William (Bill) Draiman Booklet Family History

William (Bill) Draiman Booklet Family History

PROLOGUE

This is the story of my life, which I believe is unique, although I am sure that other people feel the same way about their life experiences. I needed to write about my life, because I want my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and even future generations to know our family history. I want them to be proud of our Jewish heritage, to be thankful, humble, and honorable. In addition, I want them to be generous and respectful to one

another. Life is very short, and when disagreements occur, I want them to be settled with understanding and consideration.

I made my share of mistakes, but I learned from my mistakes and

that made me a better man. I also had a plentiful share of good luck and for that I am very grateful. Hard work has a lot to do with success, but without luck, success could pass you by.

I am very proud to be an “American”. When I came to the United

States without a cent in my pocket, I worked hard; and thanks to America I had the opportunity to achieve success and to aid family members.

Before my mother died, she expressed a wish that the family stick

together and always help each other. I was too young to understand it then, but I thought about it throughout my life. It inspired me to help family members whenever possible, and I hope I have lived up to my mother’s wishes. I have written about all the times I helped people, in hopes that this will motivate all of you to carry on this family tradition, originally inspired by my mother.

In life we have choices to make, and I hope and wish that you all

make the right choices, and learn the importance of caring for your family and assisting relatives in need. If there is anything in life we are sure of, it is that one day we all are going to die. We can not escape it. To leave a legacy of good deeds should be our highest aspiration.

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SIBLINGS NAME YEAR BORN YEARS LIVED

Jacob Draiman 1902 93

Chiam Draiman 1905 88

Hela Fiegler 1907 88

Guta Bressler 1909 88

Eva Budoff 1911 83

Tola Bloch 1913 living at age 96

Maria Shujman 1916 69

Isaac Draiman 1918 living at age 91

Myself 1925 living at age 85

Picture - Bill, Tola, Isaac, and Maria 1931

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DESCENDANTS

NAME DATE OF BIRTH AGE

CHILDREN

Sharon Gary September 28, 1948 61

Bonnie Schwadron February 9, 1952 59

David Draiman October 30, 1959 50

GRAND CHILDREN

Grady Gary May 17, 1974 35

Shana Gary August 10, 1977 32

Monica Berger August 2, 1979 30

Lori Glatt July 19, 1981 28

Jason Glatt December 12, 1984 25

Jennifer Draiman April 12, 1987 22

Erin Draiman August 1, 1989 20

Adam Draiman July 21, 1991 18

GREAT GRAND CHILDREN

Reece Gary March 21, 2005 5

Bennett Gary January 25, 2007 3

Annalise Gary May 3, 2009 10 months

Daniel Berger December 29, 2009 3 months

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WILLIAM DRAIMAN’S LIFE

January 2010

I was born in Havana, Cuba on March 18 1925, the youngest of nine

children born to Ita Rivka (Fishbein) and Abraham Joseph Draiman, and the

only one of their children born in Cuba. My mother, had been born in 1885,

and was two years older than my father who was born in 1887. That was

very unusual for those times, and a fact not often revealed to others. Both of

my parents had been born in Warsaw, Poland, and married in Warsaw,

where their first eight children were also born.

The reason I was the only one born in Havana was due to the

political situation in Poland, which openly persecuted Jews. Soon after

Poland became a nation in 1921, they confiscated my father’s business, a

coal depot, which supplied fuel for cooking and heating homes. My father was

unable to find another business or a job and was forced to become a money

exchanger in the black market in order to provide for his large family.

One night, one of his former employees came to warn my father,

that the police would be coming to arrest him on the following day, on

charges of dealing in the black market. That same night, he left on a train to

Paris, where my mother’s sister and brother lived.

In Paris, my father found out there was a freight ship out of Portugal

going to Cuba, and was able to obtain a visa to immigrate to Cuba.

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Parents

Picture - Abraham Joseph Draiman & Ita Fishbein Draiman

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The plan was to live in Cuba for one year, after which he would be able to

emigrate from Cuba to the U.S and then bring his family to the U.S.

Soon after my Father arrived in Cuba, the law was changed,

requiring that all Cuban residents become citizens. That process would take

five years. Knowing that, my father sent for the family in Poland. The two

oldest sons were married, and decided to stay in Warsaw. My mother

gathered her meager belongings and prepared for her trip to Cuba with the

other six children.

It is hard for me to comprehend how my Mother traveled alone with

six children, for several weeks or more, first from Warsaw to Portugal, then

taking a freight ship to Havana. In those days, an unaccompanied woman

was at great risk. Add to that, the sole responsibility for six children and you

can understand what a difficult undertaking that must have been. In addition,

can you imagine the challenges of moving to Cuba, where they knew no one?

Not one of them knew how to speak a word in Spanish, and they were

completely unfamiliar with the climate and the culture.

When the family arrived in Havana, my father and mother took a well

deserved honeymoon, and 9 months later, bingo, I was born, to a mother who

was then 45 years old. Unheard of in those days!

When I was 4 1/2 years old, my Mother died, at the age of 49.

Although I was very young, it was so traumatic that I remember many of the

events surrounding her death. I remember being rushed to the hospital,

where I sat beside my mother’s bed, while she lay there with her eyes closed.

All her family stood around the bed crying, while my father, also crying, was

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telling my mother that I was there, next to her. I also remember my sister,

Hela, saying that our Mother had told her that her one wish was that the

family would stay together and take care of each other after she was gone.

At that time, I didn’t realize the importance of my Mother’s wish, or the impact

it would have on my life, but I believe that much of what I have received and

done throughout my life was inspired by that single wish of my Mother

The next thing I remember is my Mother being carried to a small

room and laid out on a marble table. When they closed the door, I went

around the outside of the room where there was a window up high.

Somehow I got up to the window and saw my two sisters, Hela & Guta, crying

while scrubbing my mother, and getting her kosher for burial. I did not fully

realize what was going on, not then, or even at the burial, where I too cried

and put my hand on the casket as it was being lowered into the ground. I

would come to have a more complete understanding of the tragedy of my

mother’s death and its impact on my life, as I grew older.

After sitting Shiva for a week in our home, my father, and my brother

Isaac went to the synagogue every morning and every evening, to say

Kaddish for my Mother. My sisters usually went to work or to school, and

often I was left alone in our apartment. One day, one of our neighbors came

to visit, and proceeded to sexually molest me. It was very traumatic, to say

the least. For a long time after this event, I would wake up crying, and

missing my mother very much. I also wondered why this had happened to

me. Is this what happens when you lose your Mother?

I have pondered a lot before I wrote about this event. I know that

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many sexually abused children keep it a secret, but I needed to share this

with you all, to show you that bad things can happen during a lifetime, and

that you must pick yourself up and move forward. I never forgot it, but I made

a conscious effort to heal myself from this trauma, and I never let it interfere

with my life.

My oldest brother Jacob had come to Cuba about a year after my

mother came with the other children. About six months before my Mother

died, my oldest brother Jacob lost his wife to tuberculosis. It was the first

time I had experienced a death in the family and I saw how my family rallied

around him. Jacob, along with his son Isaac and his daughter Perlita, came

to live with us in our very small, crowded apartment. My brother Jacob, and

his son Isaac, shared my room with me.

The good thing about Jacob moving in with his children was that

Perlita was 9 months older than me, and we got along with each other very

well. We became very close, since we had a lot in common and shared a lot

of experiences. We had both lost our mothers, and we both felt lost and

lonely. Also, both of us had a hard time accepting the fact that both our

fathers soon remarried. According to Jewish law, 30 days after his wife’s

death, a man can remarry. However, that is disturbing and very difficult for

young children to understand.

I was a very mischievous boy, always getting into trouble and I was

often punished by being put in an old toilet room on the patio. It was very hot

and dark, and it had no window, electric light or running water. Perlita would

sit on the floor, outside of the door, and talk to me. Sometimes we would play

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a game to pass the time.

My father’s marriage lasted only a few months, but not Perlita’s

father’s marriage. After a short while, Perlita’s family moved to Argentina, and

I missed her very much.

Not long after that, the great depression of 1929 hit Cuba very hard,

and my father’s business went broke. My brother Isaac and I helped my

father carry all the boxes of merchandise from the store to our apartment.

Once again, Isaac and I had to give up our room because that was where all

the boxes were stored. The following day, my father took some clothing to

the open market to sell. There were times I went with him to carry the

packages, and I would often watch while my father made a sale. That was

how I learned the basics of business and how to make a living.

Because I was so young, I never realized how poor we were. Many

nights, there was no food in the house until my father came home from the

open market with something to eat for dinner. When he had a bad day, he

would barter some of his merchandise for some large green tomatoes and

plantains, and bring it home. Then, one of my sisters would fry them and

serve them over white rice. To this day, I still love fried plantains.

A big part of my growing up was my Hebrew studies. My Hebrew

teacher in Havana was also the butcher for the kosher market. It was his job

to slaughter the cows and chickens. You can imagine the smell he had from

that. Particularly since he came from Poland and was not accustomed to

showering every day like most Cubans do, because of the extreme heat.

One morning, I decided to bring a cold water bottle and place it between the

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seat and the cushion he sat on. After sitting awhile, the cushion started to get

wet, and so did his pants. He quickly got up, and fixed his eyes on me.

Before I knew it, he got a hold of one of my ears and pushed me under his

desk as punishment. I got scared when I noticed that my ear had started to

bleed, and I pushed the seat away so I could run home and stop the

bleeding. When I got home, my father was there, and without any

explanation, he gave me a memorable spanking.

Not only was I mischievous, I was also very interested in learning

about new things and figuring out how things work and why. Here are a

couple of examples of my inquisitive and mischievous nature.

I had a friend who lived next door. He was Catholic and went to

church on Sunday mornings, whereas I went to synagogue on Friday

evenings, and Saturdays, all morning long. Without telling anyone in my

family, I went to Church with him, just to see what it was all about. I felt out of

place in the church and left right away. No one found out, but my father

would have been very angry if he had known.

In another situation, I could not comprehend how a light bulb,

hanging at the end of a cord, could light up when you flipped the switch. One

night, when everyone was in the living room, I decided to find out for myself,

how it works. I took the bulb out of the socket, and the light went off. Then I

decided to put my finger in the socket to see what was in there. Sure

enough, I got electrocuted. I was screaming for help when some man took a

pillow, placed it around my body and freed me from the electrical socket. I

was then rushed to the emergency room, where I was examined and

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released after a few hours.

My brother Jacob’s son, Isaac, came home one day with a pocket

full of pennies and nickels. I asked him where he got all that money. He

proceeded to tell me that there were some American tourists visiting the

church a few blocks away, and he begged them for the money he had in his

pocket. I didn’t speak any English, so he told me how to beg in English, and I

went off to the church. In the courtyard, there was a parked convertible car

with an old lady sitting in it. I approached the lady and begged her for some

pennies. She began to yell so loudly, I got scared and started to run home,

but I ran into a Tourist Policeman. I explained what I had said to the lady,

and did not know why she screamed so loud. He explained to me, that what I

said was very dirty words. When my father heard about it, he gave me

another memorable spanking.

When I was 6 years old, my father had a heart attack and was not

able to work anymore. He decided to go to Palestine and live with his

second eldest son, Chaim. I was very sad to see him go, since I had become

very attached to him. I still remember sitting at the end of the dock, crying, as

I watched the ship fade in the horizon. When I came home, my three sisters

and my brother assured me that everything would be okay. Still I was not

very happy. I missed my father and Perlita too.

The truth was that I disliked my father for leaving me. I felt very

insecure and was blaming myself for his departure. I thought I must have

done a lot of bad things to him to make him leave me. As I grew older, my

hate for him grew too. When I heard of his death in Israel, I could not cry or

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feel sorry for him. It wasn’t until I went to Tel Aviv, and visited his grave for

the first time, that I broke down, cried my heart out, and was able to forgive

him for leaving me in Cuba. I was much older then, and able to understand

what life is all about.

This trip in 1965 was the first time I had gone to Israel, and the first

time I had met my brother Chaim and his family. Remember, Chaim had

stayed in Poland when the rest of the family moved to Cuba, and then he

went directly to Palestine; so this was the first time we had the opportunity to

meet face to face. We hugged each other and cried for a long time. It was

on Friday, near evening of the Sabbath. After joining his family for a big

dinner, he invited me to Sabbath services with him the next day. Everyone

was dressed in the traditional Hassidic suit, except me. I was standing and

praying next to my brother on the bimah, next to the Rabbi. It surprised and

impressed me to find out that Chaim was so religious that he would have this

honor of standing right next to the Rabbi. After the services, a boy,

approximately 10 years old, came up to me, spit on me and ran away. It was

a shocking and unforgettable experience.

At the end of the Sabbath, the entire family comes to my brother’s

home for a drink and a blessing. After which the younger ones get a Hershey

bar. It was then that I saw the young boy who had spit on me. He was my

grand nephew. When I told my brother what he had done, my brother took

the Hershey bar away and made him apologize. However, I wanted to

understand why he had done this to me, so I gave him back the Hershey bar

on the condition that he would tell me why he spit at me. He told me he

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thought it was a disgrace for me to be on the bimah, next to the Rabbi, in a

business suit. Once I understood, I forgave him.

In 1933, while I was still in Cuba, I was living in the same house with

my sister Guta and her husband, her son Marcos who was four years

younger than me, her baby daughter Hilda, my sisters Tola and Maria, and

my brother Isaac. It was my responsibility to walk with Marcos to Hebrew

School. One afternoon, while walking back from school, three or four kids

starting calling us Christ killers and began hitting and fighting with us on the

street. Marcos was big for his age, but would not fight back. He had his back

against the wall, so I pushed each kid towards him, one at a time, and he, in

turn, would give each kid a “Bear Hug” until the boy was out of breath, and

each boy ran away.

My sister, Hela, her husband and two children lived a few blocks

away. Around this time, they also moved away to Venezuela, seeking a

better life. It seemed that everybody was leaving me. I became very

depressed, skipping school and failing my grades. It made me grow up very

fast. At age 11, I found an after school job cleaning the floors of a retail store,

for which I was paid $1.00 a week. This made me feel like I was taking care

of myself, and did not have to ask my sisters for spending money any more. I

gave 75 cents for my upkeep, and kept 25 cents for myself, to go to a movie,

and buy a Coke and a candy bar.

Around 1935, my sister, Hela, and her family returned from

Venezuela to Havana and came to live with us until her husband was able to

find a job as a tailor. In the meantime, it was very crowded in our apartment;

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Tola & Maria gave up their bedroom to Hela, her husband and their daughter

Esther. Hela’s son Marcos slept with me and my brother Isaac. All in one

double bed. It was always crowded in our home for one reason or another. I

also remember there were many times an immigrant would stay in our

apartment for several days. These were men who emigrated from Poland,

and looked up my family.

All the years I was growing up, I had little or no supervision. I

continued to be very mischievous as there was no one specifically in charge

of me and no one to look after me until I got into trouble, and I was frequently

getting in trouble with my sisters. One year in my Hebrew School, we were

rehearsing for a Chanukah performance. The teacher was choosing one of

us to be the leader of the chorus and to stand in the front to light the candles

on the Menorah. I was very disappointed when he did not choose me,

because I thought I had a better voice than anyone else. I rehearsed the

Prayer all the time, wishing it was me that would be the leader on the stage,

with all the parents & families of our class watching us perform. Before the

performance, we were all in the men’s room, and when I had the chance, I

tripped the boy who was going to sing the solo. He fell on the floor and got

his uniform dirty, and I was the one who took his place on the stage and sang

the Prayers of the Lighting of the Chanukah Candles.

Another time, was when all the schools in Havana Paraded in the

“Madrigal” parade, I wanted to be one of the two drummers that lead the

parade for our Hebrew School. I was not the one the teacher chose, but I

began practicing with two small sticks as much as I could, and in the final day

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of practices, one of the drummers did not do so well, and I volunteered to

replace him. After hearing me play, the teacher gave me the job.

Picture - Eva, Hela and Guta 1924

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After my sister Hela and her family moved to their own apartment,

things got a little better in our apartment. Guta and her husband had one

bedroom, and their son Marcos had the small bedroom next to theirs. Tola

and Maria were in another room, and Isaac and I had the other small

bedroom. Still and all there was only one full bath for all of us. Can you

imagine how crowded it was? There were only two towels, one for the girls

and one for the boys. It was the same with the tooth brushes, one for the

boys, and one for the girls. Of course, I was the last one to use both the

shower and brushing my teeth. Some how, it all seemed normal, and we all

got along. I still never thought about how poor we were, for when the

Sabbath or Holydays came, there was always a beautiful traditional dinner on

the table.

I was 11 years old, when my sister Eva sent for me to come to the

United States to live with her and her family in upstate New York. Since I

was so mischievous in Havana, and my three sisters could not control me,

they all decided it would be best to for me to go and live with Eva. Since they

did not have enough money for passage on a regular ship, I went from Cuba

to New York on a cargo ship that had only four sleeping cabins. It was

miserable on board that ship. On top of everything, I was so seasick; I could

not eat or drink for 4 days of the trip. When we finally got into New York

harbor, and I saw the Statue of Liberty, I was completely overwhelmed with

emotion, and impressed by the grandeur of that statue. To this day, I have

never lost that feeling.

When the ship docked, I was not able to disembark, because I was

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only 11 years old, and my sister Eva did not have legal custody over me. My

mother was dead, and my father moved to Israel, without officially giving

anyone custody over me. Without a custodian, I was taken to Ellis Island,

where I was put with many refugees who had come from Europe. I slept on

the third bunk, all the way to the top, listening to all the crying that was going

on around me. After three days my sister Eva was able to get enough money

for a bond to release me from Ellis Island.

Eva’s husband Morris, and my uncle Jack, came to take me to Uncle

Jack’s home in the Bronx. It was Thanksgiving Day, and when I arrived to

their apartment, I was greeted by the biggest turkey that I had ever seen. I

ate so much that I got sick to my stomach, and everything came up.

I was going to school to learn English, which came to me very

easily. By the third month, I was speaking well enough to get by, but the kids

in my class would make fun of my Spanish accent. I became very homesick,

and in March of 1937 I realized that the next year would be my Bar Mitzvah,

and I wanted to be a Bar Mitzvah in Havana with friends. I also did not get

along with Eva, and I felt that I was a burden for the first time in my life. So I

pleaded with Eva to send me back to Havana. When I returned to Havana, I

was very happy to be reunited with my sisters and brother.

I went back to Hebrew school, and prepared for my Bar Mitzvah. My

brother- in- law, Alex Fiegler, the tailor, made me a suit; and my sister, Tola,

bought me a new pair of brown and white shoes, and a shirt and tie. When I

put all of it on, I thought I was in heaven. Never before did I have new

clothes. I had always worn my brother Isaac’s hand-me-downs.

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Picture - Bill Draiman –Bar Mitzvah 1938

In the small synagogue that my father helped organize, I became a

Bar Mitzvah, without my father in attendance. The synagogue was a small

apartment. The living room became the chapel for the men. The adjacent

dining room was where the women would be. One of the bedrooms became

the social room, etc, etc.. For my Bar Mitzvah, there was a Kiddush in my

honor, with only wine and a cake. That night, there was a party in our living

room and the small balcony where I gathered with my friends. As I look back

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now, I was so happy then for the small things in life. It was a blessing after

all.

Of all my brother-in-laws, I must say the one who paid the most

attention to me was my sister Hela’s husband, Alex Fiegler. He would

include me when he took his children to a baseball game or to the beach

during the summer months. My other brothers-in-law were very nice to me

too, but the one I could always talk to was Alex.

In 1939 my sister Hela organized a march to the docks, where the

MS St. Louis was docked, with more than 900 Jewish refugees seeking

asylum from Nazi persecution. I also participated in the march.

Unfortunately, the Cuban government refused the passengers entry, because

they had false visas. Twenty nine of the refugees, with legitimate visas, were

allowed to stay. After that, the passengers on that ship were also denied

entry into the United States and then Canada. They were forced to return to

Germany `where most of them perished in the holocaust.

My life, at that time was very hectic. During the day I went to school,

worked cleaning the floor of a small retail store after school, went home to

shower and eat, then went to night school to learn more English. After being

in Havana for over a year I came to realize that I had no future there. My

sisters would tell me that when I grow up, I should marry a rich Jewish girl,

and her father would bring me into his business, or set me up in my own

business. This did not sit well with me. I had the desire to make it on my own,

but I knew that in Havana, I did not have a chance.

Realizing that the only place I could succeed was in the United

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States, I wrote a letter to my sister Eva, pleading for her forgiveness, and

asking her to bring me back to Gloversville. When I got there, I was only 15

years old, so I had to go back to school. My brother-in-law Morris had a

leather jacket factory where he gave me a job after school. My job was to

clean up the leather from the floors where the cutting was being done, and

sort the small pieces of leather for making buttons, belt loops and pocket

flaps. One of the cutters became friendly with me, and feeling sorry for me,

he started teaching me how to cut leather jackets after he finished his work. I

was very grateful to him, so when it snowed, I would go to his house before

school and shovel the snow for him. After a while, I became a very good

cutter, and when I became 16 years old, I started to work full time while

finishing high-school at night.

My history teacher came to Eva’s house, and begged her to send

me to college to become an international lawyer. I had written a long essay

about what was happening in the world at that time, and my teacher felt that I

would be missing a good opportunity if I did not go. I did not have the money

to do it myself, and Eva did not encourage me, or offer any financial help.

But I didn’t mind. I actually was more interested in going to work. My goal

was to become self sufficient.

In early 1941, my brother Isaac came to Gloversville from Cuba. At

first, Isaac and I lived in Eva’s house. There wasn’t enough room for both of

us, so Eva took the outside porch and converted it into our bedroom.

However, there was no heat in the room. Isaac and I would wear long johns

and slept under 2 quilts to keep us warm, but that wasn’t enough to endure

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the very harsh winters in Gloversville. It would get to 20 degrees below zero,

so we decided to find other accommodations.

We were both working, so we were able to rent a room in a rooming

house. This was a furnished, one bedroom efficiency apartment, with a

double bed; big enough for us to sleep in very comfortably. Anything was

better than sleeping in the enclosed porch of our sister Eva’s home without

any heat. When Isaac and I got into bed the first night, the whole bed fell

apart, and we wound up on the floor. It was an old fashioned brass bed, and

the brackets that fit in the headboard and footboard, to hold up the box spring

& mattress, were all worn out. We slept on the floor that night, and the next

day we bought a rope and tied the legs of the bed together so that we were

able to sleep on it.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor,

beginning WWII. Isaac volunteered for the Army, but I was only 16 years old

and had to stay at home. I went to work in another factory where they were

manufacturing leather jackets for the Air Force. I was making good money

and I was able to buy my first car, a used car, but it was as exciting to me as

if it were new.

My sister Guta and her family also came to Gloversville. Guta, her

husband Isaac, and I were working in the same factory, and after a while

Guta and Isaac bought a small house. I went to live with them, to help pay

the mortgage on their small three bedroom house. Guta and Isaac had one

bedroom, their daughter Hilda had the second bedroom, and their son

Marcos and I slept in the third bedroom.

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When I became 18 years old, I volunteered in the Army, and was

sent to Ft. Belvore, Va. to become an engineer, building platoon bridges for

the army tanks. After a few weeks, I came down with inflamed tonsils, and a

severe headache. Before the operation, I was given a physical examination

and they found I had lost the sight in my left eye. After the tonsillectomy, I

was sent to another hospital that specialized in eye disorders. No cure was

available, but my headaches subsided. I was then sent to Tacoma,

Washington Army Hospital, and became a medical supply clerk. I was put in

class 4-A, which meant I could not be sent overseas for duty.

After a year, my severe headaches returned. I was sent back to the

same hospital, where I was diagnosed with macular degeneration, and was

given a medical discharge from the Army on August 31, 1945, just a few

weeks before the surrender of Japan. My brother Isaac was also discharged

and we both went back to live in Gloversville, where we went into the jacket

manufacturing business together. The business was doing okay, until the

Army & Navy stores appeared selling the surplus jackets from the Army and

Air Force. That did us in. Isaac got married and went to live in New York

with his in-laws. I stayed in Gloversville and went to work.

When the factory where I was working closed down for several

months, it gave me the opportunity to go back to Havana and explore the

possibility to go into business there. I was able to get a job in a tourist store

because I spoke both Spanish & English. The job was fascinating, and I

would meet very interesting people, but after a few months I realized there

was no future for me, and I did not have money to go into business on my

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own.

When I told my sister, Hela, that I was going back to the States, she

asked me to stop in Washington, D.C. and see our Uncle Abe Fishbein, our

mother’s brother. He had stopped writing letters for a long time and she was

worried about him. My intention was to spend a few hours in Washington,

D.C., stop and say hello to Uncle Abe, and continue my trip to Gloversville.

Uncle Abe was very glad to see me, and insisted I stay in his home for a day

or two. That night his daughter, Dorothy, had a girlfriend visiting her, and all

three of us went to a dance at the Jewish Community Center. Her friend

Trudy and I got along very well, and after corresponding and talking over the

phone for a few months, I went back to Washington, DC to get to know her

better. What I did not know was that my Uncle Abe & his wife thought I was

interested in their daughter and was going to marry her. Well, that was the

end of the Fishbeins.

I got married to Trudy, in Washington, D.C. in late 1946. We went

back to Gloversville to live, and I returned to work. After a year the factory

closed down again, and I was left without a job. My sister Eva approached

me to buy a small hotel in Kingston, N.Y. with her husband. The idea was for

me to run it, and get a liquor license for the restaurant in the hotel. It was a 40

room hotel where people used to stop over on the way to the Catskill

Mountains. After a few months I applied for the liquor license and was denied.

I had thought I would get it easily, because I was a veteran; but my lawyer

reminded me that I was a Jew. Lucky for me, at the other end of the block

there was a bar that lost its lease, and they bought the hotel from us.

Page 23

My sister Hela and her husband were opening a ladies apparel

factory in Havana, and asked me to come to Havana, and explore the

possibility of going in business with them, as I was experienced in patterns

and cutting. Trudy and I went to live in Havana, and from the beginning she

complained that it was too hot and she missed living in the states, mainly

because she did not speak Spanish. After a few weeks I realized there was

no alternative than to send her back to Washington, D.C. I stayed in Havana

with the thought of divorcing her, and going into business with my sister Hela.

After a month or so, Trudy called to let me know she was pregnant. This

created a dilemma to me, how could I divorce her, when she was carrying a

child of mine? I returned to Washington and made the best of it.

There was an ad in the newspaper for a manager of a dry cleaning

store. I had no idea what the job entailed, I told the owner that I would be

willing to work without pay for 2 weeks, and then he could see if I could do

the job. And that is how I started in the dry cleaning business.

Next to the store where I was employed, there was a tuxedo rental

store with an on-site tailor. The tailor and I became friends, and after a while,

we decided to buy our own dry cleaning store. I took care of the dry cleaning,

and he would do the tailoring and help on the counter. This did not work out

well, I was working hard and he would be sitting, doing nothing for much of

the day. However, he was willing to buy out my half of the business and I

went back to my old job. There was a frequent customer in the dry cleaning

store. He would come in regularly to get his suit pressed and we talked about

daily events in the world, especially about Cuba and the history of my family.

Page 24

One day, when I was telling him of my desire to go into business for myself,

he asked me to meet him in his office the next day during my lunch break.

When he gave me his business card, I saw that he was the Vice-President of

the bank where I had a savings account. The next day I went to his office. He

praised me for being such a hard worker and advised me about building

credit with the bank. At first his advice did not make sense to me.

I had about $2,000.00 in a savings account, collecting 2% interest.

He suggested that I take out a loan of $500 for three months, using my

savings account as collateral, and pay the bank 5% interest. It seemed

foolish to me, since I would be losing 3% interest on my money. He also

instructed me to pay the note on time, wait 30 days and repeat the process.

But the next time I should get a $750.00 loan, and continue this process over

and over until the loan amount equaled the full amount of the savings

account.

He explained to me, that whatever it would cost me, it would pay off

when I really needed to get a loan from the bank .He assured me that I would

be successful if I continued to work hard, not only physically, but also with my

brain. I followed his suggestions and it turned out well for me. Even today, I

am grateful for his advice and my sincere thanks go out to him.

My daughter, Sharon, was born on September 28, 1948. We were

still living in a one bedroom apartment, as my salary was not sufficient to rent

a two bedroom apartment, even though I was working very hard. I worked

daily from 7:30 am to 7:00 pm and felt that I deserved an increase in wages.

So I went to see my boss and asked for a raise in pay. My expectation was a

Page 25

$5.00 raise, but he only gave me a raise of $2.00 per week. I was so furious

over this, I went back to his office and laid the $2.00 on his desk, telling him

that he must need it more than I, and I quit my job. When I got home and told

Trudy what I did, she tried to talk to me into going back and apologizing.

After all, jobs were hard to get, and we had very little money. However, I was

able to get another job, also in the dry cleaning business, earning more

money than the job I had left.

I was working at a store located at 14th and H Street in northwest

Washington. I would be at the store at 6:30 a.m. to light up the boiler, and

afterward, I would go out to eat breakfast. Frequently, I would see President

Harry Truman having his early morning walk with his Secret Service men.

One time, he stopped and asked me why I was there so early in the

mornings. I told him my reason, and when he detected my accent, he also

asked me where I came from. I told him my story and also told him that I was

in the Army when he became president. We shook hands and he wished me

good luck. As I look back on this incident, I wish I had asked for his

autograph at that time. I just didn’t realize the historical significance of that

moment,

Soon after this, I noticed an empty store in Silver Spring, Md. but I

did not have enough money to go into business. I was able to borrow $5,000

from my sisters Hela, Tola and Eva; and another $5,000 from Trudy’s uncle

Robert, and uncle Atlas. Trudy and I gratefully signed a promissory note with

0% interest.

When I opened the store in Silver Spring, I would come to work at 6

Page 26

am and do the tailoring, so I would be ready to open for business at 7.30 am,

and wait on customers until 10.00 am, when the counter clerk came to work.

Then I would go out in the truck, picking up dry cleaning and laundry from

customers. In the meantime the presser would attend the cleaning machine,

and do the pressing. At 2.00 pm, I would come back to the store, do the

spotting on the clothes, and close the store at 7.00 pm.

After 9 Months, I was able to begin paying back the money I had

borrowed. The first ones I paid back were Trudy’s uncles, mainly because

they had our promissory note. They refused the payment, saying they would

settle with us once Trudy’s grandmother’s estate was settled. So I began

paying the money back to my three sisters, and again offered to pay back the

uncles. Their answer was the same as before.

A few years later, Trudy’s grandmother died, the estate was settled,

and every uncle got their share of the estate. Trudy’s father had already

died, and Trudy was his only child, so his share had been left to her.

However the uncles took her share, saying it was payment for the loan.

It was a year later, that Trudy’s cousin was talking about the estate,

and wondering if Trudy had received her share. I began asking questions,

and found out the amount due was over 4 times greater than the amount of

the loan. I went to see her Uncle Robert and asked him about the difference

in the amount. He told me the difference was the interest on the loan.

I was furious and started such a commotion. I called every one in

the Atlas family. They decided to have a meeting with both uncles. The final

result was that they gave Trudy the rest of the money she had inherited, and

Page 27

to persuade him to move to the Washington area, where I found a shopping

center which was a good location for him to open up a dry cleaning store.

He did very well, enough to buy himself a home to live in with his wife and

three children. Soon after, my sister Guta and her husband also moved to

Washington, D.C., and purchased one of my stores, close to where they were

living.

About one year after the Holocaust ended, my sister Eva called me

to say she had heard from a cousin of ours from Poland, named Lonna.

Lonna’s mother was our father’s oldest sister, and she wanted to bring her

family to the United States. I was just getting along in my business but I was

determined to help as much as I could. They settled in New York, partly

because Lonna’s husband, Alex Donat had cousins there who also helped

them to get to the United States. One of them was working in a publishing

house and was able to get Alex a job.

The story of Lonna and her family is an important part of our family

history, and I want the family to know about it. My father was the oldest of

ten sisters and brothers. Some died of natural causes, but most of them died

in the holocaust, along with their families. Lonna, her husband Alex, and two

other cousins were able to survive. Lonna was in a concentration camp in

Poland where the Germans let her work in a hospital, because she was a

pharmacist. At night, she went back to the concentration camp. Alex was in

another concentration camp where he worked as a printer and interpreter,

because he had previously been in the printing business.

Before they were taken to the concentration camp, they had asked

Page 29

their housekeeper to pretend that their son was her son, so she could take

care of him until the war was over. When the war ended, Lonna and her

husband miraculously found each other and went looking for their son. The

home they had left with the housekeeper had been demolished by the

bombing in Warsaw. A neighbor told them the housekeeper had died in the

bombing and the boy had been taken to one of the Catholic convents. They

set out to find their son Willie, and were fortunately able to locate him after

visiting several convents, but Willie did not want to go with them. He insisted

that he could not be their son, since he was a Catholic and they were Jews.

He kept asking, “How do you know I am your son?” Lonna told the Mother

Superior to pull down his pants where she would find a mark under his

buttock which she had put there before she gave him to the housekeeper for

safekeeping. Lonna then made a deal that Willie could remain Catholic if he

would come to America with them.

Every Sunday, Lonna would take him to church, and before going in

he would ask her to go in with him and convert to his religion, so they would

be together in heaven when they die. Lonna kept saying that she was born a

Jew and would die as a Jew. After several months went by, Willie said to

Lonna that if she was going to continue being a Jew, he would be a Jew also.

After a year, Lonna brought her brother David to the United States.

He had survived the holocaust by hiding in the home of a Polish Catholic

family. I always admired my cousin David. He was such a good man, and he

never complained about his ordeal in the holocaust or the death of his family.

David died a few years later, and when I attended his funeral I made myself a

Page 30

promise to name my son after him. I respected him so much; I wanted to

honor him in this way.

My brother Jacob was living in Buenos Aires, Argentina with his son

Isaac, daughter Perlita, his new wife and their three additional children, Hilda,

Mirta, and their son Mario. Perlita invited me to her son Victor’s wedding and

when my brother Jacob found out, he wrote me a letter and asked me to buy

three medical instruments for Mario, who was graduating from medical school

in Buenos Aires. He promised to pay me back. I went to Buenos Aries to

attend the graduation and Victor’s wedding; and of course I gave Mario the

instruments. He thanked me and seemed to appreciate them, but neither he,

nor my brother Jacob, ever reimbursed me.

Around this time, I took Trudy, Sharon and Bonnie, and went to visit

my other three sisters in Havana. We had heard rumors that there was a

revolution brewing far away from Havana. Just like with previous rumors of

revolutions, the population in Havana did not pay any attention, and life went

on as usual. After being in Havana a few days, we traveled to a resort area

called Veradero Beach, considered by many to be one of the most beautiful

beaches in the world. We stayed in a hotel facing the bay that leads to the

Ocean. I was walking in the lobby on the way to the outdoor coffee shop,

when all of the sudden a glass partition between two columns fell on top of

me. I was cut on my left ear, left hand and wrist, and also on the right side of

my stomach. Although, every one in the lobby saw me fall on the floor, no

one offered to help, until I got up and asked for help in Spanish. Only then

did some men help me. They called a cab and rushed me to the emergency

Page 31

room where I was rushed to the operating room. The next day, after having

30 stitches in various places on my body, the surgeon told me how lucky I

was. He said the large cut on my stomach was so close to my private part, I

could have been the first Jew to be circumcised twice.

After a few days, I asked Trudy to go home with the children, and

check on the business, while I stayed in the hospital for one more week

before they released me. Then I stayed with my sister Hela for another week.

During that week, I received a call from the Capri Hotel inviting me to have

dinner there. This turned out to be quite a treat, because I had dinner with

George Raft, the famous actor of the ‘30’s and ‘40’s, who was also an owner

of the Capri Casino in Havana.

Before I left Havana, to come back to the United States, I asked my

two brothers-in-law, Alex Fiegler and Jaime Bloch, to give me as much

money as they could for safe keeping in the States. They were both in

business and I did not trust Castro. I felt that he was winning the revolution.

They both told me they thought he would not stay in power more than six

months, even if he should win.

So I came back to DC to welcome another child into the world. It

was the evening before Halloween on October 30th, 1959 when my son,

David, was born. The doctor came out of the delivery room, and asked me if

I want a “treat or a trick”. I told him I wanted a treat. The treat was a boy.

After two wonderful daughters, I now had a son also.

A week later we had the bris. After a few weeks, David was

vomiting his formula. He could not keep anything in his stomach, and after

Page 32

seeing a doctor, he was rushed to the hospital, where they operated to open

the lower valve in the stomach. It was a close call, and I was so grateful that

David survived. During the ordeal, I couldn’t help but think about a customer

at the store who had a similar situation with her child, who didn’t survive.

Thank God, David had a miraculous recovery.

Picture - Sharon, David and Bonnie – My Pride and Joy

On January 1st, 1960, Castro took over Cuba. A year later, my

Sister Hela called me to come back to Havana, as they needed to see me. I

knew very well what she meant, and a few days later I was on my way to

Page 33

Havana as a tourist. I stayed in a hotel, went sightseeing, and bought some

souvenirs to bring back to the States. The second evening, my sisters and

brothers in law came up to my room, and gave me as much cash as they

could get together. The next day I put the money in two separate army

money-belts that I had strapped around my waist, under a shirt and jacket,

and proceeded to the airport. Before I could board my flight back to the

States, I had to go through an extensive interrogation. I was joking with

them, praising Castro, and thank God I was not frisked. Otherwise I would

have ended up in jail.

While I was in Cuba, I was able to convince my sister Maria, to allow

her son, Jaimie, to come and live with us in Maryland, as the Colleges in

Cuba were all closed due to the revolution. I made sure that Jaimie went to

the University of Maryland, and gave him a part time job in my business.

When he graduated in June of 1967, I gave him back the money he had paid

for his room & board. Jaimie left for New Orleans to begin his career, and in

a few years he married Judy, and began his family.

In 1960 after Castro came into power in Cuba, the members of my

family who still lived in Cuba went through a very hard ordeal. They moved to

the United States with only the clothes they were wearing. They had to leave

their homes, and all their belongings behind. They had to just walk away

from their business. In addition, they were not allowed to leave with any

money. Fortunately, they had the money that they had previously given me

to bring to the United States. It is hard to believe that this sort of escape from

persecution was happening for a second time to my sisters and their

Page 34

husbands. They had left Europe in the early 1920’s under similar

circumstances and with similar experiences.

The exodus from Cuba to the United States began several months

after Castro took over control of the Government. The first to come out was

my nephew Marcos Fiegler. He stayed in our home for a few days, and then

went to New York to look for a business, but was not able to find anything.

When he returned, I was able to find him a job in a toy store with the

opportunity to be a partner in the business. Marcos brought his wife Zoila and

their two sons, Gary and Albert, into the United States, and came to

Baltimore, Md. After realizing there was no future in Baltimore, he got

another job in Washington, DC. Finally, he went into the yard goods

business with his parents.

In 1978 Marcos sold his business and moved to Miami, Florida,

where he bought a wholesale yard goods store. I loaned him money, without

interest, which he soon paid back, as his business was prospering.

I don’t remember the sequence of my family coming to the States,

but I do remember my sister, Tola, coming to our home in Chevy Chase with

her daughter Hilda and her son Gary. After a few days, my sister Tola went

back to Havana, leaving both Hilda and Gary with us in our home. The

reason Tola went back, was to get her other daughter Frida and her husband

Jaime. They all returned and stayed in our home until I could find an

apartment for them. I gave Jaime the money I took out of Cuba for him, got

Hilda a bookkeeping job with my insurance agent, and gave Frida a job in my

office. After a few months, I gave Jaime a loan, so that he could go into the

Page 35

leather belt business with his brother in Brooklyn.

Before they left for Brooklyn, NY, Jaime’s daughter Hilda got married

to Phil Berger. After a year, Phil came to see me and asked me to find a dry

cleaning store, so he could go into business. I found him an empty store in

Virginia, signed the lease and the promissory note for the equipment. After a

few years, he wanted to sell his business and move to Miami. His father was

getting older and wanted Phil to buy his jewelry business. I told him it was a

very good idea, so long as my commitments to the lease and the note to the

bank were satisfied.

My niece Esther with her husband Paul and three children, Jennie,

Judy and Jackie, came to live in Silver Spring, Md. I gave Paul a job in the

dry cleaning plant, with the intention that he would learn the business while I

was looking for a dry cleaning store for him to buy. But, Paul did not like the

dry cleaning business. Esther was able to find a job in an import/export

business in Fort Wayne, Indiana, so they all moved to Fort Wayne, but not

before Esther gave birth to her fourth child, Jeffrey. After the move, Paul was

able to buy an AMMCO transmission store. I was happy for their success,

but had been hoping they would stay in Maryland with the rest of the family.

My sister Hela and her husband Alex also came out of Cuba and

settled in Rockville, Md. At that time, I gave Alex the money I took out of

Cuba for him, and with this money, they were able to buy a yard goods

business in Bethesda, along with their son, Marcos.

About a year later, Zoila’s parents left Cuba and also settled in

Rockville, Md. They found an apartment close to Zoila, and her father took a

Page 36

job in my dry cleaning plant. After a couple of years, he was eligible for

Social Security benefits and retired, as he was seventy two years old.

Some time in 1960, I was watching Sunday football on television,

when there was a knock on the front door. I opened the door and there was

a man asking me if I was William Draiman. I said, “yes”, and he proceeded

to give me a hug, claiming that I was his uncle. He was my brother Chaim’s

son Shmildof, from Israel. I had never met him, or my brother Chaim for that

matter. Once we were inside of my home, he proceeded to tell me he had

come from Israel six months before and had been living in New York, where

he worked in a printing shop. He said he needed to borrow money to bring

his wife and four children to live with him in New York. I did not have the

money he asked for, but I gave him $500.00 as a gift.

Another time, I got a phone call from a man claiming that he is a

cousin of mine from Warsaw, Poland. When he came to my home, he told me

he has the same name as I have, but he does not use it since he escaped

from the Germans, and a Catholic family in Poland saved him. He was

hidden in their attic, and one of the daughters fell in love with him. He

married her, changed his name and religion, became an oral surgeon in

Warsaw, and has two boys living in Canada. He said he just came to see me

because we both are named after our grandfather, and we are of the same

age. He returned to Poland, and I never heard from him again.

One of my stores was located in Bethesda, Md., in the same

shopping center where my sister Hela had her yard goods store. Sometime

in 1961, both of us received a notice from our landlord that the shopping

Page 37

center had been sold, and we would have to vacate our premises within one

year. I could not find another good location, but I found an empty lot that was

for sale. I convinced the owner to lease the land to me, since I did not have

enough money to purchase it outright. I was then able to get a mortgage and

build a strip shopping center to accommodate four retail stores. I named it

Arlington and Elm Street Shoppes. Fortunately I was able to lease the corner

store to a bank, Hela took one store for her yard goods business, and I took

one store for my dry cleaning business. After a few months, the fourth store

was leased to a linen and bath shop.

At that time, my secretary was visited in the office by her sister,

Reba. After a few weeks we began an affair. I was very much in love with

Reba, although I knew in my heart that this was wrong. She was married to a

Jewish man, and although she kept a Jewish home, she did not convert to

the Jewish faith.

In 1968 I was divorced from Trudy. A year later, I married Reba in a

Jewish ceremony, although she still did not convert to Judaism. My family

disowned me because of the divorce and because I married a women out of

our religion. This hurt me very much. After all I had done for them, I did not

expect such a severe judgment, but I also was able to understand their hurt,

and I just kept on hoping that some day we would reconcile. This did not

happen until my brother from Israel, who was a Hassidic Jew came to New

York for his first grandson’s wedding. On the way, he stopped in Maryland to

visit the family. He arranged for everyone to come to my house and gave all

of us a lecture. He told my family it is better to forgive than to cast me out of

Page 38

the family. He also told Reba, it would be nice if she would convert, and to me

he said, “It won’t hurt you to put on t’vilin every morning.” And that is how I

was thankfully reconciled with my family.

When Sharon graduated from college, she went to work as a

teacher in a public school, where she met Howard Gary. They were married

December 16, 1972 and on May 11, 1974, she gave me my first grandson,

Grady. In August, 1977, Sharon gave birth to my second grandchild, a

granddaughter named Shana, and this was when I started having problems

with Reba. She felt I was spending too much time with my children and

grandchildren.

In 1983, Reba converted to Judaism, and we had another wedding

in the Rabbi’s study to make it kosher. She observed the Jewish Holidays

including the Sabbath. Unfortunately we still were having a lot of problems.

She did not try to get along with my children, and now that I had

grandchildren, the problem grew even bigger. I finally decided to get

divorced from her.

In September 1976, Bonnie married Bruce Glatt, in spite of the fact

that I wanted her to finish her last three months of nursing school before

getting married. They gave me three more grandchildren; Monica born on

August 2nd, 1979, Lori born on July 19, 1981, and Jason December 12, 1984.

Soon after that, Bonnie divorced Bruce in February 1987. It became obvious

to me, that I must give Bonnie and her three children emotional and financial

support. I was able to support them through college and Monica and Lori

through their Masters Degrees.

Page 39

A few years later, Trudy married a man who was working in a

delicatessen. She helped him buy a delicatessen store, and after one year,

he died and left her penniless, she had to close the store, because she did

not know how to run it, and because she had no money. My daughters came

to see me, and asked me if I could help her. I began giving her money to

sustain her. I bought her a condo/apartment, a new car every five years, and

until her death in 2008, I continued helping her financially.

My brother Isaac retired in 1979 and moved to Florida with his wife

Bea. His son Arnie was living in Israel, and he left his two daughters behind

in Maryland. One daughter, Judy, was married to David Begal and had two

children, Billy and Stacey. In 1982, Judy asked me if I could find a store for

her. Coincidently, I did know of a store near where she was living and made

sure that she got the store by guaranteeing the lease. Her store was

successful and I am very happy for her.

Around the same time, the Metro system in the Washington D.C.

suburbs, took away the shopping center where I had my first store, and gave

me money to move to another location. I was able to buy a piece of land and

built my second strip shopping center at Nicholson Lane, in Rockville, MD. It

was a two level building, with four stores on the top level, a 7-11, a beauty

shop, Chinese restaurant and a barber shop. On the lower level, I had my

office and a complete dry-cleaning and laundry plant.

In 1980, my sister Maria’s youngest son Josie, his wife and

daughter, went to live in Venezuela, where Josie had a job in the Jewish

Community Center as a Physical Director. All my sisters, brother, and I were

Page 40

able to help him financially so he could make this trip to Caracas, Venezuela.

A year later he had a son, also named David. I went to visit him and at the

same time went to see an old friend of mine from Cuba, who went to live in

Caracas after Castro came to power. It was not a happy reunion, because

his son had just been killed in a car accident.

In 1987, the family and I again helped Josie to come to the United

States. Josie went to work for Marcos Fiegler, and his wife, Ada, went to work

in a beauty shop, as a hair dresser.

My sister Maria died in Havana, and her husband Salomon, was left

alone there. Before long, he managed to go to Venezuela, join his son Josie,

and soon he came to live in Miami. My nephew, Sy Budoff and I supported

him for the first year, until Social Security took over the monthly payments.

After a couple of years, I helped Ada open up her own Beauty

Parlor. After another year, I also helped Josie go into the home decorating

business. They both did very well, and were able to pay me back all the

money I loaned to them.

In September 1, 1985, my son David married Arlene, and on April

12, 1987, they had a daughter named Jennifer. On August 1, 1989, their 2nd

daughter Erin was born; and on July 21, 1991 their son Adam was born. I

now have a total of eight grandchildren. That alone makes me a very, very

lucky man.

Bonnie got married to Gill in November 1991. I liked Gill, but was not

so sure their marriage could withstand the strain of having six children to take

care of. (Bonnie had three and Gill had three.) Some how they were able to

Page 41

manage their marriage and the six children, and everything worked out. I am

happy they proved me wrong.

In 1982, I was driving around Rockville, looking for a good location

to open up another dry cleaning store. I came upon a “for sale” sign on a

parcel of land on Gude Drive where the owner could not keep up with the

monthly payments. After negotiating with the bank, I was able to take over

the monthly payments, and built a warehouse that I called Goode Park

Warehouse. It became very successful, and I started to accumulate some

money. I also started dating some women, but I soon realized that I did not

like the dating scene. I was much more comfortable being with just one

woman.

It was about this time that I met Carrie and after two years, in 1989,

we got married, but I was not so sure I was doing the right thing. She was 20

years younger than I, and her son was very spoiled. She owned a school for

disturbed children with two other partners; she was working all kinds of hours;

and the difference in our ages soon became very clear to me. I was ready to

retire and she was not. We were divorced in early 1997.

In 1986, I built a second floor on top of the Arlington & Elm Street

building, and on top of the rear parking lot. Here again I was lucky. When I

built the original building, I made sure there were enough strong columns to

build a second floor on it. At that time the rear two lots had to be rezoned for

parking. The lots next to mine had to go through the rezoning too. We hired

the same attorney, and we became friends. After a few years I did not see

him anymore. He had retired and his son took over the business. Ten years

Page 42

later, on a visit to my lawyer, I saw him sitting in the waiting room. We talked

about old times and I asked him to keep me in mind if he ever decides to sell

his property. He said he would, and we said good bye to each other.

Two years had passed when I got a call from him, asking me if I was

still interested in his property. I said “yes”, not knowing if I had enough cash

to buy it. After some negotiation we agreed on a figure, and my lawyer wrote

up the sales agreement. When his lawyer looked it over, he told him that he

should not sell it, because he would have to pay a lot of capital gains taxes

and his family would have to pay the inheritance taxes after he dies. I

suggested that I could lease the land until he dies, and at his death I would

have the right to buy it. This was agreed upon, and my lawyer re-wrote the

contract, which I signed immediately, in order to minimize the time. The other

party received the contract the same afternoon, signed it and went to sleep.

The following morning, he was found dead in his bed.

In 1990, “The Shoppes of Bethesda” was built. I had a hard time

leasing the stores there because there was a recession and I was very close

to losing the mall. What saved me was that I had the dry cleaning

corporation lease four of the stores, so the bank would see that the property

was generating income, and I would be able to pay the mortgage.

In 1993, Castro eased the travel restrictions to Cuba from the United

States, but it had to be for religious and humanitarian purposes. I started to

send money through a Cuban Jewish Organization located in Miami, to help

the Jewish people in Havana with food and over the counter medicines. On

April 22, 1994 my nephew Billy Begal and I were able to fly to Havana for a

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few days, through this organization.

In Havana we had a taxi at our disposal for sightseeing. It was

shockingly unbelievable how poor Havana had become. My old school had

been turned into a government office building. We also went to where I had

lived. There were now three families living there, and the apartment seemed

even smaller than I remembered it. The biggest surprise was finding my

mother’s dining room set still intact in the dining room. One of the tenants told

me that the only reason it was still there was because it was too heavy to

move.

Picture - Bill - In Havana next to my mother’s dining room set. – 1983

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We also went to the cemetery to visit the graves of my mother and

my sister Maria. Considering how bad things were in Cuba, the head stones

were still in pretty good shape. I found an old friend of the family who was

able to recite the prayers at the grave site, and I cried for a long time. This

was the first time I had visited my mother’s grave in over 35 years, and it was

emotionally overwhelming.

That night I invited my friend, with his wife and sister, for dinner at

the hotel. He told me of the daily hardship they had to endure under Castro.

There was rationing of water, electricity, clothing and food. I felt so bad for

every one and wanted to do something to help. Before I left, I gave him all the

clothing that I had brought with me, including my toiletries and the cash in my

pocket. As soon as I boarded the plane, I was so thankful that I was an

American. I was also painfully aware of how lucky I was for choosing not to

stay in Havana after World War II. At the time I made that decision, I had no

idea how things would turn out in Cuba. Returning to America was such an

emotional experience, I just kept repeating to my self, “God Bless America”

In 1995, I asked my son David if he would like to come into the

business with me, as I was preparing to retire in two years. At that time

David had three dry cleaning stores, which he sold so he could be with me

full time. In preparation for my retirement, I would periodically travel to Boca

Raton, Florida, where I had a condo. I would play tennis in the mornings, and

would spend my afternoons with my three sisters in Miami. Hela, Guta and

Eva had all lost their husbands in the previous few years.

One day I was playing tennis with a friend, who asked me if I would

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like to meet some of the single women he knew. As he was writing their

names, Madelyn just happened to walk by, and he pointed her out as one of

the women he knew. He was in a hurry to leave, so I approached Madelyn on

my own and introduced myself to her. She was very attractive, actually

beautiful. She had been a widow for over two years and was also into tennis

and golf. It was not too long before she had me playing golf too. This was the

beginning of our relationship and after eighteen months, we got married on

July 26, 1998.

I found Madelyn to be not just beautiful, but also very caring for my

family. While we were dating, she invited both Shana and Monica for many

dinners in her home, while they were both attending Florida Atlantic

University. She is not only a very good cook, she is always a most gracious

hostess to my family whenever they want to stay with us. In addition, between

her and my son David, they have gotten me very involved in golf, which I

enjoy very much. Madelyn has made me very happy man, and there are no

words to describe my thanks to her. I feel very lucky to have found her.

I retired full time at the age of 72, after turning over the businesses

to my son David. He is doing a great job, and the best part of it, is that he and

I are getting along so well. It was on one of my monthly trips to Maryland,

that David showed me an office building that was for sale. I was very

reluctant to buy an office building, because all my other properties were either

retail properties or warehouses, but he was able to persuade me, and we

bought the building in 1999, and named it the Draiman Office Center. After

making a lot of improvements both on the inside and out, and after a slow

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start in the rentals, the building is now doing very well.

Picture - Bill & Madelyn

By 1997, four of my sisters and two of my brothers had already

died. My sister Tola, my brother Isaac and I are the last three to survive. So

when Tola told me she would like to visit our mother’s grave in Havana before

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she dies, I couldn’t refuse her, I asked Madelyn to come too, All three of us

flew to Havana where we stayed in the Havana Libre Hotel, previously known

as the Havana Hilton Hotel. It was in terrible condition. When we went for

dinner, most of the items on the menu were not available, because their

weekly rationing had been used up. The same thing happened when Madelyn

ordered vodka before dinner. No Vodka.

Our mother’s grave was a pitiful sight to see. Like everything else in

Cuba, it was in shambles. For Tola and me it was heartbreaking and hard to

believe. I gave the grounds keeper a big tip to restore and rewrite the faded

words on the tomb stone. Our mother had been dead more than sixty eight

years at that time.

We also visited the Adas Israel Synagogue, where my Father had

been one of the founders, when he first arrive in Havana in 1923. The

synagogue was now in a different building. When we got there, all the seats

and the bimah, where the torah was read, had been eaten up by termites,

and the project to repair and replace the damage was held up for more than a

year.

The other Synagogue known as The Patronato, was also the Jewish

Community Center, and was also in disrepair. There was an opening in the

roof that was waiting for over a year just to get the permission to replace it.

Everything was rationed. You had to wait your turn, and it had nothing to do

with being Jewish. It also was true for some churches.

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The congregation had many converts, since many Jewish people

married out of the religion. When Castro did not allowed religion to exist,

many people told me, that they weren’t sure they believed in religion, but they

knew they were Jewish. Besides, they liked getting a Sabbath dinner after

the services.

Picture - SYNOGOGE IN HAVANA

In early 2001 my niece Perlita called me from Buenos Aires and

asked me if I could help her daughter Mirta, who had lost her job, divorced,

and was hoping to come to America. It was at that time that a lot of people

emigrated from Argentina. I sent her the flight tickets and necessary papers.

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She was a Social Worker with a Masters Degree in psychology. My first

thought was for her to stay in Miami and go to work in an Argentine Clinic, but

by the time she came, the 9/11 bombings of the twin towers in N.Y. had

occurred and it was more difficult for all immigrants. Once she was here, in

Maryland, I let her stay in my apartment and paid for her schooling to learn

English. At the same time we found out she needed to go to school for two

years to get her U.S. license, because her Argentine licenses were not valid

here. I waited for her to finish the three months of schooling, and I sent her

back to Argentina. It cost me over $12,000.00. On top of that that, Madelyn

gave her $1,500.00, so that she would return with the same amount she

came with.

On March 8, 2003, my Grandson Grady married Laurie. Their first

child, Reece was born on March 27, 2005. The second child, Bennett, was

born on January 25, 2007, and the third is Annalice, born in May 3rd, 2009.

How lucky I am to have three beautiful great-grandchildren, and to be able to

enjoy them. Every year Grady and his family come to Florida, and stay with

Madelyn and me in our home.

Reece was born with a detached esophagus, and spent the first

three months of his life in the hospital, having several operations to rectify his

problem. We were all very worried about him and prayed for his recovery. It

reminded me of the problems my son, David, had when he was born and I

couldn’t help comparing the similarities of the experiences, although the

underlying problems were different.

One day in 2004, my attorney, Lewis Schumann, phoned me in

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Florida to ask me if I was interested in leasing a property on Rollins Street in

Rockville. I knew the property very well. It was the “Put-Put” where I had

taken my children to play many times when they were young. At that time I

was enjoying my retirement, but didn’t want to just say no. Instead, I asked

him to call David, and of course, David jumped right in.

Finally after two years of construction, and over runs, and numerous

headaches “Rollins Ridge Building” was finally finished in late 2006,

consisting of 99 apartments and fourteen thousand square feet of retail

space. There is a bank, a beauty salon, a nail salon, an optometry shop, two

small restaurants, and two spaces yet to be filled.

My sister, Tola, will be 97 years old in April, 2010. Unfortunately,

she fell and suffered multiple fractures on her right leg. At her age they could

not operate, so she was put in a cast and kept in the hospital for a month,

before they sent her home. The mattress was very uncomfortable, so I

bought her an air mattress, since she spends so much time in bed. Her

daughter Frida has the responsibility for taking care of her, especially since

the accident. Frida has many medical and physical problems of her own, and

taking full care of her Mother the way she does is very commendable. I try to

help her financially as she can not work for a long time.

On June 14th, 2008, my granddaughter Monica married David

Berger, and I am very happy to say, on December 29, 2009, Monica had a

baby boy named Daniel, my fourth great grandchild. How lucky can I be? I’m

hoping for many more great-grandchildren.

My grandson Jason married Lauren on September 20, 2009. What

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a surprise!! It was hard for me to see him as a grown man. I always thought

of him as a young mischievous boy, and now he is getting married, and he is

turning out to be a wonderful grandson.

The dry cleaning business has been deteriorating for the past 5

years, and this past year we made a business decision to close down two

stores. What the future holds for the remaining dry-cleaning stores, only God

knows; but we will stay with it, until the state of the business tells us what to

do. To me, this is a very disappointing and painful. After spending 60 years

in the dry cleaning business, to see it come to an end is very difficult.

Thankfully, I was able to get into the real estate business which may become

the savior of the financial well being of our family.

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EPILOGUE

I have now reached the autumn of my life and hope to have many

more years ahead of me. I feel so fortunate and thankful to have lived long

enough, and healthy enough, to enjoy my retirement with my wife, Madelyn,

whom I love very much. However, I can’t help but look back to where we

came from, to where we are now and the many times my life has been

blessed - sometimes by sheer luck.

Writing this synopsis of my life has reminded me that so many of

the twists and turns have happened by accident or chance. Just stop to think

of this one man, who came to my father’s home to tell him to get out of

Poland that same night. If it wasn’t for his loyalty to my father, where would

we be now? Perhaps, none of us would be here.

During my life, I have known extreme poverty and a modicum of

wealth, great sadness and much happiness. I have had my share of

disappointments and successes. I have experienced tyranny, communism

and democracy. I have known the love of many sisters and brothers and the

joy of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I was blessed with

grandchildren who wanted to get good educations, and thankfully, I was able

to provide all of my grandchildren with the opportunity to attend good colleges

and even earn post-graduate degrees.

I take a lot of pride in my three wonderful children, eight

grandchildren, three step-grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, whom I

love with all my heart. How many more children will bless this family is

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unknown; but I do know that each one brings me a lot of happiness, and fills

my heart with love, pride and hope.

I also take a lot of pride in the fact that throughout my life, I have

been able to help many people. Some of my efforts may not have turned out

so well, but most of the time, the experience was very gratifying. I speak

about all the times I have helped family members, because I hope to have set

an example for you. It is my wish that this kind of inter-family generosity will

continue with future generations, and continue the legacy of my mother’s

wishes.

The purpose of this synopsis of my life has been to help you to

understand me, and our family history, a little better. I also hope that you can

now see why we should all be thankful for what we have, and appreciative of

each other. As individuals, we all have our own personalities and our own

needs, but we are family, and in that regard, we are one.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

I LOVE YOU ALL.

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