# Yona Hamerman (b.1911) <!-- AUTO:BEGIN — generated from GEDCOM; do not edit, overwritten on rebuild --> > 🔵 **Bernstein — Ozzy's side** · Relationship to Ozzy: **great-grandfather** ![[I500031.jpg|220]] **Born** 09/23/1911 — [[Łęczna]] **Died** 06/04/2005 **Parents** [[Moszek Mortko Hamerman (b.1881)]] · [[Maryia Grynblat (b.1876)]] **Spouse** [[Gittel Balter (b.1911)]] **Children** [[Sara Hamerman (b.1943)]] · [[Moshe Hamerman (b.1946)]] · [[Shaul Hamerman (b.1950)]] **Siblings** [[Rechla Hamerman (b.1900)]] · [[Chana Rajzla Hamerman (b.1912)]] · [[Tema Hamerman (b.1915)]] · [[Fajga Hamerman (d.1943)]] **📸 Media — from MyHeritage** ![[I500031_1.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_2.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_3.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_4.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_5.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_6.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_7.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_8.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_9.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_10.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_11.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_12.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_13.jpg|180]] ![[I500031_14.jpg|180]] **Documents — from MyHeritage:** [[I500031_doc0.pdf|📄 Hamerman family 303_VI_51 List of repatriants who came from Kujbyszew to Rychbach]] · [[I500031_doc1.pdf|📄 Hamerman family 303_V_690 List of Jews registered in Ząbkowice Śląskie]] · [[I500031_doc2.pdf|📄 Hamerman 303_V_690 List of Jewish repatriants in Ząbkowice Śląskie]] · [[I500031_doc3.pdf|📄 Hamerman Jojne survivor card]] *GEDCOM I500031 · Bernstein tree · synced 2026-07-01* <!-- AUTO:END --> ## Narrative Yona — registered at birth as **Jojna-Berek** — was born in [[Łęczna]] on **23 September 1911** (10 September by the old calendar), at eight in the morning.[^birth] His father, [[Moszek Mortko Hamerman (b.1881)]], was a **tailor** of the town, who came before the Łęczna registrar a week later, on 30 September, with two witnesses — a shoemaker and a fellow tailor — to present his newborn son; his mother was [[Maryia Grynblat (b.1876)]].[^birth] Yona took up his father's needle: in every later record his own trade is given as **krawiec**, tailor.[^survivor] He married [[Gittel Balter (b.1911)]], also of Łęczna and also of the needle trades — a seamstress (*krawcowa*).[^repat] When the war came, Yona and Gittel were living in Łęczna.[^survivor] They survived it not under German occupation but **deep in the Soviet Union** — among the great mass of Polish Jews swept east into the Soviet interior, who thereby outlived the ghettos and camps at home. The family spent the war years in the **Kuibyshev (Samara) region** of Russia, and it is there that their two eldest children were born: [[Sara Hamerman (b.1943)]] — Ozzy's grandmother — in **Kinel** in 1943, and [[Moshe Hamerman (b.1946)]] in **Syzran** in 1946.[^repat] In 1946 they came back. A repatriation transport carried the family **from Kuibyshev to Rychbach** (Reichenbach, now Dzierżoniów) in **Lower Silesia**, the region of formerly-German towns being resettled by returning Polish Jews.[^repat] There, on **24 May 1946**, Yona registered with the Jewish Committee in **Ząbkowice Śląskie** on a survivor information card: "Jojne Hamerman," tailor, born Łęczna, his home on 1 September 1939 given as Łęczna, and his means of survival entered in a single stark word — **ZSRR**, the USSR.[^survivor] For a time afterward the family passed through the displaced-persons world; a photograph survives of Yona among friends in **a camp in Germany**.[^dp] Yona and Gittel had a third child, [[Shaul Hamerman (b.1950)]], in 1950. In time his son **Moshe** — born in Syzran during the war years — emigrated to the United States and pressed his father to come too, but Yona refused; father and son stayed in touch across the ocean.[^family] Yona lived a long life and died in **2005**, at ninety-three. [^birth]: Birth act no. 24, Łęczna civil register, dated 17/30 September 1911, read directly from the scan. Father **Moszek-Mordka Gamerman (Hamerman)**, tailor (*portnoy*), of Łęczna, presented before registrar Bieniaś-Władysław Jankowski a male child born in Łęczna on **10/23 September 1911 at 8 a.m.** of his lawful wife **Maria née Grynblat**, aged 32; the child was given the name **Jojna-Berek** (*Іойна-Берекъ*) at his circumcision. Witnesses: Gersza Fajn, shoemaker, and Lejzor Cimerman, tailor, 35, both of Łęczna; the father declared he could not write. (Record image on this profile.) [^survivor]: **Survivor information card**, *Centralny Komitet Żydów Polskich* ("Karta informacyjna o osobach ocalałych"), Committee in **Ząbkowice [Śląskie]**, dated **24 May 1946** — read directly (vault document I500031_doc3.pdf). Surname **Hamerman**, given name **Jojne**, born ~1911 in Łęczna, occupation **krawiec** (tailor), address on 1 September 1939 **Łęczna**; means of survival (field 8, *sposób przetrwania*): **ZSRR** (the USSR). [^repat]: **Repatriation list**, "List of repatriants who came from Kujbyszew to Rychbach" (CKŻP, 1946), read directly (vault document I500031_doc0.pdf), p. 23, entries 648–651 — the Hamerman family group: **Hamerman J.** (b. 1911, Łęczna, tailor/*krawiec*) = Yona; **Hamerman G.** (b. 1911, Łęczna, seamstress/*krawcowa*) = [[Gittel Balter (b.1911)]]; **Hamerman S.** (b. 1943, **Kinel**) = [[Sara Hamerman (b.1943)]]; **Hamerman M.** (b. 1946, **Wyzran/Syzran**) = [[Moshe Hamerman (b.1946)]]. Kinel and Syzran are towns of the Kuibyshev (Samara) region, USSR. Two further lists place the family at Ząbkowice Śląskie (vault documents I500031_doc1.pdf, I500031_doc2.pdf). [^dp]: Family photograph captioned "יונה עם חברים במחנה בגרמניה" — Yona with friends in a displaced-persons camp in Germany (vault image I500031_13). [^family]: Family recollection (recorded on the MyHeritage profile): "Moshe moved to the US, tried to get Yona to as well but he refused. They kept in touch." Taken here as Yona's son [[Moshe Hamerman (b.1946)]] (Yona's own siblings do not include a Moshe), who emigrated to the United States and tried to bring his father over. ## Research - **Birth, 1911, Łęczna (birth act no. 24).** Read directly from the scan. **Jojna-Berek** (Yona) Hamerman, born **10/23 September 1911 at 8 a.m.**; father **Moszek-Mordka Hamerman**, tailor; mother **Maria née Grynblat**, 32; witnesses Gersza Fajn (shoemaker) & Lejzor Cimerman (tailor, 35). (Image I500031_9.) - **Wartime survival in the USSR.** Survivor card (Ząbkowice Śląskie, 24 May 1946) gives means of survival "**ZSRR**"; the repatriation list (Kujbyszew → Rychbach, 1946) places the family in the Kuibyshev/Samara region — children **Sara b. Kinel 1943** and **Moshe b. Syzran 1946**. Read directly (docs I500031_doc0.pdf, _doc3.pdf). - **1946 repatriation to Lower Silesia.** Kujbyszew → Rychbach (Reichenbach/Dzierżoniów); registered at **Ząbkowice Śląskie** (docs I500031_doc1.pdf, _doc2.pdf). Occupation **krawiec** (tailor), following his father. - **Family:** wife [[Gittel Balter (b.1911)]] (seamstress); children [[Sara Hamerman (b.1943)]] (b. Kinel, USSR), [[Moshe Hamerman (b.1946)]] (b. Syzran, USSR), [[Shaul Hamerman (b.1950)]]. Son Moshe emigrated to the USA and urged Yona to follow (Yona declined). - **Name forms:** Jojna-Berek / Jojne (records) · Yona (Hebrew) · aka "Jojna Berek." ## Evidence - **1911 birth act (Łęczna, no. 24)** — Jojna-Berek Hamerman, b. 23 Sept 1911; father Moszek-Mordka Hamerman (tailor), mother Maria née Grynblat. His own birth record. ![[I500031_9.jpg]] *Birth act no. 24, Łęczna civil register, 1911 — Moszek-Mordka Hamerman, tailor, registers the birth of his son, named Jojna-Berek, born 10/23 September 1911 of his wife Maria née Grynblat.* - **1946 repatriation list (Kujbyszew → Rychbach)** — the Hamerman family group (Yona, Gittel, Sara b. Kinel 1943, Moshe b. Syzran 1946), documenting their survival in the USSR and return to Lower Silesia. Vault document: [[I500031_doc0.pdf|CKŻP repatriation list, p.23]]. - **1946 survivor card (Ząbkowice Śląskie)** — "Jojne Hamerman," tailor, of Łęczna, survival = ZSRR (USSR). Vault document: [[I500031_doc3.pdf|Survivor information card]]. - **DP camp photograph (Germany)** — Yona with friends in a displaced-persons camp. Vault image I500031_13. ## Open questions - **Post-1946 path to death (2005).** Where Yona settled after the DP period (Israel is implied by the family and by son Shaul's 1950 birth) and his exact place of death are not documented here. - **Possible relatives — Hamer / Wertman.** A 1937 Lublin divorce record (Dawid Wertman × Chaja Towa Hamer, her father Aharon Arje ha-Kohen / Lejbel) may involve a relative of the Hamerman/Hamer family; unconfirmed (per the family's note). - **Father's age in the birth act.** The 1911 act's stated age for Moszek-Mordka (read as ~30–37) should be reconciled with his 1881 birth (→ age 30).