Feige Chaje “Clara” Zahler

1890s

Born 6 March 1891 in Galicia, Austrian Empire.

1900s–1910s

Married Harry Weber and raised their children in Rohatyn while he went ahead to America in 1912.

1920s

On 15 September 1920 she left Rotterdam aboard the S.S. Rotterdam with the children, arriving in New York on the 25th with four dollars and a literacy test to pass. She joined Harry at 132 Columbia Street, Manhattan, and died there on 6 February 1925 of heart failure, aged 33.

Galicia and a Wartime Separation

Feige Chaje “Clara” Zahler was born on March 6, 1891, in the Austrian province of Galicia, the daughter of Feivel Zahler and Chana Poczter and sister to Chaim Juda, Joseph, and Harry Zahler. She married Harry Weber and was raising their children in Rohatyn when Harry left alone for America in 1912; she and the children remained there without him for eight years, through the First World War and its aftermath in a region that changed hands repeatedly during those years.

Crossing to Join Harry

On September 15, 1920, Clara finally left Rotterdam with her children aboard the S.S. Rotterdam, arriving in New York on September 25 with four dollars to her name, planning to meet her husband on arrival and required to pass a literacy test before landing. The family settled at 132 Columbia Street in Manhattan, where Harry had lived since 1912. Clara's time in America was brief: she was admitted to Beth Israel Hospital with heart failure in early February 1925 and died at Beth Grace Hospital in Manhattan on February 6, 1925, at the age of thirty-three.