Rose Cemnic Friedberg
Rose Friedberg was born Frushe Cemnic (pronounced Tzemnitz) on July 7, 1888, in Jalowka, Poland, a town about 30 miles southwest of Volkovysk. She was the eldest child of Abraham Cemnic (c1847–1919) and Sarah Malka Warnofsky (c1866–1922) and had a younger brother Meir (called Zaidele) and sister Sima (Sadie). Sarah Malka was the second wife of Abraham. He divorced his first wife of 12 years because she was barren. Abraham was a weaver by trade but was also a money lender. He was quite rich and employed servants.
Rose's sister, Sadie, immigrated to the United States on July 1, 1913 on the SS Gothland from Antwerp. She married Samuel Lazovick and lived in Philadelphia until her death in 1997 at age 99. Their brother Zaidele remained in Bialystok and died during the Holocaust. He was married and his one daughter, Tzima, a participant in the Bialystok resistance movement, died also.
In their early teens, Frushe and Judel were part of the same social group. She had her eye on him because he was a very handsome man; however, he was accounted for--he had a girl friend. No problem for Frushe. She bought herself a beautiful belt, put it on and went over to Judel's girlfriend and exclaimed, “Look at the beautiful present Judel got me.” The girl was furious and refused to associate with her boyfriend after the incident.
They were married on October 25, 1902, Frusha was just 14 years old and Judel was 19.
They lived in Bialystok, a major Polish city just 25 miles northwest of Jalowka. Their first child was born in 1903, a girl named Lieba Frieda, who was named for Judel's mother who had died some months earlier. While Frusha was pregnant with her first child, a witch told her that the child belonged to her, and if she would not share the child, it would die. Frusha was petrified. After the child was born, she brought her to the witch's home and left her as requested. This process of sharing the child became tiresome and one day she stopped bringing the baby to the witch. The child died shortly thereafter.
Immigration to the United States
The young couple decided it was time to leave Poland and immigrate to the United States. As was the custom with many couples then, the husband immigrated first, found a job, and then called for his wife. Judel came to United States arriving in Baltimore on August 25, 1904 on the SS Chemnitz. He went to a “cousin” of Rose, Bertha Cemnic Rudy, who lived there.
Judel was having a good time in the United States. He was a very handsome man and was not very motivated to call for his wife. His Cemnic relatives set him straight and finally Frushe arrived in New York on December 19, 1905, on the SS Blucher from Hamburg, Germany. At that time, Judel was living at 17 Barclay Street on the Lower East Side of New York.
When Judel Taratotsky changed his name to Abraham Friedberg is not known but it appeared to be a gradual process. One family legend says it was changed at Ellis Island. This is definitely not so. Another legend says that it was changed at the bricklayers union office. This might be true regarding the “Friedberg” part of his new name. Evidence suggests he first changed his name to Joe Friedberg. That is how he is named on his eldest son's (Hyman) birth certificate. “Joe” was the Americanizing of Judel and Friedberg was the married name of his sister Dora. What motivated him to change his first name from Joe to Abraham is unknown but Judel Taratotsky's American name became Abraham Friedberg, the exact name of his brother-in-law.
The couple lived their entire life on the Lower East Side of New York. They had twelve children: Lieba Frieda (died in Bialystok), Hyman (Herman), Rebecca (Peggy), Sadie (Sally), Philip, Henry, Tzerel (Sylvia), Rhoda (died aged nine months), Alvin, Murray, Benjamin and Natalie.
