Uncle Meylech (Milton) Buki OBM

From Seth, on 27/08/2010

Here is the one and only photo I have of Elimelech Buki, supposedly. He was identified to me by my Aunt Elaine, who met him one time in the 1950s when he came to NYC with his family. This photo was taken on 2 Jan 1946 in Linz on Landstrasse 21 (it's not easy to read). Ironically, Linz is Hitler's hometown. I have scanned the back of the photo as well. I never noticed this before--I had it in a frame for about 20 years.

I am guessing this is a passport photo. I also see a resemblance to my grandfather here. The eyes and forehead definitely say Buki to me.

Menasche, does this look like your Uncle? Your father might know, since he would have known him longer ago, closer to the date of the photo. Also, it would be interesting to see a photo of your Grandmother Buki, if you have one to scan.

The photo of Milton (Elimelech) Buki in Der Auschwitz Prozess (a transcript of the Frankfurt war crimes trial in 1963) shows a much older man and I would need to scan the photo from the book to see the resemblance or lack thereof to this photo.

29/08/2010 Dear Seth,

How is you and your home?

Thanks for the picture, although I'm too young to remember uncle Mylekh as he looks in this picture, I surely remember the lips.  They were much the same in the mid-eighties, just bending downwards - especially when I used to interrogate him about life in Poland before the war.

Reverse of the above picture

I vividly remember him telling me, as if he was talking to me from a different planet: "the new generation will never ever be able to understand what Jewish Poland was like. It was a world altogether different than what is now".  He said it with such conviction that I realised that he was still living "there" and not letting go.  He was consumed by a very intense feeling of anguish, hatred and determination, which ultimately killed him. 

I called them up before Pesach (Passover) to wish them gut yomtef (have a nice holiday) and tante (aunt) Manya picked up the 'phone.  When I asked for feter (uncle) Mylekh, she shared the news with me.

It was a couple of days after the first Gulf war - when Saddam Hussein capitulated - when he was niftar (passed away).  nearly 40 Scud missiles crashed their way into Israel and - although they caused little damage to life - managed to demoralise the local population to a new low.  This feeling of helplessness reawakened in him the same-self feelings he experienced when - time and again - he tried - unsuccessfully - to escape the fate of millions of his co-religionists, only to be handed over to the Gestapo by his Polish neighbours.

If you look carefully you can discern this determination in his eyes.  (Am I dreaming?)

Menasche