The photograph shows that even though the Holocaust was a great tragedy and that many Jews didn't escape it shows that a few of them did (like my grandma).
My great-grandfather, Aaron B., left Poland to start a new life in America. He departed from Liverpool, England in August, 1920 for Ellis Island in New York City. This exhibit contains his Polish passport and his U.S. Immigration Inspection Card. If my great-grandfather hadn't received these documents, I would not be living in freedom in the United States. My family and I are very lucky to be living here today.
Until recently, my family has always believed the Pianin's were originally from Russia. However, genealogy research over many years is showing that prior to migrating to Russia the family may have been from Spain and Italy. The research my family has done has put us in contact with Pianins around the world including Israel, Germany, Russia and all across America. One of the saddest findings from the research done was finding out that entire branches of the family perished during the Holocaust. The good news is that we have connected with many new relatives we didn't even know we had.
The artifact I am sharing isn't really an artifact, but instead a branch of my mother's family tree. My mother and grandfather have done a lot of genealogy research on their family, the Pianins. When family members arrived at Ellis Island or other locations around the world the name Pianin was often spelled phoenetically. As a result the Pianin Family now has many names, including the name Pyonin and Pyanin. The complete Pianin Family Tree is 46 pages long, and some branches go back more than 10 generations. The oldest known relative, Itsik Pyanin was born in approximately 1775. Because of the size of the tree, I decided to focus on all the descendants starting with Itsik and ending with me. On the tree, I am a 9th generation Pianin. My family has pictures of the last 5 generations of Pianins.