Rubin Probst
!st cousin 1x removed to Helena Rothenberg
Rubin Probst was born in 1857 in Stryj, Lubelskie, Poland, the son of Rachel and Izak. He is Jennie Milne’s 1st cousin 3x removed as his uncle, Gerschon Probst was Helena’s grandfather. He married Scheindle Neuwirth and the couple raised three daughters. His oldest daughter, Rachel married Isaac Weinbach. Rachel and Isaac escaped from Vienna to join their oldest son in China during 1941 with their youngest son Kurt. Scheindle died before WW2 but Rubin was murdered in the Holocaust with their youngest daughter Pepi in 1941. Rubin was 84 years old.
In 2020, just weeks after recording a memorial video beginning with Rubins name, Kurt Weinbach’s widow was contacted living in the U.S.A. Decades following the Holocaust a breach in the generations was bridged and photographs and stories exchanged .
Rubin and family pre WW2. (Image © Weinbach family)
Rubin Probst © Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem Page of Testimony for Rubin Probst. Submitted by his daughter, Rachel Weinbach
Yad Vashem Page of Testimony for Pepi Probst submitted by her sister, Rachel Weinbach
A Very Brief Introduction to Stryy
Excerpt from JewishGen KehilaLinks
Stryy is located in Western Ukraine (formerly Eastern Galicia) about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of L'viv. Variants on its spelling include Stryj (Polish), Stryi, Stryia, and Stry. []
Stryy was first populated by Jews in the late 1500's. The first synagogue was built in 1660. After Poland was partitioned, Stryy became part of the Austrian Empire in 1772, at which time there were about 440 Jewish families in the town and suburbs. After World War I, Stryy was part of the area that became a free and sovereign Poland. The town had a Jewish population of 10,988 in 1921 and about 12,000 in 1939.
The Germans occupied Stryy on July 2, 1941, and hundreds of Jews were immediately killed. In November 1941, 1,200 Jews were shot in the Holobotow forest. Several depotations to extermination camps took place beginning in September, 1942. Between June and August of 1943 the Stryy ghetto and labor camps near the town were liquidated. When the Soviet army occupied Stryy in August, 1944 there were only a few Jewish survivors. No Jewish community was re-established.
For further Information on the town of Stryy:
Rachel Rosa Probst Weinbach
Please follow link to read Rachel’s Testimony
Rachel Rosa Probst Weinbach
Taken from Rochester Holocaust Survivors Archive, Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester.
Rachel Rosa Probst was born Ruchel Reisel to Rubin and Scheindle Neuwirt Probst on May 19, 1890, in Stryj, Poland, now in the western Ukraine. She had two sisters, Fayga and Pennina. A high school graduate, she worked in a bank prior to moving to Vienna when she married her husband Israel Weinbach on November 30, 1919. Israel had served in WWI. They had two sons, Bert, born in 1920, and Kurt, born in 1928.
When the Nazis annexed Austria in March 1938, Bert, now 17 years old, escaped to Tientsin (Tianjin), China, after attempting to travel to Paris to live with his paternal aunt, uncle and cousin. Rosa, Israel, and young Kurt remained in Vienna until January, 1941, when Israel’s WWI officer, Heinrich Stumpfl, now a three-star general and Stadtkommandant (regional commander) of Vienna, saved the family so they could join Bert in Tientsin. (See also Kurt Weinbach entry). The General not only provided the family with exit visas but also paid for their first-class passage on the Trans-Siberian Express. Their visas to enter China were obtained through the ingenuity of Rosa who convinced the Japanese officials, now in control of China, that an invitation she had received from Kurt’s brother, Bert, to join the Jewish community's social club in Tientsin constituted an official entry visa. Unfortunately Rachel’s sister and father did not survive; they were killed in Stryj. Most of Israel's brothers and sisters and their spouses and children were also murdered.
Rachel, Israel, and Kurt, as well as Bert and his family, lived in Tientsin from 1941-1945 under Japanese rule and from 1945 to 1948 under the United States Marine control. Bert, his wife and their two young children, left with the Marines. Rachel, Israel and Kurt remained for six more months, living under the Communist government. In 1949 they emigrated to Israel where her husband died three months after their arrival succumbing to the aftereffects of war and resettlement as well as the difficulty of obtaining medical care in a very new country.
In March 1957 Rachel came to Rochester, New York, with her son Kurt to be reunited with Bert and his family who had emigrated first to Canada than to Rochester. She immediately became active at the Jewish Community Center and Congregation Beth Sholom. An educated woman, she made a strong impression on all with whom she came into contact. Proud of her abilities, she was artistic and creative. She redesigned all of her own clothing. A family treasure was a painting of Cinderella that she made in Stryj and that traveled with her from her native Poland to Vienna, to China, to Israel and finally to Rochester. She passed away on March 2, 1971 where her two sons, their wives and their children were united.
Kurt Weinbach
Please follow link to read Kurt’s Testimony and view video
Kurt Weinbach
Taken from Rochester Holocaust Survivors Archive, Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester.
Kurt Weinbach was born on July 6,1928, to Israel Weinbach and Rachel Rosa Probst Weinbach in Vienna, Austria. His father was a watchmaker who owned his own jewelry business. During WWI Israel was sent to fight on the Russian front where he became a corporal and a secretary in the army office. Also serving as the unit photographer, Israel became a close friend of the captain, Heinrich Stumpfl. The friendship between his father and Stumpfl would become crucial to his family’s survival.
Kurt was only nine years old when he saw Adolf Hitler make his triumphal entrance into Vienna, in March 1938, shortly after Austria was annexed into the Third Reich. His older brother Bert (Berthold), at 17, left the country after two foiled escapes. Bert was able to obtain a visa to cross into Russia. His father paid his train fare on the Trans-Siberian Express. He eventually settled in Tientsin, China.
In the meantime, Israel discovered that Heinrich Stumpfl had become a three-star general and was now the military commander in charge of Vienna. Israel sent his former friend a letter to congratulate him on his appointment. Shortly thereafter, Stumpfl invited him to an audience at his headquarters in one of the Hapsburg palaces. General Stumpfl, realizing the danger that Jews were in, offered to protect Israel and his family in Vienna and would let him know when it was time to leave the country.
By November, 1938, the Nazis went on a rampage, known as Kristallnacht, burning synagogues, destroying Jewish businesses and arresting Jewish men. Israel Weinbach’s business was saved by customers, but the Nazis did not allow him to continue his business . He was able to support the family by running a clock-repairing school for a group of mischling (half Jews) who hoped to be employed in other countries. The family was forced to move to a Jewish area where they had to share an apartment, and Kurt was no longer permitted to attend public school. In January 1941, a message came from General Stumpfl telling them it was time to leave. Stumpfl provided the family with exit visas and paid for their first-class passage on the Trans-Siberian Express. The visas to enter China were obtained through the ingenuity of Kurt's mother, (See also Rosa Probst Weinbach entry) who convinced the Japanese officials, now in control of China, that an invitation she had received from Kurt’s brother, Bert, to join the Jewish community's social club in Tientsin constituted an official entry visa.
After a long journey, the family reached Tientsin in April 1941.The family was finally reunited with Bert and became integrated into the well-organized Jewish community there. Kurt, now almost 13, was finally able to resume his schooling. Tientsin, along with other Chinese areas where the Japanese governed, was not liberated until August 1945 when the Japanese surrendered. The family remained in Tientsin and again experienced war when the Communists fought the Nationalists in China. In 1949, Kurt and his parents finally left for Israel, where Kurt served in the army and where his father passed away.
After eight years in Israel, in 1957 Kurt, and his mother emigrated to Rochester, New York, to join his brother Bert and his family there. Kurt became a purchasing agent for the men's clothing manufacturer, Michaels- Stern and Company, and later at Rochester Telephone Company (Frontier). In April 9, 1959 he met Sheila Gissin at an International Dance Festival at the YWCA. They married exactly one year later and danced together for 50 years. They had two children. David Ira, born November 2, 1962, named for Kurt’s father and Susan Pennie, born June 6, 1964 and named in memory of Kurt’s aunt killed in the Holocaust. Kurt has two grandsons, Aron Max Reingold and Alexander Joseph Weinbach.
Kurt became a frequent speaker for CHAI as well as for the Rochester Junior Chamber of Commerce where, even though a new immigrant, he won the annual speaker’s award. He became president of the Purchasing Agents Association and a board member at the Rochester Jewish Federation as well as a volunteer for the International Sister Cities of Rochester. Kurt’s unique story has been told in four books and student publications in four languages, including Chinese. Kurt passed away September 20, 2010.
Biography written by Barbara Appelbaum adapted from Perilous Journeys