The Brest-Belarus Group
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My Biography
I am currently [2011] a resident of Israel. I was born in Janów Podlaski, near Volchin, in 1927. My mother and her family were all from Volchin. I consider that Volchin is my homeplace.

I am devoted to Volchin and the memories of my Volchiner relatives --the Stavsky and Kupershmitt families-- and friends, particularly the late Shmuel Englander, with whom we visited Volchin in 1997.We were accompanied by other Israeli Volchiners and met the American author Andrea Simon, who was exploring her Volchin heritage, as described in her 2002 book Bashert.

Wysokie Litewskie (now Vysokoye) about 10 km to the north of Volchin.

I did an extensive study of the Holocaust in Volchin and the region, culminating in this report which I presented to the 2009 Memorial Assembly of the Brest Association.

To Palestine
My father and mother, Moshe Birenboim and Tema Stavsky Birenboim, took me as a child to Palestine.

It was customary that the head of a family or one of the members would go to the States or to Palestine to seek a living, gain welfare, and would promise to bring over to him the whole family when he was established and had the means. Some never fulfilled their promise.

My mother was afraid. My father had planned to go to Palestine, get established, become better off and then send for his family. He kept it a secret. However, my mother found out about it. He promised her to send for her and the two young children (I was two and a half years old and my brother was one year younger). She said that she would leave with him. She called her father (Yerachmiel Stavsky) who was an authoritative figure in Volchin. He came over to Janów Podlaski and told my father: “you are all going together”. To travel required a special government certificate. To get a certificate was complicated, especially for a whole family. However, being in a position of close contact with the Polish authorities, he arranged for the certificate and they went to Palestine.

My mother moved to Palestine in 1929 with me and Avraham. Drora (later: Schwartz) and Gideon were born in Israel. Much later, Gideon moved to Australia and started a business. Esther and I went to Australia, and stayed there to help him for a few years.

Professional Life
I was member of an air crew of El-Al, the Israeli national aviation company, 10 years, 1958 to 1968. I was Navigator-radio operator – NAVRO. I accumulated 10,000 flight hours in this position. In the late 1960's I decided to find a job outside the airline industry. A year later I was asked to return to El-Al and join Operations. So between 1969 and 1980 – 11 years – I worked as an aircraft dispatcher of aircraft and I helped pilots with pre-flight preparations. In 1980, I left El-Al for good. My wife and I spent 4 years in Australia, where we helped with a family business.



Page Last Updated: 02-May-2013