Story submitteD by: Alice Alexiou
Abraham braun
Photo: Abraham Braun
He was my grandfather, a Hungarian Jew who came to America in 1914, from an impoverished and illiterate family. One of his legs was shorter than the other by several inches, the result of an explosion in the celluloid plastics factory where he worked as a child. He never went to school, and could not write, but he taught himself to read, and when he stepped off the boat in New York, he discovered that he had a natural instinct for doing business. Abe Braun built two-family homes in Queens, lost everything in the Great Depression, then picked himself up and manufactured buttons in an industrial loft on 21st Street, and, with a handful of partners, bought into real estate in Manhattan on the cheap after World War 2. One of the buildings he owned shares in was the Flatiron Building. Abe died at age 52 of leukemia. I never knew him, but his legacy looms large in my family. Abe, my mother told me, loved most of all to help others, and his business acumen gave us, his descendants, the ability to do same. My family owes so much to Abe, who found safety and ultimately prosperity in New York. The family he left behind in Hungary died in the Holocaust, and he would have been so proud to know that the gifts he bestowed on his descendants are being used to help this newest batch of immigrants get a leg up in his city, New York.
________________________________________________
Sharing these stories is a wonderful way to honor the past and the future. Consider making a donation in honor of an immigrant loved one and in support of newly arrived immigrants.