Meet and celebrate our newly found family members...

January 15, 2013

It is exciting to know that my daughter's Peopling the Nation Project, which she did for Mr. Slansky's 8th grade social studies class in 2005, has led us to Michael's cousins, immigrants who survived and were displaced by WWII, and have helped people our nation. Originally our Zheleznyak family members were from Odessa. Some escaped to Russia, then immigrated to Moldova, then to the USA. Just for clarification, we have two new Thomas'.  Senior Thomas spells his name Tomas.

Meet our recently found family:

Michael's cousin Golda Zheleznyak.  Golda is 98 years old. She is the daughter of Michael's aunt Sheyva and uncle Meer who perished in Odessa sometime during 1941-1944.  We do not yet know the story of her life and escape from Odessa into Russia.  We hope to learn more when we meet her and other family members in February.

The baby Michael wondered about for so many years is Golda's nephew and Michael's 2nd cousin, Tomas Zheleznyak. Tomas' father, Yusef, was Golda's brother. He was also able to immigrate to the USA. Pictured is Tomas with his mother, Alexandra (deceased), and his grandson, Thomas (another baby!)

Mother, son, grandson. Alexandra, Thomas, and Tomas Zheleznyak.

Maya, Anatoley, Thomas.

Anatoley is Tomas' son. He is Michael's 3rd cousin. He immigrated to the USA around 1992.  Maya is his wife from Georgia. His son Thomas is pictured here coming out of his performance in the Nutcracker.





Our other cousin who lives in Moscow is also named Michael. He is the son of Michael's cousin Paya (deceased).  Also pictured is Rebecca, Anatoley's daughter who is now 8 years old.