Lionel Reiman
Lionel Reiman's story begins in Poland before the war. His parents, whose family names trace to small towns in the Sokolow and Bialystok areas, married in the mid 1930s. His father worked as a shoemaker. When war broke out in 1939, his father, believed to have communist ties, was arrested by the Soviets and sent to Siberia, to the Krasnoyarsk region, while his mother and aunt were deported eastward. Lionel's older sister did not survive the journey. His aunt married her Polish army boyfriend, Feldman, aboard the deportation train. Ironically, being sent away by the Soviets is credited with saving the family from the fate of those who remained under German occupation.
Lionel was born in Kazakhstan on December 28, 1942, after his father, released from a labor camp, found his way to the family. His first languages were Yiddish and Russian. After the war the family reached the American zone and lived from 1946 to 1948 in a displaced persons camp near Munich, one of his earliest memories. Wanting to live among Jews, the family moved to Israel once the state was formed, staying about four years, before settling in Montreal, where relatives had earlier emigrated to avoid conscription. Lionel spent eighteen years in Montreal, attended McGill University, and earned his medical degree at Yale.
In 1970 Lionel accepted an offer from the acting chairman of obstetrics at Parkland Hospital and moved to Dallas with Gloria, whom he had met at a Montreal summer camp. After two years in California, they returned to Dallas in 1975, where he established his obstetrics practice. Three of their four children were born in Texas. The Reimans found the Dallas Jewish community very welcoming, chose a traditional synagogue reminiscent of Montreal, and sent their children to Akiba and Solomon Schechter schools. Lionel coached soccer and stayed close with his children and grandchildren. He also warmly recalled how his cousin Mike helped bring family members out of the Soviet Union to build new lives in America.
Full Transcript
my name is Lionel l I owe any remain are a ima n Thank You Lionel tell us about your family and your parents if Apple Google and how they came I know you're from Canada how do they get to Canada in the first place the story begins in Poland before the war and I don't know how long you want me to to go and talk about it but briefly he my dad a mom who came from two staples little talons of Poland my dad came from suckle of wood Lusk and I think about seven or ten kilometers away it was cost of it and that's
where my mom was born that thing now and they went to be Allah stop which was the more of a place where they can get a job and my father God has got a job there he opened up the devil's shoes he was a shoemaker and he fixed shoes and they got married I think in 1934 35 or sometimes get mixed up with at that time and then my father was very sick my mother my mother nursed him I think she had one miscarriage one premature birth and then she had another baby what before me and she and till the war broke out in 1939
and 1939 they my aunt my my brothers my father's youngest sister her name is Malcolm was lived with my parents and she had a boyfriend in in the Polish army now as he was with the cavalry and the reason why he was at the cavalry is because he was a strapping fellow and he did not look Jewish yet blond hair blue eyes and he so he was and when he somehow they met in the street they got introduced talking about my aunt and uncle they came to be and they and he was supposed to go to the front in 1939 however his horse the his
commander's horse was lame so he told that's what this is a story that he told me he said felt Lee thus they addressed him by his last move by his surname Feldman I need to take your horse and he was gonna they're gonna go to the front close to what it to prove to prevent the Germans for that done so here's the situation where a troop of cavalry going against the German tanks well you know what happened the whole actually according to my uncle they were completely wiped out except for my uncle because he didn't go there he changed into civilian clothes immediately ran off
to the auto stock and meanwhile his pissy he was a firm family or three or four brothers and they all came the ran away from the Germans and they went to be honest that was the the eastern part of Poland they stayed there and and after after and the Germans came to be honest talk but the soon as they came pretty soon afterwards they moved out because they of the Russian German Agreement German Russian I think the Malta of Ribbentrop our agreement and they divided up Poland and to two peer to the east side and the west side what my father what he grew up
he must have been a member of the Communist Party that's what the money my son thinks and that's one of this story and he was he was arrested by the Russians and my mother and my aunt who was living with us that time could not did not know where they where he was but at that time he they made him confess that he was a spy and they shipped him off to the eastern eastern Russia and the decided Siberia and an area called Krasnoyarsk four months later after he was stated they thought that that he donated it that he was dead and I don't have
any idea what it was then of course didn't nobody knew anything about my father writer I think around Christmastime I'm sorry that was about Passover time because death was right around the initial September 1st is when the Germans attacked the Russians came in probably by the third week or second weekend in September and the the Germans withdrew from there and so they they came the Russians came to where my mother was because I know how they survived at that time but meanwhile they sold whatever they had was I was a black market to buy some food and my mother had a little girl that time
my older sister and they the Russian authorities came and they said your Malka Rieman that's my my mother's name was Molly's mocha and same as my aunt's but so so she yeah said and and she said well you have to come with me we're sending you away tomorrow and my my older my older sister was sick she was supposed to go to the doctor that next day that my aunt bless her she decided that she wasn't gonna let my mother and a little baby go on a train nowhere so she was she said I'm not going I'm not leaving you go by yourself so she
joined with my mother Weiss my aunt's boyfriend who was staying with them and his brothers decided and he said I'm not leaving her so that does love at first sight so they and of course there was there was not a palatial place for him but in that one room and the front of it of the area was where my father worked and the rest in the back is where they all slept about eight or nine people in the little room well they they wanted a train station the next day and and my aunt and my uncle were married by three witnesses and one of the
ladies gave her a ring and said you are married and that was it and that's how he got married this way we survived because it took about two to three months I talked to my aunt a lot she was kind of not completely clear how long it took during the trip my my sister did not survive they so she was she they gave her body to somebody to bury from the train and every place they went they had to sell off a few more things to get them more food is all on a passage to Canada no not a direct no not where you were
heading when they were heading no they were they were going east away from the German house ah that was 1939 that was 1940 that was and there was peace between the Soviet Union and Germany that Nazi Germany what we know so let me think yeah tell me how did they get Canada okay how did that get me and see I got sidetracked because the stories always amazes me that what happens is because everybody would say well the nasty Russians and the Soviets sent us away by this by sending us away to the Siberia we survived doesn't we wouldn't have survived otherwise after - my father
wasn't a good in a labor camp for a year and a half and he was about it was that's less than 100 pounds by the donbas freedom and and he knew somehow by he was he was communicating there I think that let him write the right letters so he communicated with his sister more one of the sister laws that was still in Poland in between the 1939 and 41 when they write that when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union and so she knew where my mother was but she didn't know exactly where so he found a way to get to my mother's and that's where
I was born in Soviet Union in Kazakhstan in 1940 at the end of 42 the December 28th we stayed in the Soviet Union until 45 or 46 my first language at that time the first thing I would start doing is I understood the Irish but I spoke Russian to my parents but I was only two and a half it wasn't that much and the when my parents headed back to Poland they every told him don't go there there's nothing there for you and sure enough they didn't leave I don't think they ever went back to Sokolov or Bialystok but they went right to the border
to statute and they got together with a young group now my parents were at that time 27 25 years old or so or May and so there were like 18 and 19 building people to survive the war they formed little kid would seem and groups and they paid off the guards and they went into the American zone so for the next two years from 46 to 48 we were in a DP camp called nya Fryman knew you free man Atlas was just outside Munich and that's my first memories come from there I just remember the playing around and and being with and seeing like train
tracks that were all bummed out but then we and 48 might that my father said I'm tired of the living among Gentiles I want to live with Jews so he wanted to go to Israel before Palestine before it was Israel my mother was a little bit more passionate pragmatic rational said we're not going there until so once the State of Israel was formed we were there but I think probably took two or three months later we spent four years in Israel they were my group - and then we found that that we did we had relatives my mother had some relatives that left her there
when she was 9 years old and they settled in Detroit and in Montreal could not get into Montreal so we went out to do United States so we're not we wind up in in Montreal and there were all there were four brothers that why do they leave because they didn't want to get drafted after Zara's army that's 100 percent of that that was the case so we spend 18 years I spent 18 years in Montreal luckily I met Gloria my in my summer camp and they say the rest is it then what happened how do we get to Dallas oh wait before that where did
you go to college and I went to McGill University in Montreal and I went to medical school in the Yale University as well alcohol and we weren't well-off at all those days I was just lucky to have I grew up in Montreal I went to local college as I looked at home and earned some money and got some scholarships I was able to go through call attend to college and medical school did you actually set up practice there before coming here no I there those in the years if I did one year of resident rotating internship that's just like us and then after that I
didn't know what I wanted to do so I did like a first year residency thinking I'm gonna be a family doctor and then halfway through that year I decided I wasn't coming obstetrician so I got I get a phone call middle of February 25 30 below zero Montreal from the chairman of OD acting chairman Parkland Hospital saying if you wanted we have a place for you so I didn't want to do anything without my wife were married two years at that time and she said oh you're Texas we have cousins in Texas but she had no idea where they were well honey you know Texas
a big State Kubby you have no I don't know I'll look around I'll ask I'll ask my mother as it happened they they were in in Dallas because I don't know if we're going to Houston or San Antonio or anyway so here here we are and we we decided to go and that was the first time my wife ever left oh no she ever traveled anywhere did you have any other choices or any other possibilities before settling here looking around at all or said well I I went I would decided to take the of the offer to be trained over here as a very noted
program and I knew it's going to get real good training and my all retention to us to go back to Montreal and during the time that we were here there's a lot of lot of local unrest and Quebec so I decided like we decided well you know I decided we will take a two-year hiatus and see what happened what tried what goes on because there's gonna be other election in Quebec but it wasn't thinking of getting any better I had a friend of mine who told us one of the visits that I visited my parents and they said they are talking about the French Canadians
over there there's they're separatists they don't like you they don't want you there it's not your place if you have a chance don't come back so we went to California for two years because we had a real good friend in Los Angeles area and and so we spent two years over there and the reason why we came back is because I did not train there so I did not have any contacts and also I couldn't afford a home over there and my wife was pregnant with Stevie the third child so I said you know I can probably do pretty well in the Dallas area so
I came back and I could not nobody was usually the I thought I'd be able to get a doctor as well established and needs some help work out I wasn't able to do that so I said well that would it all go ahead and start my sack here so which I do before coming here though what types of things were you involved in back in Montreal either Jewishly and/or civically well I guess I was a receiver mostly because I went to summer camp as teenager then we joined the it's called the ymh a young men men's Hebrew association I was a counselor at a camp
and that's where I met my wife Gloria and not when I was a counselor and that the I came back to visit at camp and my best friend was two chiheb counselor there and his girlfriend was rooming with with his girlfriend was really good with Gloria so when I came to visit them she was Yenta the matchmaker actually and what she did was she told me that after what met her she made sure that I introduced her and she said you know that guy Lionel she told her he's just can't stop talking about you and she did same thing to me says you know that
girl why I shot you she thinks you're terrific so she looked at me she looks at her and the rest the rest is history well you guys as a young married couple involved in any Jewish or otherwise other organizations and was it because your parents were also or didn't have nothing to do with their affiliation no much we all is very where we lived is a very Jewish area and it's somebody described it as a bunch of stables together except this and especially around the early in the late 40s and early 50s where Montreal is different than any other place because they had a yellow
stocker organization they had before Warsaw that Blue Lodge Rogers and they had the Romanians Russians and everyone started their own wool synagogue and we would and so it I wasn't active in any organizations at all the reason why I'm saying I was a receiver because they set up everything and just like Gloria went to a high school that was 1,500 and probably 1450 were Jewish I went to some high school band in high school which was probably 97% Jewish they said oh we're very heavily were were segregated by choice and by economic ways there's no laws against us going anywhere everywhere but nobody want to
live with French Canadians are that that we didn't have any or there was an Italian area there then after a while the Greeks came in and they displaced the Jews and they'd be old area that's hell how were you guys received here when you came to Dallas by the Jewish community very friendly extremely friendly and I there's two ah part of that is when we first came 1970 the seven was the first year is completely where I was working on usually for four months I work 24 hours or on 24 hours off and the rest Adama worked every third night all night so I was
and so we and plus a fact I was smart sally was five and a half thousand or six thousand dollars and actually and we we had one car for a while and then we were able to spring for another with the money we got from our wedding of wedding dresses and that was it that's all the money we had how would you describe what early Dallas I call it looked like when you came down early in 1970 it was a lot of I would get on LBJ and I can go anywhere and within 10 minutes wasn't even built then as I lived right next to
it it was built in the mid 70s 70s but once I well we came back in 1975 then it's built yeah but i think well actually there was is there a stretch in it baby yeah there was a stretch the north side because i we came down on 35 a thing from Denton and then we got on and I asked of course there's no MapQuest or anything else so at that time would have to stop at a gas station so how'd he get there and they said well you can take royal Lane all the way I think that was Harry Hines our that here or
and so we we did LBJ who got off at Hillcrest and helped Christmas is two-lane highway to without any sidewalks and like big drop-offs on the either side and it was everything was dark and like she would told you my we a policeman that stopped us said what we've been building so so we're gonna see our cousins there so they followed us how did you pick to ferret for your synagogue it was more to what we're used to in Montreal there Montreal is a very large Orthodox community and everybody who's not Orthodox is there there would be conservative where there would be like a traditional
which is what's the first Israel's except that there's no exceeding sits on my pizza there and plus this Lincoln sort of woman there's usually there's a gallery for the ladies or on the side so no so it's the old the old tradition now everybody would if they have to drive they drive but they would never do it that there's no parking lots today to walk the park off a couple of blocks away and block said he didn't shine a big show all that day they used a car so you've been here for quite a while and how would you say in your words how is
Dallas changed it's gotten very busier there's the Jewish Committee there was three synagogues when we started we were active as young couples in 1972-73 there was our social life with wards and they'd have some authorities and this type of thing so we got together my friend that Ron Dubner was called you know abroad well he he was I think one time I think we weren't here but we just moved into our apartment and we because my wife says Gloria when I came home one thought says the strangest things somebody called us invite us for dinner so who is as well it's Ron dunder okay so
how did how did he know that I think he goddess that were newcomers and but we thought that that mike told told them to call us because mike knew his father and used to play cards with his father so so however since then we've been friends and so he's my local yokel and they're lovely people yeah a very nice tell me about your relationship with your children and your grandchildren a little bit it's very close we've always went out when they were young I would always make sure that I had sometimes somebody's theme like I think it's me okay mind off you know here I
knew somebody who supported sorry for the interruption we're all of your children born here that's the 1971 71 Suzy was born March 28th so she'll be 43 and Michael was born in California see Paul it's Stevie and Alyssa were born Presbyterian Hospital okay and what kind of life do you think they had here I know it sounds vague but just in general living here in Dallas compared to where they might have still been in Montreal or somewhere else for that matter well I think it's much more organized as far as the Jewish community and do stuff I don't know why I didn't have raised a
family in Montreal but I think the certain centers probably the same sort of thing when I grew up in Montreal you didn't have any leaks I didn't and the only thing you had is when you were a teenager or a young adult you to go to the yha they had all kinds of stuff and they had a really terrific Jewish library page it Jewish library and like Gloria told you they they had like three Yiddish schools and they had one Talmud Torah and one Hebrew school as well and her numbers are a little bit exaggerated as far as the number of Jews I look like
and snot was never a quarter million I think the top is 120,000 yeah but still it was quite a bit and your children all went know so much tell us where they went I know anyway Susie went to achieve okay that was the only school that they will do at that time and I don't fight with Michael started Akiba and switched to psalm schechter and he's the first graduating class was started and Stevie when - all through this Psalm Schechter and then I guess in and Alisa and also so so there's some teachers who had all three then as the nursery nursery school definitely believed
she knows all of them and then she did she - my grandkid I think two or three of my grandkids so how do you feel about them about their Jewish education going to a Hebrew day school do you feel it was it was very good adequate yes it's very adequate I think I would really recommend that I think are the reason as we is we felt in Montreal you can get away without going to Jewish day school because even though I went to a process called the process brother pause and school board a great at Montreal it was all Jewish they've closed all Jewish holidays
and not only they had an agreement that we would have off two days and you know the first two days of Passover the last two days of Passover zukov two days and last two days Yom Kippur Rosh Hashanah that was all yeah we didn't take off the paw report that's not what's minor yes minor but all but we get out we get all those holiday so sometimes we would miss like a whole month of school because everything was the wrong time but and they would close up my arts my school and they would close up Gloria and my wife school because there's nobody even know
since we were there it wasn't so don't know what they did the other non-jews well that's good yeah tell me one outstanding memory that you have thus far of your life here in Dallas the mouth study is I you know the kids were born here at the three out of four and we have two out of three marriages here so though they're all they're all terrific a great family and I was sorry even though I was busy with my practice I was still a soccer coach for many years made sure that they were active and I would take them skiing I was able to do
that we'd go try out go to California one time and Montreal want some draw to what we have my sister used to live in Toronto so we do visit so we try to keep close with our relatives in Montreal have other family members are good friends moved here my sister Bob moved here after we did and the main reason is because they felt that their time in the Quebec was limited and so if they're gonna make a move they said well might as well we would love to be in the same city as you are so we would get together every Friday nights and so
we have finite dinner okay what else dr. Raymond would you like to add about your life here no no I know what I want to ask you do you have any regrets about coming to Dallas Texas I have a little regret because I was never able to like invite my parents weren't able to have glorious parents to see the kids grow up their grandkids so would there have been a place you would have rather have been so they could have seen that no no okay no because once you put everything together there's always a choice there's always a you have to make a decision and the way it I mean you're you go
on then you don't really think about it and of course what's important for you as you go up your early years is not as an is not as important as when you get older and you look at it us because most of my I'm 71 years old and you know my seventh decade it's not a young guy anymore that's you are we think you are thank you is there anything else you'd like to add for the interview anything on it no I want to tell me the Russian relatives right right that's it we came at night the retreat came back to Dallas after two years
in California and 1975 a couple months later get the love scoffs key and her husband and daughter Alexandra came from Leningrad at that time was still a Soviet Union a couple years later her that side of family because giftless mother was a sister too late father-in-law and and Mike's father so with that seven different farms soon and they kept in touch with him and Mike one when he was alive with and before that was open he made sure he would go to the Soviet Union bring them some whatever make their life a little bit and and it was and of course they had to meet
and they were scared he told stories where the Soviet Union one of his one of her cousins his name is Mark he was an engineer so he was worried he's going to lose his job because of that they're all here they all were able to just have one child that was and it's and yet Allah and a not at all totally he they moved off to New Jersey where Alexandra's has two kids has a very successful business of marriage everything else and she's is really it like an American success story yes oh I know that she was dealing with women situation I don't know exactly
but it was an internet business that she did but her alexandra's has graduated from high school at sixteen graduated from Texas University University of Texas at nineteen spend two years on Wall Street as doing something and then we wanted to got our MBA so how many people was Mike successfully able to bring over here Michael father all on his mother's side he brought a couple betta and another one I'm not we're not that close with that said him remember but he brought the Beck family Bek and was and there's a group of oh she's the second generation olga beck and her mom is Dina Beckett
and that is Mark Beck the engineer he made it out over there Boris back unfortunately passed away a couple years ago he was sick man that's quite an incredible success story though yeah it's beautiful but you see when they came he made sure he you know behind the scenes and they got a nice apartment he took care of really things really Mike was was was our Godfather so to speak because and when you know he invited us we came and we made sure that that and only no matter what - she would whatever is that we how many satyrs we went there and how many
parties and brunches what everybody he always included us yeah it was a shirt that you ended up in Dallas Texas yes and we're glad you did thank you very thank you very much you