Daily Podcasts Video Research

What I learned from my father’s strange journey from Poland to Algeria, Kazakhstan and the California desert

JL;DR SUMMARY Dvora Treisman recounts the adventurous life of her father, Rafa Feliks Buszejkin, a non-observant Polish Jew born in 1912 in Warsaw. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

Jewish DiasporaJewish IdentityHolocaust RefugeesNorth AfricaPersonal MemoirsKazakhstanFamily Histories20th Century European JewsMaccabi Sports ClubCalifornia Desert

Places mentioned

Warsaw, Mazovia, Poland
"My father, Rafa Feliks Buszejkin, was indeed born in Warsaw in 1912."
Moscow, Russian Federation
"...left Warsaw to escape the Germans and went to live in Moscow."
Algiers, Algeria
"...announced to his parents that he would be going instead to the Institut Agricole dAlgrie in Algiers."
Biskra, Algeria
"He was advised to go to Biskra, a posh oasis town known for its curative facilities."
Bou Saada, M’Sila, Algeria
"...tour guide in a big oasis at the foot of the Atlas Mountains - Bou Sada, 100 miles west of Biskra."
Taraz, Jambyl, Kazakhstan
"They spent part of the war in Siberia and the rest in Dzhambul, Kazakhstan."
California, United States
"He loved the desert near his California home that was where he would go when he and my mother had a weekend away."
Montpellier, Hérault, France
"...in fall 1931 he went off to university to study medicine at the University of Montpellier in France."
Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France
"They lived in Nice while awaiting visas to immigrate to the Dominican Republic."
Sosua, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
"...Jewish collective settlement in Sosua. That is where I was born."

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 36607
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2024-11-21 05:31:11 UTC
Curated 2024-11-21 08:30:58 UTC