As we continued our search, my father asked many of his family members if they had any items left behind by their loved ones, that might help us with our story of discovery. During a Skype call with his cousin, Liat, he found out that she had received one box from her father, after his death. Her father, Arie (Leonas Kobrinas) and my grandfather (Chaimas Kobrinas) were brothers. The contents of the box she received were never explored and it was hidden in a closet for many years.

Arie (Leonas) Kobrin(as) was a very well organised accountant. He collected endless numbers of documents, bills and photos in addition to letters and certificates all packed together. What Liat initially found in the box were a lot of surprises. Therefore, she decided to explore the contents of the box together with my father in Israel.

As they opened the carton box together, they were amazed at how organised the items inside were. They started taking out the contents of the box, item by item, to see what was hidden inside.

The box from Arie Kobrin contained all the photos, letters and files organised inside envelopes.

One of the first item out of the box was the death announcement of Chava Kobrin, the mother of Chaim(as) and Leon(as) Kobrin(as). As they looked closely at the certificate they realised that it mentioned she had siblings in Israel and abroad. My father and his cousin never heard of any siblings or any family members abroad. This was a new discovery.

Who were those siblings? Where were they? Did they stay in Lithuania? Did they die during the holocaust? Were they alive? This discovery required further research.

Stacked together inside an envelope, they found many black and white photos of the Kobrin(as) family, including a photo of Chaim(as) Kobrin(as) as a student in Lithuania. Many of the photos were taken in Europe and Palestine in the 30s and 40s.

Photo of Chaimas Kobrinas as a student in Lithuania.

Photo of the Kobrin(as) Brothers: Chaim(as) & Arie (Leonas) in Tel-Aviv.

Underneath the photos they found a pack of handwritten letters. Two of the letters from 1939, were written in Yiddish by my grandmother (Malka) to Chaim(as) in Palestine before they got married. They were both living with their parents in Tel-Aviv at that time. There were two additional letters from 1945 written by Chaim(as) to his brother (Arie) from Italy while he was serving in the Jewish British Brigades.

What did he do in the Jewish Brigades? Maybe the letters will reveal interesting facts about his time there.

The letter sent by Chaim(as) Kobrin(as) to his brother Arie in Tel-Aviv. The letter was examined by the army base censor.

They also found two letters written in Yiddish from 1946 addressed to Arie Kobrin from William and Celia Hirsch from Brooklyn, NY. Could this be the “family abroad” mentioned on the death announcement of Chava? Who were they? This is another story we will try and find out more about.

The contents of the letter from Hirsch was written in Yiddish and addressed to Arie Kobrin.

As they explored more documents in the box, they found the coin store ownership certificate of the Kobrin(as) family in Kaunas, the high school certificate of Arie from Lithuania, and many more documents, and photos, all of which gave us, on one hand, more clues in which direction we should expand the research, and on the other hand, many more questions.

The Kobrinas coin shop in Kaunas - ownership certificate in 1934.

The high school diplomas from Lithuania.

It is amazing how one box can contain a whole life story of a family that was never known. It felt as if we were slowly collecting more pieces of the puzzle helping us discover more hidden stories.

The search continues…

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