Upcoming Services
| Ellen Feldman |
Tue May 7th at 1:30 GRAVESIDE AT MACHPELAH CEMETERY | |
| Donald Mendelssohn |
Tue May 7th A PRIVATE FAMILY SERVICE | |
| Scott "Scotty" Kline |
Mon May 6th at 2:00 IRA KAUFMAN CHAPEL |
FUNERAL DETAILS
Jacob BursteinJacob Burstein, 92, of Haverstraw, New York, formally of Royal Oak, Michigan, died on 30 August 2017. The Funeral was held at IRA KAUFMAN CHAPEL on Sunday, 03 September 2017 at 12:00 PM . Rabbi Aaron Bergman officiated. Click  to watch a video of the recorded service.Interment at Clover Hill Park Cemetery.
The family of Jacob Burstein will be gathering through the evening of Monday, September 04 at the residence of Nona Ackkerman, 6916 Burtonwood Drive, West Bloomfield MI 48322. The phone number is 248-661-1170. Family members include: Jacob is survived by his son, Alexander, and his fiancé, Marion Breland and her son Jonathan of Nyack, New York, his grandson Justin of Brookfield, Connecticut and his wife, Elizabeth Davis, his grandson Gabriel of Buffalo, New York, his granddaughter Katharine Kelley, of Brooklyn, New York, his sister-in-law, Mary Maslovich of West Bloomfield, Michigan, her daughter Marina and her husband Isaak and their children, and by Nona Akkerman, the daughter of his late sister-in-law Frida, Nona’s husband Alex and their children, all of West Bloomfield, Michigan. Jacob Burstein was born Yankl Gurvitz on April 7, 1924 in Stare Koszary, a village in eastern Poland. Stare Koszary became part of the Soviet Union from September 1939-June 1941 as the result of the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact that divided Poland. From 1941 to 1944 it was occupied by the Nazis. From 1944 to 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union. Since 1991, it has been a part of (independent) Ukraine. Shortly after Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Jacob left the town of Rovno, where his family lived, going eastward to the Soviet Union. In November 1941, in what became known as Sosenki Forest Massacre, virtually all of the members of Jacob’s family, including his parents, grandparents, two sisters and a brother, were slaughtered, together with more than 20,000 other Rovno Jews, by the Nazis assisted by members of the local population. All of Jacob’s possessions- including his documents- were stolen from him in the fall of 1941. He managed to obtain a fake passport bearing the name of ”Jacob Bursztein”. He never tried to change his name back to his “real” last name of “Gurvitz”. Following a period of starvation when he lived on a kolkhoz in Central Asia, Jacob proudly joined the Red Army, where he served as a minesweeper. His service took him from Central Asia to Germany. In 1945, he was shipped from Germany to China and the Japanese front. He spent two years in China, was sent back to the Soviet Union in 1947, and was released from the army in 1950. Upon his release from the Army, he moved to Kiev (then, USSR), where he married Ita Lvovich in June 1950. Their son, Alexander, was born in June 1951. Jacob earned his engineering degree in Moscow in 1955. Together with his wife and child, Jacob moved to Warsaw, Poland in 1956. During his years in Poland, he was an electrical engineer, building electric substations all over Poland. His wife, an economist, worked for Poland’s Central Planning Bureau. Following an anti-Semitic campaign by the Polish government which began in March 1968, Jacob and his family, as well as most of the 30,000 Jews who were still in Poland in 1968, left Poland for Vienna, Austria and then moved to the United States (the suburbs of Detroit) in December 1968. Starting his life over at the age of 44 was difficult, but Jacob was able to obtain employment as an engineer, first with Detroit Edison and then Moylan Engineering in Dearborn, Michigan. He retired in 2005. He spent much of his time helping new immigrants from the former Soviet Union find jobs, places to live and otherwise adjust to the life in the United States. He was a much respected and beloved member of the Jewish community in Detroit. He and his wife lived in the same condominium in Royal Oak, Michigan, since 1971. Following his wife’s death in 2010, Jacob moved to Rockland County. He lived with his son in Haverstraw until his death. His difficult life made his final years painful, marred by a tremendous sense of loss and guilt, despite the fact that he was much loved and that he lived a long and honorable life. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the following: It is suggested that those who wish to further honor the memory of Jacob Burstein may do so by making a contribution to: Legal Aid Society of Rockland County, IncClick to Visit Charity Website or Yad VashemClick to Visit Charity Website |