a tribute to Seu Ully

I was really touched by the murder of the Jewish Holocaust survivor in my office building this week (see previous post), so I decided to dedicate an entry to him, based on a Globo article and some other scraps of information I found researching him. It just seemed so terribly ironic and cruel to survive the Nazis and to succumb to some worthless thief. Also, since he worked in my building, I could have shared the elevator with him and never known it.

Ulrich Rosenzweig was born in Romania. He and his family moved to a ghetto in the Ukraine during World War II, and to avoid being sent to the concentration camps, he joined the Soviet Army. He survived the war and a grenade explosion, with a large scar on his leg for the rest of his life.

After the war ended, Ulrich's friends told him about Brazil: "There's a country called Brazil, with an amazing climate, work for everyone, and no war." Ulrich decided to go and try his luck.

With little money, no knowledge of Portuguese, and a few Jewish friends looking for relatives who'd moved to Brazil, Ulrich arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1948, at age 25. At the time, the city was still underdeveloped and hadn't been modernized yet. Nevertheless, Ulrich managed to eke out a living. He began as a jewelery vendor, selling door to door in Centro. He went on to work many different jobs, and even helped build the Edificio Central, one of the earliest modern buildings in Rio and a monument to the city's modernization.

Once he had established himself, he went to the Ukraine to get his family. His parents and his twelve year-old sister had survived a concentration camp, and went back to Brazil with him to live indefinitely. Later in life, Ulrich was interviewed by the Spielberg Foundation, and told them the survival story of him and his family.

While working in the Jewish district in Centro, Ulrich met Miriam. They married and had four children, and his daughter Evelyn went on to become a popular Carioca figure who's active in Leblon's community and business organizations. Ulrich and Miriam lived in Arpoador, where he gained the nickname "Seu Ully" from his neighbors. Until his death, he was a successful businessman, running a financial company downtown.

Ully regularly attended synagogue in Copacabana, and was known to be serious and strong-willed. He went on to have six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. At age 75, Miriam developed Alzheimer's, and her mind is basically gone. She's unaware that she has become a widow, and is unaware of the circumstances of her husband's terrible death.

The kind of person who liked to help others out, Ully frequently gave money to beggars in Centro, and one time saved a tourist from being mugged by scaring the robbers away.

Just moments before his death, Ully was talking to his daughter about violence in Rio. "Rio is a city of impunity," he told her. Minutes later, he went downstairs and was shot in the head, killed instantly. A protest will be held in his honor on the beach in Leblon at 3pm this Sunday.

Seu Ully survived the Holocaust, but he didn't survive Rio's violence.

Comments

[John]

I appreciate your tribute to Seu Ully. He was (is) my sister-in-law's grandfather. Although I had met him a few times, I did not know so many details about his life. I am an American as well and live in Rio (10 years). Keep up the good work on your site and blog.