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Bertha Blumenkrantz married Israel Held in a displaced persons camp in Ulm, Germany in 1945. Bertha had been liberated from Auschwitz and was sent to the displaced persons camp. My grandmother believes Israel and Bertha got married because “people needed someone to rely on after the war”. They met in the camp, and had both their children there. Herman Held was born in 1946, and his brother, Isaac Held, was born in 1948. In 1950 the Held family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota.
Israel Held died in 1956 of cancer, and Bertha supported her children as an incredibly talented seamstress. The Helds moved to Highland Park, St. Paul, after many years of Bertha individually supporting her family. My grandfather has, “nearly no memories of [Israel], but he was a hard worker”.
(A historic photo my grandmother was able to identify): My great grandmother, Bertha, third from the right in the first row. Amongst children at Auschwitz as an adult.
Students at the Ulm displaced persons camp, 1946.
Bertha married Harry Yablonsky in 1962. Harry and Bertha’s family was a “true blended family”, with Mike, Jane, and Bob from Harry’s relationship with Ann, and Herman and Isaac from Bertha’s relationship with Israel. Herman was 16 and Isaac was 14 when their mother married Harry.
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