AI Deciphers Story of Sukkah in Pre-War Antisemitic Warsaw
Translated & summarized from Makor Rishon by baba
An Israeli tech professional used AI to identify a Jewish family who owned a Sukkah pictured in a 1937 Warsaw newspaper. The AI traced the family, the Feinzilbers, who were later murdered in the Holocaust, and connected with their surviving granddaughter. The discovery brought emotional closure and highlighted the importance of preserving such stories.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- AI identified owners of a pre-Holocaust Sukkah in Warsaw.
- The Sukkah belonged to the Feinzilber family, later murdered.
- AI technology was crucial in deciphering historical records.
- The discovery connected surviving family members with their past.
- The story underscores the persistence of antisemitism and faith.
An Israeli tech professional, Alon Gildoni, used artificial intelligence to identify the owners of a Sukkah pictured on a Warsaw apartment balcony in 1937. The image, accompanying an antisemitic article in the "National Daily of Warsaw" about economic struggle against Jews, was discovered by historian Adam Koren. Gildoni, who pursues genealogy as a hobby, was inspired to find the Sukkah's owners after his father's death in 2023. He developed an AI system that cross-references digitized archives to uncover historical details.
Gildoni's AI system analyzed Warsaw property records, identifying Menachem Mendel Lipstadt, a wealthy Jewish merchant, as the building's owner. Further investigation using a 1930 Warsaw address book, processed by 17 AI agents, revealed 28 households in the building at 28 Wilenska Street, mostly Jewish. The AI agents sifted through extensive data to deduce that Lozer Feinzilber was the most likely owner of the small Sukkah, inferring this from its size and the assumption of a devout family.
The AI's findings indicated that Lozer and Sarah Feinzilber were murdered in the Warsaw Ghetto Umschlagplatz in 1943. Two of their daughters, Ita and Rivka, were killed at Majdanek in 1944, and their two sons, their wives, and children were also likely murdered. Two daughters, Roza and Zusia, survived, with one settling in Jerusalem and the other in Boston.
Gildoni posted the story and an AI-generated image of the family celebrating in the Sukkah on Facebook during Sukkot. Within two days, Sarah Rosenblum, Lozer and Sarah Feinzilber's granddaughter from Israel, contacted him. Rosenblum, whose mother was Roza-Rachel, expressed profound emotion, stating, "You don't understand what you did for us." She shared that her mother had spoken little of the Holocaust, but seeing the Sukkah image brought back memories and a deep connection to her grandparents' desire to celebrate holidays despite their circumstances.
Gildoni emphasized the importance of uncovering such hidden stories from the Holocaust era, noting that history repeats itself with ongoing antisemitism. He highlighted the enduring human spirit, faith, and connection to roots, even amidst severe persecution and fear, as exemplified by the Feinzilber family's act of building a Sukkah.