obituaries

The Keeper Of Our History

1

Esther Allweiss Ingber

Contributing Writer

A

fter everything he experienced
during the Shoah, Zoltan Rubin
never intended to focus on that
period of his life again.
But in 1983, he encountered Sid
Bolkosky.
Sid had dedicated his career to docu-
menting the lives of Holocaust survivors.
As a history professor at University of
Michigan-Dearborn, he was the found-
ing director of its Voice/Vision Holocaust
Survivor Oral History Archive, which
recorded the oral histories of Shoah sur-
viors.
"Sid was the first man who approached
us to talk about the Holocaust; said
Rubin, referring to himself and his late
wife, Agata.
"Sid said, 'Someone like you, who lived
through the Holocaust and lost so much
family, including your parents — for their
sake, you have to talk about it: He just
convinced us."
"After interviewing us; Rubin said, "we
just kept on being friends7 Longtime,
heartfelt friendship was frequently the
result when Sid entered someone's life.
Dr. Sidney M. Bolkosky, 69, lost his
valiant fight with cancer on June 14, 2013.
The honored professor died among loved
ones at his Oak Park home.
At the funeral service at Hebrew
Memorial Chapel in Oak Park, officiat-
ing Rabbi Elliot Pachter of Congregation
B'nai Moshe in West Bloomfield called his
congregant a "teacher, colleague, friend
and guide'
For his myriad efforts to preserve
Jewish history, Sid received the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's
Benard Maas Prize in 1998.
Among the more than 60 scholarly
articles, essays and books he's published,
Sid is remembered in the local community
for writing Harmony 6 Dissonance: Voices

of Jewish Identity in Detroit, 1914-1967
(Wayne State University Press, 1991).
The more than 500-page tome contin-
ued the local Jewish narrative begun in
the book The Jews of Detroit: From the
Beginning, 1762-1914, by former Detroiter
Robert Rockaway, now professor emeritus
at Tel-Aviv University.

Early Life

Born Feb. 1, 1944, in Rochester, N.Y., to
Frieda and Gus Bolkosky, a scrap dealer,
Sid discovered his love for books in the
home of his maternal Aunt Annie and
Uncle Izzy Lidman. After his father died,
Sid, a responsible and caring adult, trav-
eled frequently back to Rochester to
attend to the needs of his mother and aunt
and uncle.

Sid first met the love of his life, Lorraine
"Lori" Aroesty, in nursery school. They
were friends at Benjamin Franklin High
School but only began dating around age
18. The couple celebrated their 48th anni-
versary on May 30.
At the University of Rochester, Sid
switched from pre-med to history when
he "couldn't cut the frog7 He earned his
master's degree in European history at
Detroit's Wayne State University and his
Ph.D. in European intel-
lectual history at State
University of New York at
Binghamton.
A former Binghamton
teacher recruited Sid
to join University of
Michigan-Dearborn. Sid
arrived in 1972 as an
assistant professor and
happily stayed nearly 40
years in the Social Sciences
Department.
Sid was promoted to
Dr. Sidney M.
associate professor in 1977
and professor in 1984, said
UM-Dearborn Chancellor Daniel Little.
Sid developed curriculum and recruited
staff as director of the Honors Program
from 1983-1986 and 1990-2012, growing
it from 30 to approximately 70 students.
He "was one of a very select group to have
received all three of UM-Dearborn's major
faculty awards," said Little.

viewed him in 1983. Pasternak translated
many of the speakers' testimonies into
English.
"When the first Holocaust Memorial
Center was being built, the architect want-
ed actors to tell the experience of the sur-
vivors; Pasternak recalled. But Sid said,
`No, let them tell their own stories in their
own accents: If not for Sid, you might not
know what happened to us. Sid insisted
that we tell our stories:'
Rene Lichtman, who
met his friend Sid in
1991, notes that Sid was
the main author, along
with Betty Rotberg Ellias
and Dr. David Harris, of

Life Unworthy of Life: A
Holocaust Curriculum,
which is used throughout
Michigan.
Lichtman, Erna Gorman
and a few others decided to
start the Hidden Children
and Child Survivors of
Bolkosky
Michigan in 1992.
At our first meeting,
we decided to invite Sid as an honorary
member because he's so beloved in the
survivor community and deeply respected
as a scholar; Lichtman said.
"I think he is so beloved because sur-
vivors know, and can tell quickly, how
much he respects each survivor and our
histories; he added.
"The survivors in our area truly fell in
Survivors' Testimonies
love with Sid, and it was mutual;' said
In remarks read by their son Gabriel
psychologist and playwright Dr. Henry
Bolkosky at the service, Lori Bolkosky
Greenspan of U-M, who shared panels
noted how lucky her husband was that his
and co-authored articles with his friend.
"job at U-M allowed him the freedom to
"Sid engaged them — as we all should
display his many talents."
have over the years — as our brothers and
In 1981, Sid was able to focus his
sisters, our comrades and friends7
research on interviewing survivors of the
"He felt Schindler's List was a good movie;
Holocaust, a subject he got interested in
but if that's all you see, you don't know the
from reading about German Jews and
Holocaust; Rabbi Pachter said. "Because
serving on a Holocaust-related commit-
when you walk out of it, you feel good. And
tee of the Jewish Community Relations
no one can feel good about the Shoah:"
Council. One interview grew to more than
Dr. Charles Silow said he looked up
300.
to Sid as a mentor for teaching him
In 1982, the university's Mardigian
and other children of survivors about
Library became the repository for these
the Holocaust. Silow, president of
interviews, most one to three hours on
the Children of Holocaust Survivors
average. The Voice/Vision Holocaust
Association in Michigan (CHAIM),
Survivor Oral History Archive cur-
remembers Sid as "a very humble man
rently has 165 videotapes accessible on
with no airs about him7
the Internet at holocaust.umd.umich.
Dr. Guy Stern, director of the
edu. Copies of the interviews are in the
International Institute of the Righteous
archives of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
at the Holocaust Memorial Center in
Museum in Washington, D.C.
Farmington Hills, praised the research
Dr. Jamie L. Wraight, now in charge
and delivery of a paper Sid presented at a
of the project, was the curator working
museum conference on the complicity of
under Sid. "He was a mentor, colleague
German railroad officials and employees
and friend to me," Wraight said.
in making the deportations possible.
Abe Pasternak, one of about 8,000 sur-
"With Sid, we lost a valuable pioneer in
vivors who came to Detroit after the war,
the study of the Holocaust in many of its
came aboard as a volunteer after Sid inter- aspects; Stern said.

A Loving Family Man
"My father looked into the darkest
aspects of human behavior, but when he
came home, he was a dad; said Gabriel
Bolkosky. He recalled a fun-loving, "hilari-
ous" father who never was too busy for
him and his sister, Miriam.
"He played baseball with me; he taught
me to play chess; Gabriel said. "He had
an incredible pre-'80s movie knowledge.
It was fascinating playing Trivial Pursuit
with him7
Influenced by their father, the Bolkosky
siblings became professional classical
musicians. Growing up, Miriam noted
that bedtime, homework assignments and
Hebrew school were sometimes nego-
tiable, but not practicing with Dad and
Mom, their Suzuki-style musical parents.
"That was our time together — every
day, just he and I and our cellos.
"Because of that; Miriam said, "I have
the life that I have. My livelihood, my
friends, my husband and my children —
he set me up for a lifetime of joy through
music:'
Talented musically, Sid long ago played
the vibes in a jazz jam session with soon-
to-be-famous flugelhom player Chuck
Mangione. Sid also impressed as a jitterbug
dancer, pool and pingpong player and
speed typist. His college fraternity brothers
nicknamed him "Bre'r Rabbit" for guile-
lessly winning everyone's poker money.
Sid learned enough Yiddish at home to
help with interviewing Yiddish-speaking
Holocaust survivors. Workmen's Circle/
Arbeter Ring, which promotes Yiddish
language and culture, once honored him.
Miriam Bolkosky said Thomas Mann's
novel Joseph and his Brothers was a book
her father often turned to. Mann speaks to
the concept of open identity.
"The idea; she said, "is to let ourselves
be open to every experience, every person
and every lesson. Take it in, absorb it and
let it become part of us. My dad with his
many hats embodied this concept7
Dr. Bolkosky is survived by his wife,
Lorraine; daughter and son-in-law,
Miriam Bolkosky and Benjamin Wright;
son, Gabriel Bolkosky; grandchildren,
Samuel and Ethan Wright; sisters-in-law
and brother-in-law, Belle and Chuck
Broutman, Bridgette Aroesty; and nieces,
nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews
and cousins.
Interment was at Oakview Cemetery.
Contributions may be made to Voice/
Vision Project, University of Michigan-
Dearborn, Office of Institutional
Advancement, 4901 Evergreen, #1040AB,
Dearborn, MI 48128, holocaust.umd.
umich.edu/gift.html; or to a charity of
one's choice. Arrangements were by
Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

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Obituaries on page 68

Obituaries

June 20 • 2013

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