©Stephen Wilkes
Text by Bruce Berman
Photograph by Stephen Wilkes
My father, Irving “Punch” Berman was born on Ellis Island in 1906. It was the day his parents -my grandparents- arrived in America. He was the first American in our family.
He was grateful to be here.
The documentation of “The Island” by Stephen Wilkes is documentary photography at its best: it preserves our memories and it stimulates inquiry.
See Stephen’s work: https://stephenwilkes.com/fine-art/ellis-island/
Was this the exact room he was born in? Who knows?
Was this the exact clinic? Yes.
Was he an accidental American? Most definitely.
The mystery in our family was, always, twofold: a) why did they let them in? My grandfather, Jacob, was dead within 6 months, of Tuberculosis. He never made it out of the lower east side. He was that sick it must have shown as the entry guards were interviewing. His mother, my grandmother Anna, died of the same illness seven years later (in Denver). The immigration authorities usually sent the sick ones back on the boat as it turned around and went back to England or Lisbon or wherever. It normally would have been a long sail back to Odessa (which they were escaping from, from the Cossacks), or wherever they could afford to be. And, c) When did he become a Berman. For that matter when did he become Irving? I know how he became Punch because he told me so. That will have to wait for another post (tease tease).
My niece Isabel, has tracked down the family history and it turns out his name was Isidor Yonofsky.
Some secrets, I guess, are lost to the fogs of time.
Note: Much thanks Stephen Wilkes.