My Family History

     To start learning about my family history I sat down with my dad and asked him about his parents, past, and our last name. Our last name is Rosenblat and he said it is of German descendant, he thinks it means “rose leaf” but we are not entirely sure. Most often the last name of Rosenblat is spelled with two “Ts” at the end, we think there used to be a second “T” but when my grandfather came over from Poland to Ellis Island the second “T” was probably dropped. Our last name is also a fairly common Jewish last name because of the first part of it “Rosen” which tends to be common in many Jewish last names. One more thing actually about my first name, Jennifer, is that it was chosen because my grandfather’s name was Joseph and my parents wanted to honor him with another “J” name.
     Like I said, my grandfather on my dads side was from Poland and my grandmother was from Waukegan. My grandfather took a boat to American and was supposed to go to Kansas City but he got off in Chicago and stayed! My grandfather actually came to America because sadly he was in the Holocaust, in a concentration camp, and punished for our religion. Luckily, he was liberated and able to start a family here in America. Although I don’t know a lot of information about his time in a concentration camp because my grandfather didn’t like to talk about it for obvious reasons, I think that will be a family story that is always told because although it is sad it is a neccesary reminder of our family history/past, and why we need to stand up against anti-semitism, and be proud of our religion and my grandfather.
     It was really interesting to learn more about my family name, grandparents, and just overall history. These things are something I will always remember.