Format:
Download Slides with Synchronized Audio - MP4 Video File $9
Download Audio - MP3 Audio File $9
Ship Audio CD $12

Presenter: Molly Arost Staub

In 1948, when our relatives visited from Tientsin, China, I expected to see Asians. My second cousin Shura Shtofman indeed looked Asian to me. She sported a dark, short pageboy haircut with bangs, and wore a red silk chong-sam. However, seeing her later, she looked as Eastern European as most of us. And surely many West Coast Jews have similar stories about Harbin and Shanghai, while others might be fascinated by this strange aspect of European Jewish immigration. Years later, we visited the family in Los Angeles. But, while delving into genealogy, I couldn't find her. I finally remembered her son's name, Saul. After that, using Facebook and emails, I located his family and a branch in Israel. Plus three Shtofman tombstones in China from the 1920s recorded on JOWBR. Describing my methods, I would show how this opened a unique look at how some of our ancestors fled the European pogroms.