Aurora Magura

Aurora was adopted by her stepfather/uncle, Moise Grünberg. She would tell me idyllic and funny stories of her childhood in Moinești and the surrounding hills. She seemed to have been a wild child whom her mother tried to strictly discipline, but modern-minded Moise would dissuade, explaining that Aurora was just a child.

In an attempt to give her a proper education, she was sent to boarding school in Cernăuți around age 11, but the school discipline and curriculum were so punitive, that Aurora profoundly disliked it. She would say that she slipped into a depression due to the archaic and strict education she received there. Her parents decided to send her to Vienna, where she completed her high school education (I believe), ca. 1915. She said she loved it there and flourished. 

She had grown up in Moinești with Iancu, who visited her home frequently to meet with Moise and learn about socialism and modern ways of being. Aurora and Iancu became closer and decided to marry in Febr. 1923. In Sept. 1924, they had a daughter named Ferrera. The family pics we have are in Moinești until about 1937/1938, which is when they probably moved to Bucharest. The first pic from Bucharest is of Ferrera with her school class in June 1939, about a month before Ferrera died of polio meningitis. I remember Aurora appearing heart-broken and sad when I (with my childish curiosity) would ask about Ferrera. We had a pic of Ferrera around the house 😔. I thought she was beautiful and had such a light in her eyes...

Aurora received her Law degree from the University of Bucharest on July 4, 1930. She apparently did not practice law because Jewish women were not allowed.

Ten months after Ferrera died, her second daughter Ioana was born in May 1940. Aurora was 41 and Iancu was 40.

On Nov. 7, 1941, her younger sister, a chemist and Communist activist, was arrested and executed by the King's army for treason, since Ada and her group were fighting the Monarchy and hoping for social justice through the application of Communist ideology... and sacrificed her life for a farce...

To be continued...