Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. About as much as we maintained with Europe. We would
see them occasionally when they would come through or during the war,
the boys would pass through Chicago they would stop off and say hello,
and if I were working west with the Plymouth Rubber Co. and I went to
Denver I stayed there for a week. And then Rita left a trunk at our
house one time in Chicago for a couple of years and it blocked up our
closet and we asked her to remove it. That is the only connection.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Rita is one of his daughters?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. Out on the west coast.
Mr. GRIFFIN. So far as you know the only aunts or uncles that you have,
whoever came to this country, were your father’s brother Hyman?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. No; my father’s brother Abraham.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Abraham, who has a son Hyman.
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. A doctor.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And your mother’s brother Harry?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. That is it.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you ever hear your mother talk about having any
sisters?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. Here in this country or in Europe?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Either place.
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. I don’t remember. There might have been one--I don’t
think she is a sister. She was very close to my mother. I don’t
remember her name.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where was she?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. I don’t know. It has been so many years ago.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did your mother--do you remember any contact being
maintained by your mother with her family in Europe?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. None. Not even one letter.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How did your mother--did your mother ever express any
feelings about that?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. I imagine she got lonely. She used to sort of daydream
and tell us a few stories about Warsaw, and her family but she never
mentioned any names. I don’t remember her ever mentioning one name.
Mr. GRIFFIN. As you were growing up, as a child, did your mother speak
English?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What did she speak?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. Jewish.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yiddish?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. Yiddish.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How about your father?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. Yiddish mostly.
Mr. GRIFFIN. So it--the conversation in the home was Yiddish among the
children?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. Always, always with them.
Mr. GRIFFIN. What sort of religious practices were maintained in the
home?
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. Not orthodox, not strict, nothing strict, except for
the holidays. We would have for Easter, we would follow the Easter
services. For Yom Kippur my father would go to synagogue and try to
take me along when I was a little boy; and I went to Hebrew school for
a while, and that is all I can remember. I don’t know whether any of
the other boys went to Hebrew school or not.
Mr. GRIFFIN. But at least you as the oldest child----
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. I was an oldest child and they tried to set me as an
example for the others, but I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t understand
it. It is like speaking, what is that language that the Catholics use
in their church?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Roman.
Mr. RUBENSTEIN. Roman.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Latin.
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