Goldfoot Genealogy

Nadene Goldfoot                                         

In Tel Aviv, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, stands under a portrait of Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, as he reads Israel’s declaration of independence on May 14, 1948.  This took place 70 years ago.

On May 14, 1948, I had already been confirmed in our Neveh Zedek Synagogue in South Portland in 1946 and was now 13 years old.  At that age I had already finished  my first year of high school that would start up again in September and I would then be a sophmore. 
                                                                   

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, my president of USA from 1933 before I was born to April 12, 1945 when he died and this was announced to us when in class at Abernathy School.  I was 10 years old then.  We all cried.  He was our father figure.

That's old enough to know a little of what was going on in the world.  Still, I didn't understand the miracle that was happening; of after 2,000 years, our people were announcing the birth of their nation after waiting and praying for that many years 3 times a day.  My family's life was no different on that day than any other.  I don't think I even knew what was taking place. 

In May 1939, my future uncle Werner was one of the last Jews to get out of Germany and headed for the USA.  Werner Oster was then 21 years old.  His father had served in WWI as a German soldier. His family could only afford to get Werner out of the country.    My great uncle Max had been his sponsor, getting him a job with my father.  By September, he would marry my Aunt Anne. I was the very shy flower girl in the wedding.  
                                                                         
 Kristallnacht had taken place November 9th and 10th, 1938 and that was enough to tell the Osters what to do.  Werner had already been picked up by the Nazis once and placed in Dachau Concentration Camp between 1938 and 1939.                                                                           
                                                                       

About 1944, and Werner's on the right holding his 2nd daughter.  His 1st daughter, Harriett, was born in 1941, standing with the overalls.  My father is on the left holding my baby brother David, born in 1942.  His brother in law is in the middle holding his 2nd daughter.  His first, Dianne-standing, was born in 1938.   I'm down on the left with Dianne, Harriett and Donnie, all cousins.

 
During my life, WWII had started in Europe on September 1, 1939 with Hitler invading Poland, a country with a high Jewish population, some of which were our relatives, though unknown to us then.  In the USA, the war was declared on December 7, 1941 with the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.  I was 7 years old at the time.
                                                                           

My father, Meshke (Morris)  and Me

 My whole childhood has memories of the  inconsequential effects of this war on me; that of being a big participant of our weekly paper drive-bringing newspapers to our school to be weighed and reused.  Other activities were cutting out cartoon jokes from magazines and making books for the soldiers to cheer them up.  I spent all my time while drying the dishes with a dish towel dreaming up ways to end the war.  It was my wishful occupation then.  

1942 came along and finally I was a sister to a new baby brother, David.  After 8 years of waiting for a brother or sister, I finally had one, but my mother was scared to death of bringing in a child after WWII had started in December 1941.  He was born in August.  Now Mom and I both had something good to think about other than the war and paper drives.  

My father was able to obtain a bike for my Xmas gift somewhere during this period, which was hard to find.  Yes, Jewish and a child celebrating Xmas customs.  That was happening to Jews who by just being able to live-were undergoing an assimilation period that was inevitable.  Note; not the religion but the in your face customs of the land that beckoned to children.. We had an Xmas tree in our living room.  Joan, my Jewish neighbor girlfriend whose parents were from Palestine,  managed to talk them into a tree in their basement.  Who could deprive their children from visiting Toyland on Meier & Frank's 10th floor every year?  It would have taken a big explanation and parents weren't up to it.  
                                                                         

1946, ship heading for Palestine with refugees brought by Haganah Secretly

Our newspapers, and my family subscribed to both the morning Oregonian and the evening Journal, were only covering the war.  I couldn't imagine what a newspaper would be like with other news in it.  Thus, nothing was ever mentioned about Palestine and Jews.  As a child, I never heard anything about it at Sunday School, either, unfortunately. 
                                                                         

Remembering the USA Marines in the Battle of Iwo Jima capturing island from Japan-February 19, 1945 to March 26, 1945

The war was over on September 2, 1945, 3 days before my 11th birthday. when I would start the 7th grade at Abernathy School around the corner where I had attended since Kindergarten.
                                                                             
 I think I remember LIFE magazine's cover picture of a sailor kissing a girl then.  At the time, my father had been working during the war at 2 jobs; one being his own wholesale meat business and the other in the shipyards as a  boss with a crew.  When he slept is a mystery to me.  Now he could work full time on his business. 
                                                                           
Rifles used in the USA in Alcatraz prison in 1948 were made from 1934 to 1942, so that may also be the case that the Haganah in Israel of rifles procured for their protection.  The British had left the country on this date knowing that the Arabs were armed but hadn't allowed Jews to do so, and they been given the mandate to HELP the Jews in the development of the Jewish Homeland by the League of Nations.  It turned out that they were a deterrent, not a help.  Since 1929, when Jews were attacked in riots instigated by the Sherif of Jerusalem, an Arab, Jews had to come to the realization that they had to defend themselves, as the British didn't do it.
                                                                     
The birth of Israel was announced and this brought on the huge attack by the Arabs now called  THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE which started on November 29, 1947 actually, when the Arabs responded with violence to the United Nations resolution on Palestine, and it lasted until the signing of the Armistice Agreements in 1949.  I was 15 years old then, and was already going steady with a beau.    I remember a double date we had where the other guy, Si,  was talking about going to Israel to help fight.  I still wasn't aware of the events going on, but he and his family were very  much aware. 


Resource:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_States_during_World_War_II
http://www.notfrisco2.com/alcatraz/charts/firearms.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_States_during_World_War_II
Update: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/president-roosevelt-meets-king-saud-at-bitter-lake-february-1945 (Thanks to Andree L.) a must read.