Susan Rosen Pics: January 2008

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Jack Rosen, my uncle, in memoriam

Jack Rosen, my uncle, was the younger son of Rose and Morris Rosen. He was born December 10, 1913 and died January 20, 1952. He obtained a law degree and practiced in the Bronx, in New York City. He died at the exceptionally early age of 39, felled by a heart attack. Married to Thelma, the couple had two children, my cousins Frank and Barbara. After Jack's death Thelma moved to California, remarried and raised her children there. Later, Frank moved to New York, attended Columbia University, and became a physician.

When Uncle Jack died I was eleven year old. I remember little except that he was a very tall--six feet --exuberant handsome man whose humor charmed us all. His parents took his premature death hard, especially my grandmother Rose. For the remainder of her life she mourned his loss.

The Incision

looking through the present into the past; a fracture makes the past present,

though indistinct

Monday, January 14, 2008

Morris Rosen, in memoriam, 1887--1959

Morris Rosen, born near Odessa, emigrated to the United States, due to anti-semitism and a draft call up in the Russian (anti-semitic) army. He first went to England, which denied him entry, claiming that he was tubercular. This false diagnosis was typical for Jews seeking to move to England, since England regarded Jews as "infectious agents;" in short, it was an anti-semitic mechanism based on "science." The United States on the other hand accepted Morris, who became a citizen, married Rose Handelman, and had two children, George, my father, and his younger brother Jack. Morris worked as a presser, which was onerous and caused him great suffering. For ten hours a day he labored, bending over and pressing out garments. Ultimately, when I knew him, he wore a forbidding metal torso brace to support him and give him relief. Such was medicine in those days; today other medical techniques would be used and his work would be regulated.

He dearly loved his wife, children, and grandchildren. With enormous fondness and love I recall the man who kissed me and called me "his beautiful little girl," in Yiddish.