Clara Hertz (1900-1992)

Clara Hertz was born 14 Mar 1900 in Rozanie (At the moment it is still unclear to me where this is, see here, all in Poland, and here in Western Belarus.) She is the grandmother of my son-in-law’s sister-in-law. She married Sidney Berman in 1926.

In her petition for naturalization she stated Rozanie to be in Russia, but with the changing borders in that area, it is hard to say. She came to the US in 1917 on the ‘Frederick VIII’ from Copenhagen, Denmark together with her sister. The passenger list has them both born in Bjalsak, Russia, and I can’t find that either. They both came in with the last name Chartak, which in the petition is spelled Hartchak. According to her daughter-in-law, there was also a brother Morris, but I have not been able to find him. Another sister, Deborah, Morris’ twin, was killed in the Holocaust.

Clara presents a typical immigrant problem: unstable and ever changing political divisions, changing place names, changing last names due to different alphabets, and wanting to sound more american, you name it. Thanks to the Passaic County online Naturalization database I have come a lot further, but many problems still remain; the biggest one being the location of the birthplaces of Clara and her siblings.