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Photos depict early
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CAROLYN STIEGER

Corey Rosen
Special to the Jewish News

've been constructing my family
tree for over five years, and I've
learned so much not only about
my own relatives, but also of the history
of the broader Jewish community of
Detroit.
One of my more recent discoveries
was that my great-grandparents were
active in the Bialystoker Aid Society
of Detroit. My great-grandparents,
Morris Samuels and Sarah Yanofsky,
both came from the Bialystok region
in Poland, but only actually met in
Detroit, according to my knowledge.
Aid Societies existed all over
America and Canada, and still do.
According to the Center for Jewish
History, "Landsmanshaftn [plural] are
societies formed by Jewish immigrants
from the same villages, towns and cit-
ies in Central and Eastern Europe. The
landsmanshaft [singular] became a
dominant form of Jewish social orga-
nization in the late 1800s.
"The many types of landsmanshaftn
include religious and socialist orga-
nizations as well as American-style
fraternal orders. Landsmanshaftn
provided immigrants with formal and
informal social networks, and mem-
bers helped one another with financial

needs, such as medical care and burial
plots:"
I recently came across three photo-
graphs in my great-aunt's basement of
Bialystoker Aid society gatherings.
I spotted my great-grandparents,
but now I am trying to identify the
other members in the photographs.
The first photograph is of a Bialystoker
dinner with adults and children sit-
ting around long, nicely set tables. The
other two photographs are separated
between men and women, both groups
holding the same poster that reads:
"Proudly We Pay Tribute To The Sons
Of Members Of The Bialystoker Aid
Society In The Armed Forces Of Our
Country"
The photograph is too blurry to
know for sure, but I believe my grand-
father's name is on the poster because
he was a sailor in World War II.
These photographs are important
parts of any Bialystoker family's immi-
gration story, and it would be amazing
if we could identify any of the other
Detroiters in the photographs.
Please email me at Corey@
FamilyJews.com if you have any infor-
mation regarding the photographs.

❑

Corey Rosen of Franklin is a junior at

Michigan State and a genealogist for hire

(www.familyjews.com).