|
| | 100
Years Boy Scouts of America
Mystery
Postcard Enigma
Expert Translators
Puzzled
This postcard is an important part of history. It was written about 100 years ago under difficult circumstances. The
author, Freida Vinograd, was writing to her sister, Neche (Nina) Braunfotel in
Brooklyn, New York. Freida was writing from Zhvanitz Podolsk, Russia. At the
time, the area was part of Czarist Russia. It is now in modern-day Ukraine.
Freedom was curtailed and censorship abounded. Jews were resented and made
to feel unwelcome. It is believed this card was written to signal an exit strategy
from oppression. During one of many periodic "pogroms" the
husband of one of the three sisters depicted on the postcard was summarily
executed for reasons of politics and religious beleifs.
 |
The word pogrom is Russian and it refers
to a massacre or persecution instigated by a government or by the ruling
class against a minority group, particularly Jews. This postcard is an
extremely difficult translation because it is written in phonetic Russian
using Yiddish characters. The interpretation of this transliteration is
further complicated by necessary code used to deceive the censors and
avoid further
family tragedy. There are very few qualified translators on the planet
that can fully appreciate this enigma card. How could there be? Nearly
100% of the Jewish population of Zhvanitz Podolsk and vicinity was systematically
annihilated during WWII when the Nazi's
attacked their former ally. As a result of this genocide, the language and grammar
were concurrently destroyed.
Two versions of the translation are given below. The
first is line-by-line which is well organized but lacks
understanding. The second is less well organized but gives the reader a
better idea of what the true message was that the postcard was trying to
convey; namely a family escape plan from Russia to the Americas via the port of
Antwerp, Belgium. |
|
Line By Line Translation |
Synthetic Composite Translation |
| 1. To my beloved sister Nehe [1] |
Left
Side of card
To my dear sister, Neche, and Brother-in-law, from your loving
sister, Freida, as an everlasting memory:
You will be wondering why I am not standing (with Shieh? Soro?)
with a beautiful dress and why the photograph doesn’t make a pretty
postcard? A pretty photograph is not a
priority right now because we will travel to [Moliv? the place name, if it is one,
does not make any sense.
It spells out as M-OY-L-U-B, [could be Belgium backwards!] and is followed by a reflexive
particle and what spells out as S-N-I and another letter apparently
crossed out. Unfortunately,
I have been unable to establish the destination in question –
Translator]. [I think it is an anagram for Belgium and emigration]. We
will send you a second card with our new address from there when we know
it. I knew
you wanted to see us very badly, so I obliged you with this card. Yet
in such a way that Sohre [two or three words I cannot decipher; one is
illegible, and without it, the others are unclear – Translator].
Our unlucky sister has left us her children to care
for. They are more dear to us than our own lives. It isn’t enough that
our hearts are broken but your silence adds to our sadness. We have not
received a letter from you in two years. We only ask for a letter, not
money. Anything. Anything is better than silence.
Right
Side of card
(The first few lines on the right hand side are also
somewhat scribbled and difficult to read.)
My dear sister, maybe you will not recognize us here in this
photo-card. The one in the white dress is Nechela. In the middle is
myself and on the left after me (third) is Sohre (Soro). I wanted to stand
together with her (Soro). It was for her sake that I did this photo-card.
It hasn’t come out nicely. Hopefully[?] next time will bring an
improvement. I
have also sent a copy of the photo-card to Mother.
|
| 2. from your loving sister |
| 3. Freida as an eternal keepsake. |
| 4. Dear sister, it'll surely be |
| 5. a surprise [for you], that I am standing |
| 6. without Shi'e. [It is] because the |
| 7. photographer [is known to] make poor |
| 8. pictures. But we'll go |
| 9. to Mohlev to get photographed there [and] |
| 10. we'll send you [a card. It's] only |
| 11. because Sohre's multicolored |
| 12. belt |
| 13. is [now worn] by me, and she wanted me |
| 14. to stand next to her, |
| 15. [that] for her sake, I |
| 16. did [that], and then the card |
| 17. came out poor [didn't it?] |
| 18. Next time I |
| 19. shall improve myself. I |
| 20. have also sent a card to Mother. |
| 21. Dear sister, perhaps |
| 22. you won't recognize us, |
| 23. [the one] wearing a white |
| 24. dress [is] Nehele and |
| 25. next to her me |
| 26 and next to me Sohre. |
The line-by-line translation was provided by Jose
R. Burgos, www.innerlingua.com, TOLL
FREE 1-866-664-4182, INT. 319-247-5059, FAX 319-892-0233. This postcard probably belongs in an historical museum. A document of this
caliber should be available to future generations to decipher, interpret and
learn from. Anyone able to further enlighten us as to the content of this
valuable historical document is invited to contact the Law
Firm of Braunfotel & Frendel LLC, 49 Maple Avenue, New
City, NY 10956, Phone: 845-634-7701, Facsimile: 845-634-7710.
Alfred H. Grebe Dead - October 25th,
1935
Radio Pioneer Waked at His Hollis Home -
75
Years Ago!
He was born in Richmond
Hill in the borough
of Queens,
in New
York City. At the age of 9 he was given a radio set by his father, and soon
came to be such an expert that his science teacher at Public School 88 in Jamaica
said Alfred knew more than he did. From public school, he went to a training
school in Jamaica, and a commercial radio school in Manhattan,
New
York City, where he conducted his own experiments. By age 15, he became a
licensed commercial operator, and went to work as a ship's radio operator. After
three years onboard (during which time he traveled as far as India) he returned
to Long
Island, where the first commercial station on the island was being built at Sayville.
He got a job as an operator there. Later, because there was currently a radio
craze, some friends had him make receivers for them. After making a few sets, he
decided to go into commercial production.
In 1914 he issued his first catalog, and set up a
factory in Richmond Hill on the same property where his home was located, which
soon became able to produce all the components needed to assemble a radio, and
which contained research laboratories as well. By 1922 he tore down his home to
build a larger factory on the site.
Copyright (c) 1995 Antiques of
Science and Technology All rights reserved. |
To stimulate public interest, he set up several
radio stations: one (WAHG) was identified with his own initials; another (WBOQ)
had call letters standing for Borough of Queens. (His WAHG
is, through several call letter changes, now WCBS,
still a major radio station in New York City.) He set up a broadcasting company
called the "Atlantic Broadcasting Corporation" (changing WAHG to WABC
on November
1, 1926) which operated his stations until he sold them to CBS
in January 1929. His manufacturing company, A. H. Grebe and Co. Inc., was
renamed Grebe Radio and Television Corporation and moved from Richmond
Hill to Manhattan
in 1933. A photo of Alfred H. Grebe's Synchronophase TRF Five Tube Battery
Operated Radio, 1925 is at the left. |
In 1935 he underwent a stomach operation at
Post-Graduate Hospital in Manhattan. He became ill after the operation and died
after 10 days. Surviving were his mother, Mrs. Edwin C. Dorff; his wife
Stephanie N. Schuerlein Grebe; two daughters, Stephanie and Camilla Grebe, and a
son, Alfred H. Grebe Jr. Funeral services for Alfred H. Grebe, 40, radio pioneer
and president of the Grebe Radio and Television Company, Manhattan, will be
conducted at the residence, 88-89 195th Place, Hollis, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday,
October 27, 1935. Burial followed at Maple Grove Cemetery.
|
![[Under Construction]](_borders/undercon.gif){kind=small}
