Cantor David Aptowitzer Family fonds

Identifier
I0039
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 6637
Dates
1 Jan 1953 - 31 Dec 2013
Level of Description
Fonds
Source
EHRI Partner

Biographical History

David Aptowitzer was born in 1923 in Tarnopol, Poland. He was the youngest of the 7 children of Chaya Jampoler and Yitzhak Aptowitzer, a boot maker. In September 1939, while visiting his sister Bronia and her husband Shmuel, the then 16 year old David got an offer that saved his life. Shmuel’s employer, a Russian railway company, had offered to move its workers and their families to the relative safety of the Soviet Union. Bronia proposed that David come along and he accepted. Germany then invaded Poland and what was meant to be a trip of a few days became a five-year journey filled with turmoil, heartache, and close brushes with death and imprisonment. During these five years David worked as a laborer then was drafted into the Russian Army and later the Polish Army. As the Soviets began to push back the German forces, David began to discover the horrors of the Holocaust. In 1944, outside the Polish city of Lublin, he stumbled upon the concentration camp at Maidenek, a place which he recalled as being “beyond human comprehension,” and once the war ended he learned that virtually his entire family – his parents, four siblings and their families – had been killed. The only survivors were a sister, a brother, and himself. He spent two years in a displaced persons camp in Germany and in 1947, he and 1500 other war orphans sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, aboard a Canadian navy ship converted to carry refugees. During the voyage he met Gita Adler, a survivor of Auschwitz, and nearly 5 years later in 1951, after a long distance courtship (Gita in Ottawa and David in Montreal), the couple was married. Gita (Gizella) Adler was born in Satmar Nemeti, Hungary in 1931, one of 7 children of Josephine and Joseph Adler, a wholesale raw wool merchant. In June 1944, Gita and her family were sent to Auschwitz. Four months later she was sent to work as a slave laborer in an airplane factory. She survived a death march before finally being liberated by four American soldiers riding in a Jeep, which she recalled as being “a beautiful sight.” Soon after, Gita learned that her parents and 5 of her siblings have been killed at Auschwitz. She and one of her sisters were their family’s sole survivors. Once in Canada David began contemplating his career. At the time, the Canadian Jewish Congress was looking after war orphans who had arrived in Montreal and David express to the Congress his interest in becoming a cantor. He was enrolled in the United Hebrew Teachers Seminary and in Montreal’s Merkaz HaTorah Yeshiva. He also studied music at McGill University, and had the opportunity to study liturgy with two cantors and also studied voice with an opera singer. Following his marriage to Gita Adler, David was approached by Agudath Israel Congregation to audition to be its first chazzan and teacher. David tried out for the job and was offered the position in the spring of 1952 – a position he would hold for 42 years. He was actively involved in the development of the congregation and the services of the Ottawa Jewish community. He taught afternoon school and at Hillel Academy, and also taught choir and helped many youth prepare for their B'nai Mitzvah. David later became a mohel and preformed over 2000 brisses. Cantor Aptowitzer retired in 1994, was honored by the Jewish National Fund 1997 Negev Dinner, and he and wife Gita made aliyah in 2013. They now live in Motza, a community 10 miles from Jerusalem. David and Gita have two sons, Edwin Henry Aptowitzer (b. September 18, 1955), Yitzhak (Emanuel Howard) Aptowitzer (b. November 21, 1960) and a daughter Pnina (Pearl) (b. March 18, 1953) who passed away suddenly in 2001. They have a large extended family in Israel including 14 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren (as of 2013).

Acquisition

Emanuel (Manny) Aptowitzer

Scope and Content

Mohel Cantor D. Aptowitzer Circumcision Register, Book 1, bris 1 to 190 - September 1965 - September 1972; Mohel Cantor D. Aptowitzer Circumcision Register, Book 2, bris 191 to 858 - April 1973 - January 1986; Mohel Cantor D. Aptowitzer Circumcision Register, Book 3, bris 859 to 1444 - January 1986 - March 2000; Mohel Cantor D. Aptowitzer Circumcision Register, Book 4, bris 1445 to 1464 - July 2000 - July 2006; Mohel Cantor D. Aptowitzer Circumcision Index Book (alphabetical); File 1 - Biographical Information, Wall, Lawrence. “Aptowitzer memoirs document lines of turmoil, survival.” The Bulletin of Agudath Israel Congregation, September- October 2007. File 2 - General Correspondence, 1960, 1968, 1982, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2010, 2013; File 3 - Agudath Israel Bulletins, 1953, 1965, 1976-1977, 1982, 1988-1989, 1994; File 4 - Agudath Israel Men's Club Rosh Hashanah Cards, 1964-1969, 1971; File 5 - News clippings, Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, 1952, 1977, 1982-1984, 1994, 2013; File 6 - Ephemera, includes programmes of events in which Cantor Aptowitzer participated, 1953,1958, 1960-1961, 1963, 1969, 1975, 1978, 1989, 2000, 2002; File 7 - Ephemera, includes programmes, invitations to events celebrating Cantor Aptowitzer, 1977, 1982, 1989, 1994; File 8 - Jewish National Fund Negev Dinner, 1997; File 9 - Ottawa Talmud Torah - Booklet, "A teenagers introduction to Judaism" by Rabbi Samuel Burstein - 1957; Yearbook, Ottawa Talmud Torah, 1968-1969; File 10 - Certificates of Circumcision, 5 examples, 1990s-2000s; File 11 - News clippings, articles on the topic of circumcision, various dates; File 12 - Pages from Reister of Marriage; File 13 - Rosh Hashannah Booklets - 1987-1990

Note(s)

    1. Circumcision Register Books are organised chronologically by date of bris. Entries in the registers are numbered and include: child's English name and Hebrew name, date of birth, place of birth, date of bris, place of bris, and names of parents. 2. Circumcision Index Book, names listed alphabetically with corresponding bris number; 3. Agudath Israel Bulletins and Ottawa Jewish Bulletin's contain references to various events including Cantor David Aptowitzer's appointment as chazzan of Agudath Israel, his twenty-fifth, thirtieth and thirty-sixth anniversaries of service, his installation as honorary fellow of Cantors Institute, his retirement tribute, and he and Gita's move to Israel.
This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.