# Aron Bernstein (b.1919) <!-- AUTO:BEGIN — generated from GEDCOM; do not edit, overwritten on rebuild --> > 🔵 **Bernstein — Ozzy's side** · Relationship to Ozzy: **great-grandfather** ![[I500034.jpg|220]] **Born** 09/25/1919 — [[Verkhnya Hrabivnytsya]] **Died** 09/05/2003 — [[Monsey]] **Parents** [[Tzvi Hershel Bernstein (b.1889)]] · [[Malka Rotfeld (b.1896)]] **Spouse** [[Regina Friedman (b.1917)]] **Children** [[Shoshana Bernstein (b.1948)]] · [[Moshe Zvi Bernstein (b.1951)]] **Siblings** [[Yosef Bernstein (b.1921)]] · [[Yitzchak Isaac Bernstein (b.1923)]] · [[Yaakov Yehuda Leib Bernstein (b.1925)]] · [[Henry Bernstein (b.1929)]] · [[Moshe Bernstein (b.1930)]] · [[Frimet Kreindel Bernstein (b.1936)]] · [[Filip Bernstein (b.1938)]] **📸 Media — from MyHeritage** ![[I500034_1.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_2.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_3.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_4.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_5.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_6.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_7.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_8.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_9.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_10.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_11.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_12.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_13.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_14.jpg|180]] ![[I500034_15.jpg|180]] **Documents — from MyHeritage:** [[I500034_doc0.pdf|📄 TRacing Documentation for Aron Bernstein as found in the ARolsen Archives in Germany.]] *GEDCOM I500034 · Bernstein tree · synced 2026-07-01* <!-- AUTO:END --> ## Narrative Aron Bernstein — "**Zaidy Aharon**," and the bearer of the surname that runs down to Ozzy — was born on **25 September 1919** in **[[Verkhnya Hrabivnytsya|Vyšní Hrabovnice]]** (Felsőgereben), a village of Subcarpathian Rus' near Munkács, then just becoming part of the new Czechoslovak republic.[^birth] The village register enters him plainly: "Aron, boy, Jewish," son of **Bernstein Herman** (aged 30) and **Rothfeld Margit** (aged 23) — [[Tzvi Hershel Bernstein (b.1889)]] and [[Malka Rotfeld (b.1896)]] — the birth registered four days later before the registrar Kosak Ernő.[^birth] By trade Aron became a **tailor** (*Schneider*), and before the war he was living in the city of **Munkács**, at Duchnovitzer Street 39.[^its] Then came the catastrophe that fell on Carpathian Jewry. Under Hungarian rule the Jewish men were conscripted into forced-labour service years before the deportations: Aron's tracing file follows him from a **labour camp at Kőszeg** (October 1941) to **Košice** (1942) and another Hungarian camp (1943).[^its] In the spring of **1944**, when the Jews of Munkács and its region were deported, he passed into the concentration-camp system — held as a prisoner from **20 April 1944** — and was worked as slave labour at **Dörnhau** (Dürnhau), a subcamp of Gross-Rosen in the Waldenburg district of Lower Silesia, which the records name as his last camp.[^its] He was **liberated on 8 May 1945**.[^its] He survived; so did the woman he would marry. In **August 1945** — within months of liberation — Aron married **[[Regina Friedman (b.1917)]]** ("Bubby Rivka").[^its] The years that followed traced the long displaced-persons road out of the ruined continent: a brief return to Munkács, then the DP camps of Bavaria — **Wasserburg** in 1946 and **Gabersee** in 1947 — and a spell at **Teplice-Šanov** in Czechoslovakia, where in 1949 he registered with the Joint's Paris emigration service.[^its] From **1949 to 1956 the family lived in Israel**, at **Ramle**; and on **20 January 1956** they sailed from Ramle to the United States aboard the ship **"Atzmauth."**[^its] In America Aron settled at last. He worked as a **salesman of coat textiles**, selling cloth in Shja Seidman's store.[^work] He and Regina raised [[Shoshana Bernstein (b.1948)]] and [[Moshe Zvi Bernstein (b.1951)]], and he lived out his years in the Orthodox community of **[[Monsey]]**, New York, where he died on **5 September 2003**, just short of his eighty-fourth birthday. [^birth]: Birth register of **Vyšní Hrabovnice / Felsőgereben** (Subcarpathian Rus', Czechoslovakia), 1919, entry **no. 64**, read directly from the scan. "**Aron**," male (*fiú*), Jewish (*izr.*), born **25 September 1919**, registered 29 September 1919; father **Bernstein Herman**, aged **30**; mother **Rothfeld Margit**, aged **23**, of Felsőgereben; registrar Kosak Ernő. Confirms parents [[Tzvi Hershel Bernstein (b.1889)]] (civil name Herman) and [[Malka Rotfeld (b.1896)]] (civil name Margit/Margaret). (Record image "Zaidy Aharon Birth Record" on this profile.) [^its]: **International Tracing Service / Arolsen Archives** tracing file **T/D 849354** (Doc. 6.3.3.2/849354), read directly (vault document I500034_doc0.pdf) — a dossier assembled in 1961–62 for Aron Bernstein's German compensation (*Wiedergutmachung*) claim. Records: born 25.9.1919, Vyšní Hrabovnice/Munkács, C.S.R.; parents **Herman Bernstein and Margit Rothfeld**; occupation **Schneider** (tailor); last pre-war residence **Munkács, Duchnovitzer Str. 39**. Wartime chronology: 1.10.1941 labour camp **Kőszeg** (Hungary); 7.1942 **Košice**; 1.1943 a further Hungarian camp; prisoner **20 April 1944 – 8 May 1945**; KL Auschwitz (April 1944) and labour camp **Dörnhau/Dürnhau** (Gross-Rosen subcamp, Kr. Waldenburg) as last camp; **liberated 8 May 1945**. Married **Regina née Friedman, August 1945**. Postwar: returned to Munkács (before end 1945); DP camp **Wasserburg** (10.5.1946) and **Gabersee** (1947); **Teplice-Šanov**, registered 1949 with the AJDC Emigration Service (Paris/Prague); **Israel, Ramle, 1949–1956**; on **20 January 1956** emigrated from Ramle to the USA aboard the **"Atzmauth."** (ITS note: Aron's name does not appear in the original KL Auschwitz records, and the prisoner number 41026/41027 cited in his claim is registered there under a different name — so the Auschwitz number is unverified.) [^work]: Family recollection (recorded on the MyHeritage profile): "He worked as a salesman selling textile materials for coats in Shja Seidman's store." ## Research - **Birth, 1919, Vyšní Hrabovnice/Felsőgereben (register no. 64).** Read directly. **Aron Bernstein**, b. **25 September 1919**; father **Bernstein Herman** (30) = [[Tzvi Hershel Bernstein (b.1889)]]; mother **Rothfeld Margit** (23) = [[Malka Rotfeld (b.1896)]], of Felsőgereben. (Image I500034_12.) - **Holocaust survival — ITS/Arolsen file T/D 849354.** Read directly (I500034_doc0.pdf). Tailor of Munkács (Duchnovitzer Str. 39); forced labour Kőszeg (1941) → Košice (1942) → Hungary (1943); prisoner 20 Apr 1944 – 8 May 1945 (Auschwitz → Dörnhau/Gross-Rosen); liberated 8 May 1945. Married Regina Friedman Aug 1945. DP camps Wasserburg & Gabersee (Bavaria); Teplice-Šanov; **Israel (Ramle) 1949–56**; emigrated **Ramle → USA aboard "Atzmauth," 20 Jan 1956**. - **Auschwitz number disputed:** ITS notes Aron's name is not in the original Auschwitz records and that prisoner no. 41026/41027 (cited in his claim) belongs to another name — treat the Auschwitz registration as unverified. - **Later life:** salesman of coat textiles (Shja Seidman's store); settled in [[Monsey]], NY; d. 5 Sept 2003. Wife [[Regina Friedman (b.1917)]] ("Bubby Rivka"); children [[Shoshana Bernstein (b.1948)]], [[Moshe Zvi Bernstein (b.1951)]]. - **Name/aka:** Aron / Aharon (Zaidy Aharon) / "Elmer." ## Evidence - **1919 birth register (Vyšní Hrabovnice, no. 64)** — Aron Bernstein, b. 25 Sept 1919; father Bernstein Herman, mother Rothfeld Margit. His own birth record; fixes his birth date, place, and parents. ![[I500034_12.jpg]] *Birth register of Vyšní Hrabovnice/Felsőgereben, 1919, entry no. 64 — "Aron, boy, Jewish," born 25 September 1919 to Bernstein Herman (30) and Rothfeld Margit (23).* - **ITS/Arolsen tracing file (T/D 849354)** — documents Aron's forced-labour and concentration-camp path (Kőszeg → Košice → Auschwitz → Dörnhau), liberation 8 May 1945, DP-camp years, Israel (Ramle), and 1956 emigration to the USA aboard the "Atzmauth." Vault document: [[I500034_doc0.pdf|ITS/Arolsen tracing documentation]]. ## Open questions - **Auschwitz registration.** The ITS file cannot confirm Aron's name in the original Auschwitz records and reports that the prisoner number 41026/41027 he cited belongs to another person — whether he passed through Auschwitz under a different/garbled number, or was routed straight to Dörnhau, is unresolved. - **Israeli citizenship date.** One ITS form gives "Israeli since 1958," yet the family left Ramle for the USA in January 1956 — the 1958 date needs reconciling. - **Exact emigration/naturalization details** in the USA (arrival port, later addresses before Monsey) are not documented here.