Research Interests Forum Entry for MOSHE PAISACH BIALKIN at RUSSIA

Contact: Jane-Ellen Schneider
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Research Interest: Moshe Bialkin was my great-grandfather. He was born in Brest-Litovsk, Russia, but his family originally came from Spain to Russia at the end of the 15th century. His last name means little squirrel in old Spanish. He is descended from the RamBam Moses Maimonedes. He and my great-grandmother came to the U.S. in 1900, brought here by my grandmother, Nadia Bialkin, who came to the U.S. in 1895, with her sister Pauline. My great-grandmother's name was Malka Braverman Bialkin. Moshe Bialkin was the Stationmaster at the City of Brest-Litovsk , appointed by the Czar, and their family lived an upper middle class life until the depression of the late 1800's. At that point, some Christian citizens went to the town burgher questioning why a Jew should hold such a high-paying position while they were unemployed. My grandfather was immediately dismissed from his position, a Christian hired as the new Station-master, and my grandmother, who had just won a lottery, received a letter from her parents aski ng her to please buy her parents tickets so they may join her, her sister Paulina, and two of her brothers in America. Because of the depression in Europe, the Bialkins became poor very quickly, and could not afford to buy their own passage to America. While my grandmother and her sister had come here in steerage, she bought second class tickets for her parents and herself. One of my relatives has a book delineating our family from before Maimonedes up to my great-great grandparents. However, we have lost contact with those cousins, and while I hope she has kept care of the book, I do not know if she has or where she lives. It is, from what I understand, written in Hebrew, Ladino, and Yiddish.