Lindner Immigration History

Buba came from Russia in 1906 and went through Ellis Island in the United States. She was alone and twenty-two (22) years old. When she landed in America, she only spoke Yiddish and Russian.

My Buba came from a family of eight (8) children, four (4) brothers and four (4) sisters. Only Buba came to America. We heard that one of her brothers was a doctor in the Russian Army during World War II.

The maiden name of my grandmother, Nesenbaum, was an assumed name. Buba 's father was called into the army. To avoid the army, he assumed the name of a person who had died.

Events in Russia were very hard. Buba was an excellent dress maker. She left her family, who were very religious, to work in Yalta for a famous dress maker. Buba 's work was shown to the Czar's sister.

It was in Yalta that my grandmother's eyes started to open to the world. She was shocked to see a Rabbi's wife carrying a handkerchief in her hand on the Sabbath!! This was strictly forbidden in her home in the small village of Babroiscki. Buba started to drop some of the religious ways that she grew up with that were known in her family.

This caused a big conflict at home. Her family called her a "goy" (someone who is not Jewish).

It was also in Yalta that my grandmother became involved with Revolutionaries. The authorities started to hunt her. She had a lot of nightmares later in life on this.

Buba talked very little about Russia, but she told me a story one day when I was about sixteen (16) years old. She was out walking in Yalta "Stetle" (the Jewish ghetto), when suddenly men on horseback arrived. They were Coccasks coming into the ghetto. They saw a Jewish woman with a baby in a carriage. They grabbed the baby from her and started to throw the baby between them like a ball. They took the baby by its feet and deliberately swung the baby's head against a wall killing it. My grandmother left for America shortly after that.

Once in America, life was still hard, but the killing of Jews for fun was a rare thing here. Buba worked long hours for little pay as a dress maker in a sweatshop. She lived in a boarding house. The landlady liked her and gave her one egg a day to eat so that my grandmother could grow big hips and attract a nice man to marry. Lucky for me, that worked.

Buba married Isaac Laba Gershowitz in 1908. They had four (4) children. The first child was my mother, Ida. When Ida was born she was a blue baby. The doctor said he would have let her go if my Buba had another child. My mom, "Ida", is now ninety (90) years old. 

After my grandmother came to America, she kept in contact with her family by writing letters to Russia. They sent her family pictures. Many of these pictures are in my law office. It is my link to the past.

But, a time came in 1947 that my grandmother was very upset. She received her first letter from Russia since World War II. Her family in Russia were all dead. They were killed by the Germans. We believe they were in the massacre at Bababar. This was an infamous incident in World War II where Jews were rounded up, forced to dig huge ditches and then killed by machine guns.

My grandmother passed away in 1959 believing I was going to be a spinster (an unmarried and unwanted woman). She had a powerful impact in my life. It is a Jewish tradition to visit the family graves every year before the High Holidays. This year, when I visited the grave, I looked down and said:

"Hey Buba, look at me now. I got your hips, but they are not so popular today. I still got married and had three (3) children and two (2) grandsons. Most of all, I'm an immigration attorney helping people to come live in this wonderful country called America."

By Martha F. Lindner, Esquire April 21, 1999

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Last modified: September 04, 2000