilians and their homes have been the primary target from the beginning. In Dnipro this week, the Jewish community has turned its synagogue and Jewish day school into shelters as refugees continue to arrive from other destroyed cities in Ukraine. As the atrocities continue, thoughts of past history are unavoidable: Stalin’s deliberate starvation of millions of Ukrainians. Occupation of countries by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Putin’s attack and annexation of Crimea. With Putin escalating atrocities by the day, there is no reason to believe he will stop at Ukraine. I hope that my country is doing a lot more behind the scenes to stop the attacks on the Ukrainian people than economic sanctions. Praying for the safety of the Ukrainian people. Samson Samson (Simcha) Yolen born
circa 1861
Kiev, Kiev city, Kyiv city, Ukraine
Death:
October 01, 1933 (67-76)
Congregation Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Cemetery, New Haven, New Haven, CT, United States