The Old Country
David Wallach’s Bessarabia
There is a blank space
on the naturalization certificate for the new citizen to fill
in the name of their previous
country. In that space Hyman wrote “Russia” and
crossed
out the word “citizen”, accepting instead the description “subject”
of “Russia”. He was born on July 15,1885(1)
to David and Yentel
Wallach, one
of four identified children (‘Big’ Ben, Hyman, Pearl, Bircha) and
possibly four more that may (or may not) have died
young. He grew up in
the town of Chotin, Bessarabia on the banks of the
Dniester River, a subject, not a citizen, of Russia.
His father
David Wallach was also born in Chotin, as was David’s father Beryl
before him.
David had three siblings – Ben, Jacob, and
Nessa. Out on the ragged edge of what we know today, we have
identified a Moshie Wallach (Moshko Volokh) who is a contemporary
of Beryl's in Chotin and may have been his brother. If so,
Moshie's (and Beryl's) father Sam
Wallach (Sham Volokh) is as far
back in the paternal line that we can
identify today. It has been
reported that they grew up as part of a wealthy
sheepherders family, that Beryl owned many thousands of sheep and they
would take
the sheepskins to the Black Sea port city of Odessa to trade.
“Young
Wallachian Woman” and “Wallachian
Peasant”
These wood etchings were created in 1870 when David was 13.
Wallachian Sheep and Shepherd
This image was published in 1898 when Hyman was 13. Perhaps
these images show how David or his parents looked and dressed.
Fannie Forman Wallach, daughter of Esther and Jacob Forman, was one of 13 children growing up just outside of “Odess” (Assumed to be Odessa ) possibly on a farm - possibly in a small village. Family lore relates that Jacob Forman owned a general store and that he was a scribe- one of few in town who could read or write. Fannie worked in the store. Her brother Marty had gone to military school in Russia as a counterfeit gentile since Jews were not permitted go to school.
But in 1857, if you were a Jew that lived in
Chotin, you might
not be certain to what country you owed your allegiance. It was a
time of continuous political
upheaval, government sanctioned anti-Semitism, and war. During the life
of
David, Hyman and Fannie, the region of Bessarabia was claimed and
fought over
by: Ottoman Turks, Russia, Romania, Moldavia, Austria-Hungary, Germany,
and the
Soviet Union. But regardless of who was in charge, persecution of the
Jews who
lived there remained a constant. If you can read yiddish, more on the
history of of the Jewish community in
Khotin can be found in the online Yizkor
Memorial
book, thanks to the efforts of the New York Public
Library.
These photographs of a Chotin street scene, and a view of the town from the fortress ruins, are from postcards that date from the time that David, Hyman and Ben walked these very streets. It is conceivable that they are even in this photo. The images were contributed by Philip Horn, who found the Wallachs.Net site while looking for information on Chotin. The Horn family lore is remarkably similar to our own. His Uncle Jake was the first in his family to emigrate to America, after shooting a Cossack off of his horse. His father (age 14) followed Jake to the US from Chotin in 1906 with these postcards in hand, and instructions to find a Brooklyn address written on the front of this card. With a population of only about 24,000 at the time, and a common enemy in the Cossacks, it is certainly possible that his family and ours would have known each other in Chotin.
This was the place where David Wallach and Jacob Forman lived and raised a family …
This is an 1856 map of the Balkan world into which David, Jacob, Hyman and Fannie were born, with Chotin and Odessa highlighted, and the provinces/countries of Bessarabia, Moldavia and Wallachia easily identified. Note the proximity of Chotin to both the border with Moldavia (Rumania), and Austria-Hungary (Germany), while still within the borders of Bessarabia (Russia). On this map Moldavia and Wallachia are shown as under the control of Turkey. Chotin and Odessa and Bessarabia are controlled by Russia.
… and this was the time that David Wallach and Jacob Forman lived and raised a family
|
1812 |
Bessarabia is incorporated into Russian Empire under the Treaty of Bucharest after the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-12. |
|
1848 |
Violent Insurrection in Moldavia. Efforts to create a unified Romanian state are crushed by Russia and Ottoman Empire. |
|
1853-1856 |
Crimean War- Russia vs. Ottoman Turks, England and France. The war is fought primarily on and around the Black Sea. Russia is defeated militarily. |
|
1856 |
Treaty of Paris ends Crimean War. Russia cedes southern Bessarabia to Moldavia, which along with Walachia are reorganized as semi-autonomous states under Ottoman influence (Time of map on prior). |
|
1857 |
David Wallach Born in Chotyn, Bessarabia |
|
1859 |
Moldavia and Wallachia unite to form Romania, nominally under Ottoman Turk influence |
|
1872 |
Anti-Jewish riots in region—Izmail, Kagul, and Vilkovo |
|
1875 |
Esther (Genzer) Forman born. |
|
1877 |
Russia declares war on Turkey, marches through Romania, and is almost defeated by Turks, but Romania declares independence, enters war on side of the Russians, and turns the tide. |
|
1878 |
San Stefano Armistice and Peace Treaty ends war, Russian re-annexes Bessarabia |
|
1881 |
Kingdom of Romania Founded |
|
1883 |
Romania signs secret alliance with Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy. |
|
1885 |
Hyman Wallach born in Chotyn, Bessarabia |
|
1894 |
Fannie (Forman) Wallach born outside of Odessa, Russia |
|
1903 |
Kishinev, Bessarabia Pogrom. Forty-five murdered, and 1,300 homes and shops plundered. |
|
190? |
“Big” Ben Wallach emigrates to America |
|
1904-1905 |
Russo-Japanese War. Over 400,000 Jews drafted to serve in Russian Army between 1880 and 1909 |
|
1905 |
Violent Pogroms in Odessa and 300 towns – Over three thousand Jews are killed |
|
1906 |
Hyman Wallach emigrates to America |
| 1906 |
John Forman (Fannie's brother) emigrates to America
(per 1930 census)
|
|
1912-13 |
Esther
(1912),
Fannie (1913) and Jenny Forman immigrate to America (per 1930 census) |
|
1916 |
Romania join Allies and Russia – betrays 1883 alliance, declares war on Austria-Hungary and Germany. |
|
1917 |
Bolshevik Revolution brings down the Russian Empire. Bessarabia is declared the independent Democratic Moldavian Republic, federated with Russia. |
|
1918 |
Bessarabia declares complete independence from Russia and decides to unite with Romania. |
|
1922 |
David Wallach emigrates to America |
|
1924 |
Soviet Russia creates Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR). |
|
1929 |
David Wallach dies in New York. |
|
June 1940 |
Bessarabia is occupied by Soviet forces as a result of a secret agreement attached to the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non- Aggresion Pact. |
|
August 1940 |
USSR creates Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic from most of Bessarabia and a portion of the Moldavian ASSR. |
|
1940 |
“Big” Ben
Wallach dies in Miami |
|
1941 |
Nazi Germany and Romania attack Moldavian SSR and Ukrainian SSR and capture Odessa. Germany gives Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and Transnistria to Romania. |
|
1941 |
July 7 – Germans/Romanians take Chotyn – 2,000 Chotyn Jews taken to town square and shot. Remaining Jewish population assembled in Jewish School. Locals loot Jewish homes. Rabbi and professionals executed. Aug 1 – 3,800 Chotyn Jews marched to camps in Ataki & Transnistria. A few hundred survive. |
|
1942 |
Odessa proclaimed ”Judenrein” by the Romanian and German occupiers. |
|
1942 - 1943 |
Hyman & Fannie’s sons Ben , John, & Sid enter US military and are deployed overseas. |
|
1944 |
Soviet forces retake Bessarabia and Transnistria. |
| 1944 | Esther Ganzer Forman dies in Chicago (12-8-1944) |
|
1947 |
Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and Transnistria are formally returned to USSR by treaty. |
|
1957 |
Hyman Wallach dies in Chicago |
| 1965 |
Fannie Forman Wallach dies in Deerfield, Il (10-14-1965)
|
