AMERICAN MEETS LONG-LOST FAMILY

by Anthea Gerrie

Eighty-three years after leaving Britain, Gert Hausbach flew in from Florida last week to be meet long-lost family.

Now 88, Mrs Hausbach is the youngest and only surviving daughter of Chaim Szyia Goldberg, who emigrated to America with his wife and four girls in 1922.

See their listing on the Ellis Island database

He left behind a sister – whose children corresponded with the girls for 15 years – and a brother, Israel, whom he did not speak of again. Unaware of any estrangement, Israel Goldberg’s children kept up the search for their American-based relatives.

But she was eventually tracked down in 2003 by a young relative, 25-year-old Saul Marks, with the aid of the US probate register.

“I had no idea my cousins here spent decades looking for me and my sisters, or why my father never spoke about his brother,” Mrs Hausbach told the JC.

“When Saul called me in Florida, I could not believe what I was hearing. He said the London Goldbergs had been advertising for us for more than half-a-century and searching on the internet for years.

“By the time he found us, my sisters were all gone. I thank God I was well enough at nearly 90 to come over and meet all the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
 

The Goldberg reunion in full swing

More than 20 people attended a family party at a London hotel on Sunday arranged by Mr Marks, who lives in Liverpool. “It was what family should be all about,” he reported. “It was thrilling to be able to give so many people so much happiness.”

Among the guests were Mrs Hausbach’s daughter, Jacqualine, and first cousin Bertha Harrison, 89, the only surviving child of Israel Goldberg. Also present was Perry Burns, nephew of the late Trudy Freeman, with whom Gert had corresponded up to the war.
 

	Gert meets Sam Freeman for the first time, 68 years after they last corresponded as teenagers

Mr Burns brought along a copy of “Gone with the Wind”, one of several books Mrs Hausbach sent Trudy Freeman in 1937, the last communication between the Freemans and their cousins in close on 70 years.
 

Gert in the garden of the house where she was born

Thirty years ago, Mrs Hausbach and two of her sisters were in London en route Israel. While here, they visited Leigh-on-Sea, where they had lived prior to emigrating. “We found old friends from those times, but they never mentioned any family,” explained Mrs Hausbach, for whom Marks also arranged a trip to her childhood home.
 

“That was astonishing, too, as we couldn’t pinpoint the house on our last visit. As I stood there, I recognised the yard where I had a birthday party more than 80 years ago.”

See more photos of the Goldberg reunion