In 2007, Gary Pokrassa was very easy to find. When I looked on the internet for Pokrassas, I encountered 20 pages mentioning Gary Pokrassa, who is an officer in a publicly held corporation, before I could find anything else. Every time the company he worked for made an announcement Gary was mentioned. Gary's company made lots of announcements.
I contacted Gary who was passionate about his genealogy. He sent me a copy of his family tree as well as a ten page report by his older cousin Abraham Pokrassa. The report told of a trip to France in the 1930s to meet the relatives who had settled there after leaving the town of Zolotonosha, Ukraine. Most of the family immigrated to New York. Gary knew that a relative in France had died in the Holocaust, and he still had family in France. Gary thought that the relatives who remained in the Ukraine had died in the Holocaust.
I created the yousaypokrassa website, and then sent a message to twenty Pokrasses using skype chat. A few days later, early on the morning of June 17, 2007 (Father's Day), a chat message woke me up:
5:29 AM Dmitry Pokras (writing from the Ukraine): "I was interested at my relatives. I have learned, that my ancestors lived in Cherkasskaya Gubernia, Ukraine in village Zolotonosha. My great-grandfather was born there. His name was Leyba (in passport Lev). My grandfather's name was Leonid he was born in 1924. He lived in Kiev. It has died several years ago."
5:58 AM Aaron Ginsburg(writing from Sharon, Ma USA): "I have good news for you. I am in contact with someone who says much the same thing. Gary Pokrassa, and he lives in the United States. I have an extensive family tree . It will take me a moment to find it, and see if your family is on on it."
6:05 AM Aaron Ginsburg: "this is a very special moment. On Gary's tree there is a Lyov Pokrassa. he was born in Zolotonosha perhaps in 1887 and died in Kiev in maybe in 1938 (these were guesses, and he may have died in the holocaust) His wife may have been Ludmilla-not sure- he had one known male child, name unknown. I also know the names of Lyov's parents. Could this be your family?"
6:14 AM Aaron Ginsburg: "This must be a match, because you mention France [by phone]. Gary Pokrassa's family went to France. some are still there, but most went to the United States."
Dmitry and I spoke briefly, but Dmitry said his English was not good, and most of our conversation was by chat. Dmitry was part of a large Ukranian-Franco-American Jewish family that Stalin and Hitler separated in the 1930 and 40s. After 70 years it was reunited. Dmitry said that a relative had recently moved to New York.
I called Gary Pokrassa with the news. In Gary's words, "This Sunday morning at 6:00 AM on Father's Day my phone rang. At that hour I sleep rather deeply and my wife had to give me a sharp elbow to pick up the phone - my only thought was ****, who died? But it was Aaron who had Dmitry Pokrass in Kiev on the phone who it turns out is the great grandson of my Grandfather's younger brother Lyov, who went back to Russia from France and we all thought had perished along with his wife and young son in the Holocaust." (Read Gary's complete remarks.)
Work intervened. When I got home around 7:00 PM, I checked my messages and learned that Arnold Pokras had immigrated to Baltimore. I found his phone number and called him. He passed the phone to his wife Lilya after explaining that he did not speak English very well. Within an hour 80 year old American-born Abraham Pokrassa called his 69 year old first cousin Arnold Pokras who had been in the United States for 18 years. They had not heard of each other until earlier in the day.
On July 6th, 2007 Abraham Pokrassa met Arnold Pokras for the first time at a restaurant in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY. Arnold's wife Lilia took me aside. Could I find her "lost" American Shteiman family? Flushed with success, I said "Piece of cake." Next: Shteiman Family.