Eugene “Israel” Lebowitz

GEDCOM Note

12 — The Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh Sivan 19, 5732 Thursday June 1, 1972
People & Issues: 'Uncle Gene9 and tBttmt,,ff"""""'""t""»»»»t i»»»» tt'a-flTnni'a a a inn Two Sealed Trains A Day Two sealed trains a day come out of Russia to Vienna. One arrives at 4 a.m.; another at 1 p.m. On them are Soviet Jews; their fate, once thought sealed, now becomes unsealed, though their train on that tremulous ride remains sealed. Until Vienna. They are bound for Israel and a freedom they had only dreamed about, but never thought would be their own. "No one knows who is on which train." Eugene Lebowitz, Pittsburgh business executive, innovator and community leader, spoke those words as he re-lived the climax of a story 25 years in the making, a story of a family solidarity, perseverence, and hope. Mr. Lebowitz extends those same qualities into the Jewish community, stretching from his home in Darlington Court to Munkecevo near Uzhorod, once part of Czechoslovakia, now part of Russia. In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, he told the story of his nephew, Bumi, now safe in Israel and busy with his family's "absorption" into Israeli society and culture. "Russia thinks it'll smother Israel with Soviet Jewry's immigration," but we'll fool them," said Mr. Lebowitz with a determined smile. Another keen observer of the Jewish people once said: "The Jews are a people who hold hands around the world." Mr. Lebowitz extends a warm and helping hand. His daughter Myrna (Mrs. Mark Mason) lifted the curtain on the story of "Bumi" the other day at the Israel Bond Fashion Show. Privation and fashion; for some reason they did not seem incongruous. "A few weeks ago, my father, took a trip to Vienna, Austria ... It was no ordinary trip." remarked Myrna, who heads Israel Bonds' Women's Division here. "It was the fulfillment of a personal committment for which he had waited many years. "For those many years, he tried desperately to bring out of Russia his nephew and his nephew's wife and children. "As he waited at the train station for his nephew to arrive in Vienna, his thoughts flashed back to the time that he had traveled back to Russia over the past few years to visit relatives asked him to get them out from behind the Iron Curtain. "Three years ago a knock came to his nephew's door in Russia, and his nephew, Bumi, was taken away. For six months no one heard from or saw Bumi. "Later, a year and a half later, Bumi returned to his little town. He had been sentenced to two years in prison for no apparent reason. "As my father, a few weeks ago waited in the Vienna train station on the appointed day, his nephew did not arrive. "Disappointed, he went back to his hotel and thought about what he could do next to reach his nephew. "The next day, Bumi and his family did arrive. It was a tearful meeting and his nephew was free to go for he was now out of Russia. "Two days later, my father met Bumi again...in Israel." It serves a purpose to tell the story via the generations, because Bumi's first Passover Seder in Israel was celebrated with his Uncle Eugene...with a family friend. Gen. Rechavam (Gandi) Zeevy, of the Central Command. The Chief Chaplain conducted the Seder. Freedom! Joy sped Mr. Lebowitz home just in time -- his family was all set, waiting, to celebrate the second Seder with him at home - and the main theme was the Freedom of the Jewish People - then and now. Bumi's saga supplemented the Passover Seder - for isn't it written in the Haggadah that "he who enlarges upon the story of the outgoing from Egypt" (ancient or modern) is counted as meritorious! Eugene and Hilda Lebowitz have three children, Edward, Myrna, and Eileen. They are a family active amid the community's concerns - and the family spark jumps the generation gap, and the grandchildren are influenced in the family design. "After World War II, we looked for those relatives in our family who were in Europe. Hundreds of our 'mishpahah' (family relatives) were wiped out in the Hitler death camps," said Mr. Lebowitz. " With the help of HIAS we found the remaining ones in Munkecevo, for a short while longer part of Czechoslovakia. We sent them the proper papers and brought nine of them over here. Two nephews and a niece remained; we thought they would be allowed to come in two or three weeks." By ALBERT W. BLOOM .Executive Editor of The Chronicle who pleadingly

EUGENE LEBOWITZ A 25-year vigil. In those few weeks, the territory and the town became part of Russia, and another variety of the "iron curtain" came down on immigration. In that post-World War II period Eugene and Hilda Lebowitz bought a house in Ellwood City, and for two years they gave up virtually all their outside activity to nurse their relatives from the Hitler hell camps back to social health. "They had no idea what the outside world was like. In the outside world, they had been brutalized in the nazi concentration camps." The Lebowitz family sent packages to those in the family of Bumi in Russia "to help them live a little better life." Later Eugene and Hilda Lebowitz were the first American Jews allowed to visit Uzhorod, near Munkecevo. Only cities with a Soviet in-tourist office were on-limits to visitors from USA. He remembers it well. The usually slick Soviet secret police "bugged" their room, putting a listening device under a picture. "It was so crude even a child could find it." remarked Mr. Lebowitz. I saw it within five minutes." When his family came to visit, Mr. Lebowitz wordlessly pointed to the "bugged" device. They took the hint. "Uncle Gene," they exclaimed, "things are so good for us here. We can educate our children and get all the food we need..." All the while, tears streamed down their cheeks. Then out on the street, by the riverside benches, the truth welled out. The fear, the dangers, the privations. "People came out by bus to shake our hands and send messages back to their relations in America - some had never heard from their American relatives some had addresses. It was all done so fast, so furtively, that Mr. Lebowitz did not have time, nor did they dare to identify their slips. "They were afraid." "When I came back, I had a pile of slips, so I called different places like Cleveland or Los Angeles and asked the people who answered if they had any relatives in Russia and then gave them several names to identify. "I told them how it was, and how badly their relatives needed to hear from them, even if only a letter. "I am sorry to say," Mr. Lebowitz disclosed, "that some of those people hung up on me. Can you believe it?" "I thank God that the good Lord did not close my heart or make me indifferent to what goes on with my family, my community, or with my friends. "I would rather have nothing, if the price were to forget the people who are every bit as capable as I, but who were not at the right place at "the right time," remarked Mr. Lebowitz. When a brother in Israel sent papers, Mr. Lebowitz went to Russia personally to tell them that papers under family reunion program were on their way. Soviet government postal authorities who neglected to deliver the papers were reminded by cablegram from Israeli lawyer to Bumi that his papers were on the way under an approved Soviet project allowing immigration for reunion of families. On March 22, 1972, Mr. Lebowitz in Bel Harbor, Fla. got a cablegram from "Bumi" that his exit visa was suddenly approved, and that he was leaving for Israel on March 23. Uncle Gene - a good natured, bright, well groomed gentleman, who is as precise and neat with his facts as with his grooming - smiled. "The next morning I was on my way to Vienna!" But come it did. And "Bumi" too, with his family. And that's not the whole story. Even now, "Uncle Gene" is planning another Israel trip to help out in his own way with the "integration and absorption" of "Bumi" and his freedom family.