Irving’s Story
Recording of the origins of the family Hollenberg as told by Irving Hollenberg in his den at 708 –
2000 Sinclair on August 30, 1991 at 8:00pm. Jack Moscovtich is interviewing Irving, while Jennie
and Sonia are offering comments in the background. I remember they had a house. It was on Inkster Street (thanks Tyla).

Here is Irving’s story. 

My name is Irving Hollenberg. I was 85 years old on Aug 18, 1991.
My grandfather Meyer Hollenberg passed away in 1914. Born 1818. This is what my mother told
me. When Meyer was 6 years old his mother sent him out to do a chore, They lived in Russia near
the border of Galicia, which was Austria.

Mel: Korolowka?

In those years the Russian Tsar used to capture little Jewish boys and feed and prepare them for the Russian army when they grew up, So when Meyer’s mother sent him out, the Russians caught him and were going to take him away. His mother begged them that he was too young. As soon as they were gone she took Meyer to Galicia
and left him with a family by the name of Hollenberg. The Hollenberg family adopted him. Our
original name was HOFFER. The family that adopted Meyer had a daughter named Ettie. When
Meyer became of age, he married Ettie.
They had four sons, Itzik, Nechemya (who is my father), Baruch and Moshe. And three daughters,
but I don’t remember their names.
How my father met my mother I don’t know, but there was some connection between Meyer and
the Russian family of Switzer (which was my mother’s name). So Nechemya married my mother
Miriam (who was a daughter to Itzik Switzer) and who I am named after.
My grandfather took care of an estate. Miksha and my father lived in Russia for four years. He
worked for my grandfather’s estate Miksha until the Russians found out he was an Austrian. He
earned lots of money on estate by clearing the land, They could not stay in Russia too long as he
was an Austrian, but after making all that money he bought a lot of cattle and shipped them to
Germany, The cattle got hoof and mouth disease and he lost all his money. When that happened
my grandfather Meyer bought a Krechma (a bar), which was in our house. All the peasants used to
come to our house to drink. We lived in a village with only three Jewish families. My father used to
hire a tutor for the children and one of those tutors was Max Rosenberg.
My sister Bella was 22 years old and she married Max. They had a little grocery store but could not
make a living. They moved to New York around 1911-12 and Max worked in a sweatshop.

Mel: Max Rosenberg was my paternal grandfather (zeydie) and Bella (Bobi Bayla) was my paternal grandmother.

During that time Moshe Hollenberg was in Winnipeg, and when he heard the Rosenbergs were in New
York (or perhaps Bella contacted him), he brought them to Winnipeg, around 1912.

Mel: So it was Moshe (Moses) who persuaded Max and Bella to come to Winnipeg. Moshe’s wife was Sarah Rosenstock. 

Max became a manufacturer and he did not do too bad. During the 1914 war, Nechemya was caught behind the
lines (because the Russians used to fight the Austrians: one day the Russians came in, the next
day the Austrians came inl). During that time, Nechemya was caught behind the lines where the
Austrians were, and he went to Czechoslovakia (Prague). Alter the war was finished in 1918, my
father came back to Russia.

I was born in 1906, All I remember is my mother had the following children: Hannah, Fayge, Sam,
Bella, Leon, Ioseph, Shimshon, Sophie and me. Hannah, Fayge, and Shimshon died in the old
country. [Note: Jack has a copy Sam’s naturalization papers. It says that Sam was born April 26, 1895 in
Mossorvinka, Post Proddok, Bukowina, Roumania. He was an office clerk, 5 foot 6 inches tall, with
dark brown eyes and black hair. The papers are dated Nov. 24, 1920].
Moshe Holleberg (my Uncle) came to Winnipeg in 1904. He had 5 sons: Michael, Abe, Joe, Jake,
Charlie, and two daughters Minnie, and Bessie, All five sons became doctors.

Mel: Actually, very famous and renowned doctors. One of the grandsons, Morley (also a renowned doctor), eldest son of Jacob, I met by happenstance at a scientific meeting in Belgium fifteen years ago. An artist, a jazz lover, and his son plays sax. Hmm…

And Abe and Mina’s second son Charles (Charlie) was the first dean of medicine at the University of Toronto. I had lunch with him in 1990. He was a lovely guy. 

My brother Sam came to Canada in 1914 through Switzerland and Germany. My father sent him off
because he knew there was a war coming. Sam worked as a bookie on a train somewhere in the
North, maybe Athabasca. My mother stayed to look after Shimshon, who died.
We (Sophie, Joe, Leon and me) tried to come to Canada in 1918 (1919?), I was 12 years old. The
night before we left for Canada, we stayed in the Hotel Lamburg in Antwerp, Belgium, There were 2
bunk beds. There were straw mattresses, and the straw fell in our eyes. I started to climb on the
top. The guy who slept there before came and gave me a “patsch in panim” and my eyes got red.
When I came to the ship, the doctor stopped me and said I couldn’t go on the ship. (It was a racket
that time-The doctor used to charge $20 a visit! My brother Sam used to send me money to pay for
the doctor.) (Leon, Bessie and Joseph sailed away.) When I came back to the hotel, I had no
money. I was by myself I cried myself to sleep. In the morning the manager of the hotel said, “there
is a street by the name of Magdalena, there are Jewish people living there. Go out there and
maybe somebody will have pity on you and take you in.” I went to Magdalena Street. A man came
out with a small satchel, and asked who was I looking for. I started to cry. He took me to a family
Lifchitz, and they took me in. I stayed a year. Mrs. Lifchitz had a daughter my age. Perhaps she
thought I might marry her! I was getting cured by the doctor, but I was afraid I would be barred from
getting on the ship. I wrote Sam to get me a ticket to travel from Liverpool instead of from Antwerp.
I went to Liverpool. The ship was the Magentic, which had four funnels.
When I came to Canada, immigration asked me why I was in Antwerp for a whole year. I said I was
working. They took a look at me, a little guy, and they wouldn’t let me in. So I had to contact Sam in
Winnipeg. There was an MP, Mr. Black, a conservative, and Sam had to go to Ottawa to get the
MP’s permission forms to stay in Canada. They let me into Canada on the assumption I would work
on a farm. (That was a standard way to immigrate). But I didn’t work on a farm. The immigration
people sent me a letter saying since I didn’t work on a farm, they were going to send me home.
When I saw that, I was scared. There wasn’t any family left in tl1at little village. It was 1921.
I was working as an upholsterer’s helper for the Dominion Upholstering Company, owned by some
Ukrainians. I didn’t know much about upholstering. I went to Alderman Moshe Gray, and showed
him the immigration letter. He said I need a reference letter from my employers. So I got it, and Mr.
Gray added to the letter that I was a foreman and the company, which was a big business, couldn’t
do without me! Then he said to me I needed a letter from an outstanding man. I had just joined the
YMCA, Mr. Aldrich, secretary of the YMCA, wrote me a recommendation to the immigration people.
His letter said “I am very happy to see this young man become a Canadian, I am proud to know
him. I think he would be a good addition to Canada,” Mr. Gray was delighted with my letter. He sent
them off to Ottawa. So one day I’m sitting in the house on Stella Avenue, and a Mountie comes
over. I thought he was coming to rake me away! Instead he brought me my citizenship papers.
I met Sonia when she sang in a choir. She had a friend, who sang in the choir, and who had a
store in the country. But she said she didn’t come to Canada to get married and live in the country!
She wanted to live and work in the city so she could make money to send to her parents. She was
20 and had been in Canada for five years. They had a social dance at the Talmud Torah. There
was a punch bowl, and everyone put their liquor in the punch. The mixture got a little strong! I
asked Sonia to meet my mother after 4 months. The whole family was there. Right away she was
accepted into the family. I used to wait for Sonia at the street car, to take her home from work to my
mother’s every day. Two months later, on June 29, 1934, we were married.
Sonia couldn’t cook a pot of water. She used to make macaroni, but she didn’t even know to put
salt in potatoes. She learned everything from Bella.
I was an upholsterer. I started a little business with Benny Lerman as a partner, around 1938. We
were partners till 1944. While partners, I had a disc operation and couldn’t work for 3 months.
During that time, there were shortages of goods and materials because of the war. So when I came
back to work, Lerman said business was bad, and he paid me $7000 for my share of the business.

The next day I came back to get a cheque, and saw the shop was busy! Ben Lerman sold me out. I
wanted to go into retail, but Ben wanted wholesale. So I opened up a small store, put an ad in the
paper ($5 a month) about custom made upholstering for foam rubber. That made me. I used to buy
mattresses for S5 and sell them for $25. I stayed in business 19 years and made enough money to
retire comfortably. Ben didn’t make a success of his business.

Norman was born in 1937. He was an only child, because Sonia had a tumor right after we got
married. She was told she would never have a family. She went to Rochester, and they said she
could have a baby if she rested in bed for nine months. She was lucky to have one.

Mel: Norman went on to become an illustrious world famous physician in Boston. I was lucky to meet him with my wife, Shuli in 1982. A wonderful guy!! And an international proponent for the health wonders of chocolate. Now that is what I call a great cousin!