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A Recounting of the Nalos Family Story
By Duncan Nalos
Dear members of the family, one thing we all have in common is our roots, and it
is my hope, that as we affirm from whence we come, that we will feel a greater sense of
kinship. The experiences which have shaped our parents are no doubt passed on down
to us in the way we have learned to live. As we contemplate our roots, or as the prophet
Isaiah says, “Look to the rock from which you were cut” (Is. 51:1), I trust we will come
closer to making peace with our past. Some of you are considerably more knowledgeable than I am regarding family history, and any corrections, amendments, or additional
information will be gladly received. Thank you for those who have already shared in
helping recount the family history.
The first known descendant on our family tree was “Abraham the Jew from Solan”. How he came to live in this rural village on the outskirts of Prague is not known.
Solany as it is spelled on the map boasts of a church, a store, and a pub. The houses
have tile roofs, and geese and ducks waddle along through the streets, usually undisturbed. It is much like it was in the late 1700’s when Abraham came to live there. The
Czechoslovakian government has preserved the town as a historic site. From the vantage point of a small Jewish cemetery in a nearby orchard you can look down on the village of Solany, nestled among the rolling central plains of Bohemia. Other villages dot
the countryside. In the cemetery, Jewish grave stones, turned over by the Nazis, and
vandals, reveal the names of our forefathers; Abraham, Lazar, Moses, Francizka, and
Moses & Francizka Nalos
Emil, all who lived in the same Jewish home. Otto, Emil’s son, who was buried in the
Christian cemetery, continued to live there until his death in 1964, totaling 171 years of
residency in the Nalos family home. Solany, during the years of Abraham, was part of
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the Austro-Hungrian Empire and Maria
Theresa the empress, made an edict in 1786
that the Jews had to take on surnames. So it
was, that the name Nalos was derived by
reading the name of the town from right to left
as one would read the Hebrew language. The
Jews have a history of persecution and the
days of Abraham were no exception. He was
not allowed to own property, however he
could lease a house, which he did, praise be
to Adonai! This was fortunate, as there was a
limit to how many Jews were allowed to live in
a village. The lease, signed in 1793, stated
that the house could be used as a school,
with only 3 months notice should the need
arise. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. For a
certain protection fee(24 fl/yr.) charged by the
Emil Nalos
local ruling nobility, Abraham was allowed to
conduct business. The Jews have a heritage
of conducting business dating back to the patriarchs, and Abraham, like many others,
kept the tradition. He served as a store keeper, and passed this business on to his son,
Moses, who passed it on to his son, Lazar, in 1859. It came to be known as the tobacco
store. In those days, selling tobacco was lucrative business. Lazar married Matilda and
had four other children. Her youngest son, Herman, had a son named Joseph who
moved to Decan near Solany and started another line of Nalos’s with whom we have
only recently established a connection. See the genogram for the names of their descendants. Ervin and Margaret Nalos visited with Dan and Blanka and brought back a
snapshot of their sons, Mark, and Luke Nalos. Lazar Nalos would have been their great
great great grand father.
In 1842, the law was changed, and Lazar was able to purchase their home,
Praise be to Yeshua for his favor. In 1892, Lazar turned his business and family home
over to his son, Moses, who lived there with his wife Francizka.
Life seemed to continue from generation to generation much the same. Francizka gave birth to a son named Emil, who was my great-grandfather. She also had five
other children. Emil was a gentlemen farmer, and of his children, he favored Richard
and Margit. I was told of him that he enjoyed beer and played cards. He contracted
syphilis and died in 1931, on my dads birthday. My dad remembers him being carried
around on a stretcher, and having to be careful not to disturb him. Emil’s German Hebrew prayer book was passed down to Otto, who gave it to his only daughter, Jana, who
gave it to Ervin. It was printed in 1887 in Bohemia. Interestingly, repairs were made to
the binding, using newsprint. The binding has since given away, and the words of the
newsprint are visible. They are found to be an excerpt from a Christian sermon, which,
translated from the Czech language, read “How far we have wandered from the burning
desire of the holy Kings to be in the presence of the gentle child in the manger, in spite
of all difficulties.” It would appear that the Lord is reminding us of the wanderings of our
Jewish forefathers, and exhorting us seek Christ with burning desire. The prayer book
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also records the Hebrew name of various family members, as well as the births, deaths,
and marriages.
Emil married a Jewish gal by the name of Emilie. She was a Stern from a well
respected Jewish family, and bore Emil three sons, and two daughters, and tragically
died in childbirth in 1901. The youngest son, Ervin, died in World War I on the Russian
front, at the age of 22. His
name is inscribed on a veterans memorial in front of
the church in Solany. The
oldest son, Otto, married a
Roman Catholic girl from
Austria, named Greta. He
met her as a second lieutenant in the Austro Hungarian Army. In fact, Richard
(the 2nd son) and Otto both
served as second lieutenants and double dated their
wives to be in Vienna, and
Saltzburg. After World War I,
Otto served in Prague, and
had a factory making shoe
polish. He was involved in a
variety of businesses over
the course of his life. He
also worked a sales person.
After World War II, Czechoslovakia came under communist rule, and Otto moved
back to Solany, and served
as a communist collective
farm accountant. He was
held in high esteem by those
in the community, and was
known for his scrupulous
honesty.
Richard & Otto Nalos
Otto renovated the old family home, and continued to live there until his death at the
age of 71. He managed to escape the holocaust of World War II because he was married to a gentile.
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Otto & Greta Nalos 1948
Otto and Greta watched helplessly as three uncles, an aunt, all Sterns, his step mother
Emma, his stepsisters Valerie and Marie, and all of their children were herded off to die
in concentration camps in places like Auschwitz, and Dachau in 1942 and 1943. The
names and ages of those who died are listed below:
Otto’s step sister: Valerie Friedel (age 41)
her husband Julius (age 49)
their children Oskar (age
16) and Helen (age 12)
Otto’s other step sister:
Marie Fried (age 37)
her husband Emil (age 35)
and their children Ivo (age
9) and Eva (age 4)
Otto’s uncle: Joseph Stern and his
children Rudolf and Else
other uncles: Joseph and Rudolf Stern and
their families including
Rudolf’s children, Rudolf
and Else, and Bata Stern
an aunt:
Anna and her children Karl
and Fini.
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No doubt there were many other Nalos descendants from Abraham, Lazar, and Moses,
who perished in the gas chambers or were killed in some brutal way, men, women, and
children for whom we have no record. The question of why God allowed this tragedy to
take place is one which we will never fully understand until we reach the other side.
Other survivors we know about are a couple named George and Ruza Nalos. See the
genogram for their connection. They were engaged to be married when they were taken
to Auschwitz, and a Jewish rabbi secretly married them in a washroom one week later.
Miraculously they survived, and were liberated from the concentration camp by the allies after the war. Their son Dan, his wife Blanka, and their children Mark, and Lukas
live in Usti. Fortunately
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Otto’s sister Margit, a school
teacher, also married a Gentile named Jerka and survived those tumultuous
years of suffering and pain.
Otto’s only other brother
Richard, my grandfather, by
God’s grace survived those
years and told the story of his
miraculous escape. Whenever Richard, Margit, and Otto
would get together, there was
a closeness and a bond that
they had as survivors that was
very special.
Richard was also born in the village of Solany in 1895. He was 6 years old when
his mother Emilie died giving birth to his sister Valerie. This may in some way help us to
understand how he became independent and self reliant. With the onslaught of World
War I, he joined the Austro-Hungrian army, and became an officer. He was a division
commander, and participated in the Austrian offensive against the Italians. He was shot
in the chest. The bullet had traveled through a metal cigarette case in his pocket, which
probably saved his life, and was lodged in his lung. He nearly bled to death while being
transported in an open cart on his way back to the field hospital. Grandpa enjoyed telling my mother the story of how his troops conquered the town of Gorozia, and took
residency in a local castle. At night the castle was set on fire. Having nothing to wear at
the time, he managed to find a women's nightgown, leap out of a window, and escaped
on a horse. He was a charmer, and a ladies man, and told her stories of his love life
starting even at the age of 16.
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As a boy I was impressed
by his rum tipped cigars, his
Silver Cloud Rolls Royce,
his elephant gun, and lovely
home in the West Point
Gray area near the University of British Columbia
(4741 W. 2nd Ave.). Sadly, I
never got to know him, as
he was somewhat distant
from us kids.
Richard met his wife as a dashing young officer, and married her after the war in Budapest in 1919. Upon the split of the Austro
Hungarian Empire, in 1918, he had to return
to his native land. Elizabeth, a teenage
bride, was from a Jewish family from Budapest. She loved playing the piano. She was
beautiful, sensitive, culturally refined, perfectionistic, and useless in the kitchen!
She was a city girl and, quite a contrast from
the girls in Solany, and was teased mercilessly for her silks and finery. Like his forefathers, Richard wanted to go into business,
and chose to do so in the city of Prague.
Elizabeth lost her Hungarian Citizenship, because she married a Czechoslovakian.
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She gave him three children,
Mimi (born in Budapest in
1920), and twins Ervin (my father), and Erika (born in Prague
in 1924). Richard, affectionately
known as Papa, started a business manufacturing cabinets
and furniture. Getting the business going was time consuming and Elizabeth was a working partner.
The children were often left
under the care of Elizabeth’s
parents, Isidor, and Etelka
Hertz, who moved into their
apartment, which was quite
spacious and lovely, and was
within walking distance of
Papa’s factory. All together,
seven people lived in the
apartment along with a pet
canary, and a maid who lived
in a very small room. On Sunday afternoons, it was a favorite pastime of the family to go
down to Saint Waclav Square,
sit around the coffee house,
play Bridge, read magazines,
and drink coffee. Etelka liked
her coffee topped off with
whipped cream. She used
“lorgnon” glasses to read
which she held up to her face
with a handle. She would also
use her glasses to gesture when she talked... a very dignified granny, I must say!
Ervin was often left to play alone while his sisters were preoccupied with other
matters. During week days, the kids ate alone in a separate room. They were raised
strictly, as was the custom in those days. Children didn’t speak unless spoken to. Education was conducted in a rigorous and demanding style, and a high priority was placed
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on achievement. Dad remembers being forced to write with his right hand. He literally
feared his physics and Chemistry teachers.
Places which dad frequented as
a boy included; the old town square with
its clock, and grandiose statue of Jan Hus
the reformer(who preceded Luther by 150
years). The Jewish Ghetto,the Sarsmora
Old-New Synagogue from the thirteenth
century and famous multilayer cemetery,
the famous Charles bridge,the island of
Kampa on the Vltava river where his
Dad’s business was located(powered by a
water wheel which is still there) as well as
other sentimental places where he picked
chestnuts, swam, ate rye buns, bought a
chocolate (for half a crown), went to the
movies (the first Walt Disney cartoons
were just coming out), or to piano lessons.
The cultural experience of this metropolitan city with its operas and symphonies
full of history and culture, left a lasting impression on the minds of the children.
Papa had a love for cars and
was among the first in Prague
to own a car, a Hudson Terraplane no less, which they used
to go on outings in the
Czechoslovakian countryside,
memorable vacations included
trips to Solany, Grado Italy,
and Villach Austria(via train).
When dad was 12 his grandpa
Isidor died of throat cancer,
and was buried in 1937 in the
Praha Olsansky Hrbitov cemetery in the old Jewish ghetto
(not a Jewish cemetery).
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At the age of 13 dads Bar-Mitzvah was celebrated. In preparation for this event he memorized one
chapter from Isaiah. His teacher, Rabbi Arje, was quite
a character, he actually ate oranges, which in those
days were rare. Papa celebrated this occasion with a
large party, and generous gifts. Less than one and a
half years later, as the business grew (employing 200
people), they were able to move into a luxurious private villa.
Erika and Mimi shared a room,
and Ervin and Etelka, “Groggy”
as he called her, shared a room,
but these comforts lasted a mere
two weeks. All this was to change
as the storm clouds of war, and
persecution gathered over
Europe. Nazi slogans like “Jews
not welcome” appeared in the streets, as Hitler’s campaigns gained momentum in the
Sudenland. On March 15, 1939, the Nazis invaded and occupied Prague. Snow gently
fell as endless tanks and troops clogged the roads. Everything was in chaos as the direction of the traffic was changed from left to right. Panic swept over the Jewish community. Papa had the vision and foresight to leave everything and get out of the country
as soon as possible. One can only imagine what thoughts might be going through a 14
year old boy’s mind at a time like that. What would happen if they couldn’t escape, and
if they did, where would they live? What would they do? Ervin was overwhelmed with a
sense of helplessness and fear. Somehow they obtained baptismal certificates from an
Anglican church, with the false hope that these would do some good. They took a crash
course in English for two weeks, but no visas were being given to Jews wanting to go to
England. Jews stood in endless lineups, waiting day and night, but to no avail. Papa as
a last resort took the risk of seeking to bribe an Nazi official in order to get Gestapo exit
visas in the country town of Pardubice. The meeting took place at a hotel restaurant.
The bellboy, who worked in cooperation with the Nazi official, introduced Papa, and a
sizable sum of money was exchanged for the visas. The plan worked! The God of
Abraham and Moses, by an act of his sovereign grace, was parting the waters again, as
he had done in the exodus, so long ago. Exit visas were granted. Thank you Lord for
making a way. Suddenly, on a days notice (April 26, 1939), they left Prague for a “vaca10
tion” in Italy. They left everything behind, including Grandma Etelka (Who did not want to
go), not knowing what the future held. At the
border, the Nazi guards inspected them thoroughly “Where are you going, Jewish
swine?”, they questioned. This truly was a
tense and dangerous moment. The children
sat silently in terror, as their very lives were in
jeopardy. They were allowed to take only
about $10 each for traveling money. Moments
later, they were waived across the boarder
near Linz, thanks be to the Lord for his protection. How God provided for our family from
that point on is a testimony to his faithfulness.
The very day after our escape, the Gestapo
came to their villa for Richard. This truly was
a narrow escape. They traveled to Genoa on
the Ligurian Sea, and tensely waited for the
miracle of visas to England. Papa left them in
Genoa, and went to London for three days in
Etelka
order to obtain temporary visas to England.
He was able to get these through connections with a business contact in Holland. Papa
was truly a man a ingenuity, and vision. They journeyed to Paris in July of 1939. Dad
recalls the sense of freedom he felt getting out of Italy, which was under Mussolini, Nazi,
and Fascist influence. The long train tunnel leading from Italy through the Alps into
France took about 20 minutes in the dark and the feeling of emerging into France, into
the light of freedom, was overpowering. They traveled through France to the coastal
town of Dieppe, where they crossed the choppy channel to Newhaven, England. In England, the kids were sent to boarding schools outside of London, which was being
bombed by the German Luftwaffe. This was in September after the war broke out. Ervin
was sent to school in Bromley Kent, and Erika to Chislehurst Kent, and Mimi, who was
19, stayed in London with her parents. It was a cold winter, and in order to stay warm at
night they stuffed newspapers between the blankets. As I think of the stress of a new
location, a new language, the separation from parents, and family, and the strictness of
an English boarding school, these adjustments would not be easy for a boy going on
fifteen. There were the occasional visits to his sister in Kent, and parents in London,
where they were able to find a nice apartment.
Exactly one year from the day they arrived, they left England from Liverpool (April
26,1940). Richard had made money in the stock market, gambling and winning on
Egyptian cotton. He also struck up a business arrangement with an investor with the
plan of setting up a lumber business in British Columbia. With this proposal in place,
emigration visas were able to be obtained to Canada.
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Traveling in the thick of
the war was not easy
with England under constant attack. In fact, on
the day of their departure, Liverpool was in a
complete black out due
to Nazi submarines off
the coast. That night
they boarded the Duchess of Bedford, and
headed into the dark and
stormy North Atlantic
Ocean toward their destination, Montreal, Canada. Everyone was seasick, except dad’s cabin
mate, Mr. Faludi, an immigrant as well, who
would one day be a well known town planner in
Canada.
Montreal was bleak and cold. The next stop was
Toronto where they stayed for a month on lake
Ontario, and Erika attended grade 12 temporarily.
This was a new land, a land of freedom and opportunity. Papa’s desire was to assimilate and
leave behind the stigma of his Jewish background. He wanted to become a Canadian and a
Christian. Perhaps he was impressed with the
thought that apart from the Christian faith, Otto and Margit would have died. Ervin was
reluctant, and insisted on reading the New Testament first. The family was baptized by
Rev. Eugene Molnar, a Hungarian Calvinist minister, who's wife was Jewish, in Hamilton, Ontario in 1941. He performed the ceremony in his home by dipping a rose in water
and sprinkling each of them on the head. Afterward, they took their first communion.
Erika placed little significance on this event, but Mimi fount it quite touching, and Mrs.
Molnar cried. Papa would have been about 45 years old, and Ervin would have been
16.
Richard spent nearly all the rest of his money buying a brand new 1940 blue
Buick for $1400.00. For the next two and a half weeks they journeyed across Canada.
Stops included Sault St. Marie, Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay), and from there, across
miles of gravel road, to Winnipeg. Banff was just a tiny town, and Medicine Hat just a
train stop. Coming through the lower mainland, Mt. Baker protruded like a mirage above
the clouds. What an incredible journey to make in those early days!
Grandpa wrote down his version of the story in June 1947, which reads as follows:
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Richard Nalos, 5661, Cypress. VANCOUVER. B.C. Canada.
Probably everybody of us could
and should write a book about his Odyssey, but here is our story in short:
We left Praha on the 26th of
April 1939. It is a long story in itself
how I got the Gestapo permits for the
whole family, and the only place to go
for me, to get out immediately, was Italy. So we went, and I was only about
30 hours ahead of the Gestapo, because the second night they were in
our house to arrest me, but by that time
I had crossed the Brenner. Practically I
had no money outside Czechoslovakia.
We went to Genua and stayed in Nervi
approx. 3 month. It would be a second
book to tell you, how I managed to get
from Italy to London England, and on
top of it to make some money .
But anyway I managed and by the end of July 1939 I had again the whole family
assembled in London, and I looked around, We had a nice flat, and I succeeded not
only to make the living, but also to save some money. Then after the expected war
broke out, we made up our minds that the best place to go, would be Canada. You may
or may not know how difficult it was to get an immigration visa for this country, especially as at that time they were hundreds of thousands of applicants. It would be a third
book to tell this story.
But exactly one year later on the 26th of April 1940 we left Liverpool and arrived
on the 3rd of May 1940, without being sunk, in Quebec, Canada, with very little money
but with lots of courage and eagerness, and with the LORD in our hearts.
So here I was again, In a strange country, no connections, a big family, and
plenty of ambitions. We stayed in Eastern Canada a few months to study the situation,
and then we went WEST. As you are lost here without a car, and the railways fairly expensive, I bought a new Buick 8 there, loaded the whole family, and we traveled approx.
2 weeks through Canada, being a transcontinental trip of 3000 - 4000 miles.
That was an unforgettable experience for the whole family, which would make a
separate story, and which nobody would like to have missed. Then we settled in Vancouver British Columbia, on the blue Pacific. I took an interest in a small sawmill here
and gradually built it up to a nice enterprise. Later on I sold my interest in this sawmill,
and am now on my own. We bought a very nice 10 room electrical, oil-heated house on
the above mentioned address, which by the way is nothing extra ordinary here.
Canada, and especially British Columbia is a wonderful country, and we all are
very happy here. Vancouver is the biggest city and harbor in the West and absolutely
modern with a population of about 300,000. Whole population of B.C. only 800,000. It
had a wonderful climate, dry and mild summers and practically no winters, but instead
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very rainy falls and wintermonth. February is
spring again. Evergreen playgrounds and
flower gardens nearly the whole year. Very
high living standard, and high wages therefore
everything mechanized and heavy capital investments. Main industries: Lumbering with
unbelievable primary forests / some trees up
to 70.000 FBM i.e. 160 cubic meters / Fishing
and canning and mining. Vancouver and the
West if growing fast, and has a big future.
In July 1944 we were naturalized, and
are now Canadian Citizen.
Family:
Mimi: married Oct. 1943. Mr. George Paukert,
son from Mr. Paukert Delicatessen-shop,
Praha I. Narodni tr. 17. He is American citizen,
and served in the world war in the American
forces. They are presently living in New York.
Address: 315, West 14th Street, NEW YORK.
N.Y.
Ervin: is taller then I am, graduated first class,
winning the B.C. Research Scholarship price,
as M.A. of applied science / electrical engineer
/ on the university here, and got this year engaged to a very nice Vancouver girl. He intends to go for his Phd. / Dr. / degree on the
Stanford university in California.
Erika: Finished her
university: B.A.
honors in English
and Latin and Music, and is teaching
now here in one
High school. Beside
of that she is an
outstanding Soprano singer, and
won many prices
and competitions.
We old people are still plenty
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alive, and have no intentions to give to soon.
June 1947.
The family settled in Vancouver, and Papa began working at North Shore Lumber, helping to get it established. When the North Shore Lumber came under new management, he began his own lumber company in False Creek, on CPR leased property
(which later became the site of EXPO ‘86). Papa became a well known lumber man in
Vancouver and in the province. Life went well for dad. The family attended Kerisdale
Presbyterian Church, with paster Harry Lenox. The Jewish community would have little
to do with Papa, and because he was Jewish, he was not accepted in certain social circles (ie the Vancouver Club). In grade 12 at King Edward High School, dad was the top
student academically, and third in the province. In grade 13, at King Ed (now City College), Erika was number 2 student, and Ervin was the top student in the school. Dad belonged to the chess and photo clubs, and the student Christian movement.
After graduation, in 1941, he went
to UBC with plans of becoming an electrical engineer. He met Margaret, my
mother, at a production party on campus. Their courtship was on and off, as
she was dating dad, and another fellow
simultaneously. When the other fellow
become ill, dad never looked back!
Upon graduation in 1947, dad was scheduled
to go into active duty as a Royal Canadian
Engineer, but thankfully the war ended. Later
that year, the news came back to them of
Etelka's death in the gas chambers. Her
farewell letter, written before the Nazis took
her to the concentration camp arrived more
than a year later, causing the family deep
grief. Two years later dad graduated with top
honors from UBC, and received a scholarship to Stanford in Palo Alto, California, where
he enrolled in a Phd. program. He made plans to marry Margaret Vaughan. Mom and
dad emigrated there, and were married in Stanford Chapel in 1947. This was the beginning of a new chapter in the family history. They later became American citizens in
1956.
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