Death brings more questions

Two very important pieces of information have recently come to me via Anja and Christoph: the death certificates of Ida Farkic (my great-great-grandmother, whose travel to the U.S. at 19 inspired my solo show Ithaca) and the grave of her husband, Moscha Farkic.

Maybe here it's important to mention that Moscha used many alias names, which is why sometimes it's so hard to decide which one to use. That's mostly because of attempts of transcribing the Cyrillic alphabet into other languages.

From 1914

These names include:
- Moša Farkić
- Mosa Farkic
- Moscha Farkitsch (the German spelling)
- Moscha Farchi
- Micha Forchi (Brazilian misspelling. To be fair, this was only on his daughter's immigration card)
- Moritz Farkitsch
- Maximilian Moscha Farkic

The name changes is why sometimes it's so hard to track him down throughout the years.

So, so far here's what I know from his appearances in the phone and address books from Berlin, as well as other documents (such as his Serbian foreign card):

He's in Berlin from 1911 to 1938. Then in Belgrade on and off from 1938/1939 to 1941. Back in Belgrade 1944 to 1947. Possibly made aliyah and went to Israel when the state was founded in 1948. Went back to Berlin in 1950 and keeps appearing in the books until 1980 (although he sold the garage in 1965).

A big question imemdiately arose:

Where did he go between 1941 and 1944?

All of the Jews who stayed in Belgrade were murdered, so he definitely did not stay there. We discovered that his second wife - Rozalija - was born in a small town called Jaša Tomić. It is possible that he took refuge there.

We don't know. It is also possible that if Michael Farkić is their son, he was born in Belgrade.

.

Not sure if you noticed that I said he appears in the telephone books until 1980 and his gravestone says 1967. Welp, here's a big mystery.

On Friday, during a particularly dense German class in which we were discussing the beginnings of the Weimar Republic, I got an email from Anja saying they had found Moscha's grave. After my class, I quickly rushed to the Jüdische Friedhof Heerstraße (which is...you guessed it, also right next to my house) to catch the last thirty minutes before they close for Shabbat.

At the graveyard there was only one elderly Russian man who spoke some German and no English and who I'm still not so sure works there or is just a hallucination. He couldn't point me in the right direction, but it took me less than ten minutes to find the grave. I was so excited to have answers, but I just had more questions. The first and most obvious one being

Moscha died in 1967...what does that mean? Who is the second Moscha from the books? Is it just a print error?

He shares a grave with Rozalija. He was 34 years her senior and she was a year younger than his daughter, my great-grandmother. Which may be part of the reason why they fought when she visited him in Berlin in the sixties and never spoke again. Now I need to backtrack a little bit.

After Moscha disappeares from the telephone book, Rozalija appears at the same address with the name 'Rosalija Farkić-Altarac'. "Ah, that's easy," we thought [and by we I don't mean me and my many personalities, I mean me and Emil] "She's using the Spanish name tradition: husband's name first, followed by maiden name."

Right. Well, what a surprise to discover upon her grave that her maiden name was PALFI and not Altarac.

 And an even bigger surprise: a third man, Mordehaj Altarac is buried with the two of them. And he was born nine years before her, so can't be her son or her father. Because of the last name it's also unlikely that it is a brother.

So who is he?

Is it possible that they were a loving polyamorous bisexual multi-generational triad? I really hope that would turn out to be the case.

Unfortunately for someone so traditional as my great-great-grandfather I don't think that's the answer.

Mordehaj had a store of "Feinkost Spirituosen" (little delicatessen selling expensive alcohol) at Düsseldorfer Straße 68, the same address as the garage. 'Altarac' is also a very typical Serbian Jewish last name.

My best guess here is that Mordehaj was a friend or servant to Moscha, who went with him to Berlin and was given a storefront in the building he owned (the aforementioned garage). After Moscha's death, Rozalija was lonely (and young, only 48) and married Mordehaj.

Of course, that is the boring option.

The more dramatic possibility is that Mordehaj and Rozalija were having an affair and orchestrated the death of Moscha so they could inherit they're money. À la Double Indemnity.

To be discovered in the next chapters...