Jonathan MecklerCleveland, OH, United States
My paternal grandfather’s parents were from Stepan and Kyiv. My maternal grandfather’s parents were from Tetiiv and Plyskiv, two small towns in central Ukraine only about 30 miles apart. My paternal grandmother’s father was from Palestine, but his parents were from Belarus. My maternal grandmother’s father was from Lodz and her mother was from Losice. I included a picture of myself on Piotrowska Street in Lodz, playing the piano with fellow Lodzermensh, Artur Rubinstein, from a trip to Poland and Austria to discover my roots. I was planning a similar trip to Ukraine in Summer 2014, but the unrest in that country has made that unfortunately impossible. All of my grandparents were born in Cleveland, as were my parents. I am proud to be a Clevelander, an American, and a Jew.