Moses (Moise) Grunberg

Moise was the youngest of the Grunberg brothers. He married his oldest brother Hersh's daughter, Betty (my great grandmother) after her first husband died. Betty and Moise had a daughter together named Ada, according to my grandmother. However, Ada's birth certificate, obtained in Febr. 2015, shows that Ada was born Iosupovici and adopted by Moise; and this remains a family mystery, since I (Andrea) nor my mother never heard Aurora say anything about an adoption, but always indicated that Ada was Betty and Moise's daughter. Aurora always talked how Moise treated his step-daughter (and niece) Aurora (my grandmother) as his own, adopting her and giving her his last name. (This is the same Moise Grunberg as the other one in the family tree)

From the book :"O Legenda Vie: Moinesti" / by Solomon Shapira, Jerusalem 1989, p. 182 :

"Intre cele doua razboaie, marxismul incepuse sa cucereasca pe unii tineri evrei din Moinesti. Exista, ca in toate comunitatile evreiesti, un antagonism de clasa intre cei bogati si masa paupera evreiasca. Unii, din buna credinta, erau convinsi ca numai revolutia socialista si asimilarea pot rezolva problema evreiasca. Moise Grunberg, unul din vechii socialisti din Moinesti, propietarul unui magazin de manufactura, era bine cunoscut pentru ateismul lui afisat.Autodidact,cu o buna formatie, isi incropise o biblioteca bogata, din care nu lipsea Marx, Kant, Shakespeare si binenteles toata literatura socialista. Eram vecini.In fiecare dimineata el aparea in curtea locuintei sale, sa-si faca programul zilnic de gimnastica suedeza, ceea ce, pe noi copiii ne amuza grozav, dat fiind ca asa ceva nu era obisnuit pe atunci in oraselul nostru. Propagandist al miscarii socialiste, tinea legatura cu muncitorii petrolisti, printre care era si Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej, pe atunci muncitor la societatea petrolifera "Steaua Romina", (originar din Birlad, el locuise un timp intr-o strada dosnica, linga gradina publica.) Moise Grunberg a avut doua fete. Una din ele, Ada, a devenit in timpul razboiului "tovarasa" Ada Marinescu. In timpul regimului Antonescu, Ada Grunberg, cu domiciliul atunci in Bucuresti, este implicata intr-o actiune subterana comunista, condamnata la moarte si executata. Dupa razboi, Ada Marinescu, este proclamata eroina nationala a Rominiei, dar curind, data fiind originea etnica, numele ei, ca si al altor evrei comunisti de origine evreiasca, este dat uitarii. A doua fiica a lui Moise Grunberg, Aurora, s-a casatorit cu Iancu Leibovici, care fusese conducatorul Cooperativei Bancare din Moinesti, 'Creditul Nostru', Dupa razboi, sub numele Magura, el devine consilier economic la ambasada R.P.R. din Londra. Revenit in tara, fiica lui, Ioana Magura, intelectuala cu o educatie deosebita, devine prezentatoare la T.V. romina, unde isi cistiga aprecierea publicului. In cele din urma, Ioana Magura, crescuta si educata in Anglia in spiritul democratiei, nu mai suporta atmosfera locala si subordinarea comandamentelor de partid si alege "libertatea" cu ocazia unei vizite in R.F.G. Aci activeaza un timp la postul de radio Europa Libera din Munchen si se casatoreste cu fostul director al poistului de radio, Noel Bernard, atat de bine cunoscut auditorilor din Romania."

Corrections by Andrea Bernard:

Iancu was economic counsel at the Romanian Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, not London. Ioana never studied in London. She lived in Bern as a young girl (around 1950-1951 for about 2 years) while her parents were there. And she decided not to return to Romania during a visit to Paris (following a prolonged visit to Israel), not while visiting W. Germany. She moved to then W. Germany (Munich) once she was hired permanently as a radio speaker at Radio Free Europe.

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Moise was the youngest of the Grunberg brothers, and his oldest brother Hersh was married to Yetta Spitzer. Moise married his oldest brother's daughter, Betty (my great grandmother) after her first husband died. Betty and Moise had a daughter (Betty's second) named Ada. Moise treated his step-daughter (and niece) Aurora (my grandmother) well, adopting her and giving her his last name (my grandmother Aurora's story that I remember). There is a mystery recently as I found an adoption certificate of Ada Iosupovici, mother Blima Iosupovici (info from Ada's birth certificate, who was reportedly born in Moise Grunberg's home). The name Iosupovici was a name neither my mother nor I heard about previously. Nor was I was able to find a second marriage for Blima/Beti to a man named Iosupovici. Apparently Moise adopted Ada. Someone suggested this second relationship may have been fabricated to hide the fact that Beti and Moise had a daughter in an incestuous relationship, which was illegal. I also found no official marriage record for Beti and Moise. (Added March 2022: during a Zoom call with my newly found Greenberg relatives, Suzanne Lorenz said that her father, Edwin, had mentioned hearing from his own father, Morris, that the last name Iosupovici was the original family name, later changed to Grunberg... mystery partially solved! So it's possible that Betty used this original last name to hide that she had Ada with her uncle).

My father, Iancu Schefler, told me that Moise Grunberg whom he had known ,had two brothers Hersch (Herman) , who was Betty's father , and another brother Gabriel (or Gavril). I heard the story of Betty marrying her uncle Moise, long before I knew about the other family ties with the Leibovici-Magura family. The reason is that they were related to Rachel Grunberg, who was the sister of my grand-grandfather Matityahu Schefler. I don't know how they were related exactly! but they appear in a very old family tree I drew. My father remembered his great-aunt Rachel very fondly. It's worthwhile looking into this new piece of information! (Tzvia Offenberg)