65 Years... What A Journey!

Background: It is the 65th Wedding Anniversary for Harold and Ann!

However, due to the war, Harold and Ann never had a proper wedding ceremony. So today, they stand below the Huppa, their daughters have made. The Huppa includes a cloth that was the last piece of property Ann was able to smuggle from her mother’s home before being escorted out of Poland by Russian soldiers.

The Toast: My name is Marc and for those of you who don’t know me, I am the Brenners son in law. Actually, to be precise, I am their 2nd favorite son in law, but any time I can finish in the top 2, I’m happy.

I would like to compliment the Rabbi on conducting a beautiful ceremony, even though he forgot to mention that the newlyweds should “be fruitful and multiply.”

I’ve been privileged to have known the Brenners for over 46 yrs, way back when I was a pesky teenager. And after all these years of dating, I think it’s nice that Harold And Ann finally decided to get married. Now that Esther is finally legal, I might even consider running for public office.

The courtship of Harold of Sulvalki and Ann of Zamocz started nearly 70 years ago with separate trips to the USSR.

Ann actually won a free trip. One day she was walking outside and Russian soldiers approached and said, “Mazel Tov, you won a free trip”. Then they gently guided her to the train with their rifles. Unlike today, the travel accommodations weren’t that great-- Ann’s trip from Poland to Russia was a several week journey in a cattle car. There was a washroom close by, which was actually a hole in the floor. The doors of the train opened twice a day for bread and water. As most of you know, Harold’s journey was 2000 miles on a bicycle dodging German and Russian rockets.

Fortune brought them together in Russia where they “hooked up.” Under brutal war conditions of the time it took a little bit of luck and a lot of resourcefulness just to survive one day to another. At that time the Soviet Constitution contained the following provision—“He who does not work, neither shall he eat”. Harold was always a well conditioned athlete + despite brutal winter conditions along with being driven to a forest on a sled, with inadequate shoes + makeshift gloves, he was always able to make his quota of cut timber. If fact, he probably made twice the quota.

Ann’s job was in a lumber yard. The rule was that in order to get bread you had to saw a certain number of boards. Now my mother in law is the world’s best soup maker, but not so good at sawing lumber. So if you ever need cut lumber I suggest you go to Home Depot rather than asking her.

But fortune shined on Ann. One day while Standing in a bread line her appendix burst and she wound up in hospital in the Ukraine, with medical conditions less than ideal. Through out their lives, Ann and Harold have always had the knack of easily making friendships because people like them. One such case was the wife of her treating doctor. They were a nice Tartar couple and the wife began to bring food to Ann in the hospital, where she convalesced for 3 months. This kind lady wanted to protect Ann from hard labor, so she conspired with her husband to get Ann a job in a housing placement office. But there was a catch—no foreign languages were permitted (you had to be an ethnic Russian). No problem, the Dr. + his Wife simply agreed to tutor Ann in Russian during her convalescence.

It was in that job where she met Harold. There was one funny incident—she could not speak Yiddish or Polish on the job so all the Jews from Poland and elsewhere feared Ann as a Russian taskmaster who might be spying on them. Sometimes she recognized former neighbors but had to bite her tongue. Finally, one day she was alone in an apartment with a few of Polish Jews she recognized. from the old neighborhood. They spoke Yiddish thinking they were safe from the Russian monitor.

When Ann responded in perfect Yiddish, there were almost 5 heart attacks. She finally confided her true identify and told them to relax.

When the War ended, the Breners were kind of like the 15th Century explorers seeking to discover the new world. They had no maps, GPS, money or other resources. All they knew was that they had to go west. and get out of Russia by what ever means of transportation was available. Travel was treacherous especially in Poland where even after the War vicious Pols were throwing Jews off the train. So Ann traveled with a large babushka over her head and posed as a Greek refugee.

Finally, thru luck and perseverance, they reached the American zone in Austria It must have been comfortable for at least one nite, because Esther arrived shortly thereafter. 4 years later, with visas in hand they departed to America for a fresh start.

Now Becky may assert that her parents were tough parents. That may or may not be true, but I say we have to look at the results. Esther is almost perfect-- just than one minor mishap in the selection of a spouse. Both she and Becky are wonderfully talented professionals.

They are beautiful people who are loved by family and friends alike. So I’d say that the Brenners did a pretty good job raising their kids and as a result they now have 4 terrific grandsons and 2 wonderful great-grandsons.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have played a small part in their great legacy.