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Family Story of Alex Glushenkov

Two centuries of the Zak, Glushenkov, Melamed, Evdasin and Kokin families: from a cantonist conscripted into the Tsar's army in the 1820s, through Volozhin, Minsk and the war years, to Israel today. 15 written stories and a 12-era timeline.

Stories

  • Lev Kokin's Letters
  • Gabriel Zak's Story in USA
  • Zak's Family in Volozhin
  • Gregory Zak's Memories
  • Sonia Zak's Story
  • Elena Melamed's Memories
  • Zak's Family Stories
  • Melamed's & Radashkovich's Stories
  • Isanna Glushenkov
  • Glushenkov's, Evdasin's & Sazar's Stories
  • Vladimir Glushenkov
  • My Eulogy for Mom
  • Danny's Eulogy for Mom
  • Our Ancestors' Graves
  • Our Family Tree

Timeline

1820s–1830s

  • 1826–1830: The Zak family's earliest known ancestor is conscripted as a cantonist into the Russian Tsar's army under Emperor Nicholas I

1840s–1850s

  • c. 1840s–1850s: Rabbi Kivelevich serves as a rabbi in Lubcha on the banks of the Neman River

1870s–1890s

  • October 15, 1877: Gabriel Zak is born in Volozhin, Russia
  • 1885: Simcha Evdasin is born
  • c. 1890s: Khasya-Itke Kivelevich marries Gabriel Zak (she was 27, considered late for that time)

1900s–1910s

  • 1903: Sofia (Sonya) Gavrilovna Zak is born in Belarus
  • 1905: Gregory (Hirsh) Zak is born in Volozhin
  • 1908: A law prohibiting Jews from renting land causes the Zak family's financial downfall
  • May 7, 1912: Elena Melamed is born in Gomel
  • July 1, 1912: Gabriel Zak arrives in the United States through Baltimore, Maryland
  • 1913: Gabriel Zak begins working in various factories in the USA
  • 1914: The outbreak of World War I inadvertently helps the Zak family by granting them refugee status
  • 1915: The Zak family is relocated to Minsk, settling near the former Red Barracks

1920s

  • 1920/1921: Gabriel Zak returns to Minsk from the USA due to Parkinson's disease
  • Khasya-Itke Kivelevich passes away and is buried in Minsk

1930s

  • 1937: Sofia Zak is expelled from the Communist Party, arrested on October 15, and sentenced to 10 years in labor camps
  • 1939: Israel Melamed dies of tuberculosis

1940s

  • 1941: The Zak family is evacuated to Sverdlovsk due to WWII
  • 1941: Sholom (Shura) Zak volunteers for the People's Militia and falls in the eighth attack against German positions near Leningrad
  • 1941–1948: Gregory Zak works as a senior technologist at the Kalinin factory in Sverdlovsk
  • January 1942: Isanna Zak is born in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk)
  • 1942: Gabriel Zak dies in the Minsk ghetto during Nazi occupation
  • 1942–1943: Pesach Evdasin perishes in a Soviet camp after being betrayed to the Nazis
  • 1943: Simcha Evdasin dies during the Nazi blockade of Leningrad
  • January 1, 1946: Vladimir (Vova) Glushenkov is born to Andrey and Maya
  • c. late 1940s: Twins Olga and Alexander (Sasha) Glushenkov are born to Andrey and Maya
  • 1948: The Zak family returns to Minsk when Gregory is invited by the Ministry of Industry to work there

1960s

  • 1962: Elena begins working as a ticket seller at the Opera Theater
  • 1963: Gregory Zak publishes "Constructor's Guide"
  • 1965: Gregory Zak publishes "Guide for normalized parts and machine assembly"

1970s

  • 1971: Chaya Melamed (Radashkovich) dies of a stroke and is buried in Leningrad
  • 1975: Vladimir Glushenkov marries his first wife and has a daughter named Yulia
  • 1976: Elena Melamed dies of leukemia
  • 1977: Gregory Zak dies of a stroke
  • November 1977: Isanna Zak and Vladimir Glushenkov get married
  • 1978: You (Alexander/Sasha) are born

1980s

  • 1981: Danny (your brother) is born
  • 1981: Sofia (Sonya) Zak passes away
  • 1985: Alexander/Sheel Zak passes away and is buried in the Northern cemetery in Minsk
  • 1986: Andrey Glushenkov passes away and is buried in the Northern cemetery in Minsk
  • 1988: Tzila Borisenko (Evdasin) passes away and is buried in the Northern cemetery in Minsk

1990s

  • July 17, 1990: The Glushenkov family emigrates to Israel
  • 1991: Vladimir Borisenko passes away and is buried in the Northern cemetery in Minsk
  • 1996: Vladimir is diagnosed with COPD and undergoes experimental surgery

2000s–2020s

  • 2008: Alexander (Sasha) Glushenkov passes away and is buried with his father Andrey
  • 2013: Maya Glushenkov passes away and is buried in the Western cemetery in Minsk
  • 2018:
  • January: Vladimir Glushenkov's lungs collapse, and he spends almost a month in the ER
  • March: Isanna is diagnosed with cancer
  • November: Vladimir passes away
  • 2019: Boris Zak (Isanna's brother) passes away and is buried in Cologne, Germany
  • 2021: Olga Glushenkov passes away from COVID-19 and is buried with her mother Maya
  • July 2023: Isanna passes away after living with cancer for over five years